Jews, he said, did not recognize Samaritans, and much less so women. Thus, when Jesus spoke to the Samaritan woman, it was indeed highly unusual. But even more unusual was that he demonstrated to the woman that he knew her, and then revealed himself to her.
"Give me something to drink, he said, leaving her astonished. It is in fact highly unusual for a Jew to speak to a Samaritan woman, the most unrecognized. The miracle of the woman was the destiny that arose: Jesus spoke of a living water that has the capacity to extinguish thirst and become in her a fountain rising up to eternal life. He demonstrated that he knew her own personal life and revealed that the hour was coming to adore the one true God in spirit and in truth. Finally, he confided in her something most rare, that he was the Messiah."
Pope Benedict noted that the point of departure for all of this was the experience of real thirst. The theme of thirst, he added, appears throughout the Gospel of John: In the encounter with the Samaritan woman, in the great prophecy during the Feast of Tabernacles (Jn. 7:37) and finally at the Cross, when Jesus, before dying said, in order to fulfill the words of Scripture, "I thirst" (Jn. 19:28).
"The thirst of Christ is a gate of access to the mystery of God, who is in fact made thirsty to satisfy our thirst, as one made poor so that we might become rich (2 Cor. 8,9). Yes, God is thirsty for our faith and our love. "
He added, "The woman of Samaria represents the existential dissatisfaction of one who has not found what she is looking for. She had ‘five husbands’ and now lived with another man. Her coming and going to the well to draw water expressed a life that was resigned and repetitive.”
“But all of that changed for her that day in her conversation with the Lord Jesus, who turned all of that around and led her to leave her jar at the well, and run to tell the others in the village. ‘Come and see a man who told me everything I have ever done. Could this be the Messiah?’ the Pope said quoting the woman’s words.
