John 4:1-15
Chapter three and four of the book of John provide us with interesting contrasts into the ministry of Jesus Christ.
Chapter 3Chapter 4
It named the man that was seeking the Lord.
The man was a respected ruler, a man of rank.
The man was moral.
The man was Jewish.
He was knowledgeable about religion.
He came by night in secret.
He had a serious, respectful attitude.
There is no mention of the results of the meeting with Christ.
We hear of this man again later in the Bible.
An un-named woman was sought out by the Lord.
The woman was an outcast of society, lower in rank.
The woman was immoral.
The woman was a Samaritan and despised by the Jews.
The woman was ignorant.
Her meeting with Jesus took place by day out in the open.
She was flippant, hostile, a debater, and then she was respectful.
The results of the meeting are given.
She fades into the silence of history.
This chapter is a tremendous story about a woman who comes to a fork in the road of her life and makes the right decision to listen to the Lord and obey Him. The woman’s life is a picture of the condition and circumstances of people without Christ today. Perhaps, it is a picture of you.
I. THE DEPARTURE FROM JUDEA—4:1-3
The Pharisees were envious of John and Jesus’ ministry. They were eager to stir up a rivalry and controversy between the disciples of John and Jesus. Before they get started, Jesus leaves the area to diffuse the situation. Christ was not interested in a controversy over baptism. Notice that the disciples were made first, then they were baptized. Baptism is not the predominant element of Christianity; it is faith in Jesus Christ for salvation.
II. THE DIVINE APPOINTMENT—4:4-6
Israel was 120 miles from North to South. There were three main divisions in the land at this time. In the northern section was Galilee; in the southern region was Judea and in the central area was Samaria. The shortest route to Galilee was through Samaria. Another route to Galilee was through Perea which was east of the Jordan River. This trip was twice as long as the journey through Samaria. Perea was traveled often by the Jews because they hated the Samaritans. We will talk more of this hatred in a moment.
Jesus arrives at Sychar near a parcel of ground that Jacob purchased.
Genesis 33:18-19—… And Jacob came to Shalem, a city of Shechem, which is in the land of Canaan, when he came from Padan-aram; and pitched his tent before the city. [19] And he bought a parcel of a field, where he had spread his tent, at the hand of the children of Hamor, Shechem’s father, for an hundred pieces of money.
Jacob gave this area to Joseph.
Genesis 48:22—Moreover I have given to thee one portion above thy brethren, which I took out of the hand of the Amorite with my sword and with my bow.
The Hebrew word shekem {shek-em’} could be translated either as “mountain slope” or “shoulder; portion,” or even taken as the proper name “Shechem.” Jacob was giving Joseph either (1) one portion above his brothers, or (2) the mountain ridge he took from the Amorites, or (3) Shechem. The ambiguity actually allows for all three to be the referent. He could be referring to the land in Shechem he bought in Genesis 33.
As our story unfolds, we find that the Creator of the Nile, the Mississippi River, or the tiller of the Great Lakes, is thirsty. Jesus is exhausted, weary, tired, and rests at Jacob’s well. See the humanity of our Lord. Jesus was God and man.
As a man, He got tired and weary in His work. As God, He said, “Come unto me all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.”
As a man, Jesus got hungry. As God, He fed thousands with a little boy’s lunch.
As a man, Jesus got thirsty. As God, He gave men living water that would quench the thirst in their souls.
As a man, Jesus was tempted in all parts as we are today. As God, He was without sin.
As a man, Jesus slept. As God, He arose from His sleep and stilled a raging sea.
As a man, Jesus was carried by a ship. As God, He walked on the sea.
As a man, Jesus wept at Lazarus’ grave. As God, He raised Lazarus from the dead.
Jesus was the God man who is about to have a divine appointment at Jacob’s well with a woman who needed the living water of salvation. Jacob’s well still exists today. It is one of the deepest wells in Israel. In 1700, it was about 105 feet deep. In 1861, it was 75 feet deep because of all the pebbles that have been thrown into it by pilgrims. The well is about 71/2 feet in diameter and has been dug through solid rock. It is not a spring-fed well. Water seeps into the well. The well was located at a fork in the road with one road leading west and the other road heading northeast. The well is not located in Sychar. Sychar was on top of the hill. People walked down a rock path to this well which was a 45 minute trip one way.
At the fork, Jesus meets a woman who is at a fork in the road in her life and who needs the Lord. She is the reason for His journey through Samaria. She is why He MUST go through Samaria.
III. THE DISCUSSION WITH A WOMAN—4:7-12
A. The Confusion of the Woman
John 4:7-9—There cometh a woman of Samaria to draw water: Jesus saith unto her, Give me to drink. [8] (For his disciples were gone away unto the city to buy meat.) [9] Then saith the woman of Samaria unto him, How is it that thou, being a Jew, askest drink of me, which am a woman of Samaria? for the Jews have no dealings with the Samaritans.
It is the sixth hour of the day which means it is noon. The disciples have gone grocery shopping. This is not the usual time for getting water because it was the hot part of the day. This woman avoids the sneers and contempt of the other women in the area by coming at the hot part of the day. She is an immoral woman as we will see. Jesus has no way of getting the water out of the well. He asks her for a drink. Goatskin bottles with strings were used to draw water out of the wells.
When Jesus speaks to her, she is confused. She more or less says, “Are you talking to me? Why? I am a woman and a Samaritan.” By speaking to her, Jesus breaks the barriers of sex, race, and prejudice. The prejudices of that day prohibited public conversations between men and women, Jews and Samaritans. Jewish Rabbi’s would rather go thirsty than to violate this custom. Rabbi’s would not talk to their wives, daughters, or sisters in public. If he did do this, it would hurt his reputation. Jesus made Himself of no reputation. There is an important point we will make right here. Many Christians will not live for God or stand up for Him because they are worried about their reputation with the world. They are more concerned about their acceptance with the crowd than their acceptance and approval of Jesus Christ. Beloved, stop worrying about your reputation. The world is not worrying about it. You must realize you will never totally please the crowd you cater to.
The Jews had no dealings with the Samaritans. The word “dealings” means “to associate or use together.” The Jewish people would ask no favors of the Samaritan people. They were not to even use the same dishes or vessels that the Samaritans used. Rabbinic law stated that all Samaritan women were unclean. If you drank from the vessel of a Samaritan woman, you were ceremonially unclean. The Pharisees taught that no Samaritan would be raised in the resurrection. You can see the disdain the Jews had for these people. In fact, when the enemies of Jesus wanted to insult Him, they called Him a Samaritan.
John 8:48—Then answered the Jews, and said unto him, Say we not well that thou art a Samaritan, and hast a devil?
Why did the Jews have so much hatred for the Samaritans? What was the problem? Where did this hatred come from? The rivalry and hatred had been going on for over 450 years. In 720 b.c., the Assyrians conquered the northern ten tribes. The people were taken back to Assyria and the population in Israel was replaced with foreigners. Not all the Jews were taken captive. Some of the Jews intermarried with these foreigners and lost their racial purity. In fact, today a funeral is held if a Jew marries a Gentile.
In Ezra and Nehemiah’s day (450 b.c.), the Samaritan’s offered to help rebuild the walls, but their aid was rejected because they lost their Jewish heritage. The Samaritans turned bitter against the Jews because of this rejection. The bitterness continued to escalate. After the Temple was rebuilt, the son of Joiada the priest, Manasseh, married the daughter of the Persian governor of Samaria, Sanballat. Manasseh was thrown out of Jerusalem by Nehemiah. Sanballat makes Manasseh the High Priest of the Samaritans. He gets permission from Alexander the Great to build a temple on top of Mount Gerizim (332 b.c.), the mountain referred to in this chapter. The temple stood for 200 years.
The Samaritans taught that Adam was made from the dust of Mount Gerizim. They taught that Noah’s first sacrifice was made on Gerizim after the Flood. They also taught that Abraham offered up Isaac on Gerizim. They also claimed that Jacob’s vision of the ladder and the appearance of Melchizidek to Abraham was on Gerizim.
Through the years, the hostility continued to escalate. In 129 b.c. a Jewish general, John Hyrcanus destroyed the Samaritan temple. In the time of Jesus, the hatred was still very intense. Because of the hatred and hostility between Jews and Samaritans, the woman at the well was confused when Jesus spoke to her.
B. The Curiosity of the Woman is Aroused
John 4:10-12Jesus answered and said unto her, If thou knewest the gift of God, and who it is that saith to thee, Give me to drink; thou wouldest have asked of him, and he would have given thee living water. [11] The woman saith unto him, Sir, thou hast nothing to draw with, and the well is deep: from whence then hast thou that living water? [12] Art thou greater than our father Jacob, which gave us the well, and drank thereof himself, and his children, and his cattle?
There were three things that provoked her curiosity.
Who is He?
What is the gift of God?
What is living water and how do I get it?
Notice the change in the woman’s attitude. It becomes more respectful. She refers to Jesus as a Jew in verse nine and as “Sir” in verse eleven. She also thinks that Jesus is talking about real spring-fed water. She doesn’t understand yet what Jesus is talking about.
2 Corinthians 4:4—In whom the god of this world hath blinded the minds of them which believe not, lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine unto them.
1 Corinthians 2:14—But the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned.
IV. THE DRINK THAT SATISFIES—4:13-15
It is worth our attention that the two occurrences of the word “drinketh” in our text are actually in two different verb forms. The construction used in Greek implies a continual, habitual drinking in the first case (vs. 13), but a one time action in the second (vs. 14). Likewise, while the woman referred to a “well” (v. 12) (literally “a hole in the ground”), Christ referred to a “flowing well” or “spring,” using a different word (vs. 14).
Furthermore, when Jesus said one who drinks from His spring shall “never thirst,” He said so in a very emphatic way. Not only is the word emphasized by the sentence structure, but in the Greek text it is compiled of two negatives preceding the verb “thirst,” which is further strengthened by the word “everlasting.” Jesus spoke of the thirst for the soul quenched by living water. It was a common spiritual term for salvation.
Psalm 42:1—As the hart panteth after the water brooks, so panteth my soul after thee, O God.
Isaiah 55:1—Ho, every one that thirsteth, come ye to the waters, and he that hath no money; come ye, buy, and eat; yea, come, buy wine and milk without money and without price.
Isaiah 12:3—Therefore with joy shall ye draw water out of the wells of salvation.
Revelation 7:17—For the Lamb which is in the midst of the throne shall feed them, and shall lead them unto living fountains of waters: and God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes.
Revelation 21:6—And he said unto me, It is done. I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end. I will give unto him that is athirst of the fountain of the water of life freely.
Life is found in the Lord Jesus Christ. He is the Bread of Life and the Light of the world.
John 6:48—I am that bread of life.
John 8:12—Then spake Jesus again unto them, saying, I am the light of the world: he that followeth me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life.
Water is a picture of Christ’s salvation.
It is a gift from God. Man cannot create it.
It is indispensable. We can’t live without it. It is a necessity.
It meets a universal need. All need it and all men need salvation.
It first descends from the heavens; it is not a product of the earth. Salvation is from the Lord.
It is a blessing to our life. It quenches our thirst, refreshes and satisfies us. Salvation does the same thing for us.
We never tire of it. The Christian never tires of being saved. Have you met Christ at the fork in the road of your life?
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