A Magnificent Meeting: Jesus and the Woman at the Well John 4:1-42

Introduction:

An interesting occurrence here: The Pharisees take notice of Jesus’s growing ministry and how He is making more disciples than John. We read in John 4:3 that he “left Judea”, but then English translation leaves too much to the imagination! The world “left” in the original means “to abandon.” He was leaving them to their own devices. From this point forward John would focus on Jesus’ ministry in Galilee.

The trip from Judea to Galilee was tricky for the Jews. In order to get there you had two choices: Go through Samaria or go around.

When God sent the Assyrians to judge the northern tribes of Israel, they did not wipe out the inhabitants, rather they interbred with them physically and blended their religion in with that of the Jews. They built a false temple on MT Gerizim claiming that it was where Abraham offered Isaac, they claimed that it was the only place where one could truly worship God. For this reason, and many others, the Jews despised the Samaritans. They would go miles out of there way to avoid seeing or speaking to them. If they had no choice but to do business with a Samaritan, they would consider themselves to be ceremonially unclean and they would spit on the ground in order to get the taste out of their mouths. No self-respecting Jew would intentionally go to Samaria.

Jesus, was no respecter of persons. We read in verse 4… “And He must needs go through Samaria.” That is, “He went there on purpose.”

Jesus did not care about the social prejudice of His day. He did not care what other Jews might think of Him. He did not care what His disciples might think of Him. He cared that there was a woman who had a need and He knew that He was the only one who could meet that need!

I am glad today that no matter who you are, no matter where you are from, no matter what you have done, God loves you and Jesus will come to you!

Like the Samaritan woman, we all stand in need of the Living water. Notice how Jesus relates to her need, He makes first of all...

A Personal Request - John 4:6-10

“Give me to drink” v. 7

Often we as believers focus on the Deity of Jesus, and we neglect the humanity of our Lord

Here in John 4, however, we come face to face with the fact that we serve not a God who is oblivious to our needs, but fully aware of them!

We see Jesus sitting on the well because He is weary from His journey

The word “wearied”means that He grew or came to be exhausted from His travel

I figured the trip from Judea to Sychar to be roughly 20 miles on foot he had traveled.

Couple that with the heat of the noon sun, is it any wonder He was weary?

He was tired, He was hot, He was thirsty - but He had a plan, a purpose, and He had a person’s life to change!

“For the Jews have no dealings with the Samaritans” she says to Him v. 9

Here we begin to see His deity!

Notice with me church, that God does nothing on accident or by happenstance. All we read was orchestrated by the hand of God!

Verse 1 - “When the Lord knew...”

When = an adverb of time

In His omniscience He knew exactly when His ministry would get their attention and when He would leave.

Verse 4 - “He must needs go through Samaria”

IT was not only the shortest distance to Galilee

There was an appointment He needed to keep

Verse 6 - “the sixth” hour

Right in the middle of the day when no one would be at the well

Getting water was the responsibility of the woman of the day

Mos women came either early in the morning or later in the evening - no one came at noon to carry warm water in the hot sun…except this woman

Verse 8 (For his disciples were gone away…)

Jesus planned this perfectly so that there would be no one at the well except Him and the woman

He, a weary Jewish traveler, was about to change the life of this woman and her village for ever!

Notice also that Jesus shows none of the prejudice of His day

The fact that she was a Samaritan by itself was enough for any Jew to ignore her

Have you ever considered the likely possibility that the disciples passed her on their way to get food?

Their response when they returned to the well is evidence of their opinion of the Samaritans

Jesus loved this woman, as much as He loved His disciples and everyone.

You will never look into the eyes of someone whom Jesus does not love. You never meet anyone whom Jesus did not die to save.

When we look at our own country and see the division in it we must understand that it goes beyond the news media and politics. It is bigger than BLM and White Supremacy - the division of our country is an act of war by Satan to hinder the spreading of the gospel by the Church!

Notice the spiritual side to this conversation: She could not understand why a Jew would make such a request of her! This demonstrates that she did not yet understand who was talking to her.

Jesus turns this around on her! He says, it is you that has a need, and not me. If you knew who was speaking to you, you would ask of Me to give you living water to drink!

The gift of God! Immediately we think of Romans 6:23. This woman was lost! She was going to die and spend eternity in hell, “But the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ, our Lord.”

A simple request, “Give me to drink”, was all it took to begin tearing down walls of hatred, prejudice and years of division. Jesus was asking for water, but He was also offering water! He was thirsty, she was thirsty, but it was not the water from the well she needed, it was the living water from the Lord! From this personal request we now begin to see her...

2. Piqued Interest - John 4:11-24

Through His conversation Jesus had gotten her attention, but she was confused by His offer. Notice she was...

Confused as by how vv. 11-12

Jacobs well was a marvelous thing!

Dug by hand, through solid rock

In the year 1697 it was measured to be over 100 feet deep

It had a diameter of 7 1/2 feet and a surrounded by a rock wall to a depth of 10 feet

How was this man, a stranger, with no water pot, and no means of drawing water from Jacob’s well, who had asked a drink from her going to give her “living water”?

“Art thou greater than our father Jacob?”

Two truths to point out here?

By asking if He was greater meant she understood the only way He could draw water without a pot was by some supernatural means

For the first time she uses the word “father”

Let it be known, Jacob was not her father

He was the father to the 12 tribes of Israel, Samaria was not among them!

Jesus answers her confusion by confirming the Living Water was supernatural, John 4:14

John Phillips made this observation:

Exploring the Gospel of John: An Expository Commentary (2. The Discussion (4:9–30))

In this statement Jesus told her all she needed to obtain salvation: what it was (“the water of life”); who controlled it (he did); how to get it (“ask of him” and receive it as “the gift of God”) (compare Romans 6:23).

(b.) Confused as by what vv. 15-18

On the surface it appears she was ready to receive what He was offering, but when we look further we see she was not quite there.

At this moment she was focusing on her temporary need

She was thirsty - it was noon and it was hot, she wanted water

She was tired -

tired of walking from the village to the well day in day out

tired of the sneers and the looks and the gossip

She was desperate for the living water if it would keep her from coming to this well every day!

Jesus was focused on eternity!

He understood her response to be based on emotion, and as important as emotion is, it cannot save you!

So many today are basing their salvation on how they feel!

It is true when a person puts their trust in Jesus it feels amazing! But we cannot base our salvation today on a feeling we had years ago.

Jesus understood that she needed to see her need, look at verses 16-18...

Why would Jesus bring this up?

TO demonstrate His omniscience

She was confused about many things,

Jesus wanted her to know that He knew all about her

He wanted her to know that He was God - He wanted her to know that as God she could hide nothing form Him.

How we need to learn this today!

One more before we move on...

(c.) Confused as by where vv. 19-20

Notice how she dodges the accusation of Jesus?

HE just told her all about herself

She completely changes the subject!

How many times this happens today!

You share the gospel, bring the conversation to the point of conviction and them BOOM! they want to talk about hypocrites in the church or show you a certificate of baptism...

In this case, “Which mountain are we supposed to worship in? In jerusalem where you say, or MT Gerizim, where our ‘fathers’ say?”

Notice how Jesus destroys her argument!

look at verses 21-24...

Jesus says it is not about your “fathers”, it is about “The Father”!

Forget the well. That water will only satisfy you for a few hours. Forget the daily struggle and confusion over temporary things, get your focus on what matters, eternity!

Jesus offered to this woman His free salvation, the “gift of God”. He told her all she needed to know to about her life and how to obtain eternal life. Friends, I want you to know that Jesus Christ knows all about you. You have no private life. There is no such thing as secret sin. He knows your heart.

What must you do to be forgiven? You must do the same thing this woman did. How do we know she trusted Jesus? We have seen the personal request, the piqued interest, now let us see the...

3. Prepared Heart vv. 25-28; 39-42

How do we know a change took place in this woman’s heart? We know this from her response to the answer Jesus gave her final inquiry in verses 25-26. Notice the change which took place...

She left her waterpot

Read verse 7

Now read verse 28

She began to witness for the Lord! vv. 29;39-42

When someone comes to Christ there is a change in their heart as represented by her leaving her waterpot

When Someone comes to Christ there is a desire to tell others about Him, “Let the redeemed of the LORD say so, Whom he hath redeemed from the hand of the enemy;”

Conclusion:

I wonder if there may be someone here today that an identify with this woman of Samaria. Maybe today you are:

Confused about who Jesus is

He is the Son of God

He is the Savior of the world

He is the Lamb of God which taketh away the sins of the world

He is the gift of God

He is the living water

Maybe today you are confused as to how to obtain salvation:

It is given freely, you cannot earn it

You are a sinner by birth and do not deserve it

It was made available by the death of Jesus on the cross and is offered to you freely

You only have to ask to receive it

Maybe you are confused about your current situation

You cannot hide your true self from Jesus

He sees through all your screens and knows all about you

Still, He wants to save you. Wont you come to Him today?