LOC 025: Life of Christ:
Jesus
& the Woman at the Well
Last week we looked at some transitional verses at the beginning of
John chapter 4 to show two things, how the four Gospels are starting to come
together and to show the character of Jesus--he had to go through Samaria--he
had his father’s work to do.
The events surrounding the imprisonment of John the Baptist,
humanly speaking, brought about concerns for Jesus’ safety. Yet from the divine perspective, Jesus had to
go to Samaria at Spirit’s direction.
This story of Jesus with the Woman at the Well is one of the best
known narratives in the Life of the Lord Jesus Christ. Preachers come hear to preach on worship,
compassion, the humanity of Jesus, the freeness of the Gospel, the ability of
Jesus to save the perceived worst of sinners and other issues. This morning, I want to look at the character
of our Lord and his willingness to upset societal conventions for the work of
ministry before him. But that was something Jesus would do quite often. He was not bound by artificial rules and
prejudices; he followed a higher standard and it alone.
Remember, John 2:24-25 already told us that Jesus knew all men and
knew what was in them. This exchange
with the Samaritan Woman is another example of one Jesus knew. With Nicodemus he got down to business
quickly, so here he does again. But a
word of caution is due. Don’t shape your
methodology of evangelism on what Jesus does with Nicodemus or the woman at
the well. Jesus knew their hearts; we do
not. We must ask questions and depend on
truthful answers in order to get down to the rel needs and concerns of men. We must not be flippant or short with
inquirers. We must seek to know what
they are about and answer their true needs--it was much easier for Jesus to do
than us.
1. The Setting
A. Jesus is Weary
John 4:6 Now Jacob's well was there. Jesus therefore, being
wearied from His journey, sat thus by
the well. It was about the sixth hour.
B. Jesus Speaks Up
7 A woman of Samaria
came to draw water. Jesus said to her, 'Give Me a drink."
C. John gives more details
8 For His disciples
had gone away into the city to buy food.
2. The Woman’s Incredulous Response
9 Then the woman of
Samaria said to Him, "How is it that You, being a Jew, ask a drink from
me, a Samaritan woman?" For Jews have no dealings with Samaritans.
3. Jesus gets to the Point
10 Jesus answered and
said to her, 'If you knew the gift of God, and who it is who says to you, 'Give
Me a drink,' you would have asked Him, and He would have given you living
water."
4. The Woman is Intrigued
JOH 4:11 The woman said
to Him, "Sir, You have nothing to draw with, and the well is deep. Where
then do You get that living water? 12 "Are You greater than our father
Jacob, who gave us the well, and drank from it himself, as well as his sons and
his livestock?"
5. Jesus Makes his Point
13 Jesus answered and
said to her, 'Whoever drinks of this water will thirst again, 14 'but whoever
drinks of the water that I shall give him will never thirst. But the water that
I shall give him will become in him a fountain of water springing up into everlasting
life."
6. The Woman Starts to see her need
15 The woman said to
Him, "Sir, give me this water, that I may not thirst, nor come here to
draw."
7. The Insight of Jesus
16 Jesus said to her,
'Go, call your husband, and come here."
8. The Turning Point
A. 17 The woman answered and said, 'I have no husband." B.
Jesus said to her, "You have well said, 'I have no husband,’ 18 'for you
have had five husbands, and the one whom you now have is not your husband; in
that you spoke truly."
9. The Initial Profession
19 The woman said to
Him, "Sir, I perceive that You are a prophet.
10. The Woman’s perceived need--to know
20 "Our fathers
worshiped on this mountain, and you Jews say that in Jerusalem is the place
where one ought to worship."
11. Jesus careful answer
21 Jesus said to her,
'Woman, believe Me, the hour is coming when you will neither on this mountain,
nor in Jerusalem, worship the Father.
22 'You worship what
you do not know; we know what we worship, for salvation is of the Jews.
23 'But the hour is
coming, and now is, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit
and truth; for the Father is seeking such to worship Him. 24 'God is Spirit,
and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth."
12. The Second Profession
25 The woman said to
Him, "I know that Messiah is coming" (who is called Christ).
"When He comes, He will tell us all things."
13. The Woman’s Real Need--to believe
JOH 4:26 Jesus said to
her, 'I who speak to you am He."
Let’s look at some important things with greater detail:
1. The Setting
A. Jesus is Weary
John 4:6 Now Jacob's well was there. Jesus therefore, being
wearied from His journey, sat thus by
the well. It was about the sixth hour.
Jesus had likely been walking for 4 to six hours. He was thirsty. Water to drink was not readily available
along the way. Perhaps they headed for
this well, to water themselves while travelling. While he was resting....
B. Jesus Speaks Up
7 A woman of Samaria
came to draw water.
Men would have worked the fields or practiced their trade. The
women took care of the needs of the home.
This unsuspecting Samaritan Woman came to do what she ordinarily did--to
get water. However, it appears from
other narratives that the usual time for drawing water for home of flocks was
in the evening. Here she was at
noontime, at the well, to get water.
While she is drawing out her water....
Jesus said to her, 'Give Me
a drink."
Jesus, alone with this woman at the well, commands her, knowing
her heart, to give him a drink. The text
is rather direct with fore behind it.
Give me a drink. Another strange
way to open a conversation--a least it seems so to us.
C. John gives more details
How do we know Jesus was alone with the woman? John tells us....
8 For His disciples
had gone away into the city to buy food.
Not only did this travelling band need water and rest, they needed
food. Jesus did not provide everything
for himself and his disciples via miracles.
They used the means of living life in this world. Here in Samaria, the disciples went to get
food. This left Jesus alone at the well
for when the womn would come. Her
arrival did not take Jesus by surprise--he expected it. He told her to get him a drink...
2. The Woman’s Incredulous Response
9 Then the woman of
Samaria said to Him, "How is it that You, being a Jew, ask a drink from
me, a Samaritan woman?" For Jews have no dealings with Samaritans.
The woman identified Jesus immediately as one who was different
than her. She could tell by his clothes
and perhaps the way he looked that he was a Jew. She found it hard to believe that he would
seek a drink from a Samarita woman because the Jews had no casual business with
the Samaritans. The Jews were afraid of
contamination...and here Jesus is talking to the woman and his disciples are
off buying Samaritan food.
There is a natural fear of people who are not like us. This fear
is called XENOPHOBIA. A xenophobe is a
person unduly fearful or contemptuous of that which is foreign, especially of
strangers or foreign peoples. Xenophobia
is a fear of people who are different.
This fear has caused some of the greatest brutality in the history
of the world. Jesus had no such fear--and neither should we. The Gospel is for the world not for people
who are just like us. There are times
when real ministry ought to put us in uncomfortable situations. We must seek
opportunities to bring all kinds of people to hear the Gospel and when we must
be willing to bring the Gospel to all kinds of people.
Heaven will be populated with people who are not from New England
in the 1990s. This is the demographic of heaven at the end of time: Revelation
7:9-10 After these things I looked, and behold, a great multitude which no one
could number, of all nations, tribes, peoples, and tongues,
standing before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed with white robes, with
palm branches in their hands, 10 and crying out with a loud voice, saying,
"Salvation belongs to our God who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb!"
Salvation belongs to God! Not to people who are just like us. We must learn from Jesus to fear God rather
than man. To seek opportunities to minister to people who may be different than
us. Just because someone is different in
background, ethinicity, race, outlook, social strata, profession, etc., doesn’t
mean here is no obligation to bring them the Gospel. It is for all men--even the women among the Samaritans--and
as we will see--even the sinful women of a despised race of men.
Jesus broke societal conventions, so did the woman. Jesus told her to get him a drink, the woman
asks, How is it that You, being a Jew, ask a drink from me?
3. Jesus gets to the Point
10 Jesus answered and
said to her, 'If you knew the gift of God, and who it is who says to you, 'Give
Me a drink,' you would have asked Him, and He would have given you living
water."
Jesus’ request opened up a way to express who he was and what was
of utmost importance. Look at what he
says to the woman’s question. He answers
her question. If you knew the gift of
God and who it is who says to you, ‘Give me a drink,’ you would have asked Him,
and He would have given you living water.
Three things:
1. Jesus is a gift or
deposit from God
2. The Woman had no idea with whom she was talking
3. Jesus had something better to offer her than she had to offer
him.
1. Jesus is a gift or
deposit from God--the original word is from the Greek DOREA meaning gratuity or
present which comes from the word for something presented as in a gift or
sacrifice on the altar. As in MAT 5:23-24 "Therefore if you bring your
gift to the altar, and there remember that your brother has something against
you, 24 "leave your gift there before the altar, and go your way. First be
reconciled to your brother, and then come and offer your gift.
And, HEB 8:3 For every high priest is appointed to offer both gifts and sacrifices. Therefore it is necessary that this One also have
something to offer. 4 For if He were on earth, He would not be a priest, since
there are priests who offer the gifts
according to the law.
File that away for a moment....
2. The Woman had no idea with whom she was talking--Jesus must
have appeared like any other Jewish man except that he was bold enough to talk
to strangers in Samaria. There was no special halo around his head. He did not emminate an aura. He was in all
appearancs as a man. Dispensing the grace
of God while showing forth his glory as God.
3. Jesus had something better to offer her than she had to offer
him. He asked for water for his own needs and mentions a better more satisfying
refreshment--living water. If she had known who he was, she would have asked
for what only he could have given.
4. The Woman is Intrigued
JOH 4:11 The woman said
to Him, "Sir, You have nothing to draw with, and the well is deep. Where
then do You get that living water?
The woman thought like Nicodemus--earthly with no heavenly
understanding. Sir, how are you going to
get this “LIVING” water? This is a deep
well and you have nothing to draw up the deep waters. She continues to show a little more
insight...
12 "Are You greater than our father Jacob, who gave us the
well, and drank from it himself, as well as his sons and his livestock?"
She challenges Jesus a little.
Do you think you are greater than the Patriarch Jacob? .....
5. Jesus Makes his Point
13 Jesus answered and
said to her, 'Whoever drinks of this water will thirst again, 14 'but whoever
drinks of the water that I shall give him will never thirst. But the water that
I shall give him will become in him a fountain of water springing up into everlasting
life."
What a great claim to make.
This water satifies for a moment.
Whoever drinks from the Lord Jesus Christ will never thirst again.
Many people run from one experience to another hoping that the
next will be better and more satifying than the first. Because something appears cool and
refreshing, they think it is what they need.
Then months or years down the road they wonder why there is no
life-driving pribciple and why their love for Christ has grown cold and why
they have no spiritual vitality. It is
because many go from watering hole to watering hole drinking in religious water
without really coming to Christ to satisfy their souls.
When the Lord Jesus Christ satisfies the soul it will never thirst
again--for the things that don't really satisfy. But for those who have never truly tasted of
the gift of God, the water and the refreshing of religious expression is the
best they can know. There is a big
difference between being religious and being a Christian, of drinking from
wells of man’s water and drinking from Christ.
The one is fleeting, the joy and happiness of refreshment does not last,
the other brings great satisfaction to the soul. Whoever truly drinks from the Lord Jesus
Christ will never thirst again.
This was the message to the woman at the well, even though she had
no idea who Jesus was. It is the message to us today. We must be satisfied with Jesus and what he
can give. He alone can satify the
longing of the human heart. He alone can
make us new. He must give us the new
birth from above. He is the life-giver to resurrect dead souls and satisfy them
as well.
6. The Woman Starts to see her need
15 The woman said to
Him, "Sir, give me this water, that I may not thirst, nor come here to
draw."
She gets it and doesn’t quite get it at the same time. Which is
typical. Especially with people who have some prior religious experience. They don’t want to admit that they may have
been wrong in the outlook on the Gospel.
It is a pride thing.
The woman wants this water, but so she doesn;t have to come to the
well anymore. She sees the water of life
is of a different character, but she is still trying to link it with the things
of the earth.
7. The Insight of Jesus
16 Jesus said to her,
'Go, call your husband, and come here."
Jesus commands her to so something else. To get her husband and return.
8. The Turning Point
A. 17 The woman answered and said, 'I have no husband." B.
Jesus said to her, "You have well said, 'I have no husband,’ 18 'for you
have had five husbands, and the one whom you now have is not your husband; in
that you spoke truly."
Knowing her heart he speaks directly about her past and her
sin. She has been a lascivious,
adulterous harlot, yet Jesus shows her compassion and grace. He doesn’t minimize her sin and lawless
lifestyle, he uses it to awaken her to spiritual realities. Look at her response....
9. The Initial Profession
19 The woman said to
Him, "Sir, I perceive that You are a prophet.
She sees him to be of a special character once again. He is one who is speaking forth the things of
God. Here is her chance, okay, what do I
ask this man with all of this great insight?
I know, the age old question about worshipping on Mount Gerazim.....
10. The Woman’s perceived need--to know
20 "Our fathers
worshiped on this mountain, and you Jews say that in Jerusalem is the place
where one ought to worship."
Jesus had already used the language of gifts and sacrifice. Here she is making a statement about a matter
that had been a sore spot between the Samaritans and Jews. She introduces the subject--perhaps she
really wanted to know.
11. Jesus careful answer
21 Jesus said to her,
'Woman, believe Me, the hour is coming when you will neither on this mountain,
nor in Jerusalem, worship the Father.
22 'You worship what
you do not know; we know what we worship, for salvation is of the Jews.
23 'But the hour is
coming, and now is, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit
and truth; for the Father is seeking such to worship Him. 24 'God is Spirit,
and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth."
Coming to God in worship is not something that can be located to
one place. It is spiritual, not
physical. God must be worshipped in a
way that is consistant with who he is.
He must be worshipped spiritually and in truth. The Father seeks people who have this
perspective to worship him. It isn;t
Gerazim, nor even Jerusalem that is important. It is not the place,
necessarily, it is the heart.
Look at her response... A wicked sexually immoral woman knows
these things....
12. The Second Profession
25 The woman said to
Him, "I know that Messiah is coming" (who is called Christ).
"When He comes, He will tell us all things."
Just because someone is a sinner is no reason to conclude God will
not work in them. We should fear the
effects of sin, but we should show forth the effects of grace. Here we have a miserable sinner who professes
what she knows--the Messiah is coming.
He will teach us all things. She
has a hope and wants to learn. Jesus
brings her back down to earth with the simple reply addressed to this real need
for her to believe in the Christ, the Messiah of God....
13. The Woman’s Real Need--to believe
26 Jesus said to her,
'I who speak to you am He."
What a statement. Can you
imagine a woman sitting there with a man she now considers to be a prophet, she
gets into a good frame of mind, is convicted of her sin and says that she knows
Messiah is coming and that he will teach the Samaritans all they need to
know. A common harlot has more faith
than the entire religious establishment in Jerusalem. She has more faith than
Nicodemus. She has a certain expectation
that Messiah is going to come and Jesus lowers the boom; it must have been like
a sledgehammer hitting her in the head.
Jesus said to her, “I who soeak to you am He.” Jesus could not make a planner statement
about his true identity--he is the Messiah, not of Israel alone, but of the
world.
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