John 4:1-54

Introduction

Last week we finished off John 3. We were with John the Baptist, and we heard his testimony about who Jesus is. This all began when John’s disciples came to him because they were concerned with Jesus’ growing ministry. They saw that people were flocking to him and he was beginning to flourish beyond what John was. So they asked John why he wasn’t more upset by this.

John’s response was to point to his calling from God. He reminded his disciples of the fact that he was given the ministry he was by God and that if God wanted to give a greater ministry to another, that belonged entirely to God in his wisdom. He then showed a second reason why it was important that Jesus’ ministry flourish, even if it was at the expense of his. He shows this reason by means of an illustration. He points their attention to a wedding made up of three characters, the bride, the bridegroom and the bridegroom’s friend. Jesus is the bridegroom, and his people are the bride. This has obvious Messianic overtones, and calls our minds back to times in the OT where God is referred to as the bridegroom of Israel his people, and their wedding as the inauguration as the new covenant age that was to come. John, meanwhile, is the bridegroom’s friend. He was the one who ran the wedding and planned it and basically just made sure the whole event went off without a hitch. Therefore, to see the bride and the bridegroom coming together at a successful wedding would mean this man had done his job well. In the same way, John’s mission in life is to see people come to Christ and know him. If, therefore, Jesus’ ministry is growing, even at the expense of his, this is no loss for John, but actually a sign that things are going well and he is doing what he’s supposed to.

After this we finished with an explanatory note from John the Evangelist to help us see this exchange in light of the whole gospel’s message. He contrasts Jesus, the one who’s been to heaven and seen all that happens there, with John, the one who only reports about it as an earthling. And then we are told two things about Jesus’ mission. Firstly, it’s sanctioned by God. We see this in vv33-35. There we are told that the Son’s ministry is blessed by God, and empowered by his Spirit, and is representative of God to the extent that to hear and believe Jesus is functionally the same as hearing and believing God. But we also hear that despite this, Jesus’ ministry is such that many people who hear from him actually don’t believe. But, for those who do believe, there is the great promise of eternal life.

Today we are going to look at John 4. We’re going to work on covering the whole chapter in one go. And it divides mostly into two sections, but we’re going to break it up a bit more. It basically goes from 4:1-42, which is Jesus in Samaria, and then we have 4:43-54 in which Jesus heals an official’s son. When we look at it, we’ll break it down slightly more. We’ll do

4:1-26: Jesus and the Woman at the Well

4:27-42: Jesus and the Samaritans

4:43-54: The Second Sign

4:1-26: Jesus and the Samaritan Woman

So, in v1, Jesus learns that the Pharisees have learned about his growing popularity. What does he then do in v3?

He leaves and heads to Galilee away from Judea, which was where Jerusalem and a large majority of the Jewish leaders were.

Where does he go through? (v4)

He goes through a place called Samaria.

What do you know about the relationship between Samaritans (those who live in Samaria) and Jews?

Jews and Samaritans hated one another. Samaria was where the Northern kingdom of Israel was, and when they were captured by Assyria, a bunch of foreigners were settled in and they got friendly with the locals. As a result, they ended up with a mixed Jewish race and a religion that was like Judaism but not fully (they only accepted the first 5 books of the Bible as canonical). The Jews therefore considered them to be half-breeds, and were basically racist towards them, sometimes violently so. Naturally, this meant that the Samaritans weren’t the biggest fans of the Jews either.

So Jesus ends up at a well with OT significance, and what state is he in when he gets there? (v6)

He’s tired from the journey.

Interesting, becuase how have we seen Jesus before now?

Everytime we’ve seen him, the point has been made about how exalted he is. And this is right and true, but we must also never forget the fact that while Jesus is divine, exalted, and supremely powerful, he is also human, with all the frailties of a normal human existence, including tiredness.

Who comes over to him and what does he ask? (v7)

A Samaritan woman comes over to get water. Jesus asks her for a drink.

How does the Samaritan woman respond? (v9)

She is shocked that Jesus would even ask her for a drink. This is because she is a Samaritan and a woman to boot. It would have been far below a Jewish man’s station to say anything to a woman, especially a Samaritan woman.

How does Jesus respond? (v10)

He says that if she knew what was going on, she wouldn’t be upset about him asking and would instead ask him for living water.

What do you understand by the phrase living water?

Like everything in John, it is a phrase with two meanings. Living water just refers to flowing water, something that would have been highly valued in the desert. But, with OT in mind, it takes on a whole lot more importance. Can somebody please read Zechariah 14:8, and somebody else Ezekiel 36:25-27.

In both of these passages, we have water being used as a symbol for God’s goodness and life, as well as the promise that that goodness and life will come to his people and flow out of them, cleansing them from their sins and moving them to honour him (remember what we spoke about with Nicodemus in 3:5). So Jesus is referring here to the gift of entry into the New Kingdom, which is his to bestow on people, as the living water that cleanes people and opens the way for them.

How does the woman respond in v11-12?

She is basically incredulous, right? She doesn’t really believe what Jesus is saying to her here. She thinks he’s still talking about actual physical water. And she also can’t see how this man she’s just met can think of himself as greater than the patriarch Jacob. So she thinks Jesus is something of a swindler.

How does Jesus then respond? (v13-14)

He tells her that everybody who drinks of the water provided at the well will be thirsty again, but everybody who drinks of the water that he gives will never thirst again.

What do you think this means?

Well, remember how we said earlier that the water is a symbol for God and for his sustaining goodness? Well, that helps us understand how it will be quenched. The thirst is for God’s presence. Therefore, the quenching of that thirst must be the providing of God’s presence. Therefore, we see that Jesus is promising to her life with God if she wants it, and that life with God will become like a spring of living water welling up within her.

But how does she respond?

She still thinks Jesus is talking on the level of literal water. So she wants him to give her this water so that she can stop needing to come to the well.

How does Jesus respond to this? (v16)

He tells her to call her husband.

Now why do you think he’d ask her to do that?

I can think of two reasons. The first is to show that he has some kind of supernatural knowledge. This in turn gives her reason to see that there is something deeper going on, and makes her look at the idea of living water more closely. Secondly, it shows her what she needs cleansing from. As we’re going to see, the husband idea is one that is particularly tricky for her. It’s a place where she has a lot of sin. And by bringing it up, Jesus is able to point out this area of sin but also take her to the place she needs to go to have that sin healed.

Don’t fail to notice that Jesus is pointing out her greatest sin, and by extension her need for salvation. Now, Jesus did exactly this in the previous chapter with Nicodemus. You see, whether it’s a righteous (self-righteous) Pharisee, or a Samaritan woman of low standing, they all need to be saved, and Jesus works to show them that.

Speaking of her sin, what is her status in this regard?

She’s had five husbands, and is sleeping with a man who is not her husband.

So, the woman says that Jesus is a prophet. Probably here just a general term for a spiritual person of some kind. And she immediately diverts from what Jesus has said to her to questions about worship. This is probably something she’s been dying to know, and now she has somebody who she feels like would know.

What does Jesus say in response to this? (v21-24)

He gives a response made up of three parts. The first is that the temple and mount Gerizim will both become obsolete because of him. Secondly, he says that salvation comes from the Jews, and finally he explains what the worship will be like once the temple is obsolete.

The first point is fairly obvious. Through Jesus, a time is coming when the temple and all it stands for will be obsolete, becuase worship will no longer be tied to one place but possible everywhere through the Spirit.

The second point, that salvation comes through the Jews, is that the Samaritans, because of their rejection of a large part of the OT, simply stand outside the stream of God’s gracious self-revelation. Therefore, their worship of God is not according to knowledge, like that of the Jews.

Finally, even though the above is true, nevertheless Jesus says a time is imminent when the Jews’ privileged position is going to fall away because of the dawning of a new age, which he himself is bringing about. “There is an advance on v. 21: not only is the time coming, but it has come. This oxymoron is a powerful way of asserting not only that the period of worship ‘in spirit and truth’ is about to come and awaits only the dawning of the ‘hour’, i.e. Jesus’ death, resurrection and exaltation, but also that this period of true worship is already proleptically present in the person and ministry of Jesus before the cross. This worship can take place only in and through him: he is the true temple (2:19–22), he is the resurrection and the life (11:25). The passion and exaltation of Jesus constitute the turning point upon which the gift of the Holy Spirit depends (7:38–39; 16:7); but that salvation-historical turning point is possible only because of who Jesus is. Precisely for that reason, the hour is not only ‘coming’ but also ‘has now come’.”

“This God who is spirit can be worshipped only in spirit and truth. Both in v. 23 and in v. 24, the one preposition ‘in’ governs both nouns (a point obscured by the NIV of v. 24). There are not two separable characteristics of the worship that must be offered: it must be ‘in spirit and truth’, i.e. essentially God-centred, made possible by the gift of the Holy Spirit, and in personal knowledge of and conformity to God’s Word-made-flesh, the one who is God’s ‘truth’, the faithful exposition and fulfillment of God and his saving purposes (cf. esp. de la Potterie, 2. 673ff.). The worshippers whom God seeks worship him out of the fullness of the supernatural life they enjoy (‘in spirit’), and on the basis of God’s incarnate Self-Expression, Christ Jesus himself, through whom God’s person and will are finally and ultimately disclosed (‘in truth’); and these two characteristics form one matrix, indivisible. Indeed, the association of ‘word’ and ‘Spirit’ is strong in the Old Testament (e.g. Ne. 9:20, 30; Ps. 33:6; 147:18; Is. 59:21), and it is just possible that this connection is in the Evangelist’s mind, since Jesus the ‘Word made flesh’ (1:14) and ‘the truth’ (14:6) is also the one to whom God gives the Spirit without limit (3:34).”

The woman doesn’t really seem to understand this, becuase she says that the Messiah will explain these things when he arrives. Then Jesus says that he is the Messiah. It’s an awesome instance of self-revelation.

27-42: Jesus and the Samaritans

So, the disciples come back and see Jesus doing something that they regard as culturally inappropriate and surprising. Nevertheless, they don’t question it becuase Jesus tends to surprise them like that. But wht about the woman, what does she do? (v28-29)

Firstly she leaves her water jar. That’s significant becuase it hurry she was in. She’s so excited by what Jesus says that she forgets the very thing for which she came. She then sprints back to the town and brings people to come see Jesus.

Then the disciples come to urge Jesus to eat. What does Jesus say in response? (v32)

That he has food about which they know nothing.

The disciples don’t get it, but what does Jesus say his food is? (v34)

It is to do the will of God. Jesus is so invested in his Father’s glory that honouring him nourishes Jesus.

He then uses a metaphor to describe the work he is doing. What is the metaphor? (v35-37)

It is a farming metaphor.

What is he trying to say?

He’s basically pointing out what’s about to happen with the Samaritans. He’s saying that even though there are many who won’t receive him, there are many who wil. This is the harvest that he is talking about. The harvest will be so great that the sower and the reaper will be working side by side.

And sure enough, what happens in v39-42?

There is a great harvest of Samaritans.

And what do they say about their belief? (v42)

They don’t just believe because of what the woman said, but actually because of Jesus himself.

43-54: The Healing of the Official’s Son

So Jesus goes back to Galilee. And when he teaches at Cana (where he turns water into wine). Who comes up to him and what does he ask (46-47)

A royal official, and he begs Jesus to heal his son who is sick to the point of death.

And what does Jesus say?

He says that unless people see signs and wonders, they won’t believe.

And how does the man respond?

He begs Jesus again.

And what does Jesus do?

He heals the man’s son.

And what does John call this?

He calls this the second sign. Remember the turning water into wine was the first sign.

Application

So, there are a few points of application. The first two come from the woman at the well. Firstly, remember her sin, and yours. Remember that all people, you included, need salvation. And no matter what the sin is, Jesus can save you, and he will.

Next, her willingness to tell people about Jesus. Do we have the same desire?

Then finally, the man’s trust in Jesus.

Carson, D. A. (1991). The Gospel according to John (pp. 225–226). Leicester, England; Grand Rapids, MI: Inter-Varsity Press; W.B. Eerdmans.

Carson, D. A. (1991). The Gospel according to John (p. 224). Leicester, England; Grand Rapids, MI: Inter-Varsity Press; W.B. Eerdmans.