Children's Sermon: The Woman at the Well (John 4) Living Water Object Lesson

The Woman at the Well in John 4 is an important Bible story for kids. Jesus explains that He is the Living Water. Use our Bible object lesson to share this message with the children in your church. Watch the children’s sermon demonstration below, download the teaching notes, and then gather your object lesson supplies.

Children’s Message: Living Water—Never Thirst Again!

Jesus and the Woman at the Well  in John 4:5-42

Main Objective: The story of Jesus and the woman at the well reminds us of a couple of essential insights. For one thing, we see Christ’s love for all, and desire that all would know Him and be saved. This reminds us that we want to share the message of Jesus with everyone. Another key element is the blessed hope that Jesus is the “living water” that will truly satisfy. This might be an abstract idea, but kids can understand the idea of being thirsty. In our lives, we can be spiritually “thirsty”, as well, and need to know that we need Jesus every day to survive.

Law/Gospel Theme: The law would have condemned this Samaritan woman, and declared that her sin would keep her outcast. It was quite surprising and unconventional that Jesus would speak to her. But the Gospel message reminds us that Jesus came to seek and save the lost—ALL of them! Because of that, we have hope and we know that Jesus loves each and every one of us.

Optional Materials: Water bottles, in various shapes and sizes

Bible Passage: John 4:5-42

Message: Note: As with most messages, the details of how you choose to communicate this are adaptable and should cater to timing as well as to your audience and student needs. Use your judgment and ideas to best serve students.

More Teaching Material about Jesus and the Woman at the Well

• Preteen Lesson on Jesus and the Woman at the Well
• Crafts on the Woman at the Well and Living Water from Jesus
• Skit: Jesus and the Samaritan Woman in John 4
• Preschool Lesson – Jesus is the Living Water
• Elementary Lesson – Jesus and the Samaritan Woman

Children’s Sermon – The Woman at the Well – Living Water Object Lesson

Greet the children, and begin to discuss methods of quenching thirst.  

Hello, children of God! How are you? You know, I am feeling pretty thirsty.  What do you like to drink when you get thirsty? (Allow a few responses).

Well, there are a lot of things I like to drink, but when I’m really thirsty, my favorite thing is good old water! In fact, I think I’ll have some water right now. But…I wonder what I should use to drink it. See, I have developed quite a collection of water bottles here… (Pull out several different water bottles, one at a time, describing as you go).

See, there’s this one with a straw…and this one that’s a little short. This is a nice one because it fits my cup holder well. Oh, and I like this one because I can carry it by this little handle! I have a lot of choices. And as you can see, there are several different colors and sizes and shapes. But what do all of these water bottles have in common? What do they do the same?

That’s right, they all hold water! All of them will help me out if I am thirsty, as long as they’re full of good clean water on the inside.

Did you know that we are kind of the same way as people? We are all pretty different on the outside…but the more important thing is what we are filled with on the inside. This is what we can discover in our Gospel lesson today. Jesus was having an interesting conversation with a woman one day at a well. Now, there were a couple of reasons why it was slightly strange that Jesus would talk with her. For one thing, she was a woman, and in those days women were not really seen as equal with men. Another reason Jesus would not be likely to normally talk with her was that she was a Samaritan.

That means she was sort of from the bad side of town…the Jews and Samaritans did not get along so well. Not only that, but this woman had done some not so great things in her life…she might have felt ashamed about that, and was maybe even suspicious about why Jesus would be willing to talk with her. But Jesus knew this woman needed Him. He knew that her heart could be healed and her life changed. He knew that it didn’t matter what she was on the outside; HE could fill her inside.

Jesus told the woman that He had water that would keep her from ever being thirsty again. She was a little confused, and asked where she could get such amazing water. Jesus told her that He was the answer to what she needed. He shared with her some information about her life that only she knew, revealing that He knew who she was… she realized that this man was someone amazing. She was so excited that she ran and told her friends who she had found, and when they heard about it, they believed as well!

So what can we learn from this? Well, we know that God wants everyone to hear the good news of Jesus, and we can share that with others, whoever they might be. When Jesus fills our insides, it allows us to serve and share with other people. We also know that Jesus will satisfy our needs. We know we need to drink water every day in order to survive. Well, we also need the love of Jesus in our lives every day. We connect with that by reading God’s word, living in His presence, and of course by praying! Why don’t we say a prayer about that now, and ask God to help us share His love, too? Let’s pray…

Children’s Prayer Moment

(Have kids repeat each line)
Dear God,
Thank you for our savior Jesus
Thank you that His “water” will help us
Please help us to share His message
And to love all those around us
Thank you for your love
We love you, God!
In Jesus name, Amen!

John 4:5-42 (NIV) Jesus and the Samaritan Woman at the Well

⁵ So he came to a town in Samaria called Sychar, near the plot of ground Jacob had given to his son Joseph. ⁶ Jacob’s well was there, and Jesus, tired as he was from the journey, sat down by the well. It was about noon.

⁷ When a Samaritan woman came to draw water, Jesus said to her, “Will you give me a drink?” ⁸ (His disciples had gone into the town to buy food.) ⁹ The Samaritan woman said to him, “You are a Jew and I am a Samaritan woman. How can you ask me for a drink?” (For Jews do not associate with Samaritans.) ¹⁰ Jesus answered her, “If you knew the gift of God and who it is that asks you for a drink, you would have asked him and he would have given you living water.” ¹¹ “Sir,” the woman said, “you have nothing to draw with and the well is deep. Where can you get this living water? ¹² Are you greater than our father Jacob, who gave us the well and drank from it himself, as did also his sons and his livestock?” ¹³ Jesus answered, “Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again, ¹⁴ but whoever drinks the water I give them will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give them will become in them a spring of water welling up to eternal life.” ¹⁵ The woman said to him, “Sir, give me this water so that I won’t get thirsty and have to keep coming here to draw water.” ¹⁶ He told her, “Go, call your husband and come back.”

¹⁷ “I have no husband,” she replied. Jesus said to her, “You are right when you say you have no husband. ¹⁸ The fact is, you have had five husbands, and the man you now have is not your husband. What you have just said is quite true.” ¹⁹ “Sir,” the woman said, “I can see that you are a prophet. ²⁰ Our ancestors worshiped on this mountain, but you Jews claim that the place where we must worship is in Jerusalem.” ²¹ “Woman,” Jesus replied, “believe me, a time is coming when you will worship the Father neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem. ²² You Samaritans worship what you do not know; we worship what we do know, for salvation is from the Jews. ²³ Yet a time is coming and has now come when the true worshipers will worship the Father in the Spirit and in truth, for they are the kind of worshipers the Father seeks. ²⁴ God is spirit, and his worshipers must worship in the Spirit and in truth.”

²⁵ The woman said, “I know that Messiah” (called Christ) “is coming. When he comes, he will explain everything to us.” ²⁶ Then Jesus declared, “I, the one speaking to you—I am he.”  ²⁷ Just then his disciples returned and were surprised to find him talking with a woman. But no one asked, “What do you want?” or “Why are you talking with her?” ²⁸ Then, leaving her water jar, the woman went back to the town and said to the people, ²⁹ “Come, see a man who told me everything I ever did. Could this be the Messiah?” ³⁰ They came out of the town and made their way toward him. ³¹ Meanwhile his disciples urged him, “Rabbi, eat something.” ³² But he said to them, “I have food to eat that you know nothing about.” ³³ Then his disciples said to each other, “Could someone have brought him food?” ³⁴ “My food,” said Jesus, “is to do the will of him who sent me and to finish his work. ³⁵ Don’t you have a saying, ‘It’s still four months until harvest’? I tell you, open your eyes and look at the fields! They are ripe for harvest. ³⁶ Even now the one who reaps draws a wage and harvests a crop for eternal life, so that the sower and the reaper may be glad together. ³⁷ Thus the saying ‘One sows and another reaps’ is true. ³⁸ I sent you to reap what you have not worked for. Others have done the hard work, and you have reaped the benefits of their labor.” ³⁹ Many of the Samaritans from that town believed in him because of the woman’s testimony, “He told me everything I ever did.” ⁴⁰ So when the Samaritans came to him, they urged him to stay with them, and he stayed two days. ⁴¹ And because of his words many more became believers. ⁴² They said to the woman, “We no longer believe just because of what you said; now we have heard for ourselves, and we know that this man really is the Savior of the world.”