John 4:7

‘There comes a woman of Samaria to draw water.'

The fact that she was alone is probably significant. Normally women would make sure they were in company with others when visiting a well outside the town. There is already a hint in this that she was not of the best reputation.

But as we will learn, probably unbeknown to others she was thirsty in soul despite her pleasure loving life. When she saw a Jew sitting there she would ignore him. It was not seemly for a woman to speak to a strange man, and she would know that the Jews generally despised the Samaritans with a hatred combining strong religious and racial prejudice. They avoided all contact except for business purposes, and looked on the Samaritans as ritually ‘unclean'. No good Jew would ever eat with them or use their drinking vessels. But as Jesus demonstrated in the parable of the good Samaritan, He had deep sympathies with them. Indeed it was possibly this experience that revealed to Him what His attitude towards the Samaritans should be, just as later His experience with the Syro-phoenician woman would cause Him to preach among the Gentiles.

However, the woman was unaware of this, and knew nothing about Jesus. Thus she would have totally ignored this stranger at the well, simply pretending that He was not there, unless He had made an unexpected approach to her. But to her great surprise that is what He does. He does not ignore her. He turns and speaks to her.