"Using Scripture To Avoid Truth" John 4:1-15

Jesus resting on the curb of the historic well at Sychar in the hostile Samaritan country! A lone woman comes with her waterpot. The Son of God finds no rest, for He reads the degradation and shame, the agony, the unspoken and even the unconscious longings of every human heart. Every approaching footstep is a call for help. The scenes of this early ministry might be given the caption: "Facing Difficult Situations." Jesus in His Father’s house, which is filled with corruption, faces the leaders of the nation who are responsible for its management. The great Teacher meets the questions of one of Israel’s scholars concerning Himself and His kingdom. The Saviour finds, by a lonely wayside well, a Samaritan woman of fascinating personality, but questionable past, and reaches out to save a lost soul.

Jesus has been campaigning in Judaea for some eight months. The death struggle which immediately develops from His public condemnation of the Jerusalem hierarchy at the Passover causes the capital to hesitate, but when Jesus moves out into Judaea His movement begins to develop momentum. The excited throngs following Jesus begin to exceed those about John the Baptist. This is no longer a secondary movement. John has hurled his thunder-bolts at the Pharisees and Sadducees from his desert pulpit, but Jesus comes into the temple and casts down His challenge. And He proceeds to campaign intensively in the territory about the capital. Excitement grows apace. The hierarchy now perceives a real peril. During the Passover, Christ "did not trust himself" to all who believed on Him, for "he knew all men." And now, "when the Lord knew that the Pharisees had heard that Jesus was making and baptizing more disciples than John. . he left Judaea and departed again into Galilee." Are they already plotting to assassinate Him? If He remains here, at any rate, His ministry will come quickly to its final crisis at the cross. He must preach to the rest of the nation before this comes to pass. Whenever the excitement began to reach fever heat, Jesus usually changed His location and started a revival in some other locality. The people were so intent on a Messiah who would lead them in battle against the Roman legions that excitement had to be kept within bounds while He broke down their false conceptions of the Christ and taught them the spiritual character of the kingdom. Political revolution and bloodshed, never very far beneath the surface in Judaea during the Roman occupation, must be restrained.

Beginning with His cleansing of the temple at Jerusalem (John 2:13-22), including a considerable public ministry in the environs of Jerusalem and ending with the Lord's departure into Galilee, a period of approximately 8-9 months have transpired. "And he must needs pass through Samaria." Why so? Because of the enforced exit from Judaea, He must go on north through Samaria, or else go back through the capital with its seething plots. Or must He go through Samaria because it is God’s will that this benighted people shall now hear something of the good news? The disciples will be warned later not to take this triumphant campaign at Sychar as warranting a general evangelistic movement in Samaria during His ministry. They must concentrate on Israel, for the time is short (Matt. 10:5). But the Samaritans shall at least hear the Christ these few days; and when, after Pentecost, Philip will come here with the gospel, the good seed sown years before will blossom forth into a glorious harvest.

Here is a third reason Jesus made the move from Judea to Galilee. He is likely avoiding an imminent confrontation with the Pharisees. Jesus’ popularity is swelling (John 3:26). The crowds are growing, even more than they had for John. This irritated the competitive, jealous spirits of the Pharisees (cf. Mt 27:18). "The influence of the Pharisees was far greater in Judea than in Galilee, and the Sanhedrin would readily have arrested Jesus had he remained in Judea (Jn 7:1; 10:39)" (McGarvey, p. 140). Furthermore, with the arrest of John (Mt 4:12; Mk 1:14), Jesus is the sole target both of the Pharisees’ aggression and the disciples’ devotion.

Meanwhile, Jesus is practicing immersion. This is obviously not Christian baptism since Jesus has neither died nor risen again (cf. Rom 6:1-6). It is simply the continuation of John’s baptism for remission of sins (Mk 1:4) as the entrance into the kingdom (Jn 3:5). But for now, it marks those who are willing to become like children (Lk 18:16-17) and be born again (Jn 3:5).

In a typical parenthetical comment (cf. Jn 3:24; 4:8,9b), we learn that Jesus delegates the baptismal act to his disciples (Jn 4:2). This would avoid the very controversy which later embroiled Paul in 1 Corinthians 1:14-17.

"The Pharisees heard that Jesus was gaining and baptizing more disciples than John, {2} although in fact it was not Jesus who baptized, but his disciples. {3} When the Lord learned of this, 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 the sixth hour."

In many ways, the encounter with this woman stands in comparison/contrast with Jesus’ interview with Nicodemus. She was an outsider, he was an insider. He was prestigious, she was an outcast. She was ignoble, he was held in honor. The similarity of both, however, is their eager expectation of the coming Messiah. In the remainder of this chapter, John will lay out three important themes: Living Water, True Worship, and Gentile Inclusion. All three of these find their fulfillment in the person of Jesus.

We would also do well to pay attention to the "water" talk thus far in John. In chapter 1 John used water for baptism of repentance as entrance into the kingdom. In chapter 2 Jesus turned the water in the purification jars into wine, a potential foreshadowing of the new kingdom he was inaugurating. In chapter three Jesus told Nicodemus that he must be born again of water and the Holy Spirit. And now, at the well of Samaria, Jesus offers himself, the living water, to this Samaritan woman.

Let us set the scene of this incident. Palestine is only 120 miles long from north to south. But within that 120 miles there were in the time of Jesus three definite divisions of territory:

- in the extreme north lay Galilee

- in the extreme south lay Judea

- in between lay Samaria

Jesus did not wish at this stage of his ministry to be involved in a controversy about baptism, so he decided to transfer His operations to Galilee. But Jesus also had the underlying compulsion of the Divine Will that sought out the lost "Samaritan sheep." There was a soul to win!

This ministry among the Samaritans stands distinctly apart from the regular current of Christ’s labors. He did not attempt a ministry to the Gentiles. Only twice is it recorded that He was outside of Palestine—once when, as an infant, He was taken to Egypt and, again, when He visited the Phoenician territory seeking retirement. We wonder if the Jerusalem leaders heard of this work in Sychar and what they thought of it. They accused Him of being a Samaritan in one of the heated exchanges which occurred later (John 8:48). Did this charge arise out of this association with them?

The Samaritans were a hybrid race which had arisen out of the intermarriage of the remnants of the ten tribes left in Israel with the colonies of heathen nations brought in when Samaria fell (722 b.c.) before the assaults of the Syrians in the reign of Shalmaneser. The Assyrians skimmed the cream off Israel and deported the intellectual and political leaders of the nation. They were scattered in groups over the Assyrian Empire, and the feebler elements of the nation who were left in Israel intermarried with the colonies of heathen among them, and lost their identity. It is uncertain as to what the attitude of the Samaritans was toward the Old Testament—as to how far they accepted and attempted to follow it. The bitter hostility between Jew and Samaritan began during the reconstruction of Jerusalem (Ezra 4ff.; Nehemiah 4ff.), and continued until the destruction of the Jewish nation by the Romans in the first and second centuries a.d. The action of the Samaritan village which refused to allow Jesus to spend the night was typical, although another village seems to have received Him (Luke 9:51-56). His reception at Sychar was achieved through the help of the woman He met at the well.

By the time the Jews returned to Jerusalem to rebuild the Temple and the walls of Jerusalem, Ezra and Nehemiah refused to let the Samaritans share in the experience (Ezra 4:1-3; Neh. 4:7). The old antagonism between Israel to the north and Judah to the south intensified the quarrel.

The Jewish inhabitants of Samaria identified Mount Gerizim as the chosen place of God and the only center of worship, calling it the "navel of the earth" because of a tradition that Adam sacrificed there. Their scriptures were limited to the Pentateuch, the first five books of the Bible.

Moses was regarded as the only prophet and intercessor in the final judgment. They also believed that 6,000 years after creation, a Restorer would arise and would live on earth for 110 years. On the Judgment Day, the righteous would be resurrected in paradise and the wicked roasted in eternal fire.

In the days of Christ, the relationship between the Jews and the Samaritans was greatly strained (Luke 9:52-54; 10:25-37; 17:11-19; John 8:48). The animosity was so great that the Jews bypassed Samaria as they traveled between Galilee and Judea.

They went an extra distance through the barren land of Perea on the eastern side of the Jordan to avoid going through Samaria. Yet Jesus rebuked His disciples for their hostility to the Samaritans (Luke 9:55-56), healed a Samaritan leper (Luke 17:16), honored a Samaritan for his neighborliness (Luke 10:30-37), praised a Samaritan for his gratitude (Luke 17:11-18), asked a drink of a Samaritan woman (John 4:7), and preached to the Samaritans (John 4:40-42). Then in Acts 1:8, Jesus challenged His disciples to witness in Samaria. Philip, a deacon, opened a mission in Samaria (Acts 8:5).

A small Samaritan community continues to this day to follow the traditional worship near Shechem. There was a century-old feud between the Jews and the Samaritans; but the quickest way from Judea to Galilee was through Samaria (the alternate route would take twice as long). As one approached Samaria, the town of Sychar; just short of Sychar the road to Samaria forks...and at this fork of the road stands to this day the well known as Jacob's well:

- Jacob bought the ground in Genesis 33:18-19

- Jacob, at his deathbed, had bequested to land to Joseph (Gen. 48:22)

- On Joseph's death in Egypt, his body had been taken back to Palestine and buried there (Joshua 24:32)

Nearly all archaeologists and scholars today can point to a definite place and say with certainty "Jesus sat on these stones."

The sixth hour was midday. The Jewish day runs from 6 a.m. to 6 p.m. and the sixth hour was 12 o'clock. The heat was at its greatest and Jesus was weary and thirsty from His travels.

The Samaritans were a "mongrel" or "mixed" race grown up in Samaria from the importation of Assyrians after the deporting of the Israelites from the land after a defeat in battle, around 722 B.C. Imported Assyrians married within the poorer classes of Israelites, offering only formal worship to God while worshipping the gods of Assyria.

When the Jews were allowed to return to their homelands, 51 years later, by decree by Cyrus, the Samaritans asked to aid in rebuilding and restoring the temple...but were refused.

They were regarded as enemies and the Jews would not eat, drink, or engage in social activities with them, though they did trade with them. To make matters worse, the Samaritans could not trace their genealogy, which placed an even greater to the genealogy-conscious Jews (see 8:48).

The character of this woman emerges in general outline from a study of the conversation. She gives evidence of remarkable brilliance of intellect. The avidity with which she followed the subtle argument of Jesus and the swift, skillful turns which she occasionally gave to the conversation reveal mental acumen. An outcast by race and shut out from educational advantages by virtue of being a woman, she shows amazing ability to struggle for comprehension of the deeper meanings of Jesus, and shrewd intuition in arriving at the truth. Her past life seems to have shown disregard for the law of God and for social conventions, although the Old Testament gave utter freedom of divorce (Matt. 19:3-9; Mark 10:2-12). In this conversation Jesus was either seeking to set up the higher standard of divorce for the cause of adultery alone, or else the whole history of her life would not bear investigation. Undoubtedly both of these underlie the conversation. The woman’s conscience was not entirely hardened. Her sense of spiritual need was quickly awakened. John has chosen to record, out of the multitude of incidents of this early ministry, conversation with two striking individuals—the Jerusalem scholar and the woman of Sychar—and in each case great principles of Jesus’ teaching were revealed.

As the woman approaches with her waterpot, self-sufficient and carefree, possibly humming a melody as she walks, Jesus sits at rest on the curb. It is a most embarrassing situation. Jew and Samaritan! A lone man and a woman—strangers—at a well! And such a woman! Will He stoop to friendly conversation with such a person? A vast chasm of social and religious prejudice separates them. "For Jews have no dealings with the Samaritans" is the succinct explanation which John inserts into his narrative so that his Gentile readers will understand the dramatic possibilities of the situation. The amazement of the disciples on their return that he was speaking with a woman" is suggestive of the fact that Jesus has also overstepped the social customs. "Never speak to a woman on the street," and "Burn the words of the law rather than teach them to a woman are Jewish maxims which reveal the ancient degradation of woman even in Israel. How can Jesus cross such a chasm? What can He say which will give no offense to the woman, or which will not be misunderstood and draw a flippant reply? Jesus flings the bridge of human need across the chasm. What would this world be like but for the call of human suffering? How selfish and cruel we would all grow if we heard no appeals for help. The tact of Jesus is consummate. "Give me to drink." She could take no offense at that. She could not misunderstand it. She might churlishly refuse it or she might grant it in contemptuous silence. Either course would thwart the purpose of the Master. But the woman is so impressed by His personality and so amazed at His friendly words that she neither refuses nor grants His request, but utters a quick reply that is half protest and half question

- He began on the ground of her kindness...she saw Jesus as a Jew (vs. 7-9).

"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.)"

This woman was everything that Nicodemus was not:

- he was a Jew; she was a Samaritan

- He was a man; she was a woman

- He was learned; she was ignorant

- He was morally upright; she was sinful

- He was wealthy and from the upper class of society; she was poor, and probably an outcast

- He recognized Jesus' merits and sought Him out; she saw Him as a curious traveler and was quite indifferent to Him initially

- He was serious and dignified; she was flippant and possibly boisterous

A Rabbi could not speak to a woman in public--not even his own wife or daughter! There were several different kinds of Pharisees. One of the groups was called the "bruised and bleeding" Pharisees because they closed their eyes when they saw a woman approaching and would then walk into walls, houses, etc., and hurting themselves. They were bruised and bleeding because they were always running into things to avoid seeing a woman in public!

She responded to Jesus but couldn't resist the opportunity to apparently "have some fun" with Him. In essence she said: "We Samaritans are to you the scum of the earth, but we will serve well enough when you are thirsty."

- Jesus took no offense..and appealed to her curiosity (vs. 10-12).

"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 flocks and herds?"

Like all good personal workers, Jesus refused to get involved with needless discussion. She was doing what many people do when truth comes into the picture...she was using "scripture (her beliefs, etc.) to avoid truth." Her reference in verses 11-12 showed that the wall was broken down and she was ready for serious conversation.

The Samaritans claimed descent from Jacob through Joseph and the tribes of Ephraim and Manasseh.

- Jesus appealed to her desire for physical satisfaction...she saw Jesus as greater than Jacob (vs. 13-15)

"Jesus answered, "Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again, {14} but whoever drinks the water I give him will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give him will become in him 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."

She did not realize Jesus was speaking of spiritual things. To her, His promise was a gratification of common human laziness. She made the mistake great crowds made later in John 6:26: she sought Jesus for the physical good she could get from Him, not the signs.

- Jesus appealed to her ambition (vs. 16).

"He told her, "Go, call your husband and come back."

If she wanted badly enough what He had to offer, she would be willing to exert herself to obtain it. It would require a walk of a mile in the hot sun with only the word of a stranger to make it worthwhile. But the command had a double edge for it cut sharply at her heart: she must disclose some of her personal life. Her reply: "I'm not ready for that, least of all an investigation by a Jew."

Why would Jesus now ask her to go call her husband? Is Jesus calling her to submit to her husband’s spiritual leadership? Is he calling her to repent of her sinfulness? Is he allowing the reader to understand his love for the sinful? Is he seizing the opportunity to demonstrate his omniscience?

Whatever his motives [we understand here the tenuous nature of psychoanalyzing a historical figure], Jesus effectively grabs her attention and draws her to himself. Because Jesus knew her previous life, she was convinced that he could deliver on this living water stuff.

Very abrupt is the woman’s answer. She, who has been so very talkative (note 4:11, 12, 15), suddenly becomes close-mouthed. It is interesting to count the number of words in her various replies: according to the Greek in verse nine she uses 11 words … in verse fifteen, 13 words … in verses eleven and twelve, 42 words … but in verse seventeen, only 3 words: "not I-have husband" (Hendriksen, p. 164).

Jesus apparently hit a sensitive button. Then he calls further attention to it by placing the word "husband" at the beginning of the sentence, giving it an extra punch.

It is not so surprising that she has had five husbands. Divorce was especially common among the Romans of the day who generally kept a wife at home and a mistress for social events. Even the Jews, following the liberal teachings of Hillel, divorced their wives with alarming regularity. Hillel even permitted divorce "if she burnt his dinner while cooking." The Samaritan ethic of marriage was likely somewhere in between that of the Romans and that of the Jews.

"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. {20} Our fathers worshiped on this mountain, but you Jews claim that the place where we must worship is in Jerusalem."

Jesus turned her life inside out before her very eyes! It shocked her and put her on the defensive. It's been accurately observed that "like many others whose moral position is challenged, she took refuge in arguing impersonally about religion. She used "religion" to avoid truth!"

Jesus, by His power to search her heart and reveal her past sins, has revealed her sin and made her desirous of righteousness and also manifested, to some extent, His omniscient and divine nature, and thus provided the way to righteousness.

Her response in verse 20 had to do with a long-standing fight between the Jews and the Samaritans. This was a "hot-button" for her people.

According to the Jews, Jerusalem was the only God-ordained place of worship (Deut 12:5-11; 1 Kgs 9:3; 2 Chr 3:1). According to the Samaritans it was Gerizim. The Samaritans taught that Adam was created from the dust of Mount Gerizim, that the flood never covered it, that the ark came to rest there, and that Jacob wrestled with the angel there. They also felt that Abraham offered Isaac on Gerizim.

Their ancestors had worshipped there since the time of Nehemiah and a temple had been erected long before. It was so holy to them that the Samaritans could not conceive of worship anywhere else! We also need to realize that the Samaritans recognized only the first five books of the Old Testament, the Pentateuch, as authoritative.

How could they know of the prophetic promises concerning salvation from the Jews through God's suffering Servant?

Because he was a Jew, she assumed that Jesus would "fight" that Mount Moriah in Jerusalem was the acceptable place; she sought to involve him in this age-long controversy.

Jesus skillfully dealt with both the controversial issue and the deeper personal need concealed behind it ( was a sensitive issue, and He spoke only the truth).

We might stop here and ask why did she believe all this, with no scriptural basis? Because it was tradition. Her fathers and grandfathers had always believed this..and she did as well.

- Jesus appealed to her religious sense...she recognized him as the Christ (vs. 21-25).

"Jesus declared, "Believe me, woman, 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 spirit and truth, for they are the kind of worshipers the Father seeks. {24} God is spirit, and his worshipers must worship in 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."

Jesus begins with a tremendous statement: "Salvation is from the Jews." He made no concession to her position, and He was blunt. But He also very quickly made the matter not of time or space, but of the heart.

God is spirit, and not confined to things or places. And here reply showed a measure of sincerity in her heart. They revealed both hope and ignorance.

Both Jews and Samaritans erred in thinking that worship was a specific deed done with the body at a certain locale rather than a heart bent on knowing and loving God. Jesus now introduces a new relationship with God (Jer 31:31-34; Heb 8:8-12), where the Spirit of God and the spirit of man commingle (1 Cor 2:10-14; 6:19).

Indeed, salvation is from the Jews: Psalm 147:19-20; Isaiah 2:3; Amos 3:2; Micah 4:1-2; Romans 3:1-2; 9:3-5, 18. A time is coming quickly, however, when the temple veil will be torn asunder (Mt 27:51), and salvation will be for all peoples (Acts 10:34-35). The emphasis will shift from the place to a person. The people of God will realize that God does not need a temple built with human hands (Acts 7:48; 17:24).

"God is Spirit." Theology flows from the lips of Jesus in simple chunks that children can get a hold of but that theologians cannot fathom. Such is this little nugget of truth. It answers so many questions about the nature of God and yet leads us to just as many more.

- Jesus appealed to her faith (vs. 26).

"Then Jesus declared, "I who speak to you am he."

Hearing His words created faith in her heart, but, then, that's what Paul said would happen in Romans 10:17: "Consequently, faith comes from hearing the message, and the message is heard through the word of Christ."

Jesus wasted no words: He revealed Himself more openly to her than He had even to Nicodemus. In this one instance Jesus had overcome the woman's indifference, materialism, selfishness, moral turpitude, and religious prejudice, ignorance, and indefiniteness.

She doesn’t know how to respond to Jesus. He has her pinned. So she just blows it off saying, "Well, the Messiah will make it all clear to us." So Jesus said: "Lady, I am the Messiah." It would be another two years before Jesus is this clear again about his identity (Mt 16:16-18). He knows the Samaritans are not going to force him to be a political Messiah (cf. Jn 6:15). Furthermore, since he is only going to be there for two days he is able to be a bit more forward. The Samaritans did, indeed, have a high Messianic expectation (Acts 8:9; Josephus, Antiquities of the Jews 18. 85), as is evidenced by their response.

"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 Christ?" " They came out of the town and made their way toward him."

These verses reveal to us the consciousness Jesus had of His mission and verse 30 implies that the people from the town were not skeptical but were looking for the Deliverer. Her leaving the water pots indicated her excitement and plans to come back.

Note the lessons, or steps here:

- The experience to face herself and see herself as she really was. It was similar to Peter when he caught the many fish in Luke 5:8: "When Simon Peter saw this, he fell at Jesus' knees and said, "Go away from me, Lord; I am a sinful man!"

- She staggered at Christ’s ability to see into her heart. He is like the surgeon who sees the evil and diseased, and takes it away.

‘Her first instinct? To share her discovery? "First to find, then find, then to tell" are two great steps of the Christian life.

"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"

The disciples also got involved with the physical, rather than the spiritual. They couldn't figure out why Jesus was not hungry and thirsty.

"I know that Messiah cometh: when he is come, he will declare unto us all things." This is the inevitable outcome of the conversation. He has risen above the need of help from Jacob’s well, and offered living water; He has revealed miraculous insight into her unworthy past, and has condemned it; He has even dared to claim superiority to the Old Testament itself, and authority to reveal a new dispensation of God. Her amazement and awe at His words burst forth in this puzzled declaration: "Messiah cometh."

"I that speak unto thee am he." The brevity, simplicity, and majesty of this revelation baffle description. And just as the climax of the conversation has been reached, the disciples come trooping tip with provisions. What a situation! "They marveled that he was speaking with a woman. But their reverence and loving devotion to Jesus surmount even this surprise, and they do not utter a word of criticism or question. Do they eye the woman with sidelong glances? Although thirsting for more of this living water, she perceives the conversation is not to continue now. The recollection of the command, "Go call thy husband, and come hither," sends her flying to carry the wonderful news to Sychar. She will hear more of the wonderful news and she will share it with all her fellow-townsmen. Someone has called the waterpot left on the well-curb "the unconscious pledge of her return." It is also the mute token of her new interest in a higher life. She came with a waterpot seeking water from Jacob’s well. When she left, her waterpot was forgotten. She is now consumed with thirst for living water. Her exaggerated tribute to His power to read the human heart is natural. She felt He could tell all things she had done. The news sets the village afire. All work is abandoned as they start forth toward Jacob’s well.

"In the meanwhile the disciples prayed him, saying, Rabbi, eat." The meal has been spread upon the ground. The disciples take their places, and turn to see Jesus still sitting in silent abstraction on the well-curb. They are all weary and hungry. Why does He not join them? They know His need of food and rest if He is to bear the staggering load of such evangelistic labors. They will not begin without Him. Dare they interrupt His meditations? There is a very deep pathos in the simple appeal: "Master, eat." The reply of Jesus, "I have meat to eat that ye know not," sets them whispering across their improvised table: "Hath any man brought him aught to eat?" The consuming desire of Jesus to save lost souls received immortal expression in His response: "My meat is to do the will of him that sent me, and to accomplish his work." Then, with a gesture toward the green fields of grain, He cites four months till the harvest in April, and with another gesture toward the Samaritans pouring out of Sychar on the road to the well, He indicates a harvest-field that is ripe and ready for the gospel reapers. The impetuous and vehement testimony of the woman won the whole village to an excited investigation, and a two-day ministry of Jesus in their midst confirmed their faith in Him as the Christ. The isolation of Samaria permitted this open declaration of Himself as the Messiah. In the Galilean ministry which followed, Jesus was compelled to pursue a more guarded revelation of Himself because the Messianic movement among the Jews threatened to stir undue excitement and lead off in the direction of war with Rome. But a more extended evangelization of Samaria was not advisable at this time, for it would have so aroused the resentment of the Jews that a further ministry among them would not have been possible.

SHARING THE WONDER

There is little wonder that the disciples were in a state of bewildered amazement when they returned from their errand to the town of Sychar and found Jesus talking to the Samaritan woman. We have already seen the Jewish idea of women. The Rabbinic precept ran: "Let no one talk with a woman in the street, no, not with his own wife." The Rabbis so despised women and so thought them incapable of receiving any real teaching that they said: "Better that the words of the law should be burned than deliver to women." They had a saying: "Each time that a man prolongs converse with a woman he causes evil to himself, and desists from the law, and in the end inherits Gehinnom." By Rabbinic standards Jesus could hardly have done a more shatteringly unconventional thing than to talk to this woman. Here is Jesus taking the barriers down.

There follows a curiously revealing touch. It is the kind which could hardly have come from anyone except from one who had actually shared in this scene. However staggered the disciples might be, it did not occur to them to ask the woman what she was looking for or to ask Jesus why he was talking to her. They were beginning to know him; and they had already arrived at the conclusion that, however surprising his actions were, they were not to be questioned. A man has taken a great step to real discipleship when he learns to say: "It is not for me to question the actions and the demands of Jesus. My prejudices and my conventions must go down before them."

By this time the woman was on her way back to the village without her water-pot. The fact that she left her water-pot showed two things. It showed that she was in a hurry to share this extraordinary experience, and it showed that she never dreamed of doing anything else but come back. Her whole action has much to tell us of real Christian experience.

(i) Her experience began with being compelled to face herself and to see herself as she was. The same thing happened to Peter. After the draft of fishes, when Peter suddenly discovered something of the majesty of Jesus, all he could say was: "Depart from me; for I am a sinful man, O Lord" (Luke 5:8). Our Christian experience will often begin with a humiliating wave of self-disgust. It usually happens that the last thing a man sees is himself. And it often happens that the first thing Christ does for a man is to compel him to do what he has spent his life refusing to do-look at himself.

(ii) The Samaritan woman was staggered by Christ's ability to see into her inmost being. She was amazed at his intimate knowledge of the human heart, and of her heart in particular. The Psalmist was awed by that same thought. "Thou discernest my thoughts from afar.... Even before a word is on my tongue, lo, O Lord, thou knowest it altogether" (Psalm 139:1-4). It is told that once a small girl heard a sermon by C. H. Spurgeon, and whispered to her mother at the end of it: "Mother, how does he know what goes on in our house?" There are no wrappings and disguises which are proof against the gaze of Christ. It is his power to see into the depths of the human heart. It is not that he sees only the evil there; he sees also the sleeping hero in the soul of every man. He is like the surgeon who sees the diseased thing, but who also sees the health which will follow when the evil thing is taken away.

(iii) The first instinct of the Samaritan woman was to share her discovery. Having found this amazing person, she was compelled to share her find with others. The Christian life is based on the twin pillars of discovery and communication. No discovery is complete until the desire to share it fills our hearts; and we cannot communicate Christ to others until we have discovered him for ourselves. First to find, then to tell, are the two great steps of the Christian life.

(iv) This very desire to tell others of her discovery killed in this woman the feeling of shame. She was no doubt an outcast; she was no doubt a byword; the very fact that she was drawing water from this distant well shows how she avoided her neighbours and how they avoided her. But now she ran to tell them of her discovery. A person may have some trouble which he is embarrassed to mention and which he tries to keep secret, but once he is cured he is often so filled with wonder and gratitude that he tells everyone about it. A man may hide his sin; but once he discovers Jesus Christ as Saviour, his first instinct is to say to men: "Look at what I was and look at what I am; this is what Christ has done for me."

THE MOST SATISFYING FOOD

This passage follows the normal pattern of the conversations of the Fourth Gospel. Jesus says something which is misunderstood. He says something which has a spiritual meaning. It is at first taken with an uncomprehending literalism and then slowly he unfolds the meaning until it is grasped and realized. It is exactly the same as Jesus did when he talked to Nicodemus about being born again, and when he talked to the woman about the water which quenched the thirst of the heart for ever.

By this time the disciples had come back with food, and they asked Jesus to eat. They had left him so tired and exhausted that they were worried that he did not seem to want to eat any of the provisions which they had brought back. It is strange how a great task can lift a man above and beyond bodily needs. All his life Wilberforce, who freed the slaves, was a little, insignificant, ailing creature. When he rose to address the House of Commons, the members at first used to smile at this queer little figure; but as the fire and the power came from the man, they used to crowd the benches whenever he rose to speak. As it was put: "The little minnow became a whale." His message, his task, the flame of truth and the dynamic of power conquered his physical weakness. There is a picture of John Knox preaching in his old age. He was a done old man; he was so weak that he had to be half lifted up the pulpit steps and left supporting himself on the book-board; but before he had long begun his sermon the voice had regained its old trumpet-call and he was like "to ding the pulpit into blads (to knock the pulpit into splinters) and leap out of it." The message filled the man with a kind of supernatural strength.

Jesus's answer to his disciples was that he had food of which they knew nothing. In their simplicity they wondered if someone had brought him food to eat. Then he told them: "My food is to do the will of him who sent me."

The great keynote of Jesus's life is submission to the will of God. His uniqueness lies in the very fact that he was the only person who ever was or who ever will be perfectly obedient to God's will. It can be truly said that Jesus is the only person in all the world who never did what he liked but always what God liked.

He was God-sent. Again and again the Fourth Gospel speaks of Jesus being sent by God. There are two Greek words used in the Fourth Gospel for this sending. There is apostellein which is used seventeen times and pempein which is used twenty-seven times. That is to say, no fewer than forty-four times the Fourth Gospel speaks, or shows us Jesus speaking, about his being sent by God. Jesus was one who was under orders. He was God's man.

Then once Jesus had come, again and again he spoke of the work that was given him to do. In John 5:36 he speaks of the works which his Father has given him to do. In 17:4 his only claim is that he has finished the work his Father gave him to do. When he speaks of taking up and laying down his life, of living and of dying, he says: "This commandment have I received of my Father" (10:18). He speaks continually, as he speaks here, of the will of God. "I have come down from heaven," he says, "not to do my own will, but the will of him who sent me" (6:38). "I always do," he says, "what is pleasing to him" (8:29). In 14:23 he lays it down, out of his personal experience and on his personal example, that the only proof of love lies in the keeping of the commandments of the one a man claims to love. This obedience of Jesus was not as it is with us, a spasmodic thing. It was the very essence and being, the mainspring and the core, the dynamic and the moving power of his life.

It is his great desire that we should be as he was.

(i) To do the will of God is the only way to peace. There can be no peace when we are at variance with the king of the universe.

(ii) To do the will of God is the only way to happiness. There can be no happiness when we set our human ignorance against the divine wisdom of God.

(iii) To do the will of God is the only way to power. When we go our own way, we have nothing to call on but our own power, and therefore collapse is inevitable. When we go God's way, we go in his power, and therefore victory is secure.

- Jesus had two main objectives in His ministry:

1. He came to do the will of His Father. Never did He deviate from that mission.

2. He came to finish the work on this earth. It did not mean to finish all that could be done...but to consummate the work of salvation.

"Do you not say, 'Four months more and then the harvest'? I tell you, open your eyes and look at the fields! They are ripe for harvest. {36} Even now the reaper draws his wages, even now he harvests the 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." {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."

All this that was happening in Samaria had given Jesus a vision of a world to be harvested for God. When he said: "Four months, and the harvest will come," we are not to think that he was speaking of the actual time of year that it was in Samaria at that time. If that were so, it would have been somewhere round about January. There would have been no exhausting heat; and there would have been no scarcity of water. One would not have needed a well to find water; it would have been the rainy season, and there would have been plenty of water.

What Jesus is doing is quoting a proverb. The Jews had a sixfold division of the agricultural year. Each division was held to last two months-seedtime, winter, spring, harvest, summer and the season of extreme heat. Jesus is saying: "You have got a proverb; if you sow the seed, you must wait for at least four months before you can hope to begin to reap the harvest." Then Jesus looked up. Sychar is in the midst of a region that is still famous for its corn. Agricultural land was very limited in stony, rocky Palestine; practically nowhere else in the country could a man look up and see the waving fields of golden corn. Jesus swept his gaze and his hand round. "Look," he said, "the fields are white and ready for the harvest. They took four months to grow; but in Samaria there is a harvest for the reaping now."

For once, it is the contrast between nature and grace of which Jesus is thinking. In the ordinary harvest men sowed and waited; in Samaria things had happened with such divine suddenness that the word was sown and on the spot the harvest waited. H. V. Morton has a specially interesting suggestion about the fields white for the harvest. He himself was sitting at this very spot where Jacob's well is. As he sat, he saw the people come out from the village and start to climb the hill. They came in little batches; and they were all wearing white robes and the white robes stood out against the ground and the sky. It may well be that just at this moment the people started to flock out to Jesus in response to the woman's story. As they streamed out in their white robes across the fields, perhaps Jesus said: "Look at the fields! See them now! They are white to the harvest!" The white-robed crowd was the harvest which he was eager to reap for God.

Jesus went on to show that the incredible had happened. The sower and the harvester could rejoice at the same time. Here was something no man might expect. To the Jew sowing was a sad and a laborious time; it was harvest which was the time of joy. "May those who sow in tears reap with shouts of joy! He that goes forth weeping, bearing the seed for sowing, shall come home with shouts of joy, bringing his sheaves with him" (Psalm 136:5, 6).

There is something else hidden below the surface here. The Jews had their dreams of the golden age, the age to come, the age of God, when the world would be God's world, when sin and sorrow would be done away with and God would reign supreme. Amos paints his picture of it: "Behold the days are coming, saith the Lord, when the ploughman shall overtake the reaper, and the treader of grapes him who sows the seed" (Amos 9:13). "Your threshing shall last the time of vintage, and the vintage shall last the time for sowing" (Leviticus 26:5). It was the dream of that golden age that sowing and reaping, planting and harvesting, would follow hard upon the heels of each other. There would be such fertility that the old days of waiting would be at an end. We can see what Jesus is gently doing here. His words are nothing less than a claim that with him the golden age has dawned; God's time is here; the time when the word is spoken and the seed is sown and the harvest waits.

There was another side to that-and Jesus knew it. "There is another proverb," he said, "and it too is true-one sows and another harvests." Then he went on to make two applications of that.

(a) He told his disciples that they would reap a crop which had been produced not by their labour. He meant that he was sowing the seed, that in his Cross, above all, the seed of the love and the power of God would be sown, and that the day would come when the disciples would go out into the world and reap the harvest that his life and death had sown.

(b) He told his disciples that the day would come when they would sow and others would reap. There would be a time when the Church sent out its evangelists; they would never see the harvest; some of them would die as martyrs, but the blood of the martyrs would be the seed of the church. It is as if he said: "Some day you will labour and you will see nothing for it. Some day you will sow and you will pass from the scene before the harvest is reaped. Never fear! Never be discouraged! The sowing is not in vain; the seed is not wasted! Others will see the harvest which it was not given to you to see."

So in this passage there are two things.

(i) There is the reminder of an opportunity. The harvest waits to be reaped for God. There come times in history when men are curiously and strangely sensitive to God. What a tragedy it is if Christ's Church at such a time fails to reap Christ's harvest!

(ii) There is the reminder of a challenge. It is given to many a man to sow but not to reap. Many a ministry succeeds, not by its own force and merits, but because of some saintly man who lived and preached and died and left an influence which was greater in his absence than in his presence. Many a man has to work and never sees the results of his labours. I was once taken round an estate which was famous for its rhododendrons. Its owner loved their acres and knew them all by name. He showed me certain seedlings which would take twenty-five years to flower. He was nearly seventy-five and would never see their beauty-but someone would. No work for Christ and no great undertaking ever fail. If we do not see the result of our labours, others will. There is no room for despair in the Christian life.

Jesus wanted His disciples also to be laborers. It didn't matter whether they were sowers or reapers...so long as they were working. It was December (or early January), and the spring harvest was still four months away. But Jesus says "Look, the fields are white." As they did, perhaps they saw the white cloaked Samaritans marching across the green fields to meet this potential Messiah. The harvest indeed was plentiful (cf. Mt 9:37-38; Lk 10:2).

"He who sows and he who reaps may rejoice together" is an allusion to Amos 9:13. This passage describes the joy of the Messianic era when the harvest is so fruitful and so sudden that the sower and the reaper work alongside one another. "One sows, and another reaps." Jesus is clearly calling the disciples to reap, but who have been the sowers? Answer: Moses, Prophets, John the Baptist, Jesus, and even the Samaritan woman.

And verse 35 gives us a glimpse into the missionary vision of our Lord...for the Samaritans were "harvested" in Acts 8:5-8: "Philip went down to a city in Samaria and proclaimed the Christ there. {6} When the crowds heard Philip and saw the miraculous signs he did, they all paid close attention to what he said. {7} With shrieks, evil spirits came out of many, and many paralytics and cripples were healed. {8} So there was great joy in that city."

It is significant that these "signs" were more fruitful among those who lived at some distance from the holy city than for its inhabitants, the former being less blinded by tradition. The Samaritans accepted the Lord because of what he said, the Galileans by what they saw Him do.

The disciples must have thought there were "no prospects" as they approached the city of Sychar; but just the opposite was true! The harvest was ready and needed only faithful workers to claim it!

For some reason, when it comes to witnessing for Christ, it is always the "wrong time and the wrong place." It takes faith to sow the seed, and we must do it even when the circumstances look discouraging.

We don’t know just how deep and how mature their faith is, but they do call him the "Savior of the world" (cf. Mt 1:21; Lk 2:11; Acts 5:31; 13:23; Phil 3:20; Eph 5:23; Titus 1:4; 2:13; 3:6; 2 Tim 1:10; 2 Peter 1:1, 11; 2:20; 3:2, 18).

There will be others who apprehend the Christ in such a short period of time. When your heart is open, it does not take long to see Jesus for who he is (Mt 8:5-13; Mk 15:39; Lk 1:42; Jn 1:49; Acts 16:31-34).

McGarvey notes that this text breaks down three formidable walls: (1) Racial prejudice; (2) Gender—Jesus endorses this woman’s fitness to receive spiritual instruction and even her suitability to announce his presence and position; (3) Moral rectitude. Jesus has indeed come to save the least and the lost.

John 4:39-42: "Many of the Samaritans from that city believed on him, because of the woman's story, for she testified: "He told me all things that I have done." So when the Samaritans came to him, they asked him to stay amongst them, and he stayed there two days. And many more believed when they heard his word, and they said to the woman: "No longer do we believe because of your talk. We ourselves have listened to him, and we know that this is really the Saviour of the World."

In the events which happened at Samaria we have the pattern by which the gospel so often spreads. In the rise of belief among the Samaritans there were three stages.

(i) There was introduction. The Samaritans were introduced to Christ by the woman. Here we see full-displayed God's need of us. Paul said: "How are they to hear without a preacher?" (Romans 10:14). The word of God must be transmitted by man to man. God cannot deliver his message to those who have never heard it unless there is someone to deliver it.

"He has no hands but our hands

To do his work today:

He has no feet but our feet

To lead men in his way:

He has no voice but our voice

To tell men how he died:

He has no help but our help

To lead them to his side."

It is at once our precious privilege and our terrible responsibility to bring men to Christ. The introduction cannot be made unless there is a man to make it.

Further, that introduction is made on the strength of personal witness. The cry of the Samaritan woman was: "Look what he has done for me and to me." It was not to a theory that she called her neighbours; it was to a dynamic and changing power. The church can expand until the kingdoms of the world become the kingdoms of the Lord only when men and women themselves experience the power of Christ, and then transmit that experience to others.

(ii) There was nearer intimacy and growing knowledge. Once the Samaritans had been introduced to Christ, they sought his company. They asked him to stay with them that they might learn of him and come to know him better. It is true that a man must be introduced to Christ, but it is equally true that once he has been introduced he must himself go on to live in the presence of Christ. No man can go through an experience for another man. Others may lead us to the friendship of Christ, but we must claim and enjoy that friendship ourselves.

(iii) There came discovery and surrender. The Samaritans discovered in Christ the Saviour of the world. It is not likely that they themselves put it exactly that way. John was writing years afterwards, and was putting the discovery of the Samaritans into his own words, words which enshrine a life-time's living with and thinking about Jesus Christ. It is only in John that we find this tremendous title. We find it here and in 1 John 4:14. To him it was the title par excellence for Christ.

John did not invent the title. In the Old Testament God had often been called the God of salvation, the Saviour, the saving God. Many of the Greek gods had acquired this title. At the time John was writing the Roman Emperor was invested with the title Saviour of the World. It is as if John said: "All that you have dreamed of has at last in Jesus come true."

We do well to remember this title. Jesus was not simply a prophet, who came with a message in words from God. He was not simply an expert psychologist with an uncanny faculty for seeing into the human mind. True, he showed that very skill in the case of the Samaritan woman, but he showed more than that. He was not simply an example. He did not come simply to show men the way in which life ought to be lived. A great example can be merely heart-breaking and frustrating when we find ourselves powerless to follow it.

Jesus was Saviour. He rescued men from the evil and hopeless situation in which they found themselves; he broke the chains that bound them to the past and gave them a power which enabled them to meet the future. The Samaritan woman is in fact the great example of his saving power. The town where she stayed would no doubt have labelled her a character beyond reformation; and she herself would no doubt have agreed that a respectable life was beyond her. But Jesus came and doubly rescued her; he enabled her to break away from the past and he opened a new future to her. There is no title adequate to describe Jesus except Saviour of the World.

John 4:43-45: "Two days after Jesus left there and went to Galilee. Jesus himself declared that a prophet has no honour in his own country. But when he came into Galilee, the Galilaeans welcomed him, because they had seen all that he had done at Jerusalem at the Feast, for they too had gone to the Feast."

All three synoptic gospels tell of the saying of Jesus that a prophet has no honour in his own country (Mark 6:4; Matthew 13:57; Luke 4:24). It was an ancient proverb with much the same meaning as our own "familiarity breeds contempt." But John introduces it in a very strange place. The other gospels introduce it on occasions when Jesus was rejected by his own countrymen; John introduces it on an occasion when he was accepted.

It may be that John is reading the mind of Jesus. We have already seen that Jesus had left Judaea and set out for Galilee to avoid the controversy that an increasing publicity was bringing to him. The hour of conflict had not yet come (John 4:1-4). It may be that his astonishing success in Samaria had actually surprised him; his words about the astonishing harvest have the ring of glad surprise about them.

It may well be that Jesus set out for Galilee hoping to find rest and retirement there, because he did not expect those of his native country to respond to him. And it may be that exactly the same happened in Galilee as happened in Samaria, that against all expectations there was a surge of response to his teaching. We must either explain the saying in this way or assume that somehow it has crept into the wrong place.

However that may be, this passage and the one before give us the unanswerable argument for Christ. The Samaritans believed in Jesus, not because of someone else's story but because they themselves had heard him speak things whose like they had never heard. The Galilaeans believed in him, not because someone had told them about him but because they had seen him do in Jerusalem things whose like they had never seen. The words he spoke and the deeds he did were arguments to which there was no answer.

Here we have one of the great truths of the Christian life. The only real argument for Christianity is a Christian experience. It may be that sometimes we have to argue with people until the intellectual barriers which they have erected are battered down and the citadel of their mind capitulates. But in the great majority of cases the only persuasion we can use is to say: "I know what Jesus is like and I know what Jesus can do. All that I can ask you to do is to try him yourself and to see what happens." Effective Christian evangelism really begins when we can say: "I know what Christ has done for me," and go on to say: "Try him, and see what he can do for you."

Here again tremendous personal responsibility is laid upon us. No one is likely to attempt the experience unless our own lives show its value. There is little use in telling people that Christ will bring them joy and peace and power, if our own lives are gloomy, worried and defeated. Men will be persuaded to try the experiment only when they see that for us it has ended in an experience which is much to be desired.

FAITH IS TIED TO BEHAVIOR

At a critical point in His conversation with the woman, Jesus asked her to go and bring her husband. When she said that she had no husband, Jesus said, "You have well said, ‘I have no husband'; for you have had five husbands, and the one whom you now have is not your husband; this you have said truly" (4:17, 18).

At first it seems like a strange interruption in a deeply spiritual conversation. Why would Jesus jump from talking about "living water" to asking her to bring her husband? The response of the woman and Jesus' reaction to that response indicate that Jesus changed the subject for the very purpose of making sure she brought her whole life to the Lord, not just her curiosity. Until she reevaluated her personal life, her faith would be a fraud.

It is possible that some of her husbands could have died. However, the context seems to indicate that the marriages ended in divorce.

While faith is not tied to circumstances, it is crucially important that we connect our faith with our behavior. It is possible for one to express belief in Jesus but refuse Him entry into his life.

When one comes seeking the way of faith, it is essential that he bring his whole life to the Lord. You may have heard of the soldiers who fought years ago in an army that was "Christian." When the soldiers were baptized, they would keep their right arms out of the water. In this way they could do with their right arms whatever they pleased in battle, declaring, "This arm hasn't been baptized!"

Jesus' question to the woman was His way of saying that she had to give the Lord her whole life or nothing at all.

The association of obedience with real faith is expressed in numerous places in the New Testament. Jesus said in Matthew 7:21, "Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,' will enter the kingdom of heaven; but he who does the will of My Father who is in heaven." Years later, James wrote, "Faith, if it has no works, is dead, being by itself" James 2:17).

Faith and obedience simply cannot be separated. The Samaritan woman could not have come to true faith until she was willing to let Jesus into every area of her life.

Jesus' asking this woman to bring her husband is like His asking you and me today to bring Him our checkbooks, our tax returns, our daily planners, or our diaries. Faith is not an aspect of our lives; it involves our whole lives.

Jesus did not disqualify the woman from the kingdom because of her past, but He insisted that she bring to Him her whole life. He asked her to make a break with her sinful past. Faith, if separated from the way we live, is not faith at all!

FAITH IS EXPRESSED IN TRUE WORSHIP

When Jesus asked the woman to bring her husband, it seemed as if the conversation was taking a major detour; yet, as we have seen, it did not.

Next, the woman said, "Our fathers worshiped in this mountain, and you people say that in Jerusalem is the place where men ought to worship" (4:20).

It appears that she was trying to detract from her personal situation by embroiling Jesus in a religious controversy. However, Jesus used her question to continue leading her to God.

First, He told her that true worship was not tied to any specific place, including Jerusalem and Mt. Gerazim. In saying this, He did not mean that Mt. Gerazim was as good as Jerusalem, for He made clear that "salvation is from the Jews" (4:22). "But," He declared, "an hour is coming, and now is, when the true worshipers shall worship the Father in spirit and truth; for such people the Father seeks to be His worshipers" (4:23).

Worship, Jesus taught her, is not a matter of place. Both Jerusalem and Mt. Gerazim were soon to be irrelevant. True worship is in spirit (in contrast to the specific, physical regulations of Old Covenant worship) and in truth (in contrast to the shadow of the Old Covenant).

On this question, the Samaritan woman was probably guilty of the same misconceptions held by the Twelve. For her, Jesus was untying worship from a certain place and was pointing her in the direction of true worship. Because of the spiritual nature of God, true worship is a matter of the spirit.

John Killinger told of a conversation he had with an aging minister who was nearing retirement. As the two men walked through the magnificent church building where the older man preached, Killinger asked him about his daily thoughts at that point in his life. One of his frequent thoughts, he replied, was about love:

late that love is the goal of everything."

Many issues attach themselves to religion; some are more important than others. Greater than all other issues are those of faith, worship, and love. Jesus pointed a needy and confused Samaritan woman in the direction of what is r significant in life when He pointed her in the direction of true, spiritual worship. Most other matters, including temples and holy mountains, mean nothing in comparison to that.

CONCLUSION

Following Jesus' words about worship, the Samaritan woman again tried to change the subject. "I know that Messiah is coming (He who is called Christ); when that One comes, He will declare all things to us" (4:25). Jesus then did something startling--something that is extremely rare in the Gospels: He told her exactly who He was! "I who speak to you am He" (4:26).

It was not to priests or kings that He made such a revelation; it was to an immoral Samaritan woman! Jesus saw in her heart fertile soil for the seed of the kingdom, so He shared with her the message of God.

In the end, you and I are standing at the well with Jesus. Bringing our confusion, our hopes, our past, and our pain, we encounter the Son of God. We listen and try to understand as He teaches us these truths: (1) Faith is above circumstances, (2) faith is tied to behavior, and (3) faith is expressed in true worship. As surely as Jesus invited the Samaritan woman to travel the road of faith, He invites you and me today!

Soar Like Eagles (Part 14)
Using Scripture To Avoid Truth - John 4:1-41

This chapter is filled with many "nuggets" of information about our Lord:
- we see the humanity of Jesus ("tired")
- we see the Deity of Jesus
- we see the universality of the gospel
- we see spontaneous evangelism
- we see true worship defined

Beginning with His cleansing of the temple at Jerusalem (John
2:13-22), including a considerable public ministry in the environs of
Jerusalem and ending with the Lord's departure into Galilee, a period of
approximately 8-9 months have transpired.
"The Pharisees heard that Jesus was gaining and baptizing more
disciples than John, {2} although in fact it was not Jesus who baptized,
but his disciples. {3} When the Lord learned of this, 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 the
sixth hour."
First of all, let us set the scene of this incident. Palestine is only
120 miles long from north to south. But within that 120 miles there were
in the time of Jesus three definite divisions of territory:
- in the extreme north lay Galilee
- in the extreme south lay Judea
- in between lay Samaria
Jesus did not wish at this stage of his ministry to be involved in a
controversy about baptism, so he decided to transfer His operations to
Galilee. But Jesus also had the underlying compulsion of the Divine Will
that sought out the lost "Samaritan sheep." There was a soul to win!
The name Samaritans originally was identified with the Israelites of
the Northern Kingdom (2 Kings 17:29). When the Assyrians conquered Israel
and exiled 27,290 Israelites, a "remnant of Israel" remained in the land.
Assyrian captives from distant places also settled there (2 Kings 17:24).
This led to the intermarriage of some, though not all, Jews with Gentiles
and to widespread worship of foreign gods.
By the time the Jews returned to Jerusalem to rebuild the Temple and
the walls of Jerusalem, Ezra and Nehemiah refused to let the Samaritans
share in the experience (Ezra 4:1-3; Neh. 4:7). The old antagonism
between Israel to the north and Judah to the south intensified the
quarrel.
The Jewish inhabitants of Samaria identified Mount Gerizim as the
chosen place of God and the only center of worship, calling it the "navel
of the earth" because of a tradition that Adam sacrificed there. Their
scriptures were limited to the Pentateuch, the first five books of the
Bible.
Moses was regarded as the only prophet and intercessor in the final
judgment. They also believed that 6,000 years after creation, a Restorer
would arise and would live on earth for 110 years. On the Judgment Day,
the righteous would be resurrected in paradise and the wicked roasted in
eternal fire.
In the days of Christ, the relationship between the Jews and the
Samaritans was greatly strained (Luke 9:52-54; 10:25-37; 17:11-19; John
8:48). The animosity was so great that the Jews bypassed Samaria as they
traveled between Galilee and Judea.
They went an extra distance through the barren land of Perea on the
eastern side of the Jordan to avoid going through Samaria. Yet Jesus
rebuked His disciples for their hostility to the Samaritans (Luke
9:55-56), healed a Samaritan leper (Luke 17:16), honored a Samaritan for
his neighborliness (Luke 10:30-37), praised a Samaritan for his gratitude
(Luke 17:11-18), asked a drink of a Samaritan woman (John 4:7), and
preached to the Samaritans (John 4:40-42). Then in Acts 1:8, Jesus
challenged His disciples to witness in Samaria. Philip, a deacon, opened
a mission in Samaria (Acts 8:5).
A small Samaritan community continues to this day to follow the
traditional worship near Shechem. There was a century-old feud between
the Jews and the Samaritans; but the quickest way from Judea to Galilee
was through Samaria (the alternate route would take twice as long). As
one approached Samaria, the town of Sychar; just short of Sychar the road
to Samaria forks...and at this fork of the road stands to this day the
well known as Jacob's well:
- Jacob bought the ground in Genesis 33:18-19
- Jacob, at his deathbed, had bequested to land to Joseph (Gen. 48:22)
- On Joseph's death in Egypt, his body had been taken back to
Palestine and buried there (Joshua 24:32)

Nearly all archaeologists and scholars today can point to a definite
place and say with certainty "Jesus sat on these stones."
The sixth hour was midday. The Jewish day runs from 6 a.m. to 6 p.m.
and the sixth hour was 12 o'clock. The heat was at its greatest and Jesus
was weary and thirsty from His travels.
The Samaritans were a "mongrel" or "mixed" race grown up in Samaria
from the importation of Assyrians after the deporting of the Israelites
from the land after a defeat in battle, around 722 B.C. Imported
Assyrians married within the poorer classes of Israelites, offering only
formal worship to God while worshipping the gods of Assyria.
When the Jews were allowed to return to their homelands, 51 years
later, by decree by Cyrus, the Samaritans asked to aid in rebuilding and
restoring the temple...but were refused.
They were regarded as enemies and the Jews would not eat, drink, or
engage in social activities with them, though they did trade with them.
To make matters worse, the Samaritans could not trace their genealogy,
which placed an even greater to the genealogy-conscious Jews (see 8:48).

Notice Jesus’s tact and persistence—and her growth.
- He began on the ground of her kindness...she saw Jesus as a Jew (vs.
7-9).
"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.)"
This woman was everything that Nicodemus was not:
- he was a Jew; she was a Samaritan
- He was a man; she was a woman
- He was learned; she was ignorant
- He was morally upright; she was sinful
- He was wealthy and from the upper class of society; she was poor,
and probably an outcast
- He recognized Jesus' merits and sought Him out; she saw Him as a
curious traveler and was quite indifferent to Him initially
- He was serious and dignified; she was flippant and possibly
boisterous
A Rabbi could not speak to a woman in public--not even his own wife or
daughter! There were several different kinds of Pharisees. One of the
groups was called the "bruised and bleeding" Pharisees because they
closed their eyes when they saw a woman approaching and would then walk
into walls, houses, etc., and hurting themselves. They were bruised and
bleeding because they were always running into things to avoid seeing a
woman in public!
She responded to Jesus but couldn't resist the opportunity to
apparently "have some fun" with Him. In essence she said: "We Samaritans
are to you the scum of the earth, but we will serve well enough when you
are thirsty."
- Jesus took no offense..and appealed to her curiosity (vs. 10-12).
"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 flocks and herds?"
Like all good personal workers, Jesus refused to get involved with
needless discussion. She was doing what many people do when truth comes
into the picture...she was using "scripture (her beliefs, etc.) to avoid
truth." Her reference in verses 11-12 showed that the wall was broken
down and she was ready for serious conversation.
The Samaritans claimed descent from Jacob through Joseph and the
tribes of Ephraim and Manasseh.

- Jesus appealed to her desire for physical satisfaction...she saw Jesus
as greater than Jacob (vs. 13-15)
"Jesus answered, "Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty
again, {14} but whoever drinks the water I give him will never thirst.
Indeed, the water I give him will become in him 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."
She did not realize Jesus was speaking of spiritual things. To her,
His promise was a gratification of common human laziness. She made the
mistake great crowds made later in John 6:26: she sought Jesus for the
physical good she could get from Him, not the signs.

- Jesus appealed to her ambition (vs. 16).
"He told her, "Go, call your husband and come back."
If she wanted badly enough what He had to offer, she would be willing
to exert herself to obtain it. It would require a walk of a mile in the
hot sun with only the word of a stranger to make it worthwhile. But the
command had a double edge for it cut sharply at her heart: she must
disclose some of her personal life. Her reply: "I'm not ready for that,
least of all an investigation by a Jew."

- Jesus appealed to her moral sense...she recognized him as a prophet
(vs. 17-20).
"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. {20} Our fathers worshiped on this mountain, but you Jews
claim that the place where we must worship is in Jerusalem."
Jesus turned her life inside out before her very eyes! It shocked her
and put her on the defensive.
It's been accurately observed that "like many others whose moral
position is challenged, she took refuge in arguing impersonally about
religion. She used "religion" to avoid truth!"
Jesus, by His power to search her heart and reveal her past sins, has
revealed her sin and made her desirous of righteousness and also
manifested, to some extent, His onmiscient and divine nature, and thus
provided the way to righteousness.
Her response in verse 20 had to do with a long-standing fight between
the Jews and the Samaritans. The Samaritans taught that Adam was created
from the dust of Mount Gerizim, that the flood never covered it, that the
ark came to rest there, and that Jacob wrestled with the angel there.
They also felt that Abraham offered Isaac on Gerizim.
Their ancestors had worshipped there since the time of Nehemiah and a
temple had been erected long before. It was so holy to them that the
Samaritans could not conceive of worship anywhere else! We also need to
realize that the Samaritans recognized only the first five books of the
Old Testament, the Pentateuch, as authoratative.
How could they know of the prophetic promises concerning salvation
from the Jews through God's suffering Servant?
Because he was a Jew, she assumed that Jesus would "fight" that Mount
Moriah in Jerusalem was the acceptable place; she sought to involve him
in this age-long controversy.
Jesus skillfully dealt with both the controversial issue and the
deeper personal need concealed behind it ( was a sensitive issue, and He
spoke only the truth).
We might stop here and ask why did she believe all this, with no
scriptural basis? Because it was tradition. Her fathers and grandfathers
had always believed this..and she did as well.

- Jesus appealed to her religious sense...she recognized him as the
Christ (vs. 21-25).
"Jesus declared, "Believe me, woman, 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 spirit and truth, for
they are the kind of worshipers the Father seeks. {24} God is spirit, and
his worshipers must worship in 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."
Jesus begins with a tremendous statement: "Salvation is from the
Jews." He made no concession to her position, and He was blunt. But He
also very quickly made the matter not of time or space, but of the heart.

God is spirit, and not confined to things or places. And here reply
showed a measure of sincerity in her heart. They revealed both hope and
ignorance.

- Jesus appealed to her faith (vs. 26).
"Then Jesus declared, "I who speak to you am he."
Hearing His words created faith in her heart, but, then, that's what
Paul said would happen in Romans 10:17: "Consequently, faith comes from
hearing the message, and the message is heard through the word of
Christ."
Jesus wasted no words: He revealed Himself more openly to her than He
had even to Nicodemus. In this one instance Jesus had overcome the
woman's indifference, materialism, selfishness, moral turpitude, and
religious prejudice, ignorance, and indefiniteness.
"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 Christ?" " They came out of
the town and made their way toward him."
These verses reveal to us the consciousness Jesus had of His mission
and verse 30 implies that the people from the town were not skeptical but
were looking for the Deliverer. Her leaving the water pots indicated her
excitement and plans to come back.

Note the lessons, or steps here:
- The experience to face herself and see herself as she really was. It
was similar to Peter when he caught the many fish in Luke 5:8: "When
Simon Peter saw this, he fell at Jesus' knees and said, "Go away from me,
Lord; I am a sinful man!"

- She staggered at Christ’s ability to see into her heart. He is like
the surgeon who sees the evil and diseased, and takes it away.

‘Her first instinct? To share her discovery? "First to find, then
find, then to tell" are two great steps of the Christian life.
"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"
The disciples also got involved with the physical, rather than the
spiritual. They couldn't figure out why Jesus was not hungry and thirsty.

- Jesus had two main objectives in His ministry:
1. He came to do the will of His Father. Never did He deviate from that
mission.
2. He came to finish the work on this earth. It did not mean to finiish
all that could be done...but to consummate the work of salvation.
"Do you not say, 'Four months more and then the harvest'? I tell you,
open your eyes and look at the fields! They are ripe for harvest. {36}
Even now the reaper draws his wages, even now he harvests the 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." {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."
Jesus wanted His disciples also to be laborers. It didn't matter
whether they were sowers or reapers...so long as they were working. And
verse 35 gives us a glimpse into the missionary vision of our Lord...for
the Samaritans were "harvested" in Acts 8:5-8: "Philip went down to a
city in Samaria and proclaimed the Christ there. {6} When the crowds
heard Philip and saw the miraculous signs he did, they all paid close
attention to what he said. {7} With shrieks, evil spirits came out of
many, and many paralytics and cripples were healed. {8} So there was
great joy in that city."
It is significant that these "signs" were more fruitful among those
who lived at some distance from the holy city than for its inhabitants,
the former being less blinded by tradition. The Samaritans accepted the
Lord because of what he said, the Galileans by what they saw Him do.
The disciples must have thought there were "no prospects" as they
approached the city of Sychar; but just the opposite was true! The
harvest was ready and needed only faithful workers to claim it!
For some reason, when it comes to witnessing for Christ, it is always
the "wrong time and the wrong place." It takes faith to sow the seed, and
we must do it even when the circumstances look discouraging.

FAITH IS TIED TO BEHAVIOR
At a critical point in His conversation with the woman, Jesus asked
her to go and bring her husband. When she said that she had no husband,
Jesus said, "You have well said,'I have no husband'; for you have had
five husbands, and the one whom you now have is not your husband; this
you have said truly" (4:17, 18).
At first it seems like a strange interruption in a deeply spiritual
conversation. Why would Jesus jump from talking about "living water" to
asking her to bring her husband? The response of the woman and Jesus'
reaction to that response indicate that Jesus changed the subject for the
very purpose of making sure she brought her whole life to the Lord, not
just her curiosity. Until she reevaluated her personal life, her faith
would be a fraud.
It is possible that some of her husbands could have died. However, the
context seems to indicate that the marriages ended in divorce.
While faith is not tied to circumstances, it is crucially important
that we connect our faith with our behavior. It is possible for one to
express belief in Jesus but refuse Him entry into his life.
When one comes seeking the way of faith, it is essential that he bring
his whole life to the Lord. You may have heard of the soldiers who fought
years ago in an army that was "Christian." When the soldiers were
baptized, they would keep their right arms out of the water. In this way
they could do with their right arms whatever they pleased in battle,
declaring, "This arm hasn't been baptized!"
Jesus' question to the woman was His way of saying that she had to
give the Lord her whole life or nothing at all.
The association of obedience with real faith is expressed in numerous
places in the New Testament. Jesus said in Matthew 7:21, "Not everyone
who says to Me,'Lord, Lord,' will enter the kingdom of heaven; but he who
does the will of My Father who is in heaven." Years later, James wrote,
"Faith, if it has no works, is dead, being by itself" James 2:17).
Faith and obedience simply cannot be separated. The Samaritan woman
could not have come to true faith until she was willing to let Jesus into
every area of her life.
Jesus' asking this woman to bring her husband is like His asking you
and me today to bring Him our checkbooks, our tax returns, our daily
planners, or our diaries. Faith is not an aspect of our lives; it
involves our whole lives.
Jesus did not disqualify the woman from the kingdom because of her
past, but He insisted that she bring to Him her whole life. He asked her
to make a break with her sinful past. Faith, if separated from the way we
live, is not faith at all!

FAITH IS EXPRESSED IN TRUE WORSHIP
When Jesus asked the woman to bring her husband, it seemed as if the
conversation was taking a major detour; yet, as we have seen, it did not.

Next, the woman said, "Our fathers worshiped in this mountain, and you
people say that in Jerusalem is the place where men ought to worship"
(4:20).
It appears that she was trying to detract from her personal situation
by embroiling Jesus in a religious controversy. However, Jesus used her
question to continue leading her to God.
First, He told her that true worship was not tied to any specific
place, including Jerusalem and Mt. Gerazim. In saying this, He did not
mean that Mt. Gerazim was as good as Jerusalem, for He made clear that
"salvation is from the Jews" (4:22). "But," He declared, "an hour is
coming, and now is, when the true worshipers shall worship the Father in
spirit and truth; for such people the Father seeks to be His worshipers"
(4:23).
Worship, Jesus taught her, is not a matter of place. Both Jerusalem
and Mt. Gerazim were soon to be irrelevant. True worship is in spirit (in
contrast to the specific, physical regulations of Old Covenant worship)
and in truth (in contrast to the shadow of the Old Covenant).
On this question, the Samaritan woman was probably guilty of the same
misconceptions held by the Twelve. For her, Jesus was untying worship
from a certain place and was pointing her in the direction of true
worship. Because of the spiritual nature of God, true worship is a matter
of the spirit.
John Killinger told of a conversation he had with an aging
minister who was nearing retirement. As the two men walked through the
magnificent church building where the older man preached, Killinger asked
him about his daily thoughts at that point in his life. One of his
frequent thoughts, he replied, was about love:

"By love," he said, "I mean this." He waved his hand in a semi-sweep,
indicating the extremely large church building completed within the last
five years. "I used to think that the ultimate
was to build this building. You know, the old edifice complex. Now that
it's built, I think a lot
about love. What good is a building if the people aren't changed? I'd
like to spend the rest of
my ministry teaching people how to love. If they don't learn .. ." His
words trailed off
in another gesture, a gesture of partial hopelessness, as if he didn't
know if he could pull
it off, as if his glorious success as a builder was somehow fatally
flawed by his discovery too
late that love is the goal of everything."
Many issues attach themselves to religion; some are more important
than others. Greater than all other issues are those of faith, worship,
and love. Jesus pointed a needy and confused Samaritan woman in the
direction of what is r significant in life when He pointed her in the
direction of true, spiritual worship. Most other matters, including
temples and holy mountains, mean nothing in comparison to that.

CONCLUSION
Following Jesus' words about worship, the Samaritan woman again tried
to change the subject. "I know that Messiah is coming (He who is called
Christ); when.that One comes, He will declare all things to us" (4:25).
Jesus then did something startling--something that is extremely rare in
the Gospels: He told her exactly who He was! "I who speak to you am He"
(4:26).
It was not to priests or kings that He made such a revelation; it was
to an immoral Samaritan woman! Jesus saw in her heart fertile soil for
the seed of the kingdom, so He shared with her the message of God.
In the end, you and I are standing at the well with Jesus. Bringing
our confusion, our hopes, our past, and our pain, we encounter the Son of
God. We listen and try to understand as He teaches us these truths: (1)
Faith is above circumstances, (2) faith is tied to behavior, and (3)
faith is expressed in true worship.
As surely as Jesus invited the Samaritan woman to travel the road of
faith, He invites you and me today!

Last modified: April 18, 2006