In the Gospel of John (4:6–15), a weary Jesus sits down by Jacob’s Well to rest. Before long, a Samaritan woman also arrives at the well to draw water, and Jesus says to her: ‘Give me to drink.’ Instead of granting his request, the unnamed woman expresses surprise that a Jew would even speak to a Samaritan and Jesus makes reference to a different kind of water in reply: ‘If thou didst know the gift of God, and who he is that saith to thee, Give me to drink; thou perhaps wouldst have asked of him, and he would have given thee living water.’ The Samaritan woman reminds Jesus that the well is deep and that he has nothing to draw water out with. However, his response only serves to make the living water he offers seem more enticing. Such water will become ‘a fountain of water, springing up into life everlasting’ in whoever drinks it, relieving their thirst forever. This is enough to persuade the Samaritan woman, who then makes a request of her own: ‘Sir, give me this water, that I may not thirst, not come hither to draw.’

In this water-centric parable real and allegorical water are merged. Christ, the proverbial well of everlasting life, rests by an actual well. He offers the Samaritan woman the metaphorical water of spiritual life as a substitute for the material, everyday water which she needs to draw in order to cook, clean and live. The travail of daily life is intimately connected with the water from the well, which can relieve such hardship only temporarily. Jesus is weary after a long journey and so seeks water as physical refreshment. The Samaritan woman makes reference to the fact that the well is deep, and therefore difficult to draw from and, significantly, she requests the water of everlasting life not only to quench her thirst but also to put an end to her laborious visits to the well: ‘Sir, give me this water, that I may not thirst, not come hither to draw.’