Jesus Redeems a Samaritan Woman
Notes
Transcript
Therefore, when the Lord knew that the Pharisees had heard that Jesus made and baptized more disciples than John
(though Jesus Himself did not baptize, but His disciples),
He left Judea and departed again to Galilee.
But He needed to go through Samaria.
So He came to a city of Samaria which is called Sychar, near the plot of ground that Jacob gave to his son Joseph.
Now Jacob’s well was there. Jesus therefore, being wearied from His journey, sat thus by the well. It was about the sixth hour.
A woman of Samaria came to draw water. Jesus said to her, “Give Me a drink.”
For His disciples had gone away into the city to buy food.
Then the woman of Samaria said to Him, “How is it that You, being a Jew, ask a drink from me, a Samaritan woman?” For Jews have no dealings with Samaritans.
Jesus answered and said to her, “If you knew the gift of God, and who it is who says to you, ‘Give Me a drink,’ you would have asked Him, and He would have given you living water.”
The woman said to Him, “Sir, You have nothing to draw with, and the well is deep. Where then do You get that living water?
Are You greater than our father Jacob, who gave us the well, and drank from it himself, as well as his sons and his livestock?”
Jesus answered and said to her, “Whoever drinks of this water will thirst again,
but whoever drinks of the water that I shall give him will never thirst. But the water that I shall give him will become in him a fountain of water springing up into everlasting life.”
The woman said to Him, “Sir, give me this water, that I may not thirst, nor come here to draw.”
Intro:
Intro:
AG:
In John’s Gospel there are passages where Jesus is the living water as he is the bread from heaven (6:35), and other passages where he gives the living water to believers. In this chapter, the water is the satisfying eternal life mediated by the Spirit that only Jesus, the Messiah and Saviour of the world, can provide.
D. A. Carson
TS: The story of the Samaritan woman reinforces the theme that Jesus is the Messiah and Son of God. We learn that Samaritans (though an offshoot of Israel) maintained a belief that Messiah would come and Jesus reveals Himself as the Messiah!
We also see His love and compassion on full display. The Samaritan woman is hurting and lost in sin. She was a social outcast yet Jesus show His divine love reaches even the unwanted and unloved.
RS: We can identify with the Samaritan woman. We are not Judeans! We are sinners. Yet GOD’s love reaches even here in East Texas.
1. The Savior at Sychar (4:1–6):
1. The Savior at Sychar (4:1–6):
Jesus leaves Judea for Galilee.
A. Why he leaves (4:1–3):
A. Why he leaves (4:1–3):
Therefore, when the Lord knew that the Pharisees had heard that Jesus made and baptized more disciples than John
(though Jesus Himself did not baptize, but His disciples),
He left Judea and departed again to Galilee.
He departs to avoid a popularity contest between himself and John
We looked at the end of chapter 3 last week where John’s own disciples had started counted followers and challenged John on this issue.
Even though he personally didn’t baptize, the baptisms performed by His disciples were beginning to outnumber John’s converts.
He wants to spread the message as widely as possible.
The gospel was for all of Israel and then after Pentecost, the world!
He needed to move on to spread the word.
He has an appointment with a woman in Samaria.
He knew exactly what He was doing!
He knew this unnamed woman would be at the well and in need of the gospel!
B. Where he stops (4:4–6):
B. Where he stops (4:4–6):
But He needed to go through Samaria.
So He came to a city of Samaria which is called Sychar, near the plot of ground that Jacob gave to his son Joseph.
Now Jacob’s well was there. Jesus therefore, being wearied from His journey, sat thus by the well. It was about the sixth hour.
MacArthur Study Bible NASB Commentary
He had to pass through. Several roads led from Judea to Galilee: one near the seacoast; another through the region of Perea; and one through the heart of Samaria. Even with the strong antipathy between Jews and Samaritans, the Jewish historian Josephus relates that the custom of Judeans at the time of the great festivals was to travel through the country of the Samaritans because it was the shorter route. Although the verb “had to” may possibly refer to the fact that Jesus wanted to save time and needless steps, because of the gospel’s emphasis on the Lord’s consciousness of fulfilling His Father’s plan (2:4; 7:30; 8:20; 12:23; 13:1; 14:31), the apostle may have been highlighting divine, spiritual necessity, i.e., Jesus had an appointment with divine destiny in meeting the Samaritan woman, to whom He would reveal His messiahship
Samaria
Israel had divided into 2 nations when Solomon’s son took the thrown
Samaria was the Northern Kingdom
King Omri named the capital of N. Israel, Samaria and the name soon began to be used for the region.
They had forsaken God and were conquered by the Assyrians in judgment
After the conquest, the Assyrians carried off some of the people and imported others from around the world.
This led to mixed group who eventually intermarried and became Samaritans (1/2 Jews).
MacArthur Study Bible NASB Commentary
Samaria. These groups intermingled to form a mixed race through intermarriage. Eventually tension developed between the Jews who returned from captivity and the Samaritans. The Samaritans withdrew from the worship of Yahweh at Jerusalem and established their worship at Mt. Gerizim in Samaria (vv. 20–22). Samaritans regarded only the Pentateuch as authoritative. As a result of this history, Jews repudiated Samaritans and considered them heretical. Intense ethnic and cultural tensions raged historically between the two groups so that both avoided contact as much as possible
He rests beside Jacob’s well at Sychar, a town in Samaria.
2. The sinner at Sychar (4:7–27):
2. The sinner at Sychar (4:7–27):
A Samaritan woman comes to the well for water.
Usually, the women would come as a group and it was a social event as well as a necessity of life. They would come early or late in the day to avoid the heat of mid day.
Yet we see her come alone at midday
A. The contact (4:7–9)
A. The contact (4:7–9)
1. Jesus’ request (4:7–8):
A woman of Samaria came to draw water. Jesus said to her, “Give Me a drink.”
For His disciples had gone away into the city to buy food.
Then the woman of Samaria said to Him, “How is it that You, being a Jew, ask a drink from me, a Samaritan woman?” For Jews have no dealings with Samaritans.
He asks her for a drink.
He began the conversation naturally with where they were
Not a condemning sermon.
Not a flashy sign
A simple request for water
2. Her response (4:9):
Then the woman of Samaria said to Him, “How is it that You, being a Jew, ask a drink from me, a Samaritan woman?” For Jews have no dealings with Samaritans.
She wants to know why he, a Jew, is even talking to her, a Samaritan!
The conversation was a breach of protocol!
B. The contrasts (4:10–27)
B. The contrasts (4:10–27)
1. Jesus contrasts liquid water with living water (4:10–15).
Jesus answered and said to her, “If you knew the gift of God, and who it is who says to you, ‘Give Me a drink,’ you would have asked Him, and He would have given you living water.”
(1) Liquid water (4:11–14)\
The woman said to Him, “Sir, You have nothing to draw with, and the well is deep. Where then do You get that living water?
Are You greater than our father Jacob, who gave us the well, and drank from it himself, as well as his sons and his livestock?”
Jesus answered and said to her, “Whoever drinks of this water will thirst again,
but whoever drinks of the water that I shall give him will never thirst. But the water that I shall give him will become in him a fountain of water springing up into everlasting life.”
(a) His revelation (4:13–14):
Jesus answered and said to her, “Whoever drinks of this water will thirst again,
but whoever drinks of the water that I shall give him will never thirst. But the water that I shall give him will become in him a fountain of water springing up into everlasting life.”
Liquid water must be drunk often, but living water becomes an eternal perpetual spring from within!
(b) Her response (4:11–12):
The woman said to Him, “Sir, You have nothing to draw with, and the well is deep. Where then do You get that living water?
Are You greater than our father Jacob, who gave us the well, and drank from it himself, as well as his sons and his livestock?”
First, how can he draw such water without a rope or bucket, and second, is he greater than the patriarch Jacob?
(2) Living water (4:10, 15)
(a) His revelation (4:10):
Jesus answered and said to her, “If you knew the gift of God, and who it is who says to you, ‘Give Me a drink,’ you would have asked Him, and He would have given you living water.”
He will give her living water if she but asks.
Living Water:
MacArthur Study Bible NASB Commentary
The OT is the background for this term, which has important metaphorical significance. In Jer 2:13, Yahweh decries the disobedient Jews for rejecting Him, the “fountain of living waters.” The OT prophets looked forward to a time when “living waters will flow out of Jerusalem” (Eze 47:9; Zec 14:8). The OT metaphor spoke of the knowledge of God and His grace which provides cleansing, spiritual life, and the transforming power of the Holy Spirit (cf. Is 1:16–18; 12:3; 44:3; Eze 36:25–27). John applies these themes to Jesus Christ as the living water which is symbolic of eternal life mediated by the Holy Spirit from Him (cf. v. 14; 6:35; 7:37–39). Jesus used the woman’s need for physical water to sustain life in this arid region in order to serve as an object lesson for her need for spiritual transformation.
(b) Her reaction (4:15):
The woman said to Him, “Sir, give me this water, that I may not thirst, nor come here to draw.”
She desires this kind of water!
Probably still focused on physical need
2. Jesus contrasts real worship with ritual worship (4:16–27).
Jesus probes deeper and brings her to acknowledge her sin
(1) The command (4:16):
Jesus said to her, “Go, call your husband, and come here.”
(2) The concealment (4:17a):
The woman answered and said, “I have no husband.” Jesus said to her, “You have well said, ‘I have no husband,’
(3) The correction (4:17b–18):
The woman answered and said, “I have no husband.” Jesus said to her, “You have well said, ‘I have no husband,’
for you have had five husbands, and the one whom you now have is not your husband; in that you spoke truly.”
Jesus says he knows she has had five husbands and is now living with a man to whom she is not married.
This demonstrates Jesus’ omnicient
She knew her, her ex-husbands and her current live in boyfriend who is not a husband
He knew they were guilty of violating the Law of God
They were sinners like we all are
He was eliciting a confession and prompting her to examine herself
(4) The cleverness (4:19):
The woman said to Him, “Sir, I perceive that You are a prophet.
Attempting to change the subject, she says, “You must be a prophet.”
She acknowledges He must have divine discernment
(5) The confusion (4:20):
Our fathers worshiped on this mountain, and you Jews say that in Jerusalem is the place where one ought to worship.”
She asks, “Why is it that you Jews insist that Jerusalem is the only place of worship, while we Samaritans claim it is here at Mount Gerizim?”
(6) The clarification (4:21–24):
Jesus said to her, “Woman, believe Me, the hour is coming when you will neither on this mountain, nor in Jerusalem, worship the Father.
You worship what you do not know; we know what we worship, for salvation is of the Jews.
But the hour is coming, and now is, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth; for the Father is seeking such to worship Him.
God is Spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth.”
Jesus says that true worship involves not the where but rather the how; that is, God must be worshiped in spirit and truth!
God is GOD everywhere!
There is no one place to worship Him
There is no one type of person to worship Him
Worshiping Him can be done by everyone anywhere
Spirit and Truth
MacArthur Study Bible NASB Commentary
desirable element in worship but that which is absolutely necessary. in spirit and truth. The word “spirit” does not refer to the Holy Spirit but to the human spirit. Jesus’ point here is that a person must worship not simply by external conformity to religious rituals and places (outwardly) but inwardly (“in spirit”) with the proper heart attitude. The reference to “truth” refers to worship of God consistent with the revealed Scripture and centered on the “Word made flesh” who ultimately revealed His Father (14:6).
Our spirits must engage with the Holy Spirit
Our whole heart must be activity involved in worship
God’s truth must be followed
We can’t make up rules and rituals and claim we please God through our imaginations
We must conform to the Word of God
(7) The conversion (4:25–26):
The woman said to Him, “I know that Messiah is coming” (who is called Christ). “When He comes, He will tell us all things.”
Jesus said to her, “I who speak to you am He.”
She acknowledges Jesus as the Messiah!
(8) The concern (4:27):
And at this point His disciples came, and they marveled that He talked with a woman; yet no one said, “What do You seek?” or, “Why are You talking with her?”
The disciples arrive just as she departs and are amazed that he was talking to an immoral woman!
3. The soul winner in Sychar (4:28–42)
3. The soul winner in Sychar (4:28–42)
A. The faithfulness of the Samaritan woman (4:28–38)
A. The faithfulness of the Samaritan woman (4:28–38)
1. As seen by the message she proclaims (4:28–30):
The woman then left her waterpot, went her way into the city, and said to the men,
“Come, see a Man who told me all things that I ever did. Could this be the Christ?”
Then they went out of the city and came to Him.
She returns to Sychar and witnesses to the entire city!
What an example for us to follow!
As the Psalmist said, “Let the redeemed of the Lord say so!”
New converts want to shout it from the mountaintops!
2. As seen by the model she presents (4:31–38):
In the meantime His disciples urged Him, saying, “Rabbi, eat.”
But He said to them, “I have food to eat of which you do not know.”
Therefore the disciples said to one another, “Has anyone brought Him anything to eat?”
Jesus said to them, “My food is to do the will of Him who sent Me, and to finish His work.
Do you not say, ‘There are still four months and then comes the harvest’? Behold, I say to you, lift up your eyes and look at the fields, for they are already white for harvest!
And he who reaps receives wages, and gathers fruit for eternal life, that both he who sows and he who reaps may rejoice together.
For in this the saying is true: ‘One sows and another reaps.’
I sent you to reap that for which you have not labored; others have labored, and you have entered into their labors.”
Jesus uses her as a role model to his disciples on the subject of soul winning.
(1) He talks about the real food (4:31–34):
When urged to eat some food they have brought him, he says his food is to do God’s will!
(2) He talks about the ripe fields (4:35–38):
He says that the fields of human souls are ripe for harvest!
B. The fruitfulness of the Samaritan woman (4:39–42):
B. The fruitfulness of the Samaritan woman (4:39–42):
And many of the Samaritans of that city believed in Him because of the word of the woman who testified, “He told me all that I ever did.”
So when the Samaritans had come to Him, they urged Him to stay with them; and He stayed there two days.
And many more believed because of His own word.
Then they said to the woman, “Now we believe, not because of what you said, for we ourselves have heard Him and we know that this is indeed the Christ, the Savior of the world.”
At her urging, many townspeople agree to hear the Savior and believe in him
Conclusion:
Conclusion:
Today, we can see ourselves in the Samaritan Woman
The question is which 1/2 of the story?
1st half-
a sinner in need of a Savior.
living our lives as we please
inventing a “worship” that is focused on us and somehow thinking that will appease God (or gods)
2nd half-
redeemed saints of GOD who proclaim the good news of what Christ has done
Which are you today?