In the last lesson we were Nicodemus.
Today we are with a very different individual: the woman at the well, or the
Samaritan woman. Nicodemus is a man, she is a woman. Nicodemus is Jewish, she
is Samaritan, Nicodemus is well known; we don’t even this lady’s name.
Nicodemus was a well-educated teacher; this lady probably never went to school.
Nicodemus was from the city; she was from a village.
By placing these two
characters near each other our artist is underlining something beautiful. Jesus
talks to Nicodemus; Jesus talks to this woman. Jesus talks everybody,
regardless of their race, or gender or their place in society.
Right at the start of this
Gospel, in 1:19, we know that John the Baptist is a problem for the powers that
be in Jerusalem. They don’t like him telling Jews to repent and be baptised.
And when they hear that now Jesus is baptizing more people than John, that
means Jesus is now their number one enemy. Learning this – Jesus decides to
move north, to Galilee where it will be safer, and he chooses to use the most
direct route which means going through Samaria even though things were not good
between the Jews and the Samaritans. The Jews hated the Samaritans for being
half Jewish and half Assyrian, and they hated them for having their own form of
Judaism. They had built their own temple on Mt Gezarim. The southern Jews had
destroyed this in about 110 BC, but, as we see in this story, the Samaritans
still thought this was the place to worship God. And then the Samaritans didn’t
accept all the Old Testament, just the first five books of Moses. The tension
between Jews and Samaritans was intense and often there was violence. For a Jew
like Jesus, Samaria is unclean and unsafe. But Jesus wants to get away from
Jerusalem.
Again we have irony. The
place that should be safe for Jesus – Jerusalem – is not safe, and we will find
out that the place that shouldn’t be safe – Samaria – is safe.
The journey begins and we
are told that Jesus gets tired and so has a rest by Jacob’s well which is on
some land that Jacob gave to his son, Joseph. The disciples go to get some
food.
It has been said that the
Gospel of John is full of secret doors. You are in a room and you think there
is a just a book-case there, but then you push a little, and you find there is
a door in the book case and you can enter another room.
That is certainly the case
here for Jesus is not sitting in an ordinary place. He is around Sychar which
in Hebrew means wage, but because workers were sometimes paid in wine, it can
also mean drunk. A place called ‘drunk’, perhaps not a good place for Jesus to
be.
And He is sitting on land
given by Jacob to Joseph, his favourite son. You can read about this in Genesis
48:21 -22. Now we have Jesus, also a favourite son, who has been given land by
his father. And there is a well.
Joseph and a well. It’s
impossible not to think of what happened to Joseph. He was sent to his bothers,
and they put him down a well. And here we have another favourite son who has
been sent by his father – to his own land – and already his brother Jews have
problems with him. That’s why he is in Samaria. The well sits there, a reminder
of the suffering that will come to Jesus. That’s the first room, the first
level.
But there is a second room,
a second level. For a well is a place for drawing water which brings life. So –
Jesus – sent by his father is sitting by a place which will bring suffering and
life. Indeed in Acts 2 there is so much life that people think that the
disciples are drunk. They have been in Sychar. There is merriment.
Just to make sure we know
there is more to this picture than a tired man sitting by a well, the writer
then tells us the time. We don’t need really need to know the exact time, but
he tells us. It is the sixth hour. Noon. The hour when Pilate sent Jesus to the
cross. That’s in 19:14.
So, we have gone through
the secret doors at the start of this story and seen that again the writer
wants us to see that the water of life flows from the suffering of Jesus
Christ.
There is another secret
door in this story, but first we have a shock.
A Samaritan lady arrives by
the well to draw water. Jesus is a Jewish man, she is a Samaritan woman. In the
Misnah, a book full of Jewish rules, it is said that Samaritan women are always
unclean.
We expect silence. There
should be no conversation. But there is – Jesus asks for a drink. With Nicodemus,
Jesus should have talked first, but he doesn’t. Now with this lady, he
shouldn’t talk – but he does. And he certainly shouldn’t want to drink from the
same cup as this Samaritan. Jesus refuses to be locked into a box of cultural
rules.
And there is more.
If you are a woman watching
this, what would you think if a strange man asked you for a drink? You would
think – he wants to talk to me, he wants to start a relationship. That is
exactly what Jesus wants to do.
You have probably heard
that she is coming at noon to get her water instead of in the evening, the
normal time, because she is not too popular in her village. So making Jesus’
willingness to reach out to her more loving.
The woman is shocked and
says so, and then Jesus says something that is very odd. He says there is a
gift from God that I can give you – it’s living water.
I like this woman. She is
feisty and she reckons she knows how to deal with mystics like this Jew. She
mocks him. ‘You are talking about giving me living water and you haven’t even
got a bucket to draw the water with’. Typical man. Fantastic ideas. Wonderful
words. Practically useless. And who do you think you are? This is Jacob’s well.
This water was good enough for Jacob, his sons, his animals? And you have the
nerve to say it’s not good enough? She has a go at Jesus.
Nicodemus was respectful
and polite and ends up getting rebuked by Jesus because he failed to move from
the physical to the spiritual. This woman isn’t respectful and polite, and she
too fails to move from the physical to the spiritual – but Jesus does not
rebuke her. He really does deal with us as individuals.
He is very patient and
explains that with ordinary water, you quickly become thirsty again. But if she
drank the water He wanted to give her – she would never get thirsty again. In
fact this water would keep on welling up, it would never end, and it would give
her eternal life.
We have to pause here and
admire our author. He moved the story of the temple cleansing to the start of
the story to emphasize the centrality of Christ’s cross. Jesus is the true
temple. This has everything to do with water. When we have God’s presence, we
have a river – you can find this in Psalm 46, and in Revelation 22. But
especially in Ezekiel 47 – the vision of God’s temple, and what is flowing out
of the temple – a river that gives life. First the temple, that’s John 2, and
then the water, the Spirit – that in John 3 and now it’s here in John 4.
So, Jesus the temple is
offering the woman the water of life. I love her reaction. Let’s have it. Give
it to me. Yes. There is no hesitation – as obviously there was with Nicodemus.
Again Jesus does not behave
in a way that you would expect. Give me the water she says, and what should be
next? Here you are. But that’s not what Jesus says. He completely changes the
subject, ‘Go and call your husband – and then come here.’ Jesus isn’t saying He
won’t give the water; but he wants to talk about her personal life.
She says she has no
husband. She must have thought, well that’s the end of the conversation. He’s
asked to see my husband. I haven’t got a husband. So – let’s have this water.
But it’s not as simple as
that, because Jesus knows us. He knows it’s true that she has no husband – and
he knows it’s not true. And he tells her. You’ve had five husbands and your
present boyfriend isn’t your husband. That must have been hard for the woman.
Remember we said that
Nicodemus’ conversation must have made him uncomfortable – you’re a ruler and
you don’t know the basics. Well, it’s the same for this woman for different
reasons. Nicodemus needed humbling; this woman needed to own up to her past.
Jesus wants them both to enjoy the living water.
What do we do when a conversation
becomes difficult? We change the subject. That’s what this lady does. After
acknowledging that Jesus is a prophet, which is more than Nicodemus did, she
changes the subject to the major difference between the Samaritans and the
Jews. The Samaritans say that God should be worshipped ‘on this mountain’,
because this was where Abraham built the first altar. So, we Samaritans, we are
nearer the origins of the faith. But you Jews, you say the place to worship is
Jerusalem, which was founded long after Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. She has
certainly changed the subject, but she is also questioning why she should
believe Jesus if he – as a Jew – has got such an important question wrong.
Jesus could have said –
you’re just changing the subject because you don’t want to talk about those
five husbands and your boyfriend. But he is kind. He does respond to her
question with an argument for Jerusalem. The basis of the argument depends on the
assumption that geography is important for the worship of God. Jesus destroys
that assumption. He declares that when it comes to worshipping God, geography
does not matter. What matters is worshipping the Father – in spirit and truth.
Lady, it’s not just a matter of turning up somewhere and saying a few prayers.
The Father is looking at our hearts. He wants to see that we are worshipping
with all our being – and in truth. We are truthful about who we are, we are
ready to confess wrong-doing in our past. In his answer Jesus is again asking
the woman to own up to her past sins so she too can worship – in spirit and
truth,
The woman has said that the
Jews have got it wrong, and so is implying that what they say about spiritual
things cannot be trusted. Jesus refuses to accept this. He is ready to say that
geography is not important; he is not ready to say the writings of the Jewish
people, all the Old Testament, are not important. The Jewish people are
important and so he says, ‘Salvation is from the Jews’. Jesus is saying to her
that if she accepts the water this does not mean she will have to come to
Jerusalem. But she must accept the whole Bible, the records of the Jews. As a
Samaritan, she only accepted the first five books of Moses. Jesus is saying
that’s not enough. This principle remains today. When it comes to salvation, geography
doesn’t matter, the Bible does. We must accept the whole Bible and the truth
that Jesus is a Jew, so salvation is from the Jews.
One thing that the
Samaritans and the Jews agree on is that the Messiah is coming. The Samaritans
called him the Taheb, the ‘Restorer’. Unable to answer Jesus, the woman says,
well, when the Messiah comes he will give us the definitive answer.
Then Jesus says, to this
Samaritan woman with no name - ‘I am the Messiah’, so I know what I say is
true.
So far, this chapter has
been all about Jesus and the woman, now the disciples come on the scene and they
are shocked.
The woman probably sensed
they were not happy and that it was time to leave. But she has also sensed
Jesus’ love. She has become a believer. This is the Messiah. This is the man
who can give me living water. And so we read a beautiful thing in v. 28
‘So the woman left her
water jar’.
آShe never filled it up with the old water, the
water that which she would drink and get thirsty again. No – she was ready for
the living water. And she was ready to testify. She runs back to her village
and says what Jesus said to Andrew and his friend, what Philip said to
Nathaniel – ‘Come and see’
She has not become a
believer because of the argument about where people should worship. No, she has
become a believer because Jesus showed that he knew all about her life. This is
mentioned twice – v. 29, and v. 39. Jesus knows about what has happened in our
individual lives and He does not condemn us. He invites us to believe and drink
His water. That is love. She believes because she is loved.
Because of her testimony,
the other Samaritans get up and they want to see Jesus.
Meanwhile we have another
difficult conversation in 31 – 38, between Jesus and his disciples. The
disciples want to eat. They have laid out the picnic cloth, all the food they
have bought is sitting there, now they want to start. But of course –– they had
to wait till Jesus joined them. But he doesn’t, even though they are urging him
to, and even though we know he was tired, so he needed physical food.
Jesus says he has other
food, and so we have another misunderstanding with Jesus’ listeners thinking
about something physical – a birth, water, food – and Jesus’ meaning is
spiritual. So they say, ‘Has someone given him separate food? Maybe that woman,
maybe she has given him some food.’ Jesus now tells them about the food he has
eaten. It is the food of doing what the father wants, and what does the father
want – it is reap the harvest to bring people to faith. And we don’t have to
think we have to wait for the harvest. It is happening now.
And the harvest has
happened because others have sown. He is probably thinking of all the work of
the prophets in the Old Testament. Now we have to respect their work and get
busy bringing in the harvest so at the end the people who have sown and the
people who reap can rejoice together.
Jesus’ food is God’s work,
and God’s work is reaching other people. That must have priority over our
physical food. That is what is uncomfortable for these disciples – and for many
Christians down the ages. Jesus often asks us to forego food for the harvest.
In v. 34 Jesus wants the
disciples to see that the harvest is already happening. They don’t have to wait
four months. He asks them to look up – and what would they see? They would see
the Samaritan woman leading all the village out to them. It would have been a
big crowd.
They all come to Jesus and
his disciples and the Samaritans believe – because of the woman’s testimony.
Then they invite Jesus and his disciples to stay with them, and they do – for
two days. And so more people believe, not just now because of the woman, she
started things, but because of their own experience with Jesus. So they
conclude that Jesus is the Saviour of the world. This expression is only found
here, and in the first letter of John 4:14. It is a lovely expression,
underlining all that has happened in this story, Jesus is not just the Saviour
of the Jews, he is everyone’s Saviour, even the Samaritans.
There is so much irony
here.
As said, Jesus is not safe
with his own people, but he finds safety and welcome with the enemies of his
people. And his own people, the Jews, don’t forget this. They obviously get to
hear that Jesus has gone and spent time in Samaria, a place where most of them
would not go near for fear of becoming ‘unclean’ or drunk – remember the
meaning of Sychar. And so when they are later attacking Jesus they bring this
up as an accusation, it’s there just before they try to stone him in 8:38 –
‘Are we not right in saying that you are a Samaritan?’ If Jesus had spent time
with the Samaritans, surely, he must really be a Samaritan. He’s not a real
Jew. Jesus paid a price for spending time with these Samaritans.
And then there is so much
irony about the lady and Nicodemus. Who should recognise the Messiah swiftly?
Why, the educated man who is a teacher of Israel. But Nicodemus is very slow.
He only shows he is with Jesus right at the end of the story. Who should
understand very slowly? Why, this uneducated woman from a village in Samaria.
But it is she who understands very quickly. Who should be the best witness for
Jesus? Why an educated man. But Nicodemus never witnesses for Jesus. Who should
be a bad witness for Jesus? This uneducated woman. But she is in fact not just
a much better witness than Nicodemus. She is the best witness in all of the
Gospels. There is no other individual who brings virtually an entire village to
faith in Christ. She is the one who does this. What a lady.
I said there was another
secret door in this story, another seemingly simple picture that then has
another meaning. I want to end with it.
Watch the scene of Jesus
sitting by a well talking to a woman. That opens a door to the Old Testament
where we have three stories of a foreign man visiting another country and then something
happens around a well. The first story – and perhaps the most famous – is the
story of Abraham’s servant in Genesis 24 going to the city of Nahor to find a
wife for Isaac. Rebecca comes out to get water from the well and the servant
prays saying that if she offers to give water to his camels then he will know
that she is the one. That is what happens. Then in Genesis 29 we have the first
meeting of Jacob and his cousin Rachel whom he fell in love with. Again the
whole story happens by a well. And finally we have the story of Moses. He flees
Egypt, arrives in Midian and sits down – where? By a well. You can check this
in Exodus 2:15. While he is sitting there the daughters of Jethro come to get
water but they are attacked by some shepherds. Moses jumps up and drives these
unpleasant men away and the girls go home with their water. After that Moses is
invited to Jethro’s home – and he marries one of those daughters, Zipporah.
Three wives of three famous men from the Old Testament, all wives because of a
well.
And just like the servant,
Jacob, and Moses, Jesus is a man coming into a foreign country. And he too
finds a well. And a woman comes. And after their conversation he goes to stay
in the woman’s village for two days, where everyone is happy. It feels like a
celebration, almost like a wedding.
This is quite a door. This
is quite another level of meaning. Who is the woman of Samaria? She is Christ’s
bride. Yes, the woman who has had five husbands and when she met Christ was
living with a boyfriend, this woman becomes Christ’s bride. Isn’t that
beautiful? Doesn’t that give us all
hope?
What spiritual food can we
take from this extraordinary story?
Jesus wants to give us
living water, twenty-four hours a day. This water flows from the temple of his
broken body. Be like the woman, leave your water jar, and say to Jesus every
day – give me this water. He became thirsty for you on the cross; you need
never become thirsty.
And what lessons. From
Jesus – never write people off, always be open to start a conversation with
people like this woman of Samaria, however unpopular that might make you with
your family and friends. And encourage those people to talk about the painful
things that have happened in their lives.
From the woman – be ready
to want the water, and be ready to testify, however difficult it might be.
From the disciples – don’t
be too worried about food. Look up from your food and you will see there are
plenty of people to talk to.
Next up, one of Herod's official - click here - https://sternfieldthoughts.blogspot.com/2025/01/the-gospel-of-john-officials-son-4-43-54.html
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