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The Gospel of John, The Second Interview, Jesus and the Samaritan Woman at the Well, Part I - John 4:1-6- Lesson 21
Read John 4:1-6
By the careful study and comparison of the interviews and discussions that Jesus Christ had with various people in scripture we can glean some important principles for use in our Christian walk.
The contrast of this second interview, the first one being with Nicodemus, could hardly be greater.
One was with a man of the Pharisees named Nicodemus, this one is with an unnamed woman.
One a favored Jew, a man of rank, a Master of Israel, the other a despised Samaritan.
The one a respected ruler, the other a social outcast.
The one was seen as a moral man of high reputation, the woman in this account is an immoral woman, a woman of ill reputation.
The man came to Jesus by night, the woman at mid-day.
Outwardly, Nicodemus sought out Jesus, but in this account Jesus seeks out the woman.
The man had no arguments, the woman was full of questions and debate.
Jesus tells Nicodemus that he must be born again while in this interview he tells the woman of the "gift of God."
The man was cautious, the woman bold.
The man fades out of the story unnoticed, the woman went back to her crowd and brought them all to Jesus.
The man we hear of again twice in John's Gospel, while the woman fades into obscurity.
Verses 4:1-3, When therefore the Lord knew how the Pharisees had heard that Jesus made and baptized more disciples than John, (Though Jesus himself baptized not, but his disciples,) He left Judea, and departed again into Galilee,
These verses indicate that the Pharisees were trying to promote a schism or division between the Lord and John the Baptist.
Jesus Christ openly condemned the hypocrisy of the Pharisees and even at this early date the Pharisees had begun to oppose him.
He had cleaned out the temple and his authority had been questioned.
John the Baptist at least had some status among the Pharisees in that he was the son of a priest who had ministered in the temple.
But this man Jesus, from Nazareth, had no right to form a following.
Out of Nazareth could arise no prophet, they taught.
The Pharisees promoted a spirit of rivalry hoping to cause division between the Lord and John the Baptist.
Who was this Johnny come lately, who was this one of poor parentage and poor schooling who was causing the crowds to leave John and performing this questionable baptismal practice?
This first verse tells us the Lord knew what was in the hearts of the Pharisees.
No indication of anyone telling him of their knowledge, but he knew.
He knew all things and had no need for anyone to tell him.
The Pharisees were people counters.
They looked for the crowds to see who had the power.
They saw power in people.
Who was popular.
And their popularity was determined by the crowd.
Typical understanding of the lost.
No realization of the fact that God and one person makes the majority, regardless of all the people on the opposite side.
No realization that the number of baptisms and the number of followers had no bearing or verification of truth.
The Pharisees knew under ordinary circumstances that promoting a competitive spirit would cause division and destruction to those they opposed.
The Lord wanted no part of this.
Neither did the Baptist as we have seen in the previous chapter.
John rebuked his disciples; Jesus moved away.
He left Judea.
This word "left" indicates more than the idea of physically leaving some place but it indicates a leaving some place to itself and its ways, to its own fate, of leaving someone or some place to their own devices.
Of leaving knowing that you have done all you can and now must leave things to occur as they are destined to occur.
It is significant that from this point on the bulk of Jesus ministry will take place in Galilee and elsewhere.
He will leave Jerusalem and Judea to their own devices. He will shake off the dust from his feet for a testimony against them.
He would not stay to cast pearls before swine.
Jesus does not stay where he is not wanted!
His hour had not yet come and his ministry was not going to be stopped until he was ready for it to be stopped.
He stopped it when he said, "It is finished" and this was not the time for that yet.
The Lord is in control and knows what to do to confound his enemies.
His enemies were angry and were taking steps to stop this threat against their power and to prevent further progress of anyone who would advance against them.
He therefore moves into a district governed by Herod, a district remote from Jerusalem, and somewhat removed from the jurisdiction of the Sanhedrin.
He deliberately chooses to journey to Galilee through the despised district of Samaria instead of using the usual long route of crossing the Jordan in order to bypass the hated Samaritans.
Samaria was bounded on the south by Judea, on the north by Galilee, on the west by the Mediterranean Sea, and on the east by the Jordan River.
The most direct route to Galilee was through Samaria, and to do this the self righteous Jew was subject to corruption by close contact with Samaritans.
The Samaritans were brought into the land, from other nations, by the king of Assyria after the ten tribes had been taken away in the captivity.
Their religion was a combination of the beliefs they had brought with them and the Jewish law and the fear of the Lord.
Hear what II Kings 17:32.33, and 41 have to say.
So they feared the Lord and made unto themselves of the lowest of them priests of the high places, which sacrificed for them in the houses of the high places. They feared the Lord and served their own gods, after the manner of the nations whom they carried away from thence.
So these nations feared the Lord, and served their graven images, both their children and their children's children: as did their fathers, so do they do unto this day.
The Samaritans received as divine the five books of Moses, and some of the prophetic writings but they rejected the historical books written by the Jews who were their worst enemies.
It is interesting to note that in John 8:48, when the Jews accused him of being a Samaritan and that he had a devil he only denied that he had a devil.
He was not afraid to take the name Samaritan.
In Luke 10:33 he relates the story of the good Samaritan who surely is representative of the Lord himself.
He was despised and rejected of men.
He was hated by the Jews as were the worst of their enemies, the Samaritans.
Verse 4:4, And he must needs go through Samaria.
He did not need to go through Samaria because of geography.
The Lord's "must needs" were always based upon spiritual reasons.
This was the Father's will and Jesus was in the business of carrying out the Father's will.
There was a sinful woman there.
There was a hungry woman there.
Some of God's elect were there and Jesus went to Samaria to seek them out and to save them.
There were lost sheep and Jesus was the shepherd who had the "must needs" to find them
In John 10:16, He says, And other sheep I have,which are not of this fold: them also I must bring.
He was about his Father's business and that business required him to be in Samaria.
Verse 4:5,6, Then cometh he to a city of Samaria, which is called Sychar, near to the parcel of ground that Jacob gave to his son Joseph. Now Jacob's well was there, Jesus therefore, being wearied with his journey, sat thus on the well: and it was about the sixth hour.
This picture of our Lord, painted by the word brush of John the Apostle, reveals to us the humanity of Jesus Christ.
Like all of us at times, he was weary.
Not weary in well doing, for we see he received refreshment in that.
He was there to have meat to eat that his disciples would know not of.
But he was weary in the flesh.
It was noon and after a morning of travel, walking the dusty, stony roads of Judea and Samaria he came to the well that Jacob had built seeking refreshment from the fruit of Jacob's labor performed so long ago.
Some have identified the town of Sychar, perhaps meaning the town of the sepulcher, with the ancient city of Shechem, which is about a mile and a half west of Jacob's well.
More likely it was the town of Ascar, which is one half mile north of the well.
There were many little walled villages that were built on the top of the small hills throughout Palestine.
But the fact is that John records that Jesus sat on the well built by Jacob, about 400 yards from Joseph's tomb.
The well is very deep, about 105 feet, seven and one half feet in diameter, and lined with stone the first ten feet.
Below that the well was cut into solid stone.
The well was fed by an underground stream which rarely failed.
Jesus sat on the well. The well is a symbol of the Lord himself.
Isaiah 12:3, says, Therefore with joy shall ye draw water out of the wells of salvation.
The well of the Old Testament scriptures foreshadows Christ and what is to be found in him.
Hagar called upon the name of the Lord at the well in the wilderness.
God opened Hagar's eyes and she saw a well of water.
The well was the place of the covenant between Abraham and Abimelech.
The first scriptures that are connected with a well picture the meeting of the Savior and the sinner.
Then the well pictures a covenant and the oath upon which our eternal security rests.
And lastly every reference to the well in the Old Testament is appropriate to believers only.
he well is a name of Christ and as we know names are not given lightly in scripture but describe characteristics of the one named.
In II Samuel 23:15, David longs for the water from the well of Bethlehem when he says, O that one would give me drink of the water of the well of Bethlehem, which is by the gate.
Jesus is the well of Bethlehem!
So Jesus in weariness, sat on the well at noon in the heat of the day.
The Well of God sitting on the well of Jacob.
The eternal well over the temporal well.
Jesus had nothing to draw water with.
The sun that he had created beat down upon him while the cool water that he had brought into existence flowed beneath him.
He was thirsty, but instead of satisfying his own need, he waited for the one that he was determined to meet, and to satisfy her thirst by bringing to her the water of life, the well of living waters.
He must needs go to Samaria and this "must needs" is about to be realized.
A good cold cup of water would be so appreciated by the Lord but he wanted to give opportunity to a needy soul to serve him.
Ask a favor and make a friend!
What a friend we have in Jesus! |