John 4 - Jesus Loved Sinners!
Jesus Talks With a Samaritan Woman
4 Now Jesus learned that the Pharisees had heard that he was gaining and baptizing more disciples than John— 2 although in fact it was not Jesus who baptized, but his disciples. 3 So he left Judea and went back once more to Galilee. 4 Now he had to go through Samaria. 5 So he came to a town in Samaria called Sychar, near the plot of ground Jacob had given to his son Joseph. 6 Jacob’s well was there, and Jesus, tired as he was from the journey, sat down by the well. It was about noon.
We learn again that it was not only John the Baptist and Jesus who were baptizing, but also Jesus' disciples. The Pharisees increased animosity toward Jesus caused him to leave Judea and he went back north into Galilee. To do this he had to go through Samaria. The Samaritans were a mix of a Jew and a Gentile. A lot of Jews traveled around Samaria so they wouldn't have contact with the Gentiles.
But we know Jesus had a different attitude about such matters. As I have said before, Jesus was the most inclusive man who ever lived. He came to Sychar, which was the location of the town Jacob gave his son. Jacob's well was there too. The city of Sychar was known as "Shechem" in the Old Testament, and there were many significant things that happened there in Israel's history.
This is where God first appeared to Abram in Canaan, and renewed the promise of giving the land to him and his descendants. (Genesis 12:7)
· This is where Abram built an altar and called upon the name of the Lord. (Genesis 12:8)
· This is where Jacob came safely when he returned with his wives and children from his sojourn with Laban. (Genesis 33:18)
· This is where Jacob bought a piece of land from a Canaanite named Hamor, for 100 pieces of sliver. (Genesis 33:19)
· This is where Jacob built an altar to the Lord, and called it El Elohe Israel (Genesis 33:20). This established the connection between Jacob and what became known as Jacob’s well there in Sychar.
7 When a Samaritan woman came to draw water, Jesus said to her, “Will you give me a drink?” 8 (His disciples had gone into the town to buy food.) 9 The Samaritan woman said to him, “You are a Jew and I am a Samaritan woman. How can you ask me for a drink?” (For Jews do not associate with Samaritans.[a]) 10 Jesus answered her, “If you knew the gift of God and who it is that asks you for a drink, you would have asked him and he would have given you living water.” 11 “Sir,” the woman said, “you have nothing to draw with and the well is deep. Where can you get this living water? 12 Are you greater than our father Jacob, who gave us the well and drank from it himself, as did also his sons and his livestock?” 13 Jesus answered, “Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again, 14 but whoever drinks the water I give them will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give them will become in them a spring of water welling up to eternal life.” 15 The woman said to him, “Sir, give me this water so that I won’t get thirsty and have to keep coming here to draw water.”
The woman came in the middle of the day, which was unusual time of the day to get water for your flocks. We learn later she had many husbands and she didn't want to be seen in public. For Jesus to ask her for water was also very unusual. Men were not supposed to speak with women in public, especially a rabbi. The woman was curious too.
Jesus told the way that the water he could give her was "living water". She knew the history of Jacob and the well. The woman knew it was a special well where God had given Jacob and his family water, but she didn't connect this with the living water Jesus was referring to. The water Jesus was referring to was a water which would well up to eternal life. The woman was still thinking physically, as she was interested in the fact that she wouldn't have to come back to the well again.
It’s common for people to try and satisfy their God-created inner thirst through many things, or through any thing except for what Jesus gives. People are thirsty – they want, they long, they search, they reach; but only what Jesus gives satisfies to the deepest levels of man’s soul and spirit.
6 He told her, “Go, call your husband and come back.” 17 “I have no husband,” she replied. Jesus said to her, “You are right when you say you have no husband. 18 The fact is, you have had five husbands, and the man you now have is not your husband. What you have just said is quite true.”
Jesus now goes to the real issue in the women's life. He used the analogy of living water. The woman had five husbands and the man she was with right now wasn't her husband. A woman like this would be seen as immoral in the Jewish community and would have been isolated and ostracized. This is another reason why it was so surprising Jesus approached this woman in public. He risked someone seeing him, especially had the Pharisees seen her with him.
19 “Sir,” the woman said, “I can see that you are a prophet. 20 Our ancestors worshiped on this mountain, but you Jews claim that the place where we must worship is in Jerusalem.” 21 “Woman,” Jesus replied, “believe me, a time is coming when you will worship the Father neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem. 22 You Samaritans worship what you do not know; we worship what we do know, for salvation is from the Jews. 23 Yet a time is coming and has now come when the true worshipers will worship the Father in the Spirit and in truth, for they are the kind of worshipers the Father seeks. 24 God is spirit, and his worshipers must worship in the Spirit and in truth.” 25 The woman said, “I know that Messiah” (called Christ) “is coming. When he comes, he will explain everything to us.” 26 Then Jesus declared, “I, the one speaking to you—I am he.”
When the woman heard Jesus telling her things about her life he couldn't have known, she thought he was a prophet. The woman recalled Samaritans worshipped in Samaria, and Jews worshipped in Jerusalem. But Jesus spoke of a different kind of worship. Worshipping in Spirit and in truth. I am sure the woman did not know what Jesus was talking about. I don't think anybody would have known what he was talking about. In the Old Testament there were references of living water and the Spirit flowing over the altar in the tabernacle.
To worship in spirit means you are concerned with spiritual realities, not so much with places or outward sacrifices, cleansings, and trappings. To worship in truth means you worship according to the whole counsel of God’s word, especially in light of the New Testament revelation. It also means that you come to God in truth, not in pretense or a mere display of spirituality.
The woman, despite her lifestyle, was aware of teachings about the coming Messiah. She also knew that the Messiah would explain everything to them. Jesus then makes an incredible declaration, especially given woman he was talking to. Jesus tells her that He is the Messiah and then uses the words, "I am he". The Greek words "eigo-eimi" are the same words for the Hebrew word "YHWH". Jesus was claiming to be God.
There is no doubt throughout the gospel of John that Jesus absolutely claims divinity and equality with God. If someone says he is a just a good prophet and doesn't not acknowledge that He claimed to God, they are not arguing from a level playing field. Jesus did not leave that option open to us nor did he intend to.
The Disciples Rejoin Jesus
27 Just then his disciples returned and were surprised to find him talking with a woman. But no one asked, “What do you want?” or “Why are you talking with her?” 28 Then, leaving her water jar, the woman went back to the town and said to the people, 29 “Come, see a man who told me everything I ever did. Could this be the Messiah?” 30 They came out of the town and made their way toward him.
The woman was profoundly affected by her encounter with Jesus. She immediately went into town to tell the people about Jesus. Because of her reputation this could have cast doubt on Jesus. But she asked a question nobody was really asking at this point, "Could this be the Messiah?". Here we have a sexually immoral women who is a lot closer to the kingdom, than all of the religious leaders who thought they knew it all.
As Jesus said, "It is only those who know they are sick who need a doctor". Jesus, the Great Physician could only help those who knew needed a doctor. The woman with five husbands knew she was a sinner, but also knew she was accepted by a Jewish rabbi in public who knew everything about her.
31 Meanwhile his disciples urged him, “Rabbi, eat something.” 32 But he said to them, “I have food to eat that you know nothing about.” 33 Then his disciples said to each other, “Could someone have brought him food?” 34 “My food,” said Jesus, “is to do the will of him who sent me and to finish his work. 35 Don’t you have a saying, ‘It’s still four months until harvest’? I tell you, open your eyes and look at the fields! They are ripe for harvest. 36 Even now the one who reaps draws a wage and harvests a crop for eternal life, so that the sower and the reaper may be glad together. 37 Thus the saying ‘One sows and another reaps’ is true. 38 I sent you to reap what you have not worked for. Others have done the hard work, and you have reaped the benefits of their labor.”
Meanwhile his disciples were still focused on earthly things. They were worried about Jesus getting something to eat. Similar to how Jesus talked to the woman at the well about living water, Jesus now used food as a spiritual metaphor. Jesus said his "food he was to do the will of the Father",
The experience of countless others through the centuries has proved Jesus true in this statement. There is nothing more satisfying than doing the work of God, whatever that is for the particular believer. Though this is counter-intuitive and against our natural self-seeking, it is true. Guzik
“The man of the world thinks that, if he could have his own way, he would be perfectly happy, and his dream of happiness in this state or in the next is comprised in this, that his own wishes will be gratified, his own longings fulfilled, his own desires granted to him. This is all a mistake. A man will never be happy in this way.” (Spurgeon)
Many Samaritans Believe
39 Many of the Samaritans from that town believed in him because of the woman’s testimony, “He told me everything I ever did.” 40 So when the Samaritans came to him, they urged him to stay with them, and he stayed two days. 41 And because of his words many more became believers. 42 They said to the woman, “We no longer believe just because of what you said; now we have heard for ourselves, and we know that this man really is the Savior of the world.”
The Samaritan woman's testimony had a great effect. The people believed the woman's testimony but even more came to faith when Jesus came and preached to them. This was one of the first great spiritual harvests for Jesus. Again it is so ironic it happened among the Samaritans who the religious Jews hated.
Jesus took a risk talking to the Samaritan women and it paid off.
Do you realize like the Samaritan woman you can share your testimony that Jesus knows everything about you. The town knew this was an immoral woman, which made her testimony all the more compelling! Jesus can use ANYBODY to lead others to himself.
There is no clearer evidence of their belief in Jesus then when they say, "This man is really the Savior of the world."
They were some of the first person's to believe in Jesus as the Savior.
Jesus Heals an Official’s Son
43 After the two days he left for Galilee. 44 (Now Jesus himself had pointed out that a prophet has no honor in his own country.) 45 When he arrived in Galilee, the Galileans welcomed him. They had seen all that he had done in Jerusalem at the Passover Festival, for they also had been there. 46 Once more he visited Cana in Galilee, where he had turned the water into wine. And there was a certain royal official whose son lay sick at Capernaum. 47 When this man heard that Jesus had arrived in Galilee from Judea, he went to him and begged him to come and heal his son, who was close to death. 48 “Unless you people see signs and wonders,” Jesus told him, “you will never believe.” 49 The royal official said, “Sir, come down before my child dies.” 50 “Go,” Jesus replied, “your son will live.” The man took Jesus at his word and departed. 51 While he was still on the way, his servants met him with the news that his boy was living. 52 When he inquired as to the time when his son got better, they said to him, “Yesterday, at one in the afternoon, the fever left him.” 53 Then the father realized that this was the exact time at which Jesus had said to him, “Your son will live.” So he and his whole household believed. 54 This was the second sign Jesus performed after coming from Judea to Galilee.
The royal official was probably one of King Herod's officers. The Galileans welcomed him back and many had seen the first sign he had done in Cana. The royal official begged Jesus to heal his son who was near death. Jesus remarked that the people would only believe if they saw signs and wonders.
This is a little puzzling to me since many people in Samaria had just come to believe seemingly without any signs or wonders. It was natural for this man to ask Jesus to heals his son sick. After all who wouldn't ask for that seeing what Jesus has already done.
Jesus rebuked those who depended on signs and wonders before they would believe. It might seem that Jesus was harsh towards this man who wanted his son healed, but He encountered many in Galilee who were interested only in His miracles – He therefore questioned this man accordingly. - Guzik
“These words imply the contrast between the Samaritans, who believed because of His word, and the Jews who would not believe but through signs and prodigies.” (Alford)
Jesus simply told the man to go home and his son would live. On his way home his servants rushed to tell him that his son was alive. When the royal official asked what time, the men gave the exact time that Jesus had told him his son would live. As a result he and the man's household came to believe.
Since he was a royal official he would have been a person of influence. The was the second sign Jesus performed show that He was the Son of God, the Messiah.
Who do you have influence with? How will this help if you were to share the Gospel with them?
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