Children's Sermon: The Woman at the Well (John 4) Living Water Object Lesson (2024)

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 thewoman 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” thatwill truly satisfy. This might be an abstract idea, but kids can understand theidea 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: Thelaw would have condemned this Samaritan woman, and declared that her sin wouldkeep her outcast. It was quite surprising and unconventional that Jesus wouldspeak to her. But the Gospel message reminds us that Jesus came to seek andsave the lost—ALL of them! Because of that, we have hope and we know that Jesusloves each and every one of us.

Optional Materials: Water bottles, in variousshapes and sizes

Bible Passage: John4:5-42

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

More Teaching Material about Jesus and the Woman at the Well

• PreteenLesson on Jesus and the Woman at the Well
• Crafts on theWoman at the Well and Living Water from Jesus
• Skit:Jesus and the Samaritan Woman in John 4
• PreschoolLesson – Jesus is the Living Water
• ElementaryLesson – Jesus and the Samaritan Woman

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

Greet the children, and beginto discuss methods of quenching thirst.

Hello, children of God! How are you? You know, Iam feeling pretty thirsty. What do youlike 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, Ithink I’ll have some water right now. But…I wonder what I should use to drinkit. 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 onethat’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 alot of choices. And as you can see, there are several different colors andsizes and shapes. But what do all of these water bottles have in common? Whatdo they do the same?

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

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

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

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

So what can we learn from this? Well, we knowthat God wants everyone to hear the good news of Jesus, and we can share thatwith others, whoever they might be. When Jesus fills our insides, it allows usto serve and share with other people. We also know that Jesus will satisfy ourneeds. We know we need to drink water every day in order to survive. Well, wealso need the love of Jesus in our lives every day. We connect with that byreading God’s word, living in His presence, and of course by praying! Why don’twe say a prayer about that now, and ask God to help us share His love, too?Let’s pray…

Children’sPrayer 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

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

⁷When a Samaritan woman came to draw water, Jesus said toher,“Will you give me a drink?”⁸(Hisdisciples had gone into the townto buy food.) ⁹TheSamaritan woman said to him, “You are a Jew and I am a Samaritanwoman.How can you ask me for a drink?” (For Jews do not associate with Samaritans.) ¹⁰Jesusanswered her,“If you knew the gift of God and who it is that asks you fora 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 canyou get this living water?¹²Are you greater thanour father Jacob, who gave us the welland drank from it himself, as didalso his sons and his livestock?” ¹³Jesusanswered,“Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again,¹⁴butwhoever drinks the water I give them will never thirst.Indeed, the waterI give them will become in them a spring of waterwelling up to eternallife.” ¹⁵The woman said to him, “Sir, give me thiswater so that I won’t get thirstyand have to keep coming here to drawwater.” ¹⁶He told her,“Go, call your husband andcome back.”

¹⁷“I have no husband,” she replied. Jesus said toher,“You are right when you say you have no husband.¹⁸Thefact is, you have had five husbands, and the man you now have is not yourhusband. What you have just said is quite true.” ¹⁹“Sir,”the woman said, “I can see that you are a prophet.²⁰Ourancestors worshiped on this mountain,but you Jews claim that the placewhere we must worship is in Jerusalem.” ²¹“Woman,”Jesusreplied,“believe me, a time is comingwhen you will worship theFather neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem.²²YouSamaritans worship what you do not know;we worship what we do know, forsalvation is from the Jews.²³Yet a time is comingand has now comewhen the true worshipers will worship the Father in theSpiritand in truth, for they are the kind of worshipers the Father seeks.²⁴Godis spirit,and his worshipers must worship in the Spirit and in truth.”

²⁵The woman said, “I know that Messiah” (calledChrist)“is coming. When he comes, he will explain everything to us.” ²⁶ThenJesus declared,“I, the one speaking to you—I am he.” ²⁷Just then hisdisciples returnedand were surprised to find him talking with a woman.But no one asked, “What do you want?” or “Why are you talking with her?” ²⁸Then,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?”³⁰Theycame out of the town and made their way toward him. ³¹Meanwhilehis disciples urged him, “Rabbi,eat something.” ³²Buthe said to them,“I have food to eatthat you know nothing about.” ³³Thenhis disciples said to each other, “Could someone have brought him food?” ³⁴“Myfood,”said Jesus,“is to do the willof him who sent me and tofinish his work.³⁵Don’t you have a saying, ‘It’sstill four months until harvest’? I tell you, open your eyes and look at thefields! They are ripe for harvest.³⁶Even now theone who reaps draws a wage and harvestsa crop for eternal life,sothat the sower and the reaper may be glad together.³⁷Thusthe saying ‘One sows and another reaps’is true.³⁸Isent you to reap what you have not worked for. Others have done the hard work,and you have reaped the benefits of their labor.” ³⁹Manyof the Samaritans from that townbelieved in him because of the woman’stestimony, “He told me everything I ever did.”⁴⁰Sowhen the Samaritans came to him, they urged him to stay with them, and hestayed two days.⁴¹And because of his words manymore became believers. ⁴²They said to the woman, “We nolonger 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.”