Not surprisingly, Jesus was dusty and thirsty under the noonday sun after his walk through the high hills and low mountains about forty miles north of Jerusalem. He had come as far as Sychar in the district of Samaria on his way to Galilee. The well near which he sat to rest has great symbolic significance for the story John is about to relate. It was Jacob's well, which means it went back to ancient Israel. Yes, the Samaritan woman even refers to it thus: "... our father Jacob, who gave us the well and drank from it himself." She also had enough Hebrew religious education to testify, "I know that Messiah is coming (he who is called Christ)." Near where she lived there had been a Samaritan temple; and she even gets into a discussion of which is the better place to worship, "on this mountai…