Written ~ 04-09-2024
Read John Chapter Four
John 4
Our chapter for today brings us to a wonderful story of Jesus talking with a Samaritan woman.
But we are going to back up for just a moment… in verse 4:1 it says, “…Jesus was baptizing and making more disciples than John (the Baptist)…” So let’s look at John chapter 3 verses 22-36, just briefly…
John and his disciples were baptizing people who were turning back to God. John’s disciples noticed Jesus and His disciples also baptizing and more people were going to them than to John. Sounds like, in verses 3:25-26 that John’s disciples were a little jealous that Jesus was “stealing” their thunder! Verse 26b, “…Rabbi, the man you met on the other side of the Jordan river, the one you identified as the Messiah, is also baptizing people. And everybody is going to Him instead of coming to us.” Can you feel that bit of covetousness they had over the people Jesus was drawing to Himself? But John set them straight… verses 3:27-28 and 30, “No one can receive anything unless God gives it from heaven. You yourselves know how plainly I told you, ‘I am not the Messiah. I am only here to prepare the way for Him.’ He must become greater and greater, and I must become less and less.” Take time to read over John 3:31-36, the testimony John gives about who Jesus is, is fantastic… don’t miss reading it.
John chapter 4…
3 So He left Judea and returned to Galilee.
4 He had to go through Samaria on the way. 5 Eventually He came to the Samaritan village of Sychar, near the field that Jacob gave to his son Joseph. 6 Jacob’s well was there; and Jesus, tired from the long walk, sat wearily beside the well about noontime. 7 Soon a Samaritan woman came to draw water, and Jesus said to her, “Please give me a drink.”
In verse 4:3 we are told that Jesus is leaving Judea. Along His way to Galilee He stopped in Sychar, a small village just outside of Samaria. Now, the road Jesus decided to take to Galilee was not the usual route, it was the shortest, but more difficult route and it passed straight through Samaria. This particular road was not traveled much by the Jews because of the hatred and strong rivalry between them and the Samaritans. But Jesus had a plan for Samaria, so He traveled the difficult, rocky, hilly terrain for approximately 35 miles before finding rest at Jacob’s Well. It was at the heat of the day, noontime, when Jesus met a Samaritan woman there at the well. Let’s look at verses 4:7-9…
7 Soon a Samaritan woman came to draw water, and Jesus said to her, “Please give me a drink.” 8 He was alone at the time because His disciples had gone into the village to buy some food.
9 The woman was surprised, for Jews refuse to have anything to do with Samaritans. She said to Jesus, “You are a Jew, and I am a Samaritan woman. Why are You asking me for a drink?”
Not only would it have been quite uncustomary for a Jewish teacher to speak to a woman, but the added element that she was also a Samaritan would have multiplied her surprise considerably when Jesus spoke to her. When she asks Jesus why He was asking her for water, you can almost hear the flippant, sarcastic tone in her voice. Jewish people thought of the Samaritans as nothing more than garbage, so her sarcastic tone would have stemmed from mere hatred shared between the Jews and Samaritans. She would have believed that the Jews would only ask for something when they wanted something from the Samaritans, nothing more.
Verse 4:10 gives us one of the greatest characteristics of Jesus, He is the Living Water, but our Samaritan woman, though she heard His words, she completely missed the meaning.
Verse 4:10 and 13-14…
10 Jesus replied, “If you only knew the gift God has for you and who you are speaking to, you would ask Me, and I would give you Living Water. 13 Anyone who drinks this water will soon become thirsty again. 14 But those who drink the water I give will never be thirsty again. It becomes a fresh, bubbling spring within them, giving them eternal life.”
Jesus is that Living Water!
Verse 4:15…
15 “Please, sir,” the woman said, “give me this water! Then I’ll never be thirsty again, and I won’t have to come here to get water.”
Can you see by her response that she did not understand what Jesus meant by Living Water? She couldn’t see past the physical thirst she was feeling, she couldn’t yet comprehend her spiritual thirst.
Many of us have been in a place of spiritual thirst. So often we have gone about our day, doing our own thing and not taking the time to fill our hearts, minds and souls with the things the Lord provides. Jesus is sitting there talking with this woman, He has everything she needs and soon the “light bulb” is going to be lit in her spirit.
Verses 4:16-19…
16 “Go and get your husband,” Jesus told her.
17 “I don’t have a husband,” the woman replied.
Jesus said, “You’re right! You don’t have a husband— 18 for you have had five husbands, and you aren’t even married to the man you’re living with now. You certainly spoke the truth!”
19 “Sir,” the woman said, “You must be a prophet.”
See? There is goes! The “light bulb” is almost completely lit! She had to be thinking, “How in the world did He know my past? How could He know those things about me? Ah yes, He must be a prophet.”
Guess what my friends, Jesus knows all that we have gone through. If you think you are hiding the truth, you can try all you want, but Jesus knows. And even with everything we have done that we might find shameful, He loves us so much and is filled with such compassion, that He will do anything for us to feel His deep affection for us.
In verses 4:20-22 we see Jesus and the woman discussing where worship can take place. The Samaritans believed that their Mount Gerizim was the only place to worship. But this woman pointed out that the Jews believed the only place to worship was in Jerusalem. Jesus was not going to argue a specific destination for worship, but He did point out that the Samaritans did know much about the one they worshipped (verse 4:22).
The next portion of this chapter is incredibly awesome and is true for us today! Read it through, think about it…
Verses 4:23-26…
23 But the time is coming—indeed it’s here now—when true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and in truth. The Father is looking for those who will worship Him that way. 24 For God is Spirit, so those who worship Him must worship in spirit and in truth.”
25 The woman said, “I know the Messiah is coming—the one who is called Christ. When He comes, He will explain everything to us.”
26 Then Jesus told her, “I am the Messiah!”
Remember that “light bulb” I was talking about? Well not only was it fully lit! It just exploded! Our Samaritan woman, the one who would have to go to the well at noontime to avoid the other women because of her shame, the one who had been married and divorced five times, this woman who was filled with guilt and disgrace was talking to the Messiah! Can you imagine her saucer like eyes and her jaw dropping? Then, in her excitement she left her water jug behind and ran to the village. Every person she ran into she told about her encounter with Jesus.
Verses 4:27-30…
27 Just then His disciples came back. They were shocked to find Him talking to a woman, but none of them had the nerve to ask, “What do you want with her?” or “Why are you talking to her?” 28 The woman left her water jar beside the well and ran back to the village, telling everyone, 29 “Come and see a Man who told me everything I ever did! Could He possibly be the Messiah?”
30 So the people came streaming from the village to see Him.
The disciple were caught off guard weren’t they? Their shock was a little unnerving, they honestly couldn’t understand why Jesus would be talking to this Samaritan woman.
Isn’t it wonderful that this woman had those few precious moments alone with Jesus, to be seen, to be heard, when usually she would have been tossed aside by the townspeople. Her life had been forever changed and she couldn’t wait to tell everyone what had happened.
When the disciples returned with food, though they were stunned to find Jesus with the Samaritan woman, they moved on quickly to the subject of food. Their journey had been long and they were all famished… Verse 4:31, “Meanwhile, the disciples were urging Jesus, “Rabbi, eat something.”
I love the disciples in this passage, really… they are so clueless to what Jesus is doing. They don’t know yet who He actually is, so these next few verses added to their confusion.
Verses 4:32-34…
32 But Jesus replied, “I have a kind of food you know nothing about.”
33 “Did someone bring Him food while we were gone?” the disciples asked each other.
34 Then Jesus explained: “My nourishment comes from doing the Will of God, who sent Me, and from finishing His work.”
In our story today we have learned about spiritual thirst, it is our longing to be filled with the Living Water. Now Jesus is talking about spiritual hunger. Our souls should be famished to do to the Will of God. Our drive to do God’s work is what fills us to capacity, not the things of the world. Jesus then tells us that the harvest is ready, the seeds have been planted, they have been watered and now it’s time to reap the harvest for the Kingdom of God.
When the Samaritan woman ran into the village and told everyone she came across that the Messiah was sitting at the well, verse 4:30 says, “…the people came streaming from the village to see Him.” They were thirsty, they were hungry. And many Samaritans from that small village believed in Jesus that day (verse 4:39).
Jesus wound up staying in Sychar for two days, teaching the people, so more would hear His message and believe. Look at verse 4:42…
42 Then they said to the woman, “Now we believe, not just because of what you told us, but because we have heard Him ourselves. Now we know that He is indeed the Savior of the world.”
Our Samaritan woman has been transformed. Not only has she shed the skin of sin and shame, but her reputation also changed, the townspeople saw her in a different light. Isn’t that wonderful!
This can happen to any one of us when we encounter the Savior of the world!
It’s time to drop the mask and look at Jesus for who He is…
He is Living Water, He will refresh your soul, the longing for fulfillment will come by doing the will of the Father who sent Him. Our lives can be transformed, just like the Samaritan woman and the rest of the people in Sychar who came to know Christ.
“…True worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and in truth…”
Our hearts, minds and souls forever changed.
~AMEN~