John 4: 1 - 42
Hey, You Talking To Me?
1 Therefore, when the Lord knew that the Pharisees had heard that Jesus made and baptized more disciples than John 2 (though Jesus Himself did not baptize, but His disciples), 3 He left Judea and departed again to Galilee. 4 But He needed to go through Samaria. 5 So He came to a city of Samaria which is called Sychar, near the plot of ground that Jacob gave to his son Joseph. 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. 7 A woman of Samaria came to draw water. Jesus said to her, “Give Me a drink.” 8 For His disciples had gone away into the city to buy food. 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. 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.” 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?” 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.” 15 The woman said to Him, “Sir, give me this water, that I may not thirst, nor come here to draw.” 16 Jesus said to her, “Go, call your husband, and come here.” 17 The woman answered and said, “I have no husband.” 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.” 19 The woman said to Him, “Sir, I perceive that You are a prophet. 20 Our fathers worshiped on this mountain, and you Jews say that in Jerusalem is the place where one ought to worship.” 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.” 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.” 26 Jesus said to her, “I who speak to you am He.” 27 And at this point His disciples came, and they marveled that He talked with a woman; yet no one said, “What do You seek?” or, “Why are You talking with her?” 28 The woman then left her water pot, went her way into the city, and said to the men, 29 “Come, see a Man who told me all things that I ever did. Could this be the Christ?” 30 Then they went out of the city and came to Him. 31 In the meantime His disciples urged Him, saying, “Rabbi, eat.” 32 But He said to them, “I have food to eat of which you do not know.” 33 Therefore the disciples said to one another, “Has anyone brought Him anything to eat?” 34 Jesus said to them, “My food is to do the will of Him who sent Me, and to finish His work. 35 Do you not say, ‘There are still four months and then comes the harvest’? Behold, I say to you, lift up your eyes and look at the fields, for they are already white for harvest! 36 And he who reaps receives wages, and gathers fruit for eternal life, that both he who sows and he who reaps may rejoice together. 37 For in this 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 entered into their labors.” 39 And many of the Samaritans of that city believed in Him because of the word of the woman who testified, “He told me all that I ever did.” 40 So when the Samaritans had come to Him, they urged Him to stay with them; and He stayed there two days. 41 And many more believed because of His own word. 42 Then they said to the woman, “Now we believe, not because of what you said, for we ourselves have heard Him and we know that this is indeed the Christ, the Savior of the world.”
For those of us who grew up in the Northeast part of the country, we have certain attitudes or expressions that make us stand out. Living in a heavily populated area there are certain things you should not do. For one thing, don’t stare at anyone. And another thing is do not just walk up and talk to a stranger. You might get a retaliatory defensive response like, ‘Hey, who You looking at? Or ‘Hey, you talking to me? So, if you happened to say back, ‘I’m not looking at anything much’ or ‘not you stupid’ you might have a fight on your hands.
In just a short time the Lord Jesus had created friction amongst the religious leaders. These men resented Jesus’ popularity as well as His message which challenged their teaching. Have you ever experienced a situation where you asked a Pastor or bible teacher a question relative to their study? If somehow your question hit a nerve you may have received a nasty response. This is what our Lord did through His teaching and asking questions to his audience relative to plain common sense. Needless to say it was not received well by the religious teachers. I find it interesting that a a young boy our Lord Jesus was in the Temple doing the same thing yet the outcome was different. The older teachers were amazed at His Knowledge and Wisdom. I believe that the acceptance of youth than an adult who shared the same truth happens a lot. Maybe this is why our Precious Holy Spirit threw in this part of our Lord Jesus’ life.
1 Therefore, when the Lord knew that the Pharisees had heard that Jesus made and baptized more disciples than John 2 (though Jesus Himself did not baptize, but His disciples), 3 He left Judea and departed again to Galilee.
Even though there weren’t any telephones around this time the message that John The Baptist and his disciples were confronted by the Pharisees about the Lord Jesus’ popularity outshining that of John’s reached the Lord Jesus. Because the Lord Jesus was just now beginning His ministry He knew that it was not time to stir up a lot of trouble by these religious people so he left Jerusalem and traveled through Galilee.
So in His greatness ‘the Lord’, who had every right to exert His superiority had He wished, when He learned that a certain amount of hurtful gossip was being cast on John the Baptist, withdrew into Galilee. And it was not in order to change His sphere of ministry, but simply to prevent His activity from interfering with John’s, for in Galilee He did not begin a public ministry until after John was imprisoned. Such was His sensitivity that He wished to protect His servant John from embarrassment.
What a lesson lies here for all who compete to make a name for themselves at the expense of others, and think that they are so important that they can ignore the effect of their ministry on other works of God. Each should be concerned that other’s work may prosper. And we should note that had Jesus not done what He did the great revival in Samaria, which we will next consider, would not have occurred.
I serve at a non-denominational church called Calvary Chapel. Although this statement is not in writing, it made a lot of sense to me. I heard brought out at a Pastor’s Conference this, ‘If you want to start your own church make sure you are about a half hour away from another church.’ I think too often some new church’s move in next store or in the same vicinity of another. Instead of winning new converts into the family of God who become part of their new church, what they do is steal away other sheep from surrounding churches.
Please notice again the statement - ‘Although Jesus himself did not baptize, but his disciples.’ Have you considered why our Lord Jesus not baptize? Well, the first thing to come into my mind is how sinful people can turn from worshiping the Lord the way He wants to be worshiped and create something else. A good example of my point comes from the book of Numbers chapter 21 verse 9 which says, ‘So Moses made a bronze serpent, and put it on a pole; and so it was, if a serpent had bitten anyone, when he looked at the bronze serpent, he lived.’
The people of Israel were disobedient and so the Lord allowed poisonous snakes to come amongst the people which ultimately bit them. As a result of this condition many died from the snake bites. The people cried out to God so the LORD God instructed Moses to make this bronze serpent. This was done to see if the people would become obedient. Our Holy God made the relief easy but at the same time a challenge to His people. If they refused to be obedient and look at the bronze serpent lifted up on the pole – they died. Do you see here the same challenge for all mankind? If we will not look up to the cross and put our hope and trust in His Healing power of our sins then we also will die in our sins.
The Israelites had turned a practical lesson instituted by our Holy Master into an idol. The bronze serpent was made into a shrine where people would travel to go see it. This was not what our Lord wanted done so he raised up a man to destroy this idol. His name was Hezekiah. We read in the book of 2 Kings chapter 18 what happened, “1 Now it came to pass in the third year of Hoshea the son of Elah, king of Israel, that Hezekiah the son of Ahaz, king of Judah, began to reign. 2 He was twenty-five years old when he became king, and he reigned twenty-nine years in Jerusalem. His mother’s name was Abi the daughter of Zechariah. 3 And he did what was right in the sight of the LORD, according to all that his father David had done. 4 He removed the high places and broke the sacred pillars, cut down the wooden image and broke in pieces the bronze serpent that Moses had made; for until those days the children of Israel burned incense to it, and called it Nehushtan. 5 He trusted in the LORD God of Israel, so that after him was none like him among all the kings of Judah, nor who were before him. 6 For he held fast to the LORD; he did not depart from following Him, but kept His commandments, which the LORD had commanded Moses. 7 The LORD was with him; he prospered wherever he went. And he rebelled against the king of Assyria and did not serve him. 8 He subdued the Philistines, as far as Gaza and its territory, from watchtower to fortified city.”
In addition I know the problem that would be created if He did so. Can you imagine the sect that would be created? It would be called ‘The National Association of Those Personally Baptized by The Son of God.’ I think it would create a new religion where magical water used by Jesus personally would be passed down to future generations. I think the highest religious official of this new church would have the title, ‘The Big Dipper.’
But there is an even more important reason why it would have been the wrong thing to do for Jesus to baptize. Baptism at this stage was a pointer forward to the coming of the Holy Spirit. It was a declaration that One was coming Who would ‘drench (baptize) in Holy Spirit’ which Mark points out in chapter 1 verse 8 of his Gospel. John baptized with water in order to proclaim that that day was coming and he was especially thrilled when he saw it actually fulfilled when He had baptized Jesus. He immediately knew that this was the One Who would ‘baptize’ in Holy Spirit, although he did not know when.
It was equally right for Jesus’ disciples to baptize. They too proclaimed that the pouring out of the Holy Spirit was coming, and that One would come Who would baptize in Holy Spirit. It pointed from them to Another. But He was not ready to reveal Himself until John’s ministry was complete.
Our Lord Jesus could not point to another, for He Was, and Is, the baptizer in the Holy Spirit. He is the reality of which the baptism was the shadow. Thus, for Him to have baptized would have been constantly misleading. He would have been pointing them to His own future coming. He would have been denying that He was present as the baptizer in Holy Spirit. And that He could not do, for it was the reason why He had come, the reason revealed to Nicodemus, shortly to be revealed to the Samaritan woman, and more and more to be revealed through His ministry until He gave the Holy Spirit, first in the Upper Room to the apostles (John 20), and then to the world at Pentecost (Acts 2).
4 But He needed to go through Samaria.
Back in the book of 2 Kings chapter 17 we learn of the destruction of the Northern Kingdom of Israel by the Assyrians. Many of the Jews were taken captive and deported to other countries. They were replaced by foreigners. Those left in the land intermarried the new refugees and were considered impure by the Jews living in the Southern Kingdom. They were thus named the Samaritans and were shunned by the Jews who would have nothing to do with them even to the point of avoiding travel through their territory.
5 So He came to a city of Samaria which is called Sychar, near the plot of ground that Jacob gave to his son Joseph. 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.
Sychar is commonly identified with Askar, a village about one mile northeast of Jacob’s Well, on the Eastern lower slopes of Mount Ebal. Jacob’s Well is still there on a site almost universally recognized as authentic. It is 100 feet deep.
The demands of Jesus’ ministry had caught up with Him, and on their journey through the heat of the sun Jesus grew weary. We are reminded here that He Who was the Word, the Creator of the world, was also truly human and suffered from the weakness of the body like the rest of us do. The true humanity of Jesus is stressed here. He was ‘very tired’.
John remembers it was about the sixth hour. If this was by Jewish time it would be around twelve noon (starting from sunrise), if by Roman time it would be around six-o-clock in the evening (from noon). We read in chapter 20 verse 19 that John clearly uses Roman time, and that is probably so here. It is in fact more likely that a woman would come at in the evening rather than during the heat of the day.
7 A woman of Samaria came to draw water. Jesus said to her, “Give Me a drink.” 8 For His disciples had gone away into the city to buy food.
The fact that she was alone is probably significant. Normally women would make sure they were in company with others when visiting a well outside the town. There is already a hint in this that she was not of the best reputation.
When she saw a Jew sitting there she would ignore him. It was not seemly for a woman to speak to a strange man, and she would know that the Jews generally despised the Samaritans with a hatred combining strong religious and racial prejudice.
The woman was so surprised when He spoke to her that she being overcome with curiosity, made a reply. Who is this Jew who would lower his pride and his prejudices to ask for water at the hands of a Samaritan, and a woman at that?
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.
Amazed the woman asks the pertinent question. Why should such as He have dealings with her? Why would a Jew ask for a drink at the hands of a Samaritan woman? Jews had certain levels of dealings with Samaritans but would not drink from the same vessel, as they would look on it as probably ceremonially ‘unclean’.
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’ reply was significant. “If you knew the gift of God …”. Our Lord Jesus picks up in what was said back in chapter 3 verse 16, ‘For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten son, that whosoever believe in Him shall not perish but have eternal life. This must mean Himself as God’s gift to men, and stresses immediately that He is given to all men and women, Jew and non-Jew alike.
We read a very significant point brought out by the Lord Jesus, “You would have asked of Him, and He would have given you living water”. He was saying that if only she knew who He was, and how extensive and all embracing God’s gift in giving Him was, she would have asked and she would have received the water of eternal life springing up within her.
The same ‘eternal life’ offered to Nicodemus the highly respected Jewish councilor --. ‘You would have asked of Him and He would have, is also available to the despised, lowly Samaritan woman on the same terms. ‘Ask and you will receive.’
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?”
The well was one hundred feet deep, and this man had no vessel to draw with. What on earth could He mean? From where could He obtain living water? Her mind was still fixed on the idea of the physical water in the well.
In addition the woman was taken aback by a Jew who in most cases would have nothing to do with any Samaritan yet alone a woman. So, in a way she states, ‘Who do you think you are ordering me to do something for you? The Jewish people hate us yet here we live being provided by the well of our ancestor Jacob also.’
The Samaritans too traced their ancestry back to Jacob and were proud of the fact. They also saw the well as given to them by Jacob. We can regard it as certain that this therefore resulted in a kind of veneration of the well. It was Jacob’s gift to them and spoke of their religious past. This gift contrasts with the ‘gift of God’ in verse 10. Jesus is agreeing that He is greater than Jacob and is offering to turn the old into the new, to replace all that they had looked to with something new that is with Himself, a direct gift from God.
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.”
Jesus made clear that He was in fact greater than Jacob. The water that He was offering was not of temporary satisfaction like the water of this well, but was permanent and constantly self-renewing. That is because the one who drank of it would receive within himself an inner source of water, a spring of water resulting in eternal life. It is deeply significant that Jesus was at this stage offering spiritual life, the life of the age to come, to a Samaritan, without requiring conversion to Judaism. He recognized the valid worship of the Samaritans and knew no barriers in His offer of salvation to them, even though it would still be a problem for His followers for some time to come.
Nothing therefore would have seemed less likely to most Jews than the spiritual transformation of a loose woman who, on top of that, was a despised Samaritan. Yet here at the beginning of Jesus’ ministry He demonstrates that there are no barriers of race or past morals to prevent anyone from coming to God, once the heart is set in the right direction, and that God is ready to accept them.
15 The woman said to Him, “Sir, give me this water, that I may not thirst, nor come here to draw.”
The woman was thinking that the water the Lord Jesus was offering would allow her to not have to come to the well each day. She was interested in Jesus’ message because she thought it could make her life easier. But if that were always the case, people would accept Christ’s message for the wrong reasons. Christ Jesus did not come to take away life’s difficulties but to change us on the inside and to empower us to deal with problems from God’s perspective.
16 Jesus said to her, “Go, call your husband, and come here.” 17 The woman answered and said, “I have no husband.” 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.”
The gift of living water could only be given if she turned from sin, so Jesus now began to probe her past life. ‘Go and call your husband and come here’. In these few words of an innocent suggestion from the Lord Jesus, we see an amazing deep significance. He knew already what the answer would be as verse 18 demonstrates.
Just like the ‘Rich Young Ruler’ the Lord Jesus hit the right nerve. I am sure this was an embarrassing point with her as this was one of the major reasons why she came alone to draw water after all the other women of the town had obtained their supply of water. Yet, sensing something that the man before her was unique she told the truth -‘I have no husband’, she said guardedly.
Can you imagine her shock to His reply.- ‘You are quite right when you say ‘I have no husband’. For you have had five husbands, and the man you are now living with is not your husband. This man knew everything about her!
19 The woman said to Him, “Sir, I perceive that You are a prophet. 20 Our fathers worshiped on this mountain, and you Jews say that in Jerusalem is the place where one ought to worship.”
You share the Gospel or you ask a question that hits a nerve in another person and the defense mechanism kicks into gear. As human beings we have a variety of defense mechanisms we use when we feel threatened, vulnerable or are connecting with emotions or situations which cause us distress. Our defense system is otherwise known as the fight, flight, freeze response which typically gets activated when we are feeling powerlessness, rage or fear. Defense mechanisms are maladaptive coping skill we use when our internal system in our brain becomes activated and communicates to our body that our survival, whether real or imagined, is being threatened.
A key defense mechanism is deflection which is – When you change the subject and focus on someone or something else, instead of speaking about you. For example, when someone is asking about your behaviors in a relationship and you change the subject and focus on something or someone else. Can you see the same thing happening here by this woman?
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.”
The Lord Jesus’ reply was that he religious deflection conversation were of no importance now. People, would in the future, worship God away from either center of worship [Mount Gerizim and Jerusalem], as indeed many Jews were already doing throughout the known world. Attachment to these centers would cease to be important
The Lord cut strait to the matter of differences she had, ‘You worship what you do not know.’ Their means of revelation was limited to the Pentateuch. They did not have the prophets and other books of Old Testament. They had therefore rather a narrow view of God and were lacking the greater level of revelation through the prophets and the ‘holy writings’ (Psalms etc.). And because they lacked the fuller revelation given to Israel, their knowledge of God was lacking. They did not have the full knowledge of the intimacy of God as revealed to the Jews.
He adds that ‘The hour is coming.’ His hour would introduce this hour; a time when worship would not be restricted to places would both cease to have importance. What would matter would be a heart right towards God and centered on Him. Jesus reply was that the essence of the matter was not to be found in holy places, but in the inner heart. He pointed out that God does not have a physical form limiting Him to one place, for He is Spirit.
Now please notice how He cuts down the wall of separation of Samaritans and Jews by saying, ‘You will worship the Father’. The ‘you’ (plural) here referred to Samaritans as a group and made clear that He recognized that some of them would come to experience this spiritual worship.
And that is why those who would worship Him must worship Him “in Spirit and in truth”, looking to Him as the Father. This idea of ‘spirit and truth’ is amplified throughout the Gospel. What Jesus had come to bring was far too large to be limited to holy places and religious ceremonies, it was something that would transform the heart and bring a new relationship with God wherever men were, and it centered on truth.
We must worship God in spirit and in truth.’ ‘In spirit’ emphasized the non-physical nature of the worship and its positive vitality. It was to be worship from the inner heart, as moved by the Spirit, made directly towards God, and irrespective of place. The danger with formal worship was that it could become cold and of little meaning. True worship had to be alive. What mattered was that such worship came from the heart. ‘In truth’, however, stressed that such worship must also be in accordance with revealed truth. His words were not just a recipe enabling men to do what they liked and have free rein in their thoughts. That could only lead to error. There was a certain body of truth which had to be remembered and taken into account. God must be worshipped as He was revealed to be in the Scriptures and in the teaching and life of Jesus.
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.” 26 Jesus said to her, “I who speak to you am He.”
Now here is something that many bible students are not aware of. Such words spoken by the Lord Jesus led the woman to speculate about the possible coming of the Messiah, the Christ. It is possible that she used the term ‘Messiah’ to represent the hope because she knew that Jesus was a Jew, but she would herself know the deliverer as ‘the Taheb’. This was the one the Samaritans longed for who would one day come as the revealer of truth (v.25). On the other hand the conversation would have been in Aramaic, so that she may well have used Taheb with the explanatory translation ‘Messiah’ being the John’s. Thus her words may have been ‘the Taheb, who is called (by you) the Messiah’. That is certainly what she meant.
Jesus had no hesitation in quietly letting her know that He was the promised One Who was to come. In Him the truth had come. Even if the term Messiah has been used there was no danger of a misunderstanding of the term in Samaria. They held completely different ideas from the Jews. There was no danger here of a popular uprising on these grounds. To the Jews He presented Himself as ‘the Son of Man’. But to the Samaritan He could be ‘the Messiah’, the ‘Taheb’, the Revealer of truth. They would not understand ‘Son of Man’.
So He gently shows her that He has come as God’s gift to men and women, offering living water to revive men’s hearts and bubble up within them so that their spiritual thirst can be continually satisfied. The result will be that they receive eternal life, the life of the Spirit, and can worship God in Spirit and truth.
27 And at this point His disciples came, and they marveled that He talked with a woman; yet no one said, “What do You seek?” or, “Why are You talking with her?”
We now see at this crucial point the disciples returned with food. ‘John points out that they marveled that he was talking with a woman’. It was not usual for women who were alone to chat with unknown men, unless they were of unsavory reputation, and for the same reason men of reputation were wise to avoid it. And this was especially true of Rabbis, some of whom would not deign even to speak with a woman.
But none of them said, ‘what do you want?’ or ‘why are you talking to her?’ They dared not challenge the Master. This suggests that John thinking back and remembers the incident. He could still remember the questions that sprang into their minds but which they dared not ask. What did the woman want? Why was Jesus risking His reputation in speaking to a lone woman? You can almost see the disciples discussing the matter quietly among them.
As a Pastor this is an area that gets you thinking. I know that our Lord Jesus Is God and has the peace and confidence in Himself that He Is Perfect and Sinless. However, even as servants you have to be constantly aware of the possibility of accusations. Another one of my peers went down the shore with his wife and niece who happened to be 16 years old. Around lunch time you can smell the fries, sausages, burgers, and steaks cooking so he and his niece went up to buy some food.
Now it never fails that the enemy will have someone from our church at the same place and at the same time. This lady spotted this Assistant Pastor with the pretty young woman at a stand and called back to the church reporting this guy to the Senior Pastor. I happened to be there when he was confronted. The Assistant Pastor explained his trip with his wife and niece. It left hurt and embarrassment to the Lord’s assistant shepherds
28 The woman then left her water pot, went her way into the city, and said to the men, 29 “Come, see a Man who told me all things that I ever did. Could this be the Christ?” 30 Then they went out of the city and came to Him.
The woman saw and understood that the arrival of a bunch of men and apparently that they were associates of the man she was talking to was her clue to leave. But please note that John remembered that ‘she left her water pot’. This act in itself was an indication that she intended to return, and was clearly noted and probably commented on among the disciples. It was certainly unusual. She had come with the purpose of drawing water. But now that had been forgotten in her excitement. Perhaps there is also an indication in it that she considered that her water jar no longer mattered. Her thirst had been satisfied by better water and she wanted to take that with her.
John may have seen a deeper significance in it. The water pot that contained within it the gift of Jacob was no longer needed because she had now received the gift of God. The old was replaced by the new.
Apparently she wasn’t too shy to go and speak to the men in the city and there is no indication of any cultural problem in her doing so. When she met the men she would have said in Aramaic, ‘Come and see a man who has told me my whole life story. Is not this the Taheb?’ The writer, John, translates it into Greek as Messiah. It is quite clear that it was Jesus’ knowledge of her inner thoughts that had impressed her most, and it is repeated again in verse 39 for emphasis. Thus John wants to bring home to his readers the prophetic omniscience of Jesus.
Her hearers were so intrigued that they left the town and returned with her. ‘They were coming to Him.’ They were coming to see the man she spoke of but they were also coming to Him as the One Who had brought life for the world.
31 In the meantime His disciples urged Him, saying, “Rabbi, eat.” 32 But He said to them, “I have food to eat of which you do not know.” 33 Therefore the disciples said to one another, “Has anyone brought Him anything to eat?”
If you are one who teaches the word of God verse by verse and you experience a work of the Holy Spirit in your message to your audience I know you will agree with me that you are not interested in food. You are so pumped up in being used as a vessel of the Holy Spirit that food is the last thing you are thinking of.
We see that the disciples are now begging Jesus to eat. They could not understand His reluctance. But His mind was on other things. He was waiting in expectancy for needy men to come to Him. So He replied, ‘I have food to eat that you know nothing about’. The disciples looked at one other. ‘Has someone brought Him food?’ they asked each other. Like the woman’s had been, their minds were very caught up in material things. Their failed to realize that there were spiritual issues constantly going on while they now are with the Lord Jesus.
34 Jesus said to them, “My food is to do the will of Him who sent Me, and to finish His work. 35 Do you not say, ‘There are still four months and then comes the harvest’? Behold, I say to you, lift up your eyes and look at the fields, for they are already white for harvest!
Jesus patiently explained His attitude. ‘My food is to do the will of Him Who sent me and to bring about what He wants me to do.’ His Father’s work must come first. This was far more important than food, and He knew that that work was at hand in this unexpected place. The passage is very moving. Meeting the woman had sparked off in Jesus a realization of the wonder of what was to come. He had been very successful in Judea, but now there had come home to Him that others needed Him as well, and He wanted His disciples to realize it too.
It is possible that even as He spoke He could see the white clothing of the Samaritans coming out to see Him, and was deeply moved. Was it on them He was looking as He spoke, and on them that He was directing His disciples’ gaze when He said, ‘Lift up your eyes and look on the fields -- they are white for harvest’? His heart was reaching out to them.
36 And he who reaps receives wages, and gathers fruit for eternal life, that both he who sows and he who reaps may rejoice together. 37 For in this 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 entered into their labors.”
Jesus now took the opportunity to press home the lesson. The opportunity was not only His but theirs. They too must take every opportunity to proclaim His message, for then they will receive great rewards and they will ‘gather fruit for eternal life’. This latter refers to those who would be saved through their labors. They will have the joy of knowing they have changed the lives of others and brought them into the life of the age to come. By their fruits they will be known.
39 And many of the Samaritans of that city believed in Him because of the word of the woman who testified, “He told me all that I ever did.”
Like Phillip who did not get into any debate with Nathaniel, the woman did the same thing with the men of the city by just speaking the truth and invited them to come and see for themselves. In hearing the Lord many of the townspeople believed that the One Who was prophesied about had actually showed up and they believed in Him.
40 So when the Samaritans had come to Him, they urged Him to stay with them; and He stayed there two days. 41 And many more believed because of His own word. 42 Then they said to the woman, “Now we believe, not because of what you said, for we ourselves have heard Him and we know that this is indeed the Christ, the Savior of the world.”
Did the Lord also tell some of the men of the city about the things they did in their lives also. You might say that you do not see this possibility. I would like to share with you something else that out front also does not say that the Lord revealed to others their sins but in fact He did. Turn with me to chapter 8 of John’s Gospel. I know that you are familiar with this bible story but let us take a closer look.
1 But Jesus went to the Mount of Olives. 2 Now early in the morning He came again into the temple, and all the people came to Him; and He sat down and taught them. 3 Then the scribes and Pharisees brought to Him a woman caught in adultery. And when they had set her in the midst, 4 they said to Him, “Teacher, this woman was caught in adultery, in the very act. 5 Now Moses, in the law, commanded us that such should be stoned. But what do You say?”. 6 This they said, testing Him, that they might have something of which to accuse Him. But Jesus stooped down and wrote on the ground with His finger, as though He did not hear. 7 So when they continued asking Him, He raised Himself up and said to them, “He who is without sin among you, let him throw a stone at her first.” 8 And again He stooped down and wrote on the ground. 9 Then those who heard it, being convicted by their conscience, went out one by one, beginning with the oldest even to the last. And Jesus was left alone, and the woman standing in the midst. 10 When Jesus had raised Himself up and saw no one but the woman, He said to her, “Woman, where are those accusers of yours? Has no one condemned you?” 11 She said, “No one, Lord.” And Jesus said to her, “Neither do I condemn you; go and sin no more. 12 Then Jesus spoke to them again, saying, “I am the light of the world. He who follows Me shall not walk in darkness, but have the light of life.”
The Lord Jesus stooped down and wrote on the ground. What was He writing? I believe that He took His time and started writing out the individuals standing around from the oldest to the youngest with the stones in their hands. As the younger men saw the older men in whom they trusted as their elders leave they then recognized their sins also and left.
We see here my point. Some had believed in what the woman had said regarding the Lord Jesus telling her all her past. Yet, with the blessing of the Lord Jesus staying around for a couple of more days and having the chance to hear Him, then others came to believe
