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Jesus Seeks the Woman at the Well, Part I - John 4:1-6
Letter to the Editor after the Pope's Visit to the United States in Sept 2015: The time is now for action. If asked, Pope Francis will take the helm of the Christian ship and be the cohesive leader that Christianity needs in this very critical time. If all Christian religions would unite and appoint Pope Francis as head of Christianity, it would send a clear message to Islam that Christians are united and will not tolerate nor accept Muslim philosophy. The Christian religions do not need to accept Catholicism. Not at all. They should retain their individual beliefs, principles and doctrines with no sacrifice of their explicit independent goals. In unifying under the Christian banner, all Christian religions have a common goal and that is survival. In the past, there were two Crusades. They were physically confrontational. This time our weapon should be psychological. It can be done. In unity there is strength; therein lies our success. — Joe Barron, Pensacola Beach
Read John 4:1-7, When therefore the Lord knew how the Pharisees had heard that Jesus made and baptized more disciples than John, 2 (Though Jesus himself baptized not, but his disciples,) 3 He left Judaea, and departed again into Galilee. 4 And he must needs go through Samaria. 5 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. 6 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. 7 There cometh a woman of Samaria to draw water: Jesus saith unto her, Give me to drink.
Prior to this event Jesus at night had witnessed to Nicodemus, a man of the Pharisees, a man of rank, a Master of Israel.
Here in our passage we are given to witness Jesus in another setting, a daytime setting where he speaks not to a favored Jew but to a despised Samaritan, and not only despised as a Samaritan but also a social outcast.
Nicodemus was seen as a moral man of high reputation, the woman in this account seen as an immoral woman, a woman of ill reputation.
Outwardly, Nicodemus sought out Jesus, but in this account Jesus sought out the woman for he had come to the well to seek and to save that which was lost.
The man had no arguments, but the woman was full of questions and debate.
Jesus tells Nicodemus that he must be born again while in this conversation he tells the woman of the "gift of God."
The man was cautious, but the woman was 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 split 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.
Jesus had purged 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, according to the Pharisees had no right to form a following for he had no status, nor did he have any connections.
Out of Nazareth could arise no prophet, they taught.
So the Pharisees promoted a spirit of rivalry intending 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 for 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 for they saw power in people.
Who was popular today, who was high in the polls was on their minds.
And popularity was determined by the crowd.
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.
But our Lord wanted no part of this and therefore 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 majority of Jesus’ ministry will take place in Galilee or away from the center of power.
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 yet the time for that.
The Lord is in control and knows what to do to confound his enemies.
For 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 removed from the jurisdiction of the Sanhedrin.
He deliberately chose 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 a picture 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.
So we are told in 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, but hungry woman there, a thirsty woman.
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, the hated district which all Jews avoided.
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 a cool drink 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 and was fed by an underground stream.
Jesus sat on the well, the well, being 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.
The 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. And 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 far beneath.
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 for a woman of Samaria is coming.
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 the old saying goes!
What a friend we have in Jesus and He was about to make a friend!
Verses 4:7,8, There cometh a woman of Samaria to draw water; Jesus sayeth unto her, Give me to drink. (For his disciples were gone away into the city to buy meat.)
We all have a daily need for water for God gives us the ability to thirst.
Thirst tells us to get water.
The body knows its needs and knows how to get us to act to satisfy those needs.
We thirst and we quickly obey our body and get water.
If we don't obey our body we would die of de-hydration.
The woman of Samaria has a need for water.
She is thirsty, her clothes need washing, her house needs cleaning.
Her need for water is a daily need which she must try to satisfy by coming to Jacob's well every day for a new supply.
Little does she know that the true Well awaits her to satisfy her thirst in a way she never dreamed of.
For Jesus was at the well first thirsty himself but awaiting her arrival.
He came to the well to do the thing that he had been sent for to do.
He came to seek and to save that which was lost!
How focused he was in that mission for His Father! |