Rabbit trails and love

"But sir, you don't have a rope or a bucket," she said, "and this is a very deep well. Where would you get this living water? And besides, are you greater than our ancestor Jacob who gave us this well? How can you offer better water than he and his sons and his cattle enjoyed?"
(John 4:11-12 NLT)

The woman didn't understand. She could only see the earthly and physical.

She had no understanding of the spiritual.

Speaking of 'our father Jacob' might have been to raise the esteem of the Samaritans to this man who she felt was superior to her.

Jesus replied, "People soon become thirsty again after drinking this water. But the water I give them takes away thirst altogether. It becomes a perpetual spring within them, giving them eternal life."
"Please, sir," the woman said, "give me some of that water! Then I'll never be thirsty again, and I won't have to come here to haul water."
(John 4:13–15 NLT)

Jesus explained the difference between the physical water and what he had to give. The well water would stop thirst for a little while but the spiritual water would quench the spiritual thirst forever. It would become an eternal spring bubbling up from within.
The woman was only interested in physical water that would save her from hauling water from the well to her home.

"Go and get your husband," Jesus told her.
"I don't have a husband,"the woman replied. Jesus said, "You're right! You don' have a husband-"
(John 4:16-17 NLT)
A Jewish man talking to a woman alone was not good etiquette so asking for the woman's husband would not be unusual.

But the question brought reality to the woman. Her only answer was that she didn't have a husband. It was a short reply to Jesus' question: I do not have a husband. I can almost hear her sudden reminder of her sin.

"-for you have had five husbands, and you aren't even married to the man you're living with now."
(John 4:18 NLT)

The Lord takes the conversation from small talk to a personal revelation of her sin. She must have been aghast at the knowledge Jesus had of her.

"Sir," the woman said, "you must be a prophet. So tell me, why is it that you Jews insist that Jerusalem is the only place of worship, while we Samaritans claim it is here at Mount Gerizim, where our ancestors worshiped?"
(John 4:19-20 NLT)

She realized that Jesus had unnatural knowledge about her but then tried to take the conversation down a rabbit trail. She tried diversion.
It's painful to look at our own sin and guilt. The flesh would rather not!
She asked him about the disagreement between the Jews and the Samaritans.

A little rabbit trail of my own: The disagreement between the Jews and the Samaritans on worship was whether worship should be offered to God on Mount Gerizim above where they stood now, or in Jerusalem at Solomon's Temple. I read that in 1980, an Israeli archaeologist found an alter on Mount Ebal. This was where God commanded Israel to build an alter, half of Isreal would stand on Ebal and half on Gerizim. The Levites were to read the Law and the people responded. Those on Gerizim pronounced the blessings of God and those on Ebal, the curses of God on sin. (Deuteronomy 27:1-28.) The Jews held that since Solomon had been commissioned to build the temple in Jerusalem, the center of worship would be located there.
And it's neat that this alter was just found 30 years ago! And I read it in an article in the Readers Digest just 2 weeks ago! And the Readers Digest was one my husband gave me to read some time ago. It was dated: September 1990!
But they found the alter Joshua built!!!

Back to the woman at the well...
Jesus was not going to allow the woman to take them both down a rabbit trail.

He instead took the discussion on and said the Samaritans were confused as to who they worship. He said the time has come when worshipers will worship in spirit and truth.
In telling her that worship would be in spirit and truth, Jesus told her that God can't be confined to one place. Not Mount Gerizim, nor Jerusalem!

The woman then admits that the Messiah will come and explain everything to them. She is off the rabbit trail and engaged in the conversation with the Savior. She knows about the Messiah coming.

Then Jesus states something that he does not say during other times in his ministry. Jesus states: "I am the Messiah!"

Jesus has kept the conversation as one the woman could understand.
Jesus remains comfortable with the woman and discussion flows easily.
He knows about the woman and her life and the history of the relationship between the Jews and the Samaritans. So he relates easily with her questions and her comments.
Jesus has moral integrity and is direct; this is not easy believism, but real healing!
Though he presents the woman's moral needs, his conversation is positive, with the offer of eternal life.
He does not allow her rabbit trails but stays on target.
Throughout it all, he is compassionate and sensitive to her.
Jesus loves the Samaritan woman and bridged the chasm in her mind, giving her the gospel!

Jesus and his gospel are accepted! Why?
It's evident that she matters to him.
His love shows.