The Woman At The Well

The Woman at the Well and Me

A study of John 4:1-42

Introduction:

1. The background is following John the Baptist’s arrest. John’s followers get worked up because Jesus is baptizing more than John, and growing in prominence.

2. John’s response to all this is seen in 3:20, “He must increase, and I must decrease.” God help us to all have this mindset.

3. This division is a deciding factor in Jesus leaving Judea and returning to Galilee. He knew it was not time for confrontation yet.

4. Jews and Samaritans always hated each other since the Assyrians mixed with the Samaritans and made “half-breed” nation of Samaria.

5. John is about shifting focus from physical to spiritual. Look at this:

6. Geographically, Jesus could have bypassed Samaria by crossing the Jordan River, the typical way of going back to Galilee.

7. The text here says that Jesus “had to go through Samaria…”

8. This was not a geographic issue, but a moral one.

9. Jesus had a point to make.

TRANSITION:

Let’s look at some points here from John chapter 4.

I. Jesus meets fatigue.

A. What does verse 6 say about Jesus’ condition? He was “wearied” from his travel.

1. This shows that Jesus had a human side.

2. The meaning of the word here would literally equate to our phrase “worn to a frazzle”. According to Dr. Dowell Flatt

3. He had been walking for probably about 6 hours, what are the walking conditions like in this region? Hilly, rocky, dusty

4. This made him tired.

5. He had the physical symptoms of a man who had been walking all morning in the hot, dry climate in the Middle-East.

B. Now take your mind to Matthew 4:1-11.

1. In chapter 3, Jesus was baptized.

2. In chapter 4, Jesus, the man, immediately went into the wilderness, fasting and praying for 40 days and nights.

a. He’s tired

b. He’s hungry

3. Satan comes up and says, “Just tell those stones to turn to bread.”

4. Jesus, physically tired, stayed physically strong.

C. One of the focuses of John chapter 4 is shifting our focus from spiritual to physical.

D. Jesus is 100% God, but he was also 100% man.

It was this same flesh that was nailed to the cross.

II. Jesus meets a woman.

A. They are neat a town called Sychar.

1. Sychar means tomb.

2. Sychar is the place of Jacob’s burial, or Jacob’s Sychar.

B. Jesus is resting on Jacob’s well, and a Samaritan woman comes up to get some water.

1. Jesus had sent his disciples to get some food.

2. He asks a Samaritan woman for a drink of water.

3. She says in a haughty manner, why are you asking me for water, aren’t you too good for my water as a Jew?

C. Jesus answers, “If you knew who I am you would ask me for living water.”

1. The Samaritan woman says, “Are you better than Jacob who gave us this well?

2. Uh-YES!

D. What was better about Jesus’ well than Jacob’s? If you drink from my water you will never thirst again.

1. How encouraging is this? Our needs will be fulfilled forever.

2. Remember Matthew 4:4, “Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God.” (John 6:35)

3. We have an eternal, endless, natural spring flowing endlessly to fulfill our thirst, but we must first thirst. (Matthew 5:6, Blessed...)

4. The woman said, “Give me this water that I may never thirst again.” (This woman is focused on Physical water, Jesus is speaking of spiritual.)

5. I pray the Lord will give us all this thirst that we may reach for His eternal spring. (2 Tim 2:15)

E. Jesus speech led her to know that He was from God.

1. In verse 19, she says, “Sir, I perceive that you are a prophet…”

2. By his speech and attitude He had her thinking about God, and knowing whose side he was on.

3. –To what does your speech lead others?

a. Does your speech make others think of godly things?

b. Can they tell you are a Christian by the way you talk?

c. -What generally drives a conversation between two people? Their interests, especially if mutual

d. -Are we interested enough in Christ to make him part of our speech?

F. Jesus next response is interesting; Go call your husband…”

1. What can we get from that?

2. We do not have the benefit of divine insight that Jesus has, but we can see the situation that people are in if we care enough to look.

a. Mt 28:19 does not say to throw the bible at people and say “get it or die”.

b. The verse says, “Go into all the world and make disciples, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit.”