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| Chapter 4 |
| Bible Text | Notes and Thoughts |
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1 ¶ When therefore the Lord knew how the Pharisees had heard that Jesus made and baptized more disciples than John 2 (though Jesus Himself baptized not, but His disciples), 3 He left Judea and departed again into Galilee, 4 ¶ and He needed to go through Samaria. 5 Then came He to a city of Samaria, which is called Sychar, near to the parcel of ground that Jacob gave to his son Joseph. 6 Now Jacob’s well was there. Jesus therefore, being wearied with His journey, sat thus by the well; and it was about the sixth hour. 7 There came a woman of Samaria to draw water. Jesus said unto her, "Give Me to drink." 8 (For His disciples had gone away unto the city to buy meat.) 9 Then said the woman of Samaria unto Him, "How is it that thou, being a Jew, askest a drink of me, who am a woman of Samaria?" For the Jews have no dealings with the Samaritans. 10 Jesus answered and said unto her, "If thou knewest the gift of God and who it is that saith to thee, ‘Give Me to drink,’ thou wouldest have asked of Him, and He would have given thee living water." 11 The woman said unto Him, "Sir, thou hast nothing to draw with, and the well is deep. From whence then hast thou that living water? 12 Art thou greater than our father Jacob, who gave us the well and drank thereof himself, and his children and his cattle?" 13 Jesus answered and said unto her, "Whosoever drinketh of this water shall thirst again, 14 but whosoever drinketh of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst; but the water that I shall give him shall be in him a well of water springing up into everlasting life." 15 The woman said unto Him, "Sir, give me this water, that I thirst not, neither come hither to draw." 16 Jesus said unto her, "Go, call thy husband, and come hither." 17 The woman answered and said, "I have no husband." Jesus said unto her, "Thou hast well said, "I have no husband" 18 for thou hast had five husbands, and he whom thou now hast is not thy husband. In that thou saidst truly." 19 The woman said unto Him, "Sir, I perceive that thou art a prophet. 20 Our fathers worshiped on this mountain, and ye say that Jerusalem is the place where men ought to worship." 21 Jesus said unto her, "Woman, believe Me, the hour cometh when ye shall neither on this mountain, nor yet at Jerusalem, worship the Father. 22 Ye worship ye know not what; we know what we worship, for salvation is of the Jews. 23 But the hour cometh and now is, when the true worshipers shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth; for the Father seeketh such to worship Him. 24 God is a Spirit, and they that worship Him must worship Him in spirit and in truth." 25 The woman said unto Him, "I know that Messiah cometh, who is called Christ. When He has come, He will tell us all things." 26 Jesus said unto her, "I that speak unto thee am He." 27 ¶ And upon this came His disciples and marveled that He talked with the woman; yet no man said, "What seekest Thou?" or, "Why talkest Thou with her?" 28 The woman then left her water pot, and went her way into the city and said to the men, 29 "Come, see a man who told me all things that ever I did. Is not this the Christ?" 30 Then they went out of the city and came unto Him. 31 Meanwhile His disciples entreated Him, saying, "Master, eat." 32 But He said unto them, "I have meat to eat that ye know not of." 33 Therefore the disciples said one to another, "Hath any man brought Him aught to eat?" 34 Jesus said unto them, "My meat is to do the will of Him that sent Me, and to finish His work. 35 Say not ye, ‘There are yet four months and then cometh the harvest?’ Behold, I say unto you, lift up your eyes and look on the fields, for they are white already to harvest. 36 And he that reapeth receiveth wages and gathereth fruit unto life eternal, that both he that soweth and he that reapeth may rejoice together. 37 And herein is that saying true, ‘One soweth and another reapeth.’ 38 I sent you to reap that whereon ye bestowed no labor; other men labored, and ye have entered into their labors." 39 And many of the Samaritans of that city believed in Him because of the saying of the woman who testifed, "He told me all that ever I did." 40 So when the Samaritans had come unto Him, they besought Him that He would tarry with them; and He abode there two days. 41 And many more believed because of His own word, 42 and said unto the woman, "Now we believe, not because of thy saying, for we have heard Him ourselves and know that this is indeed the Christ, the Savior of the world." 43 ¶ Now after two days He departed thence and went into Galilee. 44 For Jesus Himself testified that a prophet hath no honor in his own country. 45 Then when He had come into Galilee, the Galileans received Him, having seen all the things that He did at Jerusalem at the feast; for they also had gone to the feast. 46 So Jesus came again into Cana of Galilee where He had made the water wine. And there was a certain nobleman, whose son was sick at Capernaum. 47 When he heard that Jesus had come out of Judea into Galilee, he went unto Him and besought Him that He would come down and heal his son, for he was at the point of death. 48 Then Jesus said unto him, "Unless ye see signs and wonders, ye will not believe." 49 The nobleman said unto Him, "Sir, come down ere my child die!" 50 Jesus said unto him, "Go thy way; thy son liveth." And the man believed the word that Jesus had spoken unto him, and he went his way. 51 And as he was going down, his servants met him and told him, saying, "Thy son liveth!" 52 Then he inquired of them the hour when he began to be healed. And they said unto him, "Yesterday at the seventh hour the fever left him." 53 So the father knew that it was at the same hour in which Jesus had said unto him, "Thy son liveth." And he himself believed, and his whole house. 54 This is again the second miracle that Jesus did when He had come out of Judea into Galilee. |
v1-30 The Samaritan Woman. The Pharisees were trying to cause problems between the ministries of Jesus and John the Baptist John 3:25 so Jesus left the area for Galilee. There were three ways to go to Galilee from Judea. Normal Jews would try to avoid going through Samaria even though it was the shortest route. The Jews had a hatred between them and the Samaritans. The Samaritans were of a mixed race of Jew and Gentile as a result of the captivity period of the Northern tribes in 727 B.C. Because Samaritans were not pure bred Jews, they were rejected by the very "purity conscious" Jews. The Jews would not let them go to the temple in Jerusalem so the Samaritans had created their own temple and religious services on Mount Gerizim. To be called a ‘Samaritan’ was an insult John 8:48. God is seeking. What is your attitude to worship? do you need a special building, place or just you and God? When you enter the presence of the Lord to give your praise is your reaction like John in Rev 1:9-17? v4 Tells us that Jesus "needed to go through Samaria," Jesus had a divine appointment to go to meet a woman of Samaria. v6 Jesus arrives at 6 p.m., the usual time women came to collect water from the well. While Jesus deliberately waited at the well His disciples went off to find food. This story also shows the humanity of Jesus, he was tired and thirsty. v7-10 It was not normal in the New Testament times for a man, especially a Rabbi(teacher) to speak to a woman he did not know in public. v27 v9 This information by John may have the benefit of the Gentile readers who did not know about Jews and Samaritans. As the disciples had gone to buy food in the city, Jews must have still been prepared to do some business with Samaritans. The woman is questioning the fact that Jesus wanted to have a drink from a "polluted" Samaritan water pot. v10 Jesus was not really interested in a drink he just wanted a way of speaking to the woman. His reply was "If you knew who I was you would be asking for "living water." v11-14 She does not understand "Are you greater than our father Jacob?" Jesus is speaking of a spiritual water, she thinks only of natural water. v13-15 Jesus continues to say that what the world offers will not satisfy you, what I offer will. Naturally the woman wanted this gift, but she was still thinking of natural water. Thankfully Jesus had patience with her. v16 Jesus now tries to make her think spiritually by challenging her relationships," Call your husband" knowing that she did not have a husband and was living in sin. v17-18 "I have no husband" she replies, then Jesus shows that He knows all about her, her bad life. v19-22 She realizes that this man is someone different, but is embarrassed by His knowledge and tries to change the subject onto religion. But Jesus points out that where to worship is not important, it is who to worship. Only salvation can come through the Jews. This shows that not all religions are acceptable to God. God has chosen to reveal Himself through the Jews and His plan has always been that salvation through His Son was through this nation. v23,24 It must have been a shock to the Jews and to any Jews who read John’s Gospel that worship was no longer limited to the temple at Jerusalem. v25-30 I’ve found the Messiah. She knew all about the coming Messiah, and that this Messiah will know the secrets of all hearts. "I am He" responds Jesus, He dares to claim that He is God. The woman understands and wants to tell others, she now has the ‘living water’ and wants others to have it as well. v27-38 The disciples did not question His actions, they were beginning to realize that this man Jesus was different. The disciples now urge Jesus to satisfy His physical needs with the food they have brought. The response of Jesus was not understood by the disciples, v32,33. The disciples were satisfied by the bread, Jesus was satisfied by doing His Fathers will. The disciples had gone into the city to satisfy their physical needs, the woman took the message of the Saviour. Jesus often used the image of a harvest in His ministry, Matt 13:1-30 and Paul also often used fruit and harvests for examples Rom 1:13; Gal 6:9; 1 Cor 3:6-9. As believers in Christ we are His labourers in His fields in this world, "some to sow, some to reap," v38 suggests that someone had already been sowing the message with the Samaritans, possibly John the Baptist disciples. The disciples were to return to Samaria in Acts 8:5-25. v39-43 The woman brought people to hear about Jesus, some believed because of the woman but many more believed when they meet Jesus and heard His words. The Samaritans knew from the beginning that Jesus was not just for them and the Jews, He was "the Savior of the world," v42. 4:43-54 Jesus returns to Cana. Already opposition to Jesus is appearing, but also his ability to heal had reached Capernaum 20 miles away from Cana, where a nobleman had heard Jesus was back. Who was this man? possibly he held a position in the government or Herod’s royal court, we are not told but he was desperate and believed Jesus could heal his son. The nobleman thought that Jesus had to touch the boy to heal him, v47,49, hence the response of Jesus v48. you do not believe unless you see it happen. v50 Would the man believe when Jesus told him his son was healed? The man’s faith must have been very strong, he believed and went home to find his son was healed at the instant time Jesus spoke, v52. The man and his family believed. Jesus "heal at a distance" at other times, Matt 8:5-13; Matt 15:21-28; these two events involved Gentiles, was the nobleman also a Gentile? Are we prepared to take Jesus at His word? |
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