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Jesus Talks With a Samaritan Woman
a.John 4:9 Or do not use dishes Samaritans have used
John says that the crowds around Jesus were growing. The Pharisees are beginning to notice Him. By this time the Disciples were baptizing people while Jesus taught.
I believe, Jesus knows what is to come. I believe He decided to move over to Galilee rather than being harassed by the Pharisees so early in His mission.
Passing through Samaria cut some time off of the trip to Galilee. Jesus stopped to rest at a well and the disciples went off to get some food. How interesting. We know that Jesus fed thousands with only a few fish and loaves. No doubt He could have fed Himself and a few disciples with some crumbs in the bottom of a basket. Instead His disciples went to get food, leaving Him alone at the well.
I believe, Jesus knew that the woman was going to come to the well. I believe Jesus knows everything in advance to the very smallest detail. So as expected, the woman comes to the well. She's a descendant of Joseph and Jacob but she's a Samaritan [not a Jew].
Once the woman tells Jesus that she is not married, He tells her that He knows that she has been with five men [married five times] and she is now living with a man she's not married to.
If I were her, I'd be saying "and how do you know all that?" I mean up until this time this is just a couple of strangers talking at the well. Since she's had five [going on six] men, this sounds like it's almost a flirtation on her part. This is just a stranger who wants something [the drink] from her.
I mean, she doesn't know at this point that Jesus is the Messiah.
She knows that a Jewish Messiah is coming. She tells Jesus that the Jews require her to go to Jerusalem to worship even though her family has worshiped on the mountain for generations. The Samaritans just can't go to the local church and worship. They would have to travel to Jerusalem, where they are not wanted and feel extremely uncomfortable in order to worship the God of their ancestors Joseph and Jacob.
Now the door is open, they have a true conversation going. She's told Him about her past, He's accepted her for who she is.
Then He says [Verse 23] that soon it won't be necessary to go to Jerusalem to worship. Soon all that will be important in worship is the Spirit and the Truth.
She's confessed to Him. They've had a good conversation about the Jews and worship. Now He confesses to her. In verse 26 He says [paraphrased] "You know that Messiah you know is coming. That's Me!"
I love this story.... I think I've written that I love this story every time it has come up in the gospels.
Gotta go to work.... pray for me....
John 4:1 Now Jesus learned that the Pharisees had heard that he was gaining and baptizing more disciples than John— 2 although in fact it was not Jesus who baptized, but his disciples. 3 So he left Judea and went back once more to Galilee.
4 Now he had to go through Samaria. 5 So he came to a town in Samaria called Sychar, near the plot of ground Jacob had given to his son Joseph. 6 Jacob’s well was there, and Jesus, tired as he was from the journey, sat down by the well. It was about noon.
7 When a Samaritan woman came to draw water, Jesus said to her, “Will you give me a drink?” 8 (His disciples had gone into the town to buy food.)
9 The Samaritan woman said to him, “You are a Jew and I am a Samaritan woman. How can you ask me for a drink?” (For Jews do not associate with Samaritans.[a])
10 Jesus answered her, “If you knew the gift of God and who it is that asks you for a drink, you would have asked him and he would have given you living water.”
11 “Sir,” the woman said, “you have nothing to draw with and the well is deep. Where can you get this living water? 12 Are you greater than our father Jacob, who gave us the well and drank from it himself, as did also his sons and his livestock?”
13 Jesus answered, “Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again, 14 but whoever drinks the water I give them will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give them will become in them a spring of water welling up to eternal life.”
15 The woman said to him, “Sir, give me this water so that I won’t get thirsty and have to keep coming here to draw water.”
16 He told her, “Go, call your husband and come back.”
17 “I have no husband,” she replied.
Jesus said to her, “You are right when you say you have no husband. 18 The fact is, you have had five husbands, and the man you now have is not your husband. What you have just said is quite true.”
19 “Sir,” the woman said, “I can see that you are a prophet. 20 Our ancestors worshiped on this mountain, but you Jews claim that the place where we must worship is in Jerusalem.”
21 “Woman,” Jesus replied, “believe me, a time is coming when you will worship the Father neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem. 22 You Samaritans worship what you do not know; we worship what we do know, for salvation is from the Jews. 23 Yet a time is coming and has now come when the true worshipers will worship the Father in the Spirit and in truth, for they are the kind of worshipers the Father seeks. 24 God is spirit, and his worshipers must worship in the Spirit and in truth.”
25 The woman said, “I know that Messiah” (called Christ) “is coming. When he comes, he will explain everything to us.”
26 Then Jesus declared, “I, the one speaking to you—I am he.”
4 Now he had to go through Samaria. 5 So he came to a town in Samaria called Sychar, near the plot of ground Jacob had given to his son Joseph. 6 Jacob’s well was there, and Jesus, tired as he was from the journey, sat down by the well. It was about noon.
7 When a Samaritan woman came to draw water, Jesus said to her, “Will you give me a drink?” 8 (His disciples had gone into the town to buy food.)
9 The Samaritan woman said to him, “You are a Jew and I am a Samaritan woman. How can you ask me for a drink?” (For Jews do not associate with Samaritans.[a])
10 Jesus answered her, “If you knew the gift of God and who it is that asks you for a drink, you would have asked him and he would have given you living water.”
11 “Sir,” the woman said, “you have nothing to draw with and the well is deep. Where can you get this living water? 12 Are you greater than our father Jacob, who gave us the well and drank from it himself, as did also his sons and his livestock?”
13 Jesus answered, “Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again, 14 but whoever drinks the water I give them will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give them will become in them a spring of water welling up to eternal life.”
15 The woman said to him, “Sir, give me this water so that I won’t get thirsty and have to keep coming here to draw water.”
16 He told her, “Go, call your husband and come back.”
17 “I have no husband,” she replied.
Jesus said to her, “You are right when you say you have no husband. 18 The fact is, you have had five husbands, and the man you now have is not your husband. What you have just said is quite true.”
19 “Sir,” the woman said, “I can see that you are a prophet. 20 Our ancestors worshiped on this mountain, but you Jews claim that the place where we must worship is in Jerusalem.”
21 “Woman,” Jesus replied, “believe me, a time is coming when you will worship the Father neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem. 22 You Samaritans worship what you do not know; we worship what we do know, for salvation is from the Jews. 23 Yet a time is coming and has now come when the true worshipers will worship the Father in the Spirit and in truth, for they are the kind of worshipers the Father seeks. 24 God is spirit, and his worshipers must worship in the Spirit and in truth.”
25 The woman said, “I know that Messiah” (called Christ) “is coming. When he comes, he will explain everything to us.”
26 Then Jesus declared, “I, the one speaking to you—I am he.”
a.John 4:9 Or do not use dishes Samaritans have used
John says that the crowds around Jesus were growing. The Pharisees are beginning to notice Him. By this time the Disciples were baptizing people while Jesus taught.
I believe, Jesus knows what is to come. I believe He decided to move over to Galilee rather than being harassed by the Pharisees so early in His mission.
Passing through Samaria cut some time off of the trip to Galilee. Jesus stopped to rest at a well and the disciples went off to get some food. How interesting. We know that Jesus fed thousands with only a few fish and loaves. No doubt He could have fed Himself and a few disciples with some crumbs in the bottom of a basket. Instead His disciples went to get food, leaving Him alone at the well.
I believe, Jesus knew that the woman was going to come to the well. I believe Jesus knows everything in advance to the very smallest detail. So as expected, the woman comes to the well. She's a descendant of Joseph and Jacob but she's a Samaritan [not a Jew].
Once the woman tells Jesus that she is not married, He tells her that He knows that she has been with five men [married five times] and she is now living with a man she's not married to.
If I were her, I'd be saying "and how do you know all that?" I mean up until this time this is just a couple of strangers talking at the well. Since she's had five [going on six] men, this sounds like it's almost a flirtation on her part. This is just a stranger who wants something [the drink] from her.
I mean, she doesn't know at this point that Jesus is the Messiah.
She knows that a Jewish Messiah is coming. She tells Jesus that the Jews require her to go to Jerusalem to worship even though her family has worshiped on the mountain for generations. The Samaritans just can't go to the local church and worship. They would have to travel to Jerusalem, where they are not wanted and feel extremely uncomfortable in order to worship the God of their ancestors Joseph and Jacob.
Now the door is open, they have a true conversation going. She's told Him about her past, He's accepted her for who she is.
Then He says [Verse 23] that soon it won't be necessary to go to Jerusalem to worship. Soon all that will be important in worship is the Spirit and the Truth.
She's confessed to Him. They've had a good conversation about the Jews and worship. Now He confesses to her. In verse 26 He says [paraphrased] "You know that Messiah you know is coming. That's Me!"
I love this story.... I think I've written that I love this story every time it has come up in the gospels.
Gotta go to work.... pray for me....