John 4 Part One

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Index on John

John Chapter Four, Christ at Sychar's Well

I. A brief analysis of John 4:1-6 is as follows:

1. The Lord's knowledge of the Pharisees' jealousy, v.1.

2. The disciples of the Lord baptizing, v,2.

3. The Lord leaving Judea and departing into Galilee, v.3.

4. The constraint of Divine Grace, v.4.

5. The Journey to Sychar, v.5.

6. The Saviour's weariness, v.6.

7. The Saviour resting, v.6.

II. The Seven striking contrasts seen between John 3 and 4 are:

1. In John 3 we have a man of the Pharisees named "Nicodemus." In John 4 it is an unnamed woman that is before us.

2. The former was a man of rank, a "Master of Israel. The latter was a woman of the lower ranks, for she came to "draw water."

3. One was a favored Jew, the other a despised Samaritan.

4. Nicodemus was a man of high reputation, a member of the Sanhedrin. The one with whom Christ dealt in John 4 was a woman of dissolute habits.

5. Nicodemus sought out Christ. Here Christ seeks out the woman.

6. Nicodemus came to Christ "by night" but Christ speaks to the woman at "mid-day."

7. To the self righteous Pharisee Christ said, "You must be born again." To this sinner of the Gentiles, He tells of "the gift of God."

The Text of John 4:1-6

1Therefore when the Lord knew that the Pharisees had heard that Jesus was making and baptizing more disciples than John 2 (although Jesus Himself was not baptizing, but His disciples were), 3He left Judea and went away again into Galilee. 4And He had to pass through Samaria. 5So He came to a city of Samaria called Sychar, near the parcel of ground that Jacob gave to his son Joseph; 6and Jacob's well was there. So Jesus, being wearied from His journey, was sitting thus by the well. It was about the sixth hour.

III. We must note the importance of the order of the verbs in John 4:1:"The Pharisees had heard that Jesus made and baptized more disciples than John"?

The reason it is import to notice the order of the two verbs here is that they tell us who is eligible for baptism. When two verbs are linked together thus, the first denotes the action, and the second denotes how the action was performed. Thus, this verse teaches that only one who is a "believer" in Christ is qualified for baptism and such things as "infant baptism" as the Papists teach is wrong.

I. A short review of the context. Just prior to the Lord's departure into Galilee, John the Baptist is imprisoned (cf. Mat. 4:12; Mk. 1:14; Lk. 3:19-20). It is speculation, but the arrest of John may have influenced Jesus to change locations and head out for Galilee thus avoiding a premature death at the hands of the authorities or he feared a reaction from the multitudes much like that which was to happen sometime later (Jn. 6:15). Jesus then withdraws from His work of baptizing somewhere in the Jordon and moves toward Galilee.

Verse Two__The parenthetical statement in verse two tells us that Jesus did not baptize personally but did so through His agents (the disciples).

Verse 4__In many of the older translations, this verse is translated Jesus "must" go to Samaria instead of Jesus "had" to go through Samaria. The Calvinists use the antiquated translation to try and prove some kind of convoluted idea of predestination. The point is of course that Jesus was on His way to Galilee and He had to pass through Samaria to get to Galilee, at least this was the shortest route. It is here we must talk about the age old hostility between the Samaritans and the Jews. For a short history on this see the pages located (here) and for Jacob's Well look (Here) The location of Sychar was near Mt. Gerizim and Mt. Ebal. It was on Mt. Gerizim where centuries earlier the Samaritan's had built a Temple in order to compete with the Temple in Jerusalem and they considered themselves the "legitimate " occupants of the land.

Traveling the Roman road that leads through Samaria, Jesus would come to a fork in the road. At this fork in the road there is a well called Jacob's well. At this fork in the road was a well known as Jacob's well. From the well it was about one-half mile to the village of Sychar. As mentioned above, this is a short distance from Mt. Gerizim and Mount Ebal. A short distance north of Gerizim is a natural amphitheater in between where Joshua stood and shouted the blessings and curses of the Law to the nation assembled on the slopes of these two mountains (Deut. 27:12-13; Josh. 8:33-35). Also in the immediate vicinity is a burial plot purchased by Jacob and given to his son Joseph and subsequently had his bones buried there (Gen. 33:18-19; 48;22; Josh. 24:32).

Jacob's well is one place that most all archaeologists point to with certainty. As noticed by the pictures on this web site there is a ancient church built over one location that allegedly is Jacob's well but most agree on a different location nearby. In fact, even today there are deep grooves in the stones where the ropes have cut into the rocks for centuries and marks on those same stones where wear has taken place from people sitting. No doubt, Jesus sat on these very stones.

For a compete history of the Samaritans visit (here)

Verse 6___Once again we meet the problem with John's method of counting time. John is using Roman time which would be from twelve to twelve. This is important to recognize when we get to the crucifixion. Jesus was crucified at 9:00 a.m. and died at 3:00 p.m. John 19:14 describes the trial in progress at the "sixth hour." That then is 6:00 a.m. Such an hour is not too early for a verdict to be announced and that being the case, there is not a great amount of time between the verdict and the crucifixion but enough time for Jesus to carry the heavy cross more than a mile through large crowds. Until we know better then, Jesus sat at the well at either 6:00 a.m. or 6:00 p.m. The latter is probably correct.

Jesus Christ, the Living Water 4:7-14.

The Analysis

1. The Woman of Samaria, v. 7.

2. The Saviour's request, v.7.

3. The Saviour's solitariness, v.8.

4. The Woman's surprise, v.9.

5. The Woman's prejudice, v.9.

6. The Saviour's rebuke, v.10.

7. The Saviour's appeal, v. 10.

8. The Woman's Ignorance, v.11.

9. The Woman's Insolence, v.12.

10. The Saviour's Gracious Promise, vv. 13, 14.

7There came a woman of Samaria to draw water. Jesus said to her, "Give Me a drink." 8For His disciples had gone away into the city to buy food. 9Therefore the Samaritan woman said to Him, "How is it that You, being a Jew, ask me for a drink since I am a Samaritan woman?" (For Jews have no dealings with Samaritans.) 10Jesus 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." 11She said to Him, "Sir, You have nothing to draw with and the well is deep; where then do You get that 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?" 13Jesus answered and said to her, "Everyone who drinks of this water will thirst again; 14but whoever drinks of the water that I will give him shall never thirst; but the water that I will give him will become in him a well of water springing up to eternal life.

Our story now finds us at Jacob's well near the town of Sychar. Every day this woman as well as others walked about one-half mile to draw water. In this case, the woman came alone. It seems obvious from the context that the woman was a social outcast. __An unclean adulteress___a Samaritan___and a "woman." How much worse can things be, but yet she is embraced by Jesus!

Verse 9___It is now that the Master teacher uses tact in order to reach the woman: He asked for a drink. She is astonished since a Jew would not use the same vessel (for water or food) that Samaritan used. If a Jew came into contact with things a Samaritan used, they would then need to be ceremonial cleansed. And yet here is a Jew asking for a drink.

A very brief History of the Samaritans

When the kingdom of Israel was divided in about 926 B.C., (I Kings 12) the northern kingdom under Jeroboam embraced all the territory originally alloted to the ten tribes. The kingdom was then called Israel, and encompassed the provinces of Samaria and Galilee. Hoshea, Israel's last king spurned the powerful nation of Assyria and made an alliance with Egypt. Around 722, the Assyrian king laid siege to the capital city and later carried off nearly all the people into captivity (II Kings 17). A small remnant of the ten tribes was left, the extremely poor. The Assyrians imported their own people into the conquered territories (II Kings 17:24) and later these imported people intermarried with the small group of Jews who were left, giving a mixed race of people known as the Samaritans. They mixed idol worship with the religion of the Israelites. God sent wild beast among them for their perversions and many Samaritans were killed. They attributed the plague of wild lions to be from YHWH and their lack of knowledge of the law. They appealed to the King of Assyria for help and in turn he sent them a Jewish Priest to teach them the law.

About 150 to 200 years later, the Kingdom of Judah fell to the Babylonians. Judah was taken captive but allowed to return home after 70 years. Upon the return home, the fist things the returned captives did was make an effort to rebuild the Temple that was destroyed by Babylon. In chapter 4 of the book of Ezra, we see the Samaritans asking to help the Jews rebuild the Temple. The Jews scorned the Samaritans and told them with contempt "You have nothing to do with us in building a house for God." This made the Samaritans angry and hostility ensued. In fact, the Samaritans built their own Temple on Mt Gerizim to compete with the one in Jerusalem. The ruins are there today. It was in this environment that Jesus taught.

Verse 10__In verse ten we are introduced to the Old Testament concept of the Messiah being the "living water." (cf. Isa. 12:3, 35:7, 44:3; 49:10; 55:1; Psalm 42:1; 36:9; Jer. 2:13; 17:13; Ezek. 47:1-12; Zech. 13:1; 14:8). True, in 7:37-39 Jesus speaks of the Holy Spirit as being the living water but adds, "this life source shall flow out from the believer" so then there is no contradiction between 4:13-14 and 7:37-39.

In Christianity the idea of "living waters" is connected to the Jewish idea of the Mikvah. In Judaism at the time of Christ (and even today) the "Mikvah" (Jewish Baptism) was known as the place of contact with "living waters." It is now the same for Christianity. It is in baptism where we meet the fountain of living water (for a complete article on this see ( Here)

Jesus Searches the Secrets of the Woman, John 4: 15-18.

The Analysis

1. The Woman's Prejudice Overcome, v.15.

2. The Saviour's Arrow for the Conscience, v.16

3. The Saviour's Omniscience Displayed, vv. 17,18.

" 15The woman said to Him, "Sir, give me this water, so I will not be thirsty nor come all the way here to draw." 16He said to her, "Go, call your husband and come here." 17The woman answered and said, "I have no husband." Jesus said to her, "You have correctly said, 'I have no husband'; 18for you have had five husbands, and the one whom you now have is not your husband; this you have said truly."

I. Verse 15___ commentators often struggle over the woman's answer above. Was she sincere or was she being cynical?

A. Whatever her attitude, she thinks Jesus is speaking of physical water. She made the same mistake as the multitudes in John 6:26. She was looking for a physical sign.

B. Verse 16___The Master teacher takes over. He must first make her "thirst" for this living water.

a. This reveals our sinful and unrighteous state that causes honest hearts to thirst after God.

b. It also reveals God as manifested in Jesus as the real "living water" which quenches that thirst (cf. Mt. 5:6; Jn. 6:35; 7:36 and Rev. 7:16).

C. Before anyone can be saved they must recognize they are lost. The person who does not recognize their lost state cannot be helped. This Samaritan woman had to be enlightened that God knew where she was and be shown that she is in desperate need of the living water. Here we find that Jesus cannot give the woman the living water until the woman "thirsts." When Jesus said, "Go fetch your husband," He was casting a thunderbolt into the conversation.

II, Verse 17-18____The woman all of a sudden is not so eager to speak. She speaks only three Greek words (I have no husband).

A. Was she just trying to avoid the conversation or:

B. Was she living with a man who was not her husband?

III. Jesus then proceeds to tell her the story of her life. This shows us two things about Jesus.

He:

1. Revealed her sin and made her desirous of righteousness

2. Manifested to some extent His omniscient and divine nature, and thus provided her the way to righteousness.

" 19The woman said to Him, "Sir, I perceive that You are a prophet. 20"Our fathers worshiped in this mountain, and you people say that in Jerusalem is the place where men ought to worship." 21Jesus said to her, "Woman, believe Me, an hour is coming when neither in this mountain nor in Jerusalem will you worship the Father. 22"You worship what you do not know; we worship what we know, for salvation is from the Jews. 23"But an hour is coming, and now is, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth; for such people the Father seeks to be His worshipers. 24"God is spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth." 25The 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." 26Jesus said to her, "I who speak to you am He."

Let's Change the Subject

I. The last time I remember Jesus talking to this woman was about how many husbands she had had. It seems that she did not like to talk about that subject and jumped into where ought we worship.

A. Some commentators believe that the woman was asking a soul searching question or making a soul searching statement.

B. Others think that she is still trying the "evade" the issue.

II. "Our Father worshiped on this Mountain is probably a reference to the Samaritan Temple (Look Right Here) but it could also be a reference to when Jacob built altars at Shechem (Gen. 33:20).

III. According to the Old Testament, there was only ONE place of worship. Moses regulated that there was to be just ONE acceptable altar (Deut. 12:1-14). Still later during the time of Hezekiah, Judah is reminded again of the ONE altar concept (II Kings 18:22; II Chron. 32:12 and Isa. 36:7).

But according to Jesus in verse 27 the time is coming when the question of the proper place is a MOOT question. There is coming a time when God will break down all barriers and worship will be neither on the Mountain or in Jerusalem as a place where one must go to worship.

IV. Verse 21____ Jesus reminds her that the Samaritan people are worshiping in ignorance. The Jews are worshiping that which they know. (The Samaritans only recognized the Torah [the first five books of the Bible] as being authoritative, so how could they possibly know about salvation coming from the Jews as prophesied in Isaiah in sections such as the suffering servant?)

V. Verse 23___"The hour is coming and now is" or another way to say this is: the time is at hand. Jesus meant the time had come or was about to be completed shortly. But what is meant by worshiping "In spirit and in truth"? William Barclay has some thought on this:

1. A false worship selects what it wishes to know and understand about God, and omits what it does not wish. One of the most dangerous things in the world is a one-sided religion.

2. A false worship is an ignorant worship....In the last analysis, religion is never safe until a man can tell, not only what he believes, but more importantly why he believes it!

3. A false worship is a superstitious worship. It is a worship given not out of a sense of need not out of any real desire, but because a person thinks there is danger if he/she doesn't worship. There is too much religious activity that is a ritual.

VI. If God is Spirit, then God is not confined to things. If God is Spirit, then God is worshiped with gifts of the spirit (singing, not playing).

VII. Verses 25-26____The woman's confessession shows she knows about the Messiah. Jesus tells her that He is the Messiah.

Next Week John Four Continued.