Chapter 4, Verse 1 Therefore when the Lord knew that the Pharisees had heard that Jesus made and baptized more disciples than John...interesting that the bible says here that Jesus made disciples before they were baptized, right?  The bible doesn't say that many were baptized and then disciples but rather the other way around.  

 

And so the religious elite, the Pharisees began to see the crowds that were following John begin to follow Jesus and the Lord knew that this meant trouble.  Why?  Recall John was the son of a priest and so in that he wasn't as threatening to the religious Jews as Jesus was.  Jesus, to them, was the son of a carpenter, a man from Nazareth, from which no prophet had come and also, to them He was a product of sin.  Remember Mary and Joseph were not married when she became pregnant and they would later insult Jesus by saying, at least we are not the sons of a harlot.

 

And so for Jesus to begin to amass a following, big trouble for the Pharisees, the Jewish leaders.  And so Jesus, without having to be told, knew (the bible says) that there was going to be trouble...and so 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.  Not logistically.  He could very well have gotten to Galilee from Judea without setting foot in Samaria...but the Bible says He needed to go there...and we'll see it was because He had a meeting to go to.

Now this would mean even more trouble than staying in Judea...you see the Jews hated the Samaritans, disdained them...and there's a lot of history there but their hate for their national neighbors...is just another symptom of the sorry state of God's people at this time.  The state of the Jewish nation was wearisome upon the Lord...

 

Through our journey through The Gospel of John thus far we have see a blind priesthood, a joyless nation, a desecrated temple, spiritually dead leadership, the truth of Christ rejected, and in today's study we will encounter the Jew's deep-seeded prejudice/hatred for an entire race of people.  All of these things (spiritual blindness, joylessness, hatred) are the result of a life estranged from God.  And these things will manifest themselves even today but not only in a nation but in a heart that has grown hard to the things of God. 

 

No hunger for the word, no peace, no joy, no regard for your body...what you allow into it, TV, movies, gaming, music...no spiritual leadership, you're not ministering to others or growing in your relationship with the Lord, and finally, the commandments of Jesus rejected and hatred of of even your neighbor.  The subtle yet sure downward slope of a life lived unto self.

 

 

 

So apart from the spiritual state of the Jewish nation, why did they hate the Samaritans so much?  It was because Samaria, used to be Israel, inhabited by the Northern tribes, but now, in Jesus' time it was a land of half breeds.  The Jews had intermarried with the Asyrians.  And since self-purification, self-righteousness was everything to the Jew one's lineage was extremely important and to be a half breed was the equivalent of a dog to them. 

 

Recall Paul, as he laid out his qualifications as a Pharisee of Pharisees, circumcised the eighth day, of the tribe of Benjamin...which was one of the two tribes that had remained in the south, in Judah when the kingdom of Israel split...lineage was everything to them...

 

And so the Samaritans, a hated people...and although Samaria lay between Judea and Galilee, the Jews would always travel around it in order to avoid contact with them...avoid contact with an entire race of people, and you know I've been asked about races before and my answer will always be yes, God sees race...the human race.  All men are created equal in God's eyes, all are children of God, created in His image...

 

And so the Bible says, the Lord, needed to go to the outcasts there Samaria...and indeed He did as we see He had an appointment, a predestined wondrous meeting there with one of His daughters...

Verses 5 – 6 (burdened with grief “Kaa-Pee-Ah-Oh” - Kopeao

 

So Jesus and His homeboys arrive in a city of Samaria called Sychar which means “purchased” as it was a plot of land purchased by Jacob, and you can read this account in Genesis 33, and He is weary from the journey.  It is interesting here the word that John uses...the trip was only about 5-6 hours...KAA-PEE-AH-OH...How comforting to know that God Himself understand what it feels like to be weary...not weary of doing good, weary in doing good...exhaustion, just worn out...

 

And so Jesus sits down by Jacob's well and rests a while and it was about the sixth hour, or noon.  

 

Verse 7

 

A woman of Samaria came to draw water.  Now understand, this was the wrong time of day to get water.  Water pots were carried and the sun was at its highest at noontime and so the women of the city would gather their water in the morning, when it was cool, and in the evening, when the days sun had passed.  In fact, it was sort of a social gathering each day at the well...but this particular woman came at noon.  She came alone, expecting to find the well deserted, no doubt feeling alone, yet One was to be there with her, waiting on her...

Jesus said to her, “Give Me a drink.”  For His disciples had gone away into the city to buy food.  I love it!  Jesus just breaking all of the prideful ways of man!  Here He is speaking to a Samaritan, definitely a shameful thing for a Jew, especially for a Rabbi, and whats more, a woman!  The Jews would have gasped! 

 

And so Jesus, sitting there by the well, the Gift of God in the place called purchased sitting by the well of water, that substance that refreshes, that element that is essential for life, and He engages His daughter because this is exactly why He needed to go through Samaria!

 

Verse 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.  Even she can't believe it!

 

Jesus answered and said to her, “If you knew the gift (dorea) 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.”

 

So here He is, the gift of God, in the place called purchased.  Eternal and everlasting life is the free Gift of God offered, extended to man through the person of Jesus, however it was by no means free to Him. 

It cost Him everything, yet here we see His very heart.  My daughter, what I want for you, what I give to you freely, will cost Me all that I am, but I love you so much, that my very heart breaks for the condition sin has left you in...and so living water, at the expense of my life, my pain...ask Me, come out of the wilderness of your life, come out of the pain of self-occupation, come to Me in this place called purchased.  Because you are my daughter.

 

If you only knew Jesus said, but you will.  I'll show you and then once you have seen and believe, I'll pour into you living water!

 

But the woman was confused...and 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 this 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.”  The water that you draw with your water-pot, that refreshing you achieve at your hand...accomplishments, honor, power, prestige, it will never be enough. 

 

 

But again, what we've heard from Jesus time and time again, whoever, anyone, everyone, who comes to Me will find that I AM enough!  And the water that I shall give him will become in him a fountain of water springing up into everlasting life! 

 

The bible speaks of joy inexpressible and joy unending, joy that is not able to be taken or stolen that is grasped when one abides in the Lord.  Circumstances and situations may be hard and times may be tough but the Christian that is found in Christ, although sorrowful, hurt, hard pressed from all sides, is not defeated, is not cast down because as the bible says, we are upheld by His holy right hand. 

 

And so sufficiency, satisfaction, love, security, acceptance, truth, peace and joy, found only in Jesus...but wait there's more.  Jesus promises to not only to fill you but also to create in you a fountain of sufficiency, as He sits there by a well, a fountain from which others  may draw, learn and grow as they witness the living water residing and flowing through you!

 

Verse 15, Then the woman said to Him, “Sir, give me this water, that I may not thirst, nor come here to draw.”

 

 

 

What a great answer!  Jesus has found one that is thirsty!  She doesn't say I don't believe, I can almost hear the desperation in her voice...sir, my thirst hurts, I do have to come to this well day after day, alone, cast out, to draw water that simply runs out, and leaves me thirsty and alone, please give me this water.

 

And so Christ, seated there by the well, and what do we find Him doing?  Meeting alone with this poor outcast, meeting her right where He knew she would be, coming alone, back to that well that does not satisfy, and so He comes to her to settle with her the great question of eternity.  He engages her, He shows her herself, and reveals Himself!  That is always what He does...He is the author of your faith, He is the author of your calling, He is the granter of repentance, He is the giver of grace...He is all in all!

 

Jesus, He shares with her how the gift of God has been given to her to be filled with everlasting joy and to have everlasting life and then simply invites her to ask...and then, she asks.     

 

I love what He does next, Jesus said to her, “Go call your husband and come here.”  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 knows her completely.  He knows the where's she's been, what she's done, and who she has become yet notice, He initiates.  He comes to her.  He has been waiting for her...for her, He had to go through Samaria!  And he simply says daughter, you need not hide from me.  Come to me in truth, I already know, and yet I have already offered to you the gift of God...not based on your worthiness, based on God's grace and love! 

 

2 Tim 1:9 says, He has saved us and called us with a holy calling...but listen, look at the Greek, literally in the Greek the bible says, He has saved us and called us holy...and it continues, not according to our works but according to His own purpose and grace which was given to us in Christ Jesus!  The free gift of God, without condemnation, and without burden but delivery freedom and everlasting life based on God's grace and love!

 

And so no more masks.  No  more hiding.  No need.  Accept My grace the Lord calls out to His children!  Grace does not help, it is absolute!  To accept God's grace is to believe and to consent to be loved while unworthy...is there anything more freeing?   God's grace is independent of man and yet when truly received will every time produce an attitude of gratitude and a life that testifies of God's goodness.  And whats more, souls that have been touched by God's grace will rely on God's chastening hand as a mark of His kindness!

 

So no God is not poking at her, He's calling her to be free!