When a Samaritan woman came to draw water, Jesus said to her, “Will you give me a drink?”
This gospel has already shown an interview of Jesus with Nicodemus, a religious Jew, upstanding figure in the community and nation, and prominent member of the Sanhedrin. His second interview is now displayed by John as being with a Samaritan woman who is living with a man to whom she is not married. The two interviewees are as completely different as possible and yet the subject is the same; to the first Jesus said, “You must be born again;” to the second He said, “If you knew the gift of God and who it is that asks you for a drink, you would have asked him and he would have given you living water.” The message is the same even though He said it in a different way.
Ephrem the Syrian summarized this account of Jesus and the Samaritan woman as follows: “Jesus came to the fountain as a hunter…He threw a grain before a pigeon that He might catch the whole flock…At the beginning of the conversion He did not make Himself known to her…but first she caught sight of a thirsty man, then a Jew, then a Rabbi, afterwards a prophet, last of all the Messiah. She tried to get the better of the thirsty man, she showed her dislike of the Jew, she heckled the Rabbi, she was swept off her feet by the prophet, and she adored the Christ.” (qt’d in Morris p. 254)
Noon was a strange time for a woman to be drawing water, but that is probably why this particular woman was doing it then (to avoid others). The same reason applies for why she would choose to walk a half mile to draw water when there was some much closer to town.
“Give me to drink” (KJV) is “Will you give me a drink?” (NIV) and is a polite request. This is again a bold indication of the humanity of Jesus. He shows here two characteristics of humanity: 1) a subjection to physical necessities and 2) a dependence upon help from others. The Word truly became flesh and walked among us. We do not have a savior who is aloof and uncaring. He has been where we have been and suffered as we have suffered. He can truly empathize with us and is uniquely qualified to help us in our time of need.