THE LIFE OF CHRIST
PART 13
In our last lesson on THE LIFE OF CHRIST, we talked a lot about Jesus’ encounter with Nicodemus. We ended our study by finishing up John 3 where John the Baptist and Jesus were preaching the same message about the coming of the kingdom, and people were being water baptized in the land of Judea.
We learn a little bit more about John the Baptist in this lesson as we start in:
Luke 3:18 And with many other exhortations he preached
to the people. 19 But Herod
the tetrarch, being rebuked by him concerning Herodias, his brother Philip's
wife, and for all the evils which Herod had done, 20 also added this, above all,
that he shut John up in prison.
We learn more about this in a future lesson,
but for now, we can see that Herod was going to put John in prison, and then we
learn that he did lock him up.
Matthew 4:12 Now when Jesus heard that John had been
put in prison, He departed to Galilee. See also Mk. 1:14.
The Gospel of John gives us more information that the other accounts do not. Most of our time will be spent in in John 4.
John 4:1 Therefore, when the Lord knew that the
Pharisees had heard that Jesus made and baptized more disciples than John 2 (though Jesus Himself did not
baptize, but His disciples), 3
He left Judea and departed again to Galilee.
4 But He needed to go through Samaria.
The Pharisees were prevalent in Judea and were confrontational when someone was teaching something new. Since Jesus was increasing in popularity, He would eventually attract a confrontation with them. Before this happened, Jesus left Judea to continue His work in Galilee.
Verse 2 points out that Jesus did not baptize anyone Himself, but He did it through His disciples. Since Jesus was their master, anything they did by His authority could be attributed to Him. We see this many times throughout the Bible. For instance, when a king is recognized for killing 10,000 men, He didn’t kill them all by himself. Instead, his people did most of the killing, but they are under his authority so this is why it can be said that the king killed these 10,000 men. This same idea is true when a person is baptized today. Some like to call it a work of man because someone is dipping another person in the water. However, when a person is baptizing someone, they are doing it by the authority of Jesus, so it is not a work of man but a work of God (Col. 2:12).
Verse 4 says, “But He needed to go through Samaria.” Why did He need to go through Samaria? Well, we are not told for sure, but there are at least two possible reasons. First, the most direct route to Galilee from Judea was through Samaria. Otherwise, one would have to cross the Jordan River and go around Samaria, which would take a lot more time. Second, Jesus could have known the Samaritans were ready to hear His words and believe, which is exactly what happened.
We need to realize that most full-blood Jews would not step foot into Samaria because they considered them an impure race because they were part Jew and part Gentile. The rabbis of that day prohibited Judean Jews from setting foot on Samaritan territory and according to the Babylonian Talmud, if they did, they would be considered unclean. There was not much love between these two groups. To help us better understand why the full-blood Jews despised the Samaritans, let’s take a closer look at where they came from and how this all began.
The territory of Samaria was comprised of two tribes, Ephraim and part of Manasseh. After the children of Israel divided into two kingdoms, king Omri started building the city of Samaria around 880 B.C. and his son Ahab finished its construction around 874 – 853 B.C. This city became the capital of Israel. Due to Israel’s constant disobedience to God, the Assyrians captured their capital around 722 – 721 B.C. and many of the Israelites were taken away to Assyria (2 Kgs. 17:23).
Next, Assyria takes over the city of Samaria and they bring in various foreigners (2 Kgs. 17:24). Not all the Israelites were gone because some would be left to work the vineyards and the fields and others had escaped (2 Chr. 30:6). These foreigners would eventually marry these Israelites and this is where the Samaritans got their start (2 Kgs. 17:29). They were called this because they were occupying Samaria. Mixing these different nationalities was a strategy used to blend these people so they would lose their identity and be less of a threat to the Assyrians in the future.
We need to remember that it was against God’s Law to marry foreigners, but they did it anyway. Once these mixed people made their way into Samaria, God sent lions to eat some of them because they did not fear God (2 Kgs. 17:25). They wanted to appease God, so they sent for a priest to teach them about the ways of God. From that point forward, they worshipped God, but they also continued worshipping their false gods as well (2 Kgs. 17:26ff).
Later, Judah was captured by the
Babylonians, and 70 years later, they began to come back to their homeland. The
Samaritans offered to help Zerubbable rebuild the temple, but he refused their
help. This made the Samaritans mad, so they tried to prevent the Jews from
rebuilding the temple (Ezra 4:1-10). They also tried to prevent Nehemiah from
rebuilding the wall of Jerusalem (Neh. 2:10 – 6:14). When Ezra commanded the
Jews to divorce their pagan wives (Ezra 9 – 11), this divided the Jews from the
Samaritans even more. According to Josephus, the final event that would forever
separate the Jews from the Samaritans was when they built a temple on Mount
Gerizim (Ant., XI, vii, 2; viii, 2 ff). They
claimed this area, known as Shechem, as being the true “Bethel” (house of God)
instead of Jerusalem (Nelson New Illustrated Bible Dictionary p.1120). We will
see the significance of this when we examine the conversation between Jesus and
the Samaritan woman.
At some point, the Samaritans put
away their pagan gods and they regulated their worship by the Torah. They
believed the first five books of the Bible were God’s Word, but they did not
recognize any of the other books in the Old Testament as being from God. The
Samaritans were almost destroyed by the Romans in A.D. 527 – 565. However, two
small groups still exist today in Nablus (ancient Shechem) and near Tel Aviv (Nelson New Illustrated Bible Dictionary p. 1120).
John 4:5 So He came to a city of Samaria which is called
Sychar, near the plot of ground that Jacob gave to his son Joseph. 6 Now Jacob's well was there.
Jesus therefore, being wearied from His journey, sat thus by the well.
It was about the sixth hour.
Most scholars believe that Sychar was probably the same place known as Shechem in the Old Testament. Jacob had bought this plot of land from Shechem’s father for 100 pieces of money (Gen. 33:18-20). Joseph inherited this land and eventually was buried there (Jos. 24:32). John 4 is the only chapter that talks about Jacob’s well in the New Testament. It is believed that either he or his servants dug it. He used this well, and it was still being used by these Samaritans.
J. W. McGarvey wrote:
Jacob's well is still there, about one hundred feet from Mount Gerizim, which rises high above it to the west. The well is a perfect cylinder, seven and a half feet in diameter, walled with stones of good size, smoothly dressed, and nicely fitted together, an excellent piece of masonry. Its depth was stated by the earliest modern who visited it (Maundrel) at 105 feet with fifteen feet of water. In 1839, it was found to be seventy-five feet deep with ten or twelve feet of water. All visitors of more recent date have found it dry and gradually filling up from the habit of throwing stones into it to hear the reverberation when they strike the bottom (J. W. McGarvey, The Fourfold Gospel (Cincinnati, Ohio: The Standard Publishing Company, 1914), p. 56).
Jacobs Well, today, is located in a dark crypt of a church, surrounded with icons and candles. A Byzantine Church was built over the well which was destroyed in 1187. In 1860, the Greek Orthodox Church restored the crypt, and in 1914 began the restoration of the Church. In 1960 "it was still unfinished. There were two small structures not unlike builders huts which cover two stone stairways down into the crypt. Water is drawn which is clear and drinkable (hitch.south.cx/Jacobs-well.htm).
In verse 6, John captures the humanity of Jesus because he tells us that Jesus was tired from traveling and He sat down by the well. This shows that Jesus got tired just like every other human and needed rest. This happened about the 6th hour. There is not a clear way to determine if this is referring to Jewish or Roman time. A Jewish day began at sunset, around 6 pm our time. When daylight started around 6 am, they would divide the day up in twelve parts. So, if this verse is referring to Jewish time, it was about noon our time. The Romans’ day began at midnight, and they would count the next twelve hours as morning just like we do. Starting at noon, they would start over, and our 1 pm would be called the first hour. So, if our verse is referring to Roman time, it would have been 6 pm our time.
John 4:7 A woman of Samaria came to draw water. Jesus said
to her, "Give Me a drink." 8
For His disciples had gone away into the city to buy food. 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. 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." 11 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?
12 "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?"
While Jesus was resting at Jacob’s well, along comes a Samaritan woman. At
that moment, Jesus breaks down the wall of prejudice between the Jews and
Samaritans, and He also breaks the social rule of a man talking to a woman.
While His disciples were gone getting some food, Jesus engages in conversation
with this woman asking her to get Him a drink because He did not have a way of
getting it Himself. This implies there was not a community bucket there, and
every person that wanted water had to bring their own bucket with a rope long
enough to reach the water.
This woman is shocked that Jesus is talking to her because she recognizes
that He is a Jew, and she emphasizes that Jews have no dealings with the
Samaritans. Jesus responds to her
saying, "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." Jesus is doing the same thing He did with Nicodemus. He is using
something physical to teach her a spiritual message. The gift that Jesus speaks
of is the gift of salvation that comes through Him. Living water usually refers
to a running spring or running water as opposed to stagnate water. However,
Jesus was not talking about physical water; He was talking about eternal life
that He can offer through His words, which will lead to eternal life.
Just like Nicodemus, this woman was confused because all she could think
about was physical water. This is the reason she asked Jesus how He was going
to get this water since He has nothing to draw it with from this deep well.
First, she refers to Jacob’s well, and then she wants to know where He might
get this living water from. She knew that Jacob had to dig this well so they
could have water in this area because there was not any living water or fresh
springs nearby. As she continued thinking of physical water, she seems to be
wondering if Jesus knew of a spring close by that Jacob did not know about,
which is why she asked if He was greater than Jacob. Of course, we know that
Jesus is greater than Jacob and every other human that has ever lived on the
earth.
John 4:13 Jesus answered and said to her, "Whoever
drinks of this water will thirst again, 14
"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."
15 The woman said to Him, "Sir, give me this water, that
I may not thirst, nor come here to draw."
Once again, Jesus tries to get this woman to understand that He is not
talking about physical water. He does this by telling her that the physical
water in Jacob’s well will quench your thirst for a while, but you will become
thirsty again. However, the water Jesus is offering will cause us to never
thirst again. He is referring to the lifesaving message that comes from His
words that will lead us to eternal life. When we drink in the Word of God, it
is for our souls, and when we allow His Word to dwell in our lives, it will
spring up into everlasting life. Sometimes this idea of living water represents
the receiving of the Holy Spirit (Jn. 7:37-39). Other times it is used to
represent eternal life in heaven (Rev. 22:1). Again, this woman was still
thinking of the physical because she wanted some of this water she could
physical draw up and drink so she would not have to ever come to Jacob’s well
again.
John 4:16 Jesus said to her, "Go, call your husband,
and come here." 17 The
woman answered and said, "I have no husband." Jesus said to her,
"You have well said, 'I have no husband,'
18 "for you have had five husbands, and the one whom you
now have is not your husband; in that you spoke truly."
Since Jesus was not able to get her to understand about the living water,
He uses another approach to reach her with the truth. Jesus asked her to bring
her husband, and she said she did not have one. There was a lot more to her
story, but she avoided the details by simply saying she did not have a husband.
Jesus complimented her on her honesty, and He revealed to her that He knew
everything about her past and what was going on in her life right now. We have
no way of knowing what the circumstance was of her first five marriages, but we
can know that she was not married to the man she was with right now. We are not
told what she was thinking, but it is safe to say that she had to be amazed. If
I were in her shoes, it would have taken me some time to speak again. Notice
her response:
John 4:19 The woman said to Him, "Sir, I perceive that
You are a prophet.
At first, she recognized Jesus as a Jew, but now she is beginning to see that He is much more than a Jew since He was able to tell her about her past life and her present relationship. Now she considers Him a prophet.
John 4:20 "Our fathers worshiped on this mountain, and
you Jews say that in Jerusalem is the place where one ought to
worship."
Now that Jesus has her attention, she wants Him to answer the question the Samaritans and the Judeans disagreed on for hundreds of years. Is the true place of worship at Mount Gerizim in Samaria or is it in Jerusalem? Some have suggested she may have asked this question to avoid talking about her current relationship, which is possible, but it is also possible that she wants to know if she is worshipping God where she is supposed to. I wish more people today would sincerely question if their worship to God is acceptable and would search the Scriptures to find out. One reason Mt. Gerizim was considered a special place was because it was where the blessing was read as the children of Israel entered the promise the land (Jos. 8:33; Deut. 11:29).
John 4:21 Jesus said to her, "Woman, believe Me, the
hour is coming when you will neither on this mountain, nor in Jerusalem, worship
the Father. 22 "You
worship what you do not know; we know what we worship, for salvation is of the
Jews.
Jesus did not have any problems answering her question. In verse 22, He tells her the Samaritans do not know what they worship, but the Jews do. Then He affirms that salvation is for the Jews. The Jews were God’s chosen people. However, under the new covenant, both Jew and Gentile Christians are considered to be the seed of Abraham (Gal. 3:27-29). So, the answer to her question was that Jerusalem was the place to worship God. Not only did He answer her question, He also revealed that it would not be long until a person would not have to worship God on a specific mountain or in Jerusalem. Jesus was talking about how worship will be done under the new covenant because we can worship Him anywhere.
John 4:23 "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. 24
"God is Spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit
and truth."
Every Christian should take Jesus’ words to heart because He has just
taught this woman and us what true worship is all about. Notice, He says, “True
worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth.” Since there are true
worshipers, this mean there are false worshippers. The Father is looking for
those who are true worshipers because they are the only ones that will please
Him.
What is a true worshipper? It is a person that will worship God in spirit
and in truth. We worship God in spirit by engaging all our emotions and
thoughts toward Him. We worship Him in truth by following the Word of God
because His Word is truth (Jn. 17:17). If we worship God with just out hearts,
we are not true worshipers. If we go through the motions and worship God
according to His Word, but we do not engage our hearts, then we still are not
true worshippers. So, both of these elements are absolutely necessary for us to
be considered true worshipers.
Unfortunately, there are many in the religious world who have not taken
Jesus’ words seriously because they are willing to worship Him in spirit, but
they have neglected to worship Him according to His truth. The opposite was
true for many of the Old Testament Jews because they were willing to obey the
physical rituals, but they did not engage their hearts. Again, both elements
are necessary. As Christians, we need to understand that God has given us His
fully revealed Word in our Bibles, and it contains everything we need to know
about worshipping Him (2 Tim. 3:16-17; 2 Pet. 1:3), which is why Paul told the
Corinthians, “…Not to think beyond what is written (1 Cor. 4:6). This is why we
are instructed not to add or take away from the Word of God (Rev. 22:18). If we
go outside God’s pattern, then we are worshiping Him in vain (Mk. 7:6-7), and
we will not be pleasing to the Father or the Son (2 Jn. 1:9). We should never
think so highly of ourselves that we think we can devise something outside
God’s Word that will please Him (Acts 17:24-25).
Verse 24 tells us that God is spirit. God is not human like us because He
is invisible (Col. 1:15). Even though the Bible describes God as having a face,
ears, eyes, and hands, these descriptions are given so we can relate to what is
being said. Jesus makes it clear that a spirit does not have flesh and bone
like we do (Lk. 24:39). This is also an excellent Scripture that refutes the
Mormon doctrine that teaches God is flesh and bones.
John 4:25 The woman said to Him, "I know that Messiah
is coming" (who is called Christ). "When He comes, He will tell us
all things." 26 Jesus
said to her, "I who speak to you am He."
So, the Samaritans were also looking for the Messiah that would come and
reveal the perfect law of God. Since the Samaritans only believed in the first
five books of the Bible, this means the coming of Jesus is revealed in those
books. Next, Jesus does something that He does not normally do because usually
He allowed His miraculous works to reveal His identity. In this instance, He
tells this woman point-blank that He is the Messiah. Some say that Jesus never
claimed to be the Messiah, but this verse proves that He did. We can only
imagine what was running through her mind when Jesus told her this. Most likely
she was shocked because at first, she thought He was just a Jew. Then after He
knew about her life, she thought He was a prophet, and now He says He is the
Messiah.
John 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?"
While Jesus was revealing His identity to this woman, His disciples were
making their way back from getting food. They see Jesus talking to this woman
and they are surprised because it was unheard of for a man to talk to women in
a public place, not to mention a Samaritan. His disciples wanted to question
Him, but they did not. Apparently, their approach interrupted Jesus’
conversation with her as suggested by the next verse, or she was so overwhelmed
by whom Jesus said He was that she felt like leaving.
John 4:28 The woman then left her waterpot, went her way
into the city, and said to the men, 29
"Come, see a Man who told me all things that I ever did. Could this be the
Christ?" 30 Then they
went out of the city and came to Him.
We can see how distracted she became from her conversation with Jesus. Her original mission was to get some water, but she met Jesus instead, which caused her to forget about the water, and she even left her water pot behind. She now had a new mission. She went around her city telling everyone what Jesus did, and she did her best to get everyone to come and see Him. She does not tell the people that He is the Christ, but she defiantly thinks it is possible that He is. Her diligence paid off because the people began to come out of the city to go see Jesus.
Her enthusiasm about Christ and how she told others about Him should be the same enthusiasm that all Christians should have. After all, we know who Jesus is, what He did for us, and the promises that come through Him. We should always be ready to share this news with those around us and get them to come see Jesus as their Savior.
John 4:31 In the meantime His disciples urged Him, saying,
"Rabbi, eat." 32
But He said to them, "I have food to eat of which you do not
know." 33 Therefore the
disciples said to one another, "Has anyone brought Him anything to
eat?" 34 Jesus said to
them, "My food is to do the will of Him who sent Me, and to finish His
work.
Jesus’ disciples knew He needed
to eat some food to regain His strength. We know He was tired because that is
the reason He stayed at the well in the first place. However, Jesus tells them
that He has food that they do not know about. His response confuses them
because they think He is talking about physical food, but He puts their
confusion to rest by telling them that His food is to do the will of the
Father. In other words, His strength comes from doing the work that God has
asked Him to do. Even though Jesus was hungry for physical food, He was even
hungrier to do the will of God. Jesus motives are based on putting God and His
Word first just as we are supposed to do (Mt. 6:33). I also like what Job said,
“I have not departed from the commandment of
His lips; I have treasured the words of His mouth More than my necessary food” (Job 23:12). So, when Jesus saw these
people coming to Him, His physical hunger went away as He focused in on the
task at hand.
John 4:35 "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! 36 "And he who reaps receives
wages, and gathers fruit for eternal life, that both he who sows and he who
reaps may rejoice together. 37
"For in this the saying is true: 'One sows and another reaps.' 38 "I sent you to reap that
for which you have not labored; others have labored, and you have entered into
their labors."
The harvest time starts around April and
continues through May, and four months before that would be either December or
January. Jesus may be suggesting that this event was occurring during one of
these months. It is believed that most of the common people wore plain white
clothing because they could not afford the dyes. These people were coming out
of the city and walking across the field toward Jesus. Imagine these people
walking across the field in their white clothes as we read Jesus words again,
“Lift up your eyes and look at the
fields, for they are already white for harvest!” Jesus is teaching His
disciples that the harvest of souls is always ready to be harvested year-round.
Next, Jesus teaches His disciples about the importance of sowing and
reaping. For example, Jesus had sowed the seed in this woman’s heart, and she
took that seed and sowed it in the city. Because of Jesus’ work and the work of
this woman, the disciples would now have the opportunity to reap what they had
not sown, but both the sower and the reaper can rejoice together because both
of them worked together to bring the lost to God.
We can see an example of this in a Gospel Meeting. Before the visiting
preacher arrives, the members of that congregation have gone out and setup
Bible studies and invited people to come hear the preacher. They have sowed the
seed. When they come to the meeting and hear the truth, they may choose to be
saved. When this happens, the preacher has reaped what he did not labor for,
but we can all rejoice together knowing that a soul has been won to Christ.
Sowing and reaping are both important, and we should not feel bad if
someone else reaps what we have sown. Besides, we would have nothing to sow or
reap if it was not for God (1 Cor. 3:5-9).
John 4:39 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." 40
So when the Samaritans had come to Him, they urged Him to stay with them; and
He stayed there two days. 41
And many more believed because of His own word.
42 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."
This woman is a great example of what a Christian can do in the way of
evangelism. She did not know much about Jesus or His teachings, but she told
the people what she knew and that was enough to cause some of them to believe.
So, do not think that a person has to have a vast knowledge of God’s Word to
lead someone to Christ because he does not. A person just needs to tell people
what he knows about Jesus and this will be enough to lead people to Christ.
The Samaritans were so interested in Jesus that they begged Him to stay longer
and He did. For two more days, He taught them and many of them believed that He
was the Christ based on His teachings and not just by what the woman had said.
These people had opened their hearts to Jesus and accepted Him for who He was,
which had to be refreshing after the way some of the Jews of Judea had treated
Him earlier.
This brings us to end of our lesson, I hope you will join us next time as we continue to dig into the life of Christ and learn as much as we can about His work and the people He encountered. Along the way, I also hope you make as much application as you can to your own lives and that you will grow in knowledge and grow spiritually.