Woman At the Well

TEXT: John 4:1-30, 39-42

OBJECTIVE

The students will be able to use the woman at the well as an example to explain that when they tell others how thankful they are for God's blessings they are being a witness for Christ.

BIBLE LESSON OUTLINE

Introduction: Prior to class time, make a large pile of dots with a paper punch, as described in In-Class Activities. Put one dot out on the table as you begin your class session, explaining to your students that this dot represents the woman at the well. Explore the principle of personal outreach using the dots to represent the people contacted.

1. On His way to Galilee, Jesus stopped in a city of Samaria, and sat down by a well.
2. A woman of the city came to draw water and Jesus asked her for a drink.
3. After listening to Jesus, she realized that He was indeed the Christ that was promised.
   

Climax: The woman left her waterpot and went into the city to tell her neighbors, and many of them became believers.

Conclusion: God is pleased when we tell others of God's blessings, and this may cause those we tell to turn to the Lord also.

Response: The students should be able to relate the story of the woman at the well, and should realize that when we show appreciation for what God has done for us it may cause others to want to know the Lord also.

BACKGROUND INFORMATION

John 4:4 says, "And he must needs go through Samaria." This was not a necessity of geography, for many Jews often avoided contact with these people by crossing the Jordan and passing to the east of Samaria. This was a necessity because of Jesus' mission—to reach those who were thirsty in Spirit.

It was the sixth hour, or about noon, when Jesus stopped at the well and was met by this woman. Normally, water was drawn at the end of the day rather than in the noontime heat, but perhaps this woman was ashamed to associate with the other women of the village who would be coming later. The Jews had no dealings with the Samaritans and this caused the great surprise of this woman at Jesus' request for a drink of water.

Having been the wife of five husbands, and now living with a man to whom she was not married, the woman had no doubt been hurt and disappointed many times and possibly had become hard and calloused. However, as Jesus began conversing with her, she began to experience a love that was pure, holy, and unselfish. As she received God's love through Jesus Christ, her joy overflowed in such a way that many in the town also came to Jesus.

IN-CLASS ACTIVITIES

• Make a well out of a small butter container, cover with small pieces of construction paper (like rocks), or color a strip of paper, same width as butter container, and color it like rocks. Glue around container. Make finger puppets (see Patterns) and tell the story.
• Have each child make the woman in the lesson. Cut a face for each one out of a magazine and glue to lightweight cardboard. Glue neck into inside of the garment (see Patterns). The garment can be made out of felt or a piece of wallpaper.
• Bring a small, bare branch from a tree and prop it up so that paper leaves can be added to it. (Turn a clay flower pot upside down and prop the branch in the hole in the bottom of the pot.) Cut out paper leaves (see Patterns) and give several to each child. Have them write or draw a picture of something for which they are thankful to God—something they want others to know about. Let them tape their finished leaves to the branch.
• Make a large pile of dots with a paper punch. Put one dot out on your table and explain to your students that this dot represents the woman at the well in our lesson today. After she met Jesus, she hurried to tell others in her town about Him. Put out about six or eight more dots. Explain that these represent the people she told. Then let your class experiment with the possibilities of others' hearing the Gospel when each of these people tell several others about Jesus. By using the dots to indicate each person that is told, they will be able to see how quickly many will hear if everyone does his part.

Special Instructions for Unit 27: Give each child a page from their Praying Hands book and have them write their memory verse for this week.

QUESTIONS

1. What did Jesus ask of the woman of Samaria?
2. What did He offer to give the woman?
3. What did she do when she found out who Jesus was?
4. What happened when the townspeople (Samaritans) talked to Jesus?
5. How do you feel when someone forgives you for doing them wrong? How do you suppose the woman at the well felt when Jesus forgave her sins?
6. Talk about some good things that happened to you that you couldn't wait to tell others about.
7. What is a Christian testimony? Is it a sad or happy story?
8. What changes has God made in your life? Do you like yourself better? Do others notice the difference?
9. How can we help others to learn about Jesus?

PRE-SCHOOL SUGGESTIONS

• Let the children take turns spinning the arrow on the Thankful Helper game (see Patterns). Whenever it stops on a hat circle have the child tell why that person is a helper and why they are thankful for what he or she does. When the arrow stops on the happy face let them tell their neighbor that Jesus can do all things and also tell them about something special they thank Jesus for.
• Light a small votive candle (be sure it is in a votive dish or on a saucer) and show the children that if you put a cover over it, the light will go out. Compare this to their letting their "light" shine for Jesus.
• Give each of your students a copy of the well scene (see Patterns). Have a dish of red beans, lima beans, or some other type to represent stones. Let the children glue these to the well.

REVIEW IDEAS‍

Bring several objects for which we can be thankful food, doll, truck, clothing, etc. Explain how we can be thankful for each one because it was a special gift to us from someone we love, and because of that, we like to share it with our friends. Then hold up a Bible and tell how much the Bible means to us and how thankful we are for Jesus. Tell how we like to share this with others so they can know Jesus too. If we do that, then we are being a witness for Jesus.

Tell the children that the very fact that they are in Sunday school is an indication that someone told them about Jesus. Tell the children, briefly, who was responsible for telling you about Jesus. Ask for volunteers to tell who told them about Jesus.

SUPPORT MATERIAL

• Bible Box Talks — By David W. Thompson
• The Stranger at Jacob's Well — Arch Books
• Jesus, His Story for Children — by Alice Brown and Pat Kirk