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The Gospel of John, The Second Interview, Jesus and the Samaritan Woman at the Well, Part V - John 4:21-34 - Lesson 25
Review: Read the following verses
Verses 4:21-24, Jesus saith unto her, Woman, believe me, the hour cometh, when ye shall neither in this mountain, nor yet at Jerusalem, worship the Father. Ye worship ye know not what: we know what we worship: for salvation is of the Jews. But the hour cometh, and now is, when the true worshippers shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth: for the Father seeketh such to worship him. God is a Spirit: and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth.
Review: It is only those who have been born of God the Spirit, and justified by the atonement of God the Son, who can worship God the Father.
What is worship? Arthur Pink, in his exposition of the gospel of John, says that true worship is the action of the new nature seeking to return to the source from which it came.
He says that worship is a redeemed heart occupied with God, expressing itself in adoration and thanksgiving.
Worship, then, is the occupation of the heart with a known God; and everything that attracts the flesh and its senses, detracts from worship.
Jesus says you must worship in spirit.
There is no choice in the matter.
He will not receive worship, and worship cannot be performed in the flesh.
It has to be in the spirit.
Worship is not from the eyes or the ears, or the mouth or the hands but in the spirit, that is the new nature that God has given to his own.
True worship is quiet, reverential, activity that occupies the worshipper with God himself and that leaves him with a peaceful heart and a rejoicing spirit.
Verse 4:25,26, The woman saith unto him, I know that Messias cometh, which is called Christ: when he is come, he will tell us all things. Jesus saith unto her, I that speak unto thee am he.
The woman is at last where Jesus drew her.
At first she asked "how", then it was "whence", then "where", but now she speaks with greater confidence and says, "I know."
Nicodemus said, "we know".
She gets to the crux.
She stops hiding behind questions of form and she admits that she has a need for the Christ.
She clung to the ancient promise of God that a Deliverer would come who would take away the darkness from her eyes.
To this basic faith that she expresses, Jesus reveals himself to her more openly than he did even to Nicodemus.
He directly challenges her mustard seed faith.
Would she believe or would she not?
So typical of the world that at this important interview the disciples return at this critical moment.
But the Lord's grace is sufficient.
Timing is not important to the Lord's winning of a soul.
It is by grace and grace alone and timing has nothing to do with it.
The Lord wasn't finished teaching just because the woman left.
He now takes an opportunity to teach his disciples, truths.
He was at all times about his Father's business.
Verse 4:27, And upon this came his disciples, and marvelled that he talked with the woman: yet no man said, What seekest thou? or, Why talkest thou with her?
The disciples, who had gone to the city to buy food, now return.
The disciples, knowing their Master, withhold comment, but are surprised to find their Master engaged in a conversation with the woman.
This certainly was a Jewish taboo.
Perhaps they said among themselves, as they approached the well, Look at the Master, talking to a woman and a Samaritan woman at that.
They marveled, John tells us.
Perhaps they had seen this particular women in passing on their way to the city to buy food.
Perhaps the clothing she wore indicated her loose condition or they took note of the time of day she came to the well.
Perhaps they gossiped about her.
Perhaps they even made fun of her.
In this culture that Jesus ministered in, for a rabbi to be engaged in conversation with a woman, was commonly regarded as a waste of time.
The common sayings of the day, regarding this social action was:
Prolong not conversation with a woman, even with ones own wife; how much more with a neighbor's wife.
Another: A man should not salute a woman in a public place, not even his own wife.
Or another: Better that the words of the law should be burnt than delivered to women.
The wise men said, He who prolongs conversation with a woman brings evil upon himself, ceases from the words of the law, and at the last inherits Gehanna.
And lastly; one of the common thanksgivings in the daily service of the Synogogue is: "Blessed art thou O Lord, Who hast not made me a woman."
This is why the disciples marveled that Jesus was talking to the woman at the well.
Jesus did not follow common prejudice, so prevalent in that day as well as in our day.
He had a higher purpose and prejudice is something that would hinder that purpose.
He came to seek and to save that which was lost and women are lost just as much as men are.
You can be sure that there is equality in that!
Verses 4:28,29,30, The woman then left her waterpot, and went her way into the city, and saith to the men, Come, see a man, which told me all things that ever I did: is not this the Christ? Then they went out of the city, and came unto him.
This woman is excited.
The patient work of the Lord Jesus Christ is now being rewarded.
"The light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ," now shone in the heart of the woman at the well.
She leaves her water pot.
She no longer concentrates on the things of this world.
She now has salvation and her mind is far above the carnal thoughts that dwell upon the physical.
The well of living water is now bubbling up in her and she wants to share the living water with her friends.
Her mind was now centered on Christ and she had no thought of wells, water or water pots.
She begins to live the verse, "For me to live is Christ."
She now rushes to the city to tell the men.
That is who she spent company with.
The men. Her first thought is to tell the men.
She has been transformed from convicted sinner to a devoted saint by the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ.
Already the love of Christ constrains her.
She now has his nature within her, and therefore she has a heart of compassion for the lost.
This heart of compassion is so easy to lose as we become so occupied with our own needs and desires
It is a lesson we must strive to learn each day if we desire to serve the Lord.
How easily we slip into lukewarm ness in our witness to others of what the Lord has done for us.
How little we fear God when we neglect telling others the gospel of Jesus Christ.
If we don't have that zeal, if our spiritual temperature is cold, all we have to do is ask for more zeal, more fervor, more energy and opportunities.
The woman says to the men, Come, and see a man.
She uses the word that the Lord used with her. Come.
A good gospel word.
The Lord expects us to use that word.
They were impressed by her story, and decide to see for themselves.
They are approaching the well as Jesus continues his discussion with the disciples.
Verses 4:31-34, In the mean while, his disciples prayed him, saying, Master, eat. But he said unto them, I have meat to eat that ye know not of. Therefore said the disciples one to another, Hath any man brought him ought to eat? Jesus saith unto them, my meat is to do the will of him that sent me, and to finish his work.
Though tired, and thirsty, and hungry the Lord has been invigorated and refreshed by this opportunity to impart spiritual help to the needy woman.
The disciples find him to be full of renewed energy.
He was filled with the meat of doing the Father's will.
Christ's heart had been fed.
Perhaps they said, Master, we have gone great distances and through much trouble to get good food for you to satisfy your hunger.
Perhaps they had spread out the provisions on the wall of the well and they too were hungry.
The disciples entreated him saying, Master, eat!
You need strength for the work.
You have traveled far today and the food will do you good.
They try to convince him that their meat will satisfy.
But he says, I have meat to eat ye know not of. In Matt. 4:4, he says that man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God. Jesus has better meat!
In this meeting of the woman at the well, he demonstrates that principle by being filled with spiritual meat by obeying the Father's word.
He is teaching the disciples that the one who gives out the things of God is also a receiver.
He teaches that in dispensing spiritual blessings to others one is blessed himself.
He teaches that the obedient servant has meat to eat that only the servant knows.
Listening to the Father's voice and doing his will were the joy and strength of Jesus life.
Remember in John 17:4, Jesus says, I have glorified thee on the earth: I have finished the work which thou gavest me to do.
Part of that work was accomplished this day at the well of Sychar in the life of the woman and in the life of the people she would bring to him.
The satisfaction that Jesus Christ has now experienced through doing the will of the Father was greater than any satisfaction that bread could give.
The disciples misunderstand.
Where did he get food?
Who brought him food?
The disciples think only of the physical, the material, as is the usual case in this gospel.
We live on the low plain of that which can be seen and touched and felt and tasted.
The Lord is leading them to a higher plain where he lived.
The plain of the invisible, the plain of the eternal, the plain where meat is to do the Father's will, the plain that can only be seen through the eyes of faith of a servant.
They could only think on the low plain, so Jesus translates.
He tells them that the meat that he is talking about is the meat of doing the Father's will, and to finish his work.
This was the principle that Jesus lived by.
This is the principle that mature Christians live by.
To do the Father's will. Not my own will, but thine O Lord.
That is the first priority. Seek ye first the kingdom of God.
This is where Jesus lived.
This is the plain that he was bringing his disciples to, so they could see the kingdom.
The plain of service.
The plain of doing the will of the one who sent him and to finish his work.
Look at John 6:38,39, For I came down from heaven, not to do mine own will, but the will of him that sent me. And this is the Father's will which hath sent me, that of all which he hath given me I should lose nothing, but should raise it up again at the last day,.
Jesus was about his father's business.
He was about his Father's work.
Those that had been given to the Son, by the Father had to be saved by the Son.
The Son had to finish the work.
Remember that Jesus "must needs go through Samaria.
He had an appointment with one who the Father had given him.
He had to go in obedience to the Father's will.
She was his and he had to go save her.
He did not go to please himself.
He went to please the Father.
But in so pleasing the Father he enjoyed the meat the disciples knew not of.
So the perfect servant teaches us that true service is the simple and faithful performance of that work which has been marked out for us by God.
Our meat is not to be sought in results, or increases, but in doing the will of him that sent us.
If you are only motivated by results then you are not a faithful and true servant and a disciple of Christ.
I think that, if you look deep enough you will find that there is a love of money, or power or prestige involved in that kind of service. |