Jesus moves back into Galilee from Judea because the Pharisees have learned of his popularity. There has been no opposition from them up to this point, though the commotion in the temple has raised questions. Jesus is not “on the lam” yet, but he nevertheless clearly wants to avoid contact with the Pharisees. If Nicodemus had shared with his fellow Pharisees something of his conversation with Jesus, then they would have even more questions. They had sent agents to the Baptist to ask whether he was the Christ and to find out why he was baptizing. By moving on, Jesus avoids such questions and the confrontation that would inevitably follow. At noon Jesus stops to rest outside and sends his disciples into town for food. It was the hottest time of day, not the best time to be traveling and a very unusual time for a woman to fetch water. The fact that it was noon may highlight both Jesus’ desire to avoid the Pharisees and the woman’s desire to avoid her neighbors, who would come to draw water at cooler periods of the day. Since she had had six of the men of the village, the other women would have little love for her. Her immorality is well known to the villagers, as on would expect.
As she comes to draw water Jesus initiates the conversation, in contrast to his encounter with his first disciples. The woman is shocked that he, a Jew, would speak to her, a Samaritan woman. The Samaritans were held in contempt as religious apostates who had mixed the purity of Israel’s worship with idolatry and the worship of pagan gods. The animosity toward the Samaritans was greatly intensified about twenty years before Jesus’ ministry when some Samaritans defiled the temple in Jerusalem by scattering human bones in the courtyard during Passover. This conflict at the temple highlights one of the fundamental differences between the Samaritans and the Jews, namely, the question of where God has centered his worship.
For Jesus to have dealings with this woman was to risk ritual defilement. Jesus takes the initiative and will keep at it until all of the barriers are dealt with. This gentle persistence should be a great comfort to us who are not without barriers ourselves.