John 4 (The Samaritan Woman) [Part 4]

Vs. 39-42

     The woman testified, and the people believed. So when they arrived to meet Jesus, they urged Him to stay with them. I can only imagine, but perhaps they were saying in their hearts: “We want to experience You the way this woman did. Stay with us, so that You may teach us and touch us.” So Jesus stayed there for two days. Remember that He was originally on His way to Galilee, but He seized the moment of this “interruption” to minister to a despised people. I believe that many opportunities for ministry occur as “interruptions” to our plans and daily life. As a result of His staying and teaching, many more believed.

     Look at the transformation of a single woman that spilled over to the salvation of a city. In his book Jesus Among Other Gods, apologist Ravi Zacharias made this comment on the story of the Samaritan woman:

“The transaction was fascinating.

She had come with a bucket. He sent her back with a spring of living water.

She had come as a reject. He sent her back being accepted by God Himself.

She came wounded. He sent her back whole.

She came laden with questions. He sent her back as a source for answer.

She came living a life of quiet desperation. She ran back overflowing with hope.”

     I would like to add: She encountered the Christ spiritually barren, and she returned to Him with a multitude of converts. She said to the people, in essence, “See for yourself.” And they saw. And they heard. And they believed all the more.

“It is no longer because of what you said that we believe, for we have heard for ourselves and know that this One is indeed the Savior of the world.”

Blessings,

Nathanael Chong

John 4 (The Samaritan Woman) [Part 3]

Vs. 27-30

      The disciples came strolling out of the city toward the well, lunch bags in hand. As they sighted the well, they were shocked to see the man they respected talking to a Samaritan woman. They cautiously approached them, not sure what to say. The things going through their minds might have been something like, “Um, Jesus, did You know that You’ve broken two cultural taboos by talking to this woman? This is unthinkable for a respectable man like You.” However, they couldn’t bring themselves to discuss the issue with Jesus.

      The woman was so excited that she didn’t bother taking her water pot with her, as she ran back into the city and called the people. The text says she spoke to the men, which is even more amazing. When she found Christ, who gave her the life she needed, she just had to share the good news. She didn’t care anymore about her reputation, nor did she worry about talking to men. She had a message, and she gave it well. “Come, see a man who told me all the things that I have done; this is not the Christ, is it?”

      Her message was in the form of a testimony. But not only did she say what Christ did for her, she also gave a call to come and meet Him. Don’t you think that a testimony should be a call to a certain action, whether to praise God or to come to Him?

      Why the people believed her and came out, I do not know. Perhaps they were amazed at her boldness despite her status, and wanted to know what gave her that life she never had before. Perhaps it was also because of the special act she claimed she experienced. But they nevertheless came out to meet the proclaimed Messiah.

Vs. 31-38

“My food is to do the will of Him who sent Me and to accomplish His work.”

      Notice something here: the disciples were urging Jesus to eat! The fact that they had to urge (some translations say “beg”) Him to eat tells us that Jesus had no desire to eat at that moment. Imagine how puzzling it must have been for the disciples. Shortly before, Jesus was tired in the afternoon heat, and it was lunchtime. Surely he must had been hungry. But now, after talking to a Samaritan woman, he did not want to eat! Furthermore, He said He had food! What was He talking about?

      Jesus made it clear: His food was to do the will of the Father. Isn’t it interesting that He had probably forgotten, or even lost, His physical hunger when He ministered to the social outcast and watch her run back into the city? How is it that doing the will of God brings a satisfaction so great that everything else seem so insignificant? Is it possible that the reason for that is because the answer for true fulfilment is found in being filled from the inside out?

      However, just two chapters later, Jesus fed the five thousand. So physical food is not absent from His mind. He provides and nourishes us both within and without.

      Then He goes on to say, in effect, “As each season passes, you wait for the harvest to come. But look up! See that the harvest is already here! Will you not go and reap, just as I have done with the woman so despised? Go and harvest, for that shall be food unto you!”

      Next, Jesus says something interesting. He quotes the saying, “One sows and another reaps.” Please don’t take this to counter the other saying, “You reap what you sow.” We all reap what we sow, but, if we work for it, we also reap what has been sown by others before us. “Standing on the shoulders of giants” is another good saying with the same meaning. Jesus was urging the disciples to harvest what had been sown by the prophets and men of God before them, and in so doing sow more seeds. The Christians today have the opportunity to reap what was sown by the apostles and other believers throughout the ages, as well as sowing seeds for future generations.

      Now the people from the city arrived at the well . . . led by the Samaritan woman.

Blessings,

Nathanael Chong

John 4 (The Samaritan Woman) [Part 2]

Vs. 10-14

“You have nothing to draw water with and the well is deep. Where then do You get that living water?”

      The woman must have been really puzzled, because the man before her claimed to have living water and yet asked her for a drink. Furthermore, can He provide better water than the one her ancestor did? This well had been used for centuries, and here is a man who says he could give something better to her.

      Here we also see Christ making His move to bring the conversation past physical satisfaction to spiritual satisfaction. As we know, even the best pleasures and satisfaction this world can offer would not last. Deep down, we all have a need, a craving, for something lasting, but we need to realize that eternal satisfaction can only come from an eternal Giver, an eternal Fullness, an eternal Joy, an eternal Well of Living Water.

“. . . but the water that I will give him will become in him a well of water springing up to eternal life.”

      The woman came to the well, but Christ wanted to place the well within her.

      What are the wells we go to for fulfilment? Do we find ourselves searching for wells of riches, wells of entertainment, wells of lust? The Lord wants us to come to Him, the Eternal Well, and place in us wells of living water to overflow onto those around us.

Vs. 15-20

      But this Samaritan woman had a difficult time grasping the words of our Lord. She was still thinking of the water in the well.

“Sir, give me this water, so I will not be thirsty nor come all the way here to draw.”

      The prospect of eternal fulfilment attracted her, but her focus still needed to shift to a different dimension—the realm of the soul.

      So Jesus said to her, “Go, call your husband and come here.” And when she said she had none, He pointed out her sinful life. He was moving the subject from physical thirst to spiritual emptiness.

      Perhaps the Samaritan woman was uncomfortable with where the conversation was going, so she changed the subject: the right place of worship. The Samaritans worshiped on Mount Gerizim while the Jews worshiped in Jerusalem. Is there a right location to worship?

Vs. 21-24

      Christ said no. “Salvation is from the Jews” because the Messiah was a Jew, and the Jews were the first messengers of the Gospel. But we will worship neither on the mountain nor in Jerusalem, because the true worshipers will worship in spirit and truth, regardless of location. However, does this mean that we can stop going to a physical church building every Sunday? Although it is not a sin to stop going to church, we know that God desires that everyone of us will join in the fellowship of His people, and there is power in a gathering of believers.

      What does it mean to worship in spirit and in truth? Worship is primarily an intimate communion and communication with our Heavenly Father. And since God is spirit, we must worship, or communicate, with Him in spirit. Can we then still worship with our bodies and minds? Of course! Our bodies are the temples of the Holy Spirit, so use it for worship! “Love the Lord with all your heart, all your soul, all your mind, and with all your strength.” The intellect and physicality were not excluded in worship. And we must worship God the right way—in truth, not falsehood.

      I am reminded of what Archbishop William Temple of Canterbury said about worship, and I believe it is the best definition I’ve come across:

                                        “Worship is the submission of all of our nature to God.
                                        It is the quickening of conscience by His holiness,
                                        Nourishment of mind by His truth,
                                        Purifying of imagination by His beauty,
                                        Opening of the heart to His love,
                                        And submission of will to His purpose.
                                        And all this gathered up in adoration is the greatest of human
                                        expressions of which we are capable.”

      The woman at the well must have been confused at all this. Perhaps this was too deep for her limited understanding. “I know that the Messiah is coming, and that He will explain all these things to us.”

      This is where Jesus made one of the clearest declarations of His identity in the Bible. “I who speak to you am He.”

      We can learn a lot from Jesus’ method of conversation. We cannot give water to one who is not thirsty. We cannot give food to one who is not hungry. We need to help that person come to realize and acknowledge his need so that he would be able to receive the fulfilment that we present to him in the person of Jesus Christ. Though the woman attempted to change the subject, He used the new topic to continue revealing Himself as the answer to all of life’s questions. By declaring “I am He,” Jesus was explicitly offering the living water which He was speaking of, and the soil of the woman’s heart was ready to receive.

Next, the disciples arrived on the scene. . .

Blessings,
Nathanael Chong

John 4 (The Samaritan Woman) [Part 1]

Vs. 3-4

      Judea was further south, Galilee was up north, and Samaria lay between them in the middle. We have to remember that the Jews despised the Samaritans. In fact, the Pharisees and many Jewish people normally avoided Samaria by crossing to the east of the Jordan River to travel from Judea to Galilee. So in actuality, Jesus was going against the status quo by travelling through Samaria, even though there were occasional Jews who do so. I’m sure even His disciples were wondering what He had in mind. Indeed, every thing Christ did was done with a purpose, and this case was no exception.

Vs. 5-6

      Jesus stopped at Jacob’s well, near the city of Sychar. It was about the sixth hour, which is around noon, the hottest time of the day. Not surprisingly, Jesus was weary from both the travelling and the heat. Because the relationship between the Jews and Samaritans was a hostile one, the Jews did not eat food that was produced by Samaritans. Thus, it is interesting that the disciples went into the city to buy food. Perhaps Jesus told them to buy food there, or maybe they were being influenced by His kindness to all men. Whichever was the case, Jesus was left alone to rest at the well. Our Lord was also at the well for a reason, for it was at this time that an unlikely encounter took place.

Vs. 7-9

      A Samaritan woman came to the well to draw water. The fact that no one else was drawing water showed that this was an unusual time to come to the well. Exactly why she came to the well, we cannot say for sure. Perhaps she had an unexpected need for more water, or, more likely, she wanted to avoid meeting the other women. Her life was in a mess, as we shall see later in the chapter, and it makes sense for her to want to avoid being the subject of gossip at the well. As though being a Samaritan were not lowly enough in the eyes of society, she was among the lowest of Samaritans.

      So this woman, the outcast of the outcasts, came to the well at noontime. We can picture her reaction at seeing a Jewish man sitting at the well. As she quietly and timidly went about her business, the man suddenly spoke to her saying, “Give Me a drink.”

      One can only imagine her surprise. First, Jews had no dealings with Samaritans (v.9). Second, Jewish men were not allowed to speak to women in public. Apparently, Jesus broke both cultural taboos with one statement. The woman probably had lots of questions going through her head. Why is He speaking to me? Doesn’t He care about His reputation? Aren’t Jews supposed to scoff at us? And yet, this man is asking me for a favor! So she replied, “How is it that You, being a Jew, ask me for a drink since I am a Samaritan woman?”

      What Jesus said next was a step toward crossing the bridge from her head to her heart, and ultimately reveal to her that God was not as concerned with the kind of person she was then as He was with transforming her into the person she could be.

      Jesus chose to pass through Samaria because He wanted to meet a person who led a life devoid of meaning. He wanted to feed and fill the hungry, find the lost, and give life to those who are dead in spirit. Christ first comes to us, and waits for us to come to Him.

      Next, we will look deeper into how Jesus used water to reveal the woman’s spiritual thirst.