John tells us the time of day, and it is easy to read straight past it. Jesus, “being wearied with his journey, sat thus on the well: and it was about the sixth hour.” That is around noon, the hottest part of the day.
Water was usually drawn in the cool of the morning or evening. Scripture does not spell out why this woman came when she did, and we should be careful about adding to the text. But most of us know what it is to run our errands at the hour we are least likely to meet anyone.
He asks her for something
The first words Jesus says to her are not a correction. They are a request: “Give me to drink.” The Son of God is sitting there thirsty, and he lets a stranger know it. Before he offers her anything, he treats her as someone who has something to give.
That is worth sitting with. A lot of us assume God only speaks to us to point out what is wrong. Here he opens by asking for a cup of water.
She leaves the jar
By the end of the conversation John gives us one more small detail.
The woman then left her waterpot, and went her way into the city, and saith to the men, Come, see a man, which told me all things that ever I did.John 4:28-29
She came for water and forgot the jar. The thing that had sent her out at noon no longer seemed like the most urgent thing in her day. And the person who may have been avoiding the whole town goes straight back to the town.
A question for this week
What are you carrying to the well right now, and what time of day do you go, so that nobody will see you? He is already sitting there. He is not surprised, and he would like to talk.