John 4:1–3 NKJV Therefore, 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.
By leaving Judea and going to Galilee, Jesus avoided provoking the Pharisees at this time. The Lord already realized that the Jewish leaders were rejecting Him and His testimony.
During Christ’s time, many non-Jewish people populated the region. King Sargon of Assyria had populated the area with captives from other peoples. The remaining Jews in Samaria had intermarried with the foreigners and were no longer considered to be “pure.” The Jews’ hatred for the Samaritans went back to the days of their exile. The influence of those people groups was so strong that the Jews established Galilee as a Gentile region.
It was a three days journey following the shortest route from Judea through Samaria. Samaria was on the direct route from Judea to Galilee, but most Jews avoided the direct route because they despised the Samaritans. They would travel over to Jericho and follow the Jordan River up to Galilee.
John 4:4–6 NKJV But He needed to go through Samaria. 5So He came to a city of Samaria which is called Sychar, near the plot of ground that Jacob gave to his son Joseph. Now Jacob’s well was there. Jesus therefore, being wearied from His journey, sat thus by the well. It was about (noon) the sixth hour.
Why did Jesus need to go through Samaria? Nothing just happens with God! Being led by the Spirit causes people to do things they otherwise would not do. Jesus had a divine appointment in Samaria to minister to a woman and a city, (v.5-8). The disciples did not know what the Lord was doing. It is interesting to watch Jesus do this. He was on a mission to minister to this woman.
Pay attention to the way the Lord approaches this woman. He entered Sychar, a city of Samaria, (v.5). He was weary and sat on a well, (v.6). “He was weary from the journey,” reveals the humanity of Christ. It appears that He was tired and was just resting by the well without any other purpose. Remember Jesus is there because “He needed to go through Samaria.” It is important to notice the details, “it was about noon.” Details are here for a reason. Jesus was at the right place, at the right time.
John 4:8 “His disciples had gone to the city to buy food.”
Again, this seems to be a casual detail that is just added. So, this left Jesus sitting by the well alone.
John 4:7 NKJV A woman of Samaria came to draw water. Jesus said to her, “Give Me a drink.”
There are eight times that Jesus had these kinds of meetings with individuals. Previously, Jesus met Nicodemus, a religious Jew. Now, He has been drawn by the Holy Spirit to a place where Jews prefer not to go. Only Jesus and this woman were present at the well. The disciples would have protested Him having contact with her. She was obviously a rude and immoral woman. It was an unusual time for women to go to the well for water. Most of the women would have gone to the well earlier in the day. Since she had a bad reputation, she may have chosen this time of the day to avoid other women.
Listen to what she said to Jesus, (v.9) John 4:9 NKJV 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.
She was shocked that Jesus talked to her. She knew the prejudicial barriers existed. She was accustomed to being ridiculed and ignored. Jesus was not there to discuss racial prejudice. If she would have controlled the conversation, she would have discussed how the Samaritans had been mistreated.
Jesus is in Sychar by divine appointment. He needed to get to the reason for His coming this way. When Jesus passes by, there is a reason. Don’t think that He comes by just to see you. When He comes into your life, He is ready to do something.
Listen to Jesus’ words: John 4:10 NKJV 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.”
“If you knew the gift of God and Who it is that asks you for a drink…” This is one of our greatest problems. We don’t know what we don’t know. She was filled with what she knew. All too often, we look at life through the filter of our past and personal expectations and knowledge.
This woman’s shock would be infinitely greater if she knew who was talking to her. If you knew…you would be asking. What would be different if she knew to Whom she was talking
This is still an issue in our lives today. When we are in His presence, do we really know to Whom we are talking? With all of our issues and history, we need to know who Jesus is. We need to know what He can do and that He is able to give us what no one else can.
Here are three things she needs to find out.
- Who is this Man?
- What is “the gift” of God?
- What is living water?
She was in the presence of the Son of God, and she didn’t know it. She was talking about old social and political issues that did not mean anything. She did not know that God had sent His very own Son into the world to save sinners. She did not know that Jesus was the Messiah. It is not strange at all that this woman needed something from God. Everyone in this room needs something from God. Often, we are like this woman. We know we need something, but we are going to the wrong place for help. We know we need something, but we just want to talk about old issues. We are familiar with old prejudices and hurts. What He said exposes us to the grace and gift from God.
John 4:10 NKJV 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.”
When she came to the well that day, she was only interested in supplying her physical need. She thought she was just coming to get some water. She was unaware of God’s interest in her. She did not know that the King of heaven and earth was there. That is the way too many people are. They are going though life looking for a temporary reprieve from the dryness of their spirit, mind and body. Jesus knows where we go to try to find reprieve and relief. Her interest may have been immediate, but Jesus was ready to give Living Water.
Where does living water come from?
John 4:11–12 NKJV 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? 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?”
The woman was so connected to her past and troubles in life that she couldn’t see what was happening. This can happen in all of our lives. We get so wrapped up in our history that we cannot see what God is prepared to do. The Answer to all of her troubles was with her and she couldn’t see it.
She could talk about Jacob’s well that her ancestors had dug. She knew about the well and the water she had always visited. She had been drawing water from that well all of her life. She knew nothing about Living Water!
To this Samaritan woman, what Jacob did was great. The Old Testament does not mention Sychar or Jacob digging a well there. Genesis 33:18-20 tells us that he bought land in Shechem and pitched his tent and erected an altar to God. Some scholars think the Shechem of the Old Testament is Sychar that is mentioned in John 4. Shechem was the place where Abraham built an altar to the Lord who appeared to him, (Genesis 12:6-7).
This place was significant in religious history. Jacob’s well was different from other wells, it had tapped into a spring of water. It is easy to get wrapped up in the history of what we are doing and where we came from. People had a drink from Jacob’s well for hundreds of years.
Every day they had to come back for more water. Some water may be good but it only supplies a temporary relief for our thirsty body. It does not satisfy the deep thirst in the soul. You will never get enough if you go to those wells.
Some religion is no different. You can keep going back to that well and never find relief and satisfaction for the soul. Living water is different from water that comes from Jacob’s well. Jesus was offering Living Water that can satisfy the soul.
Where do you get that living water?
John 4:13–14 NKJV 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. But the water that I shall give him will become in him a fountain of water springing up into everlasting life.”
What is Jesus really talking about?
From the conversation, it is obvious that Jesus was talking about more than the water from Jacob’s well. Take a look at the next verses and you will see all of the things this woman had been drinking.
- She had tried many husbands. (vss. 15-18)
- She had tried religion. (vss. 19-20)
- She had tried worship. (vss. 21-24)
Nothing she had tried satisfied the hunger or thirsts of her soul.
- She needed living water.
- She needed something the world and her ancestry was not giving her.
- She needed a gift of God’s grace.
- She needed the Holy Spirit.
- She needed a living relationship with the Living God.
- She needed to know Jesus Christ.
Jesus went out of His way to make an appointment with her so she could find the fountain of life.He made arrangements to meet her at the well. All she had to do was drink.
Revelation 22:17 NKJV And the Spirit and the bride say, “Come!” And let him who hears say, “Come!” And let him who thirsts come. Whoever desires, let him take the water of life freely.
Jesus was offering new and abundant life and soul satisfaction. In one of the last messages Jesus declared, He said, the “Spirit and the bride say come and take of the water of life freely.” Jesus came to resolve the old issues that had been in her life.
Psalm 46:4 NKJV There is a river whose streams shall make glad the city of God, The holy place of the tabernacle of the Most High.
Revelation 21:6 NKJV And He said to me, “It is done! I am the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End. I will give of the fountain of the water of life freely to him who thirsts.”
If your soul is thirsty, Jesus is offering Living Water. He said this water shall become in him a fountain of water springing up into everlasting life.
