JOHN’S GOSPEL OF JESUS WITH SAMARITAN WOMAN!
Most believers connect Samaria with Jesus Christ because of two episodes in his life. The hostility against Samaritans continued well into the first century, so much so that devout Jews would actually go many miles out of their way to avoid traveling through that hated land.
On his way from Judea to Galilee, Jesus deliberately cut through Samaria, where he had the now-famous encounter with the woman at the well. That a Jewish man would talk to a woman was amazing; that he would talk to a Samaritan woman was unheard of. Jesus even revealed to her that he was the Messiah.
John’s Gospel tells us Jesus stayed two days more in that village and many Samaritans believed in him when they heard him preach. His reception was better there than in his home town of Nazareth.
John 4: 1-8
1 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.
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.)
As the Lord Jesus Christ was returning from Judea and Galilee, teaching, healing, feeding and preaching the Word of the God. Jesus has to pass through the place called Samaria; in fact the Jews were not supposed to talk with Samaritans because of their unclean traditions, Jesus stood by at the well of Samaria, which was once upon a time was a well of Jacob!
As Jesus sent his disciples to town to buy something to eat; Jesus in the afternoon was waiting upon the Jacob’s well to drink the water. And what He sees in the afternoon one Samaritan woman came to draw the water in the afternoon and Lord Jesus Christ asked her to give Him the water even knowing that she was from unclean tribe!
Now Samaritan woman asked Lord Jesus; how you can ask me water, when the Jews do not associate with the Samaritans. Lord Jesus said; if you would have known about the Gift I have for your (Gift of Salvation); I would have given to you the living water!
John 4:9-15 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)
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 asked that the well is deep and you have nothing to draw from the well; how could you give me the living water. Lord Jesus answered I have the living water and that is the Gift of Eternal Life and then you will not be thirsty again. Woman replied, Lord! Lord! Give me this living water so I do not have to come to draw the water again!
Then, the Lord Jesus said; call your husband; I have no husband, she replied. Lord Jesus said, you are right you have no husband, however, you have had five husbands and the man you are living with you is also not your husband. Woman said; I see you are a prophet
John 4:16-19 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.”
19 “Sir,” the woman said, “I can see that you are a prophet.
The Lord Jesus said it’s not Jews or Samaritans and where to worship, but the time is coming when true worshipers will worship in the Spirit & Truth. Jesus directed made the point clear that the location of worship is not nearly as important as the one whom we worship. Jesus knew that once the woman recognized him as the Messiah, her life choices would change as she was transformed into a person constantly refreshed with living water.
When Jesus said, “Salvation comes through the Jews,” he meant that only through the Jewish Messiah (Lord Jesus Christ) would the whole world find salvation. God had promised that through the Jewish people the whole earth would be blessed (Genesis 12:3). They had also predicted the Messiah’s coming. The woman at the well may have known of these passages and been expecting the Messiah, but she didn’t realize that she was talking to
. 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.”
The Disciples Re-join 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.
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?”
The nourishment Jesus was speaking of was his spiritual nourishment. His spiritual nourishment came from doing God’s will and, in this case, helping to bring his work of salvation to this woman. For us, it includes more than Bible study, prayer, and attending church. We are nourished not only by what we take in but also by what we give out for God. Later, Jesus referred to completing God’s work on earth (17:4)
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 labour.”
Many Samaritans Believed and (ACCEPTED LORD JESUS AS THEIR LORD and PERSONAL SAVIOUR)
The wages Jesus offers are the joy of working for him and seeing the harvest of believers. These wages come to planter and harvester alike because both find joy in seeing new believers come into Christ’s Kingdom. The statement “others had already done the work” (4:38) may refer to the Old Testament prophets and to John the Baptist, who paved the way for the Good News.
The Samaritan woman immediately shared her experience with others. Despite her reputation, many took her up on her invitation and came out to meet Jesus. Perhaps you have past sins that make you ashamed. But Jesus changes us. As people see these changes, they become curious. Use stories of your experiences, including your past mistakes, as opportunities to introduce others to the new life Jesus offers.
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.”
O loving Father God, we believe in our heart and confess with our mouth that Lord Jesus Christ is your risen son. Therefore, Come into my heart, Lord Jesus, and be my Saviour. Amen!