Jesus responds to her by revealing his true identity and offering her living water and like Nicodemus she responds superficially and comments on the fact he has no bucket! Maybe she’s teasing him. And she gives him a history lesson because she knows the history of her people. It was understood at that time that God is to be worshiped at a certain point at a particular mountain, the trouble was that the Jews and Samaritans disagreed about which mountain.
Jesus however is saying that through him, you can access God, a God that is like living water a dynamic, unlimited source of God.
In talking to the woman in this way he has made her of value, has demonstrated a new way of living which is about breaking down the barriers of social taboos. Gods people are not an exclusive community but in encounters with others different from themselves find the potential for breaking down age old barriers and prejudices. What people would we not talk to? Jesus talked to many undesirables. His mission was inclusive. This woman he was talking to was not acceptable in polite society she was a marginalized person in religious society. Who do we marginalize? Jesus has talked to the woman about thirst, about the Spirit and demonstrated that he knows her and her situation. She is so impressed by him that she goes back to tell her village. This woman has been encouraged to find that living water at the very core of her being-to find God and be at peace. "The water that I will give will become a spring within, welling up to eternal Life".
