The Man At The Well

“Come, see a man who told me everything I ever did.” How could that possibly be good news? Someone knows everything about you-every wound, every failure, every secret-and it is the best thing that ever happened to you? Because He stayed. Come and see.

Small Group Questions

Warm-up: Pastor Chuck's pet peeve is loud chewers at the movies. What is yours? And be honest: has anyone ever caught you doing the very thing that drives you crazy in others?

1. He walked away and crossed every barrier to reach her (vv. 1–9). Jesus abandoned an argument he could have won because there was a sinner to be sought. What argument, irritation, or busyness are you most tempted to stay and win? And who might you be overlooking while you do--the person you instinctively dismiss as "not my people"?

2. The wells we drink from (vv. 10–15). "Everyone in this room is drinking from something." What well are you presently drawing identity, approval, security, or comfort from? How has it kept you occupied, jar after jar, without truly satisfying you? Where has the gymnastics teacher already been proven right: "They all do. They all come to the end"?

3. The source moves inside you (John 7:37–39). Jesus tells us the living water is the Holy Spirit: and when you receive the Spirit, the flow reverses: you stop being a consumer hauling a jar, and you become a spring. Where are you still living like a consumer? And who in your life is drinking from what flows through you--the friend, the coworker, the family member who comes to you when everything goes haywire?

4. He went to her deepest wound…and stayed (vv. 16–26). When Jesus named the painful truth about her life, she changed the subject. What subject do you change when Jesus gets too close? What is one place where you want him to comfort you without confronting you?

5. He knew everything about her (vv. 17–18, 29). Do you tend to live as though Jesus is waiting to discover something about you and become disappointed, or as the Savior who already knows everything and stayed? What might change in the way you pray, confess, or ask for help if you fully believed the second?

6. The sixth hour and our turn (vv. 28–30, 39–42). At one sixth hour, Jesus said, "Give me a drink." At the other, on the cross, he said, "I thirst." He reached the bottom of the cup so that you never will. And here is the twist of the whole story: we are not the respectable people beside Jesus helping him rescue someone else--we are the Samaritan. Grace received becomes grace extended. Who is one specific person you will sit beside, start a conversation with, or invite to "come and see" this week?