This week continues the unit in the Sunday School Lesson Standard: The Call of Women. I will approach this particular lesson a little differently than the expositors of this week’s lesson. While the lesson text begins at John 4:25, I will begin at John 4:3, so as to properly introduce this woman, this Samaritan woman who was called by God...to testify.
John 4:3-6 NASB
3 He left Judea and went away again to Galilee. 4 And He had to pass through Samaria. 5 So He *came to a city of Samaria called Sychar, near the parcel of land that Jacob gave to his son Joseph; 6 and Jacob’s well was there. So Jesus, tired from His journey, was just sitting by the well. It was about [b]the sixth hour.
Briefly, Jesus had been ministering and His disciples had been baptizing alongside John, the Baptist in Judea at the Jordan River. Due to heightened scrutiny by the Pharisees, Jesus decides to relocate His ministry effort home to the region of Galilee. What you may not know is that ‘good’ Jews would have taken the coastal route on the West Bank to go to Galilee, avoiding Samaria altogether. Jesus chose the more direct route, from the southeastern area of Judea, near the Jordan River, through Samaria, then to Galilee. The sixth hour of the day would have been high noon as we reckon time. Jesus and His disciples had been traveling, probably since dawn, and had grown tired and hungry. They decided to take a break.
John 4:7-8 NASB
7 A woman of Samaria *came to draw water. Jesus *said to her, “Give Me a drink.” 8 For His disciples had gone away to the city to buy food.
Much has been written about this woman, though she is unnamed in Scripture. What was she doing drawing water in the middle of the day? Many have surmised that she may have had a poor reputation in the community and preferred to come later in the day, rather than in the mornings, so as to avoid the drama that comes with the wagging tongues of her detractors. I get it. I prefer drama-free zones as well. Sure I would wait until the well was less crowded if it meant maintaining peace of mind.
While she is drawing water, Jesus approaches her and requests a drink of water. I wonder if, in this moment, the Holy Spirit reminded Jesus of the encounter that Abraham’s servant, Eliezer had with Rebekah at the well in Nahor. Rebekah would eventually become the bride of Issac, the son of Abraham and heir to God’s promise to Abraham. Or, quite possibly, He was reminded of Jacob’s encounter with Rachel. Jacob, the son of Issac and heir to the promise of God. Rachel, the woman who would eventually become His bride, and his most Beloved. I am not suggesting anything untoward or inappropriate here. Rather, I am suggesting that Jesus, knowing the Scriptures, would have taken her affirmative response to His request for a drink of water as a lead into the conversation that would lead to the salvation of not only the woman but of many in that region of Samaria.
John 4:9 NASB
9 So the Samaritan woman *said to Him, “How is it that You, though You are a Jew, are asking me for a drink, though I am a Samaritan woman?”
While Scripture does not really tell us whether or not the Samaritan woman gave Jesus a drink of water, we can be certain that she did not tell Him, “No!” However, whether out of curiosity or wariness, she asks Jesus, “Aren’t you Jewish? Why would you ask me, a Samaritan, for a drink?” The fact that she was a woman could also have added to the tension she may have suddenly been experiencing. To think, she had waited until noon to avoid drama.
John 4:10 NASB
10 Jesus replied to her, “If you knew the gift of God, and who it is who is saying to you, ‘Give Me a drink,’ you would have asked Him, and He would have given you living water.”
Jesus takes the lead in this conversation with a bold, but somewhat confusing statement. Remember, Jesus was thirsty, but suddenly, the well of life within Him begins to bubble up. Jesus is ready to take the conversation to a higher plane. “If you understood who you were talking to, you would ask Him and He would give you….living water.”
John 4:11 NASB
11 She *said to Him, “[c]Sir, You have no bucket and the well is deep; where then do You get this living water? 12 You are not greater than our father Jacob, are You, who gave us the well and drank of it himself, and his sons and his cattle?”
It is obvious that she immediately perceives that Jesus is speaking of Himself, but, where is this ‘living water’ that he speaks of? Then she asks the pivotal question, in my mind, of the conversation, “Are you greater than our father, Jacob?” Ding ding ding ding! In this moment, I am sure that they can both feel the spiritual landscape changing as they are transported back in time, both considering the eternal weight of her words in mentioning the Patriarch, Jacob. In a single sentence, she staked claim to the promise that was promised to Jacob. That abundance, that blessing, the eternal blessing promised to Abraham made manifest in this very well named for the Patriarch, Jacob. In staking that claim to Jacob, she claimed heirship to that same promise. Additionally, in staking her claim to God’s eternal promise, she removed the barrier between her and this Jewish stranger of heirship, of inheritance. She was declaring that both she and this Jewish stranger were both children of promise.
John 4:13-14 NASB
13 Jesus answered and said to her, “Everyone who drinks of this water will be thirsty again; 14 but whoever drinks of the water that I will give him shall never be thirsty; but the water that I will give him will become in him a fountain of water springing up to eternal life.”
Isaiah 49:10 NASB
They will not hunger or thirst, Nor will the scorching heat or sun strike them down; For He who has compassion on them will lead them, And He will guide them to springs of water.
Jesus, now fully steps into the moment. He builds on His prior statement. And yes, He is greater than their father, Jacob. Jacob’s well quenched those who were thirsty for generations. The water Jesus offered would quench those who thirst eternally...
John 4:15 NASB
15 The woman *said to Him, “[d]Sir, give me this water so that I will not be thirsty, nor come all the way here to draw water.”
Every response Jesus has made since the beginning of this conversation has been spiritual in tone. The Samaritan woman has wavered, in tone, from temporal to spiritual, then back temporal. Often times, when a new believer first encounters God, they are gripped with the excitement that comes with the wonder, the possibilities set before them. “Give me this water”, she demands, “so that I will never thirst again.” Remember, she is asking for water from a well greater than Jacob’s.
I get it. I had a similar experience not long after my wife and I got saved. I came home from work one Saturday afternoon to find my wife caught up in the Spirit, tears streaming down her face, both hands raised, speaking in tongues. I didn’t know what was happening. There was a sister from the church who had driven her home because she was caught up in the Spirit and could not drive. So, I’m looking at my wife while sister Gwen is trying to explain to me what was happening. After a few minutes, I held my hand up to Sister Gwen for her to stop and simply said, “Just lay hands on me for me to receive this gift. Otherwise, I won’t be able to put up with her” (my wife). Like the Samaritan woman, I did not understand the full ramifications of my request, but I knew I wanted to fill an immediate perceived need: peace in my house. God granted my request that afternoon, but the rewards have been so much greater than I could have imagined (I’m smiling at the memory).
John 4:16-18 NASB
16 He *said to her, “Go, call your husband and come here.” 17 The woman answered and said to Him, “I have no husband.” Jesus *said to her, “You have correctly said, ‘I have no husband’; 18 for you have had five husbands, and the one whom you now have is not your husband; this which you have said is true.”
The Holy Spirit led Jesus to Sychar, to Jacob’s well for this moment. Now, the gifts of the Spirit begin to operate through Him to reveal what to us seems a less than savory look into the Samaritan woman’s history and character. Be careful. Pull the beam from your own eye. Don’t we all have a past? Didn’t we all get saved from something?
James 5:15 NASB
15 and the prayer of faith will [n]restore the one who is sick, and the Lord will raise him up, and if he has committed sins, [o]they will be forgiven him.
In this moment, this woman’s past is being revealed by the Holy Spirit, to Jesus, and to the Father. For all of us, there must be a reckoning, an accounting for our faults before God. The Samaritan woman answered Jesus truthfully. The good news is: Jesus did not come to condemn us, but to save us from eternal condemnation. There is no condemnation to those who are in Christ, Jesus. Watch what happens next...
John 4:19 NASB
19 The woman *said to Him, “[e]Sir, I perceive that You are a prophet.
There’s a couple of different things to point out here. At this point in the conversation, Jesus, nor the Samaritan woman have become acquainted by name. She’s still calling Him, “Sir”. But, to her credit, she recognizes the operation of the Holy Spirit in this moment. She does not accuse Jesus, as some might, of having some inside information about her. Rather, she identifies Him, albeit incorrectly, as a prophet. While Jesus is so much more than just a prophet, what she is acknowledging is that what has just happened has happened by the Spirit of God. It gets better…
John 4:20 NASB
20 Our fathers worshiped on this mountain, and yet you Jews say that in Jerusalem is the place where one must worship.”
Now, she’s ready to become His… disciple, but there’s a problem. How would she worship? In the days of Nehemiah, when the Jews were returned from exile, they began rebuilding the Temple at Jerusalem, as the worship of God, Almighty was such an integral part of the Hebrew culture. The returning Hebrews expressly forbade any gentiles, including the Samaritans who had occupied the land in their absence to join them in worship at the Temple. In fact, they forbade intermarriage with the Samaritans and forced the annulment of any marriages of mixed peoples. Eventually, the Samaritans built their own temple at the base of Mt. Gerizim, which they regarded as a Holy place. About 100 years before the time of Christ, the Jews had torn down that temple.
The Samaritan woman might never be allowed to worship at the temple at Jerusalem, and if she were allowed, she might only be allowed into the court of the Gentiles, the outermost court on the temple ground. Her implied question is a good one. How will she worship? Will she have to forsake all that she is and all that she knows spiritually in order to come into her full inheritance as a daughter of Abraham?
John 4:21-23 NASB
21 Jesus *said to her, “Believe Me, woman, that [f]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, because salvation is from the Jews. 23 But [g]a time is coming, and [h]even now has arrived, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth; for such people the Father seeks to be [i]His worshipers
Jesus, correctly informs her that she only knows in part, the salvation is rightly and exclusively from the Jews. More accurately, salvation will come through the Jews, specifically through the tribe of Judah, through the House of David. So declares the Scripture. But then, Jesus reveals a more excellent way. A time has come and now is when true worshippers, true heirs of the promise of Abraham would look past Abraham to receive their true inheritance from our Father in Heaven. Beloved, There’s only one name under Heaven or earth whereby men (and women) can be saved. That name is Jesus.
John 4:24 NASB
24 God is [j]spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth.”
Hebrews 11:6 NASB
6 And without faith it is impossible to please Him, for the one who comes to God must believe that He exists, and that He proves to be One who rewards those who seek Him.
Herein rests the joy of every believer. God is spirit, yet He has revealed Himself to those, by faith who have come to know Him by faith. While that knowledge can never be fully reached in the temporal, the fact that we have come to the knowledge of Him by trusting in Him through Christ means that we have transitioned from the temporal to the eternal, from the finite to infinity. It means that we have attained eternity to learn of Him, and then to celebrate that knowledge through worship.
John 4:25 NASB
25 The woman *said to Him, “I know that Messiah is coming (He who is called Christ); when that One comes, He will declare all things to us.”
This is the formal beginning of this week’s lesson per the lesson standard. I covered the previous verses so as to clearly present the significance of the Samaritan woman’s place in Scripture. We never come to know her name, but we do know that what began as a casual request for a drink of water on a hot day turned to a substantial revelation concerning the truths of the Kingdom of God, culminating in the greatest revelation in all of the history of mankind. Contrast all that has transpired here at Jacob’s well on this warm summer day with what had occurred during the recent celebration of Passover.
John 3:9 NASB
9 Nicodemus responded and said to Him, “How can these things be?”
A Pharisee, Nicodemus, had come to Jesus by night to interrogate Him. There was a consensus among some of the Pharisees that Jesus had been sent by God because of the miraculous miracles He performed, but they went no further than to acknowledge Him as ‘Rabbi’ or ‘a teacher’, not as the Messiah. Though Jesus revealed much to Nicodemus during their brief time together, Nicodemus’ last recorded words to Jesus in that meeting were, “How can these things be?” From that moment on, Nicodemus was regarded as ‘the secret disciple’ until the day that Christ was crucified, at which time Nicodemus discarded his cloak of secrecy in order to assist Joseph of Arimathea in the removal of Jesus’ body from the cross and the subsequent burial of Jesus’ body in a tomb owned by Joseph.
This Samaritan woman’s heart, however, never deterred from following the leading of Christ’s words toward salvation. From the moment she asked of Jesus, why He, a Jew, would ask her, a Samaritan for a drink, she never stopped inquiring of Christ that which He offered. Her final statement reveals that she fully expects that someday, the Messiah would come and reveal the entire inheritance of the Kingdom of God to the children of promise. Yes, she regarded herself a daughter of Abraham, an heir to the promise. She was awaiting… the Messiah.
John 4:26 NASB
26 Jesus *said to her, “I am He, the One speaking to you.”
Jesus concludes their conversation by revealing to the Samaritan woman that He… is the Messiah. Beloved, this is the most awaited reveal in all of Israel’s history. There is no more significant sentence spoken in the ears of an Israelite of any kind, Jew or Samaritan than these. These are the last recorded words between these two, but when we hear the Samaritan woman speak again, we can better gauge the effect of Jesus’ words on her.
John 4:27 NASB
27 And at this point His disciples came, and they were amazed that He had been speaking with a woman, yet no one said, “What are You seeking?” or, “Why are You speaking with her?”
Jesus’ conversation with the Samaritan woman is interrupted by the return of His disciple. Their amazement indicates that they perceive that their return has come at a pivotal spiritual moment. They ask no questions, as though they have rushed noisily into the presence of Christ and the Samaritan woman only to hush in reverent silence as they realize the eternal weight of the moment.
John 4:28-30 NASB
28 So the woman left her waterpot and went into the city, and *said to the people, 29 “Come, see a man who told me all the things that I have done; this is not the [k]Christ, is He?” 30 They left the city and were coming to Him.
Church, it is at this point that we observe that the Samaritan woman puts aside her water pot. She has a story to tell, a testimony. She has encountered eternity in the flesh, the very Emanuel incarnate and she just can’t keep it to herself. Beloved, when you’ve had a life-changing encounter with Jesus, you just can't keep it in. Jeremiah said, “It’s like fire… shut up in my bones!” The Samaritan woman answered the call to testify. To testify to the glory of the Kingdom of God as revealed in the person of Jesus Christ.
Jeremiah 20:9 NKJV
9
But if I say, “I will not remember Him
Nor speak anymore in His name,”
Then in my heart it becomes like a burning fire
Shut up in my bones;
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John 4:31-34 NASB
31 Meanwhile the disciples were urging Him, saying, “Rabbi, eat something.” 32 But He said to them, “I have food to eat that you do not know about.” 33 So the disciples were saying to one another, “No one brought Him anything to eat, did he?” 34 Jesus *said to them, “My food is to do the will of Him who sent Me, and to accomplish His work.
The disciples have brought lunch, but Jesus is caught up in the Spirit. No time for food, it’s time for ministry. While the Samaritan woman has departed, the disciples are present. So are you and I. Jesus instructs them (and us) that there is nothing more fulfilling than doing the work of the Kingdom of God. Nothing.
John 4:35-38 NASB
35 Do you not say, ‘There are still four months, and then comes the harvest’? Behold, I tell you, raise your eyes and observe the fields, that they are white for harvest. 36 Already the one who reaps is receiving wages and is gathering fruit for eternal life, so that the one who sows and the one who reaps may rejoice together. 37 For in this case the saying is true: ‘One sows and another reaps.’ 38 I sent you to reap that for which you have not labored; others have labored, and you have [l]come into their labor.”
Beloved, the harvest is ripe, the time is now. Jesus wants to impart a sense of urgency to His disciples. We must behave with that same sense of urgency. We must work while it is day. The night will soon come when no man can work. Beloved, as we see the world, seemingly spinning out of control, we must not lose heart. God has intentionally called us for such a time as this.
Matthew 9:38 NASB
38 Therefore, plead with the Lord of the harvest to send out workers into His harvest.”
Esther 4:14 NASB
14 For if you keep silent at this time, liberation and rescue will arise for the Jews from another place, and you and your father’s house will perish. And who knows whether you have not attained royalty for such a time as this?”
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John 4:39 NASB
39 Now from that city many of the Samaritans believed in Him because of the word of the woman who testified, “He told me all the things that I have done.”
That sense of urgency certainly was not lost on the Samaritan woman. From the moment she came to know who it was to whom she had been speaking, though she did not know His name, she most certainly understood who He was: The Anointed One of Israel, God’s only begotten Son, The Christ. Her proof (paraphrased): “He spoke to the darkest moments of my past, and in doing so,...He freed me and healed me.” Beloved, that was the crux of her message. And while she had begun her day by seeking the solitude of drawing water from Jacob’s in the heat of the day, she now was apparently going door to door in her village telling everyone she encountered to, “Come see a man!...” and challenging her audience with the question, “Could this be the Christ?” Because she has suddenly come into her inheritance as a daughter of Abraham, she no longer concerns herself what others' perception of who she is. Her identity has been changed. She has been ...born again. She is now free to share the good news of Christ without inhibition, without shame.
1 Samuel 16:7b NASB
16b ...for [a]God does not see as man sees, since man looks at [b]the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart.”
Galatians 2:20 NASB
20 I have been crucified with Christ; and it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and [a]the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself up for me.
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John 4:40-42 NASB
40 So when the Samaritans came to [c]Jesus, they were asking Him to stay with them; and He stayed there two days. 41 Many more believed because of His word; 42 and they were saying to the woman, “It is no longer because of what you said that we believe, for we have heard for ourselves and know that this One truly is the Savior of the world.”
As a result of the Samaritan woman’s preaching, the people of the surrounding area came and sought out Jesus, and invited Him to stay with them so they might more fully learn of that which He preached: that He was the Messiah, the ultimate revelation of God to all mankind. They came to full faith and trust by hearing the Word of God. They began that very short transformation by first hearing and then heeding the exhortation and simple testimony of the Woman at the Well.
Selah
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