The Well and The Bride

In one paragraph

Brian walked through four well scenes in Scripture, from Genesis to John, to show that the image of a man meeting a woman at a well was a pattern the biblical writers used deliberately, one that points toward something much larger than a love story. The sermon opened with three stories from the Old Testament where a man meets a woman at a well and it leads to marriage. First, Abraham's servant...

Read together

1. Genesis 24:12-22 servant meets Rebecca at the well, leading to her marriage to Isaac
2. Genesis 29:6-12 Jacob meets Rachel at the well and rolls away the stone
3. Exodus 2:15-21 Moses meets the daughters of Reuel at a well, leading to his marriage to Zipporah
4. John 4:1-30 Jesus meets the Samaritan woman at the well and reveals himself as Messiah
5. 1 Corinthians 12 list of gifts of the Spirit, used to identify Jesus using a word of knowledge with the Samaritan woman
6. Song of Solomon 1:5 I am dark but beautiful, read as a metaphor for someone beaten down by the world system
7. 1 Corinthians 1:26-29 God chose the foolish and despised things of the world, applied to how God chose his bride

Talk about it

1. Brian talked about three Old Testament stories where a man meets a woman at a well and it leads to marriage. What did you notice about the women in those stories, and what does it mean to you that none of them were royalty or people of obvious status?
2. When Jesus told the Samaritan woman he knew she had five husbands, she went back to her village and said he knew everything she had ever done. Brian pointed out that Jesus chose her area of greatest shame as the detail to reveal. Why do you think he picked that particular thing, and what does that stir up in you personally?
3. The woman came to the well at noon, alone, which told the people in the room she was an outcast. Have you ever felt like someone who shows up at the wrong time, outside the group? How does it land with you that Jesus sat down at the well at exactly that hour?
4. Brian read from First Corinthians that God chose things the world considers foolish, powerless, and despised. How does that connect for you with the picture of the Samaritan woman as a stand-in for the church, and what does it say about how God sees you?
5. Chris made the observation that the woman had five husbands, was with a sixth man, and Jesus was the seventh man to offer her life. Whether or not you hold that reading tightly, what does the idea of Jesus pursuing someone with that kind of history say to you about how he pursues people today?