John 4
1 Now Jesus learned that the Pharisees had heard that he was gaining and baptizing more disciples than John— 2 although in fact it was not Jesus who baptized, but his disciples. 3 So he left Judea and went back once more to Galilee.
4 Now he had to go through Samaria. 5 So he came to a town in Samaria called Sychar, near the plot of ground Jacob had given to his son Joseph. 6 Jacob's well was there, and Jesus, tired as he was from the journey, sat down by the well. It was about noon.
7 When a Samaritan woman came to draw water, Jesus said to her, "Will you give me a drink?" 8 (His disciples had gone into the town to buy food.)
9 The Samaritan woman said to him, "You are a Jew and I am a Samaritan woman. How can you ask me for a drink?" (For Jews do not associate with Samaritans.)
10 Jesus answered her, "If you knew the gift of God and who it is that asks you for a drink, you would have asked him and he would have given you living water."
11 "Sir," the woman said, "you have nothing to draw with and the well is deep. Where can you get this living water? 12 Are you greater than our father Jacob, who gave us the well and drank from it himself, as did also his sons and his flocks and herds?"
13 Jesus answered, "Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again, 14 but those who drink the water I give them will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give them will become in them a spring of water welling up to eternal life."
15 The woman said to him, "Sir, give me this water so that I won't get thirsty and have to keep coming here to draw water."
16 He told her, "Go, call your husband and come back."
17 "I have no husband," she replied.
Jesus said to her, "You are right when you say you have no husband. 18 The fact is, you have had five husbands, and the man you now have is not your husband. What you have just said is quite true."
19 "Sir," the woman said, "I can see that you are a prophet. 20 Our ancestors worshiped on this mountain, but you Jews claim that the place where we must worship is in Jerusalem."
21 "Woman," Jesus replied, "believe me, a time is coming when you will worship the Father neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem. 22 You Samaritans worship what you do not know; we worship what we do know, for salvation is from the Jews. 23 Yet a time is coming and has now come when the true worshipers will worship the Father in the Spirit and in truth, for they are the kind of worshipers the Father seeks. 24 God is spirit, and his worshipers must worship in the Spirit and in truth."
25 The woman said, "I know that Messiah" (called Christ) "is coming. When he comes, he will explain everything to us."
26 Then Jesus declared, "I, the one speaking to you—I am he."
27 Just then his disciples returned and were surprised to find him talking with a woman. But no one asked, "What do you want?" or "Why are you talking with her?"
28 Then, leaving her water jar, the woman went back to the town and said to the people, 29 "Come, see a man who told me everything I ever did. Could this be the Messiah?" 30 They came out of the town and made their way toward him.
31 Meanwhile his disciples urged him, "Rabbi, eat something."
32 But he said to them, "I have food to eat that you know nothing about."
33 Then his disciples said to each other, "Could someone have brought him food?"
34 "My food," said Jesus, "is to do the will of him who sent me and to finish his work. 35 Don't you have a saying, 'It's still four months until harvest'? I tell you, open your eyes and look at the fields! They are ripe for harvest. 36 Even now those who reap draw their wages, even now they harvest the crop for eternal life, so that the sower and the reaper may be glad together. 37 Thus the saying 'One sows and another reaps' is true. 38 I sent you to reap what you have not worked for. Others have done the hard work, and you have reaped the benefits of their labor."
39 Many of the Samaritans from that town believed in him because of the woman's testimony, "He told me everything I ever did." 40 So when the Samaritans came to him, they urged him to stay with them, and he stayed two days. 41 And because of his words many more became believers.
42 They said to the woman, "We no longer believe just because of what you said; now we have heard for ourselves, and we know that this man really is the Savior of the world."
43 After the two days he left for Galilee. 44 (Now Jesus himself had pointed out that prophets have no honor in their own country.) 45 When he arrived in Galilee, the Galileans welcomed him. They had seen all that he had done in Jerusalem at the Passover Festival, for they also had been there.
46 Once more he visited Cana in Galilee, where he had turned the water into wine. And there was a certain royal official whose son lay sick at Capernaum. 47 When this man heard that Jesus had arrived in Galilee from Judea, he went to him and begged him to come and heal his son, who was close to death.
48 "Unless you people see signs and wonders," Jesus told him, "you will never believe." 49 The royal official said, "Sir, come down before my child dies. 50 "Go," Jesus replied, "your son will live." The man took Jesus at his word and departed. 51 While he was still on the way, his servants met him with the news that his boy was living. 52 When he inquired as to the time when his son got better, they said to him, "Yesterday, at one in the afternoon, the fever left him."
53 Then the father realized that this was the exact time at which Jesus had said to him, "Your son will live." So he and his whole household believed. 54 This was the second sign Jesus performed after coming from Judea to Galilee.
1 Now Jesus learned that the Pharisees had heard that he was gaining and baptizing more disciples than John— 2 although in fact it was not Jesus who baptized, but his disciples. 3 So he left Judea and went back once more to Galilee.
4 Now he had to go through Samaria. 5 So he came to a town in Samaria called Sychar, near the plot of ground Jacob had given to his son Joseph. 6 Jacob's well was there, and Jesus, tired as he was from the journey, sat down by the well. It was about noon.
7 When a Samaritan woman came to draw water, Jesus said to her, "Will you give me a drink?" 8 (His disciples had gone into the town to buy food.)
9 The Samaritan woman said to him, "You are a Jew and I am a Samaritan woman. How can you ask me for a drink?" (For Jews do not associate with Samaritans.)
10 Jesus answered her, "If you knew the gift of God and who it is that asks you for a drink, you would have asked him and he would have given you living water."
11 "Sir," the woman said, "you have nothing to draw with and the well is deep. Where can you get this living water? 12 Are you greater than our father Jacob, who gave us the well and drank from it himself, as did also his sons and his flocks and herds?"
13 Jesus answered, "Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again, 14 but those who drink the water I give them will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give them will become in them a spring of water welling up to eternal life."
15 The woman said to him, "Sir, give me this water so that I won't get thirsty and have to keep coming here to draw water."
16 He told her, "Go, call your husband and come back."
17 "I have no husband," she replied.
Jesus said to her, "You are right when you say you have no husband. 18 The fact is, you have had five husbands, and the man you now have is not your husband. What you have just said is quite true."
19 "Sir," the woman said, "I can see that you are a prophet. 20 Our ancestors worshiped on this mountain, but you Jews claim that the place where we must worship is in Jerusalem."
21 "Woman," Jesus replied, "believe me, a time is coming when you will worship the Father neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem. 22 You Samaritans worship what you do not know; we worship what we do know, for salvation is from the Jews. 23 Yet a time is coming and has now come when the true worshipers will worship the Father in the Spirit and in truth, for they are the kind of worshipers the Father seeks. 24 God is spirit, and his worshipers must worship in the Spirit and in truth."
25 The woman said, "I know that Messiah" (called Christ) "is coming. When he comes, he will explain everything to us."
26 Then Jesus declared, "I, the one speaking to you—I am he."
27 Just then his disciples returned and were surprised to find him talking with a woman. But no one asked, "What do you want?" or "Why are you talking with her?"
28 Then, leaving her water jar, the woman went back to the town and said to the people, 29 "Come, see a man who told me everything I ever did. Could this be the Messiah?" 30 They came out of the town and made their way toward him.
31 Meanwhile his disciples urged him, "Rabbi, eat something."
32 But he said to them, "I have food to eat that you know nothing about."
33 Then his disciples said to each other, "Could someone have brought him food?"
34 "My food," said Jesus, "is to do the will of him who sent me and to finish his work. 35 Don't you have a saying, 'It's still four months until harvest'? I tell you, open your eyes and look at the fields! They are ripe for harvest. 36 Even now those who reap draw their wages, even now they harvest the crop for eternal life, so that the sower and the reaper may be glad together. 37 Thus the saying 'One sows and another reaps' is true. 38 I sent you to reap what you have not worked for. Others have done the hard work, and you have reaped the benefits of their labor."
39 Many of the Samaritans from that town believed in him because of the woman's testimony, "He told me everything I ever did." 40 So when the Samaritans came to him, they urged him to stay with them, and he stayed two days. 41 And because of his words many more became believers.
42 They said to the woman, "We no longer believe just because of what you said; now we have heard for ourselves, and we know that this man really is the Savior of the world."
43 After the two days he left for Galilee. 44 (Now Jesus himself had pointed out that prophets have no honor in their own country.) 45 When he arrived in Galilee, the Galileans welcomed him. They had seen all that he had done in Jerusalem at the Passover Festival, for they also had been there.
46 Once more he visited Cana in Galilee, where he had turned the water into wine. And there was a certain royal official whose son lay sick at Capernaum. 47 When this man heard that Jesus had arrived in Galilee from Judea, he went to him and begged him to come and heal his son, who was close to death.
48 "Unless you people see signs and wonders," Jesus told him, "you will never believe." 49 The royal official said, "Sir, come down before my child dies. 50 "Go," Jesus replied, "your son will live." The man took Jesus at his word and departed. 51 While he was still on the way, his servants met him with the news that his boy was living. 52 When he inquired as to the time when his son got better, they said to him, "Yesterday, at one in the afternoon, the fever left him."
53 Then the father realized that this was the exact time at which Jesus had said to him, "Your son will live." So he and his whole household believed. 54 This was the second sign Jesus performed after coming from Judea to Galilee.
John 4: 1 Now Jesus learned that the Pharisees had heard that he was gaining and baptizing more disciples than John— 2 although in fact it was not Jesus who baptized, but his disciples. 3 So he left Judea and went back once more to Galilee.
4 Now he had to go through Samaria (Jesus had to go this way because of geography [it was the shortest route], but the words may also indicate that Jesus' itinerary was subject to the sovereign and providential plan of God [“had to” translates to, “to be necessary,” which always indicates divine necessity or requirement elsewhere in John 3:7,14,30; 9:4; 10:16; 12:34; 20:9]. Through Samaria was the usual route taken by travelers from Judea to Galilee, though strict Jews, in order to avoid defilement, could bypass Samaria by opting for a longer route that involved crossing the Jordan and traveling on the east side. The Samaritans were a racially mixed group of partly Jewish and partly Gentile ancestry, who were disdained by both Jews and non-Jews - Luke 10:33; 17:16; John 8:48; 2 Kings 17:24-31] which describes how the king of Assyria brought foreign people to settle in Samaria in 722 b.c.; over time they had intermarried with some Jews who had remained in the area. Many inhabitants of this region between Judea and Galilee were descendants of the OT northern kingdom of Israel, although from the Jewish perspective these Samaritans had assimilated strongly into non-Jewish culture and had intermarried with Mesopotamian colonists. The Samaritans had their own version of the Pentateuch, their own temple on Mount Gerizim [4:20], and their own rendering of Israelite history. Copies of their Pentateuch in Hebrew [and in Targumic Aramaic] remain extant, as do their basic historical narratives. Tensions often ran high between Jews and Samaritans; thus Josephus recounts fighting between Jews and Samaritans during Claudius's reign in the first century a.d. being so intense that Roman soldiers were called in to pacify [and to crucify] many of the rebels). 5 So he came to a town in Samaria called Sychar (The village of Sychar is usually identified with Askar, which is approximately .7 miles from Jacob's well and on the slope of Mount Ebal. Roman-era tombs are known in this area. The reference to the field that Jacob had given to his son Joseph reflects the customary inference from Genesis 48:21-22 and Joshua 24:32 that Jacob gave his son Joseph the land at Shechem, which he had bought from the sons of Hamor [Genesis 33:18-19] and which later served as Joseph's burial place [Exodus 13:19; Joshua 24:32]), near the plot of ground Jacob had given to his son Joseph. 6 Jacob's well (The probable location for this well lies in modern Nablus—known in the Roman period as Flavia Neapolis and called in the OT by the name Shechem. This well was once covered with vaulted stone and a Byzantine [4th–7th century A.D.] church. It is quite deep, although measurements have varied over the years [possibly due to debris in the well]. It was also at a juncture of major ancient roads and near the traditional sacred site of Joseph's tomb.) was there, and Jesus, tired as he was from the journey, sat down by the well. It was about noon (the time of the day when would have been hot and time to rest, and travelers would be thirsty. Normally, women would come to draw water in the morning or evening when it was cooler [Genesis 24:11; 29:7-8]; the marginalized woman comes at a time when no one else would be at the well, for she felt shame for the type of life she had lived, and probably attempted to avoid the gossip and stares of the rest of the 'moral' women in the village).
7 When a Samaritan woman came to draw water, Jesus said (an important fact here is that it was Jesus who took the initiative in speaking to a Samaritan woman—an astonishing break with culture and tradition, showing his desire to save the lost.) to her, "Will you give me a drink?" 8 (His disciples had gone into the town to buy food.)
9 The Samaritan woman said to him, "You are a Jew and I am a Samaritan woman. How can you ask me for a drink?" (For Jews do not associate with Samaritans.) - The comment that "Jews do not associate with Samaritans" explains to John's readers outside the land of Palestine that Samaritans were considered by many Jews to be in a continual state of uncleanness, thus they would have thought that drinking water from this woman's water jar would make a person ceremonially unclean.
10 Jesus answered her, "If you knew the gift of God and who it is that asks you for a drink, you would have asked him and he would have given you living water (Jesus' words about 'living water' again involves double meaning [John 3:7-8]. Literally, the phrase refers to fresh spring water [Genesis 26:19; Lev 14:6], however John 7:38-39 identifies this “living water” as the Holy Spirit dwelling within a believer [Jeremiah 2:13; Ezekial 47:1-6; Zech. 14:8; Isaiah 12:3])."
11 "Sir," the woman said, "you have nothing to draw with and the well is deep. Where can you get this living water? 12 Are you greater than our father Jacob (By referring to 'our father Jacob' the woman shows that she and her people still think of themselves as true descendants of Jacob [Israel, Genesis 32:28]. Clearly the woman does not understand who Jesus is, if she did she would understand that he is greater even than Jacob, the father of the 12 tribes of Israel [Genesis 49:1-28]), who gave us the well and drank from it himself, as did also his sons and his flocks and herds?"
13 Jesus answered, "Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again, 14 but those who drink the water I give them ('The water that I give them' is the “living water” of verse 10, identified in John 7:37-39 as the Holy Spirit dwelling within believers.) will never thirst ('never be thirsty again' - A person's deepest spiritual longing to know God personally will, amazingly, be satisfied forever. We were created with a hole in our heart that can only be satisfied with God). Indeed, the water I give them will become in them a spring of water welling up to eternal life (The phrase 'will become in them will become in them a spring of water welling up to eternal life' is reminiscent of Isaiah 12:3; 44:3; 55:1-3)."
15 The woman said to him, "Sir, give me this water so that I won't get thirsty and have to keep coming here to draw water."
16 He told her, "Go, call your husband and come back." 17 "I have no husband," she replied. Jesus said to her, "You are right when you say you have no husband. 18 The fact is, you have had five husbands, and the man you now have is not your husband. What you have just said is quite true." - The woman had had 'five husbands' who had either died or divorced her. When Jesus says 'the one you now have is not your husband', he implies that merely living together does not constitute a marriage. A marriage requires some kind of official sanction and public ceremony at which a man and woman commit to the obligations of marriage and the community then recognizes that a marriage has begun [see John 2:1; also SOS 3:11; Mal 2:14; Matthew 9:15]. Sexual relationships prior to marriage were without question thought to be morally wrong [Genesis 38:24; Exodus 22:16; Deut 22:13-29; Matthew 15:19; John 8:41; Acts 15:20; 1 Corinthians 6:18; 1 Corinthians 7:2,9; 1 Thess 4:3; and the imagery in 2 Corinthians 11:2]
19 "Sir," the woman said, "I can see that you are a prophet. 20 Our ancestors worshiped on this mountain, but you Jews claim that the place where we must worship is in Jerusalem." (A Samaritan temple on Mount Gerizim was also recorded in Josephus. It was destroyed by the Hasmonean leader John Hyrcanus during his reign [134–104 B.C.]. This temple has been identified by some with a large Hellenistic-era structure made with unhewn stones atop Tel er-Ras at the northern spur of the mountain, although many have suggested that a more probable location is beneath the old Byzantine [4th–7th century A.D.] church atop the mountain itself. Despite the destruction of this temple, Samaritan sacrificial worship has continued atop Mount Gerizim even until the modern era. Additionally, Mount Gerizim [Deut 11:29; 27:12] was the OT setting for the pronouncement of blessings for keeping the covenant and the mountain on which Moses commanded an altar to be built [Deut 27:4-6]. The fathers who worshiped on Mount Gerizim include Abraham [Genesis 12:7] and Jacob [Genesis 33:18-20], who built altars in this region. The Samaritans believed the temple was to be built on Mount Gerizim, for they believed that only Genesis–Deuteronomy [also called the Pentateuch, Torah, or Law of Moses] were inspired, and they changed the wording here and there to support their views). 21 "Woman," Jesus replied, "believe me, a time is coming when you will worship the Father neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem. (Jesus is inaugurating a new age in which people will not have to travel to a physical temple in one city to worship but will be able to worship God in every place, because the Holy Spirit will dwell in them, and therefore God's people everywhere will become the new temple where God dwells [1 Corinthians 3:16-17; Ephesians 2:19-22].)
22 You Samaritans worship what you do not know; we worship what we do know, for salvation is from the Jews. 23 Yet a time is coming and has now come when the true worshipers will worship the Father in the Spirit and in truth, for they are the kind of worshipers the Father seeks. 24 God is spirit, and his worshipers must worship in the Spirit and in truth." - 'God is spirit' means that God is not made of any physical matter and does not have a material body but has a more wonderful kind of existence that is everywhere present [therefore worship is not confined to one place, as it says in verse 21], is not perceived by the bodily senses [John 3:6,8], and yet is so powerful that he brought the universe into existence [John 1:1-3,10; 17:5]. Because “God is spirit,” the Israelites were not to make idols “in the form of anything” in creation as did the surrounding nations [Exodus 20:4].
25 The woman said, "I know that Messiah" (called Christ) "is coming. When he comes, he will explain everything to us." 26 Then Jesus declared, "I, the one speaking to you—I am he." 27 Just then his disciples returned and were surprised to find him talking with a woman. But no one asked, "What do you want?" or "Why are you talking with her?" 28 Then, leaving her water jar, the woman went back to the town and said to the people, 29 "Come, see a man who told me everything I ever did. Could this be the Messiah?" 30 They came out of the town and made their way toward him - This is the affect of the Gospel of Grace, when it penetrates the heart, it makes you want to go share it with those who do not know the same freedom from their past...
31 Meanwhile his disciples urged him, "Rabbi, eat something." 32 But he said to them, "I have food to eat that you know nothing about." 33 Then his disciples said to each other, "Could someone have brought him food?" 34 "My food," said Jesus, "is to do the will of him who sent me and to finish his work. - Jesus again speaks in terms of the physical world to teach about different realities in the unseen spiritual world. The accomplishment of Jesus' mission is more important to him than physical food [Deut 8:3; Matt 4:4; Luke 4:4; Matt 6:25; Mark 3:20-21] Jesus is talking about the Missio Dei, it is the same 'food' we are offered, and it is the same relationship we are invived into...God is a God on mission, who sent his son on mission, who saves us from ourselves to the mission of God, if we DON'T get this, we miss the the other half of salvation, and damn ourselves by living life focused on our own issues, problems, past, etc, etc, and live a life as a jaded self-righteousness and self-focus.
35 Don't you have a saying, 'It's still four months until harvest'? I tell you, open your eyes and look at the fields! They are ripe for harvest (In the physical realm, there is a period of time between sowing and harvesting. But in the spiritual realm, Jesus' coming has already ushered in the end-time harvest in which sowing and reaping paradoxically coincide, so that the “crop” of believers is now being gathered into God's kingdom. The immediate reference may be to the approaching Samaritans who are going to believe in Jesus). 36 Even now those who reap draw their wages, even now they harvest the crop for eternal life, so that the sower and the reaper may be glad together (This statement is reminiscent of Amos 9:13, where the “treader of grapes” overtakes “him who sows the seed,” depicting the abundance and prosperity of the new age. Hence Jesus claims that he is ushering in the messianic age in which sowing and reaping coincide. There is a unique joy that comes from seeing others come to faith). 37 Thus the saying 'One sows and another reaps' is true. 38 I sent you to reap what you have not worked for. Others have done the hard work, and you have reaped the benefits of their labor."
39 Many of the Samaritans from that town believed in him because of the woman's testimony, "He told me everything I ever did." 40 So when the Samaritans came to him, they urged him to stay with them, and he stayed two days. 41 And because of his words many more became believers. 42 They said to the woman, "We no longer believe just because of what you said; now we have heard for ourselves, and we know that this man really is the Savior of the world." - Not just of Jews. Jesus' large-scale harvest among the Samaritans marks the first indication of the universal scope of his saving mission [John 10:16; 11:51-52]. The early church engaged in a Samaritan mission as well [Acts 8:4-25]. Hence the pattern of Jesus' mission according to John—from Judea [Nicodemus, John 3:1-15], to Samaria, to the Gentiles [John 4:46-54; 12:20-33]—anticipates the post-Pentecost mission of the early church [Acts 1:8]
43 After the two days he left for Galilee. 44 (Now Jesus himself had pointed out that prophets have no honor in their own country [tells the reason Jesus is now going to Galilee: he is going to minister where he does not yet have honor, so that people would then come to believe in him. The wording of the proverb is different in Matthew 13:57; Mark 6:4; and Luke 4:24, and the application there is also different].) 45 When he arrived in Galilee, the Galileans welcomed him. They had seen all that he had done in Jerusalem at the Passover Festival, for they also had been there.
46 Once more he visited Cana in Galilee, where he had turned the water into wine. And there was a certain royal official whose son lay sick at Capernaum. 47 When this man heard that Jesus had arrived in Galilee from Judea, he went to him and begged him to come and heal his son, who was close to death.
48 "Unless you people see signs and wonders," Jesus told him, "you will never believe." (Some may become entranced with signs and wonders and fail to see that they point to Jesus and hence fail to believe in him (John 6:2, 26, 30). However, this does not mean that John views “signs” in and of themselves negatively. To the contrary, Jesus' miracles are one of the primary means God uses to bring people to faith in him; they often lead people to follow Jesus or place their faith in him as the Messiah [John 2:11,23; 3:2; 4:53-54; 6:2,14; 7:31] yet they do not always change the hearts of men) 49 The royal official said, "Sir, come down before my child dies. 50 "Go," Jesus replied, "your son will live." The man took Jesus at his word and departed. 51 While he was still on the way, his servants met him with the news that his boy was living. 52 When he inquired as to the time when his son got better, they said to him, "Yesterday, at one in the afternoon, the fever left him." 53 Then the father realized that this was the exact time at which Jesus had said to him, "Your son will live." So he and his whole household believed. 54 This was the second sign Jesus performed after coming from Judea to Galilee.
4 Now he had to go through Samaria (Jesus had to go this way because of geography [it was the shortest route], but the words may also indicate that Jesus' itinerary was subject to the sovereign and providential plan of God [“had to” translates to, “to be necessary,” which always indicates divine necessity or requirement elsewhere in John 3:7,14,30; 9:4; 10:16; 12:34; 20:9]. Through Samaria was the usual route taken by travelers from Judea to Galilee, though strict Jews, in order to avoid defilement, could bypass Samaria by opting for a longer route that involved crossing the Jordan and traveling on the east side. The Samaritans were a racially mixed group of partly Jewish and partly Gentile ancestry, who were disdained by both Jews and non-Jews - Luke 10:33; 17:16; John 8:48; 2 Kings 17:24-31] which describes how the king of Assyria brought foreign people to settle in Samaria in 722 b.c.; over time they had intermarried with some Jews who had remained in the area. Many inhabitants of this region between Judea and Galilee were descendants of the OT northern kingdom of Israel, although from the Jewish perspective these Samaritans had assimilated strongly into non-Jewish culture and had intermarried with Mesopotamian colonists. The Samaritans had their own version of the Pentateuch, their own temple on Mount Gerizim [4:20], and their own rendering of Israelite history. Copies of their Pentateuch in Hebrew [and in Targumic Aramaic] remain extant, as do their basic historical narratives. Tensions often ran high between Jews and Samaritans; thus Josephus recounts fighting between Jews and Samaritans during Claudius's reign in the first century a.d. being so intense that Roman soldiers were called in to pacify [and to crucify] many of the rebels). 5 So he came to a town in Samaria called Sychar (The village of Sychar is usually identified with Askar, which is approximately .7 miles from Jacob's well and on the slope of Mount Ebal. Roman-era tombs are known in this area. The reference to the field that Jacob had given to his son Joseph reflects the customary inference from Genesis 48:21-22 and Joshua 24:32 that Jacob gave his son Joseph the land at Shechem, which he had bought from the sons of Hamor [Genesis 33:18-19] and which later served as Joseph's burial place [Exodus 13:19; Joshua 24:32]), near the plot of ground Jacob had given to his son Joseph. 6 Jacob's well (The probable location for this well lies in modern Nablus—known in the Roman period as Flavia Neapolis and called in the OT by the name Shechem. This well was once covered with vaulted stone and a Byzantine [4th–7th century A.D.] church. It is quite deep, although measurements have varied over the years [possibly due to debris in the well]. It was also at a juncture of major ancient roads and near the traditional sacred site of Joseph's tomb.) was there, and Jesus, tired as he was from the journey, sat down by the well. It was about noon (the time of the day when would have been hot and time to rest, and travelers would be thirsty. Normally, women would come to draw water in the morning or evening when it was cooler [Genesis 24:11; 29:7-8]; the marginalized woman comes at a time when no one else would be at the well, for she felt shame for the type of life she had lived, and probably attempted to avoid the gossip and stares of the rest of the 'moral' women in the village).
7 When a Samaritan woman came to draw water, Jesus said (an important fact here is that it was Jesus who took the initiative in speaking to a Samaritan woman—an astonishing break with culture and tradition, showing his desire to save the lost.) to her, "Will you give me a drink?" 8 (His disciples had gone into the town to buy food.)
9 The Samaritan woman said to him, "You are a Jew and I am a Samaritan woman. How can you ask me for a drink?" (For Jews do not associate with Samaritans.) - The comment that "Jews do not associate with Samaritans" explains to John's readers outside the land of Palestine that Samaritans were considered by many Jews to be in a continual state of uncleanness, thus they would have thought that drinking water from this woman's water jar would make a person ceremonially unclean.
10 Jesus answered her, "If you knew the gift of God and who it is that asks you for a drink, you would have asked him and he would have given you living water (Jesus' words about 'living water' again involves double meaning [John 3:7-8]. Literally, the phrase refers to fresh spring water [Genesis 26:19; Lev 14:6], however John 7:38-39 identifies this “living water” as the Holy Spirit dwelling within a believer [Jeremiah 2:13; Ezekial 47:1-6; Zech. 14:8; Isaiah 12:3])."
11 "Sir," the woman said, "you have nothing to draw with and the well is deep. Where can you get this living water? 12 Are you greater than our father Jacob (By referring to 'our father Jacob' the woman shows that she and her people still think of themselves as true descendants of Jacob [Israel, Genesis 32:28]. Clearly the woman does not understand who Jesus is, if she did she would understand that he is greater even than Jacob, the father of the 12 tribes of Israel [Genesis 49:1-28]), who gave us the well and drank from it himself, as did also his sons and his flocks and herds?"
13 Jesus answered, "Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again, 14 but those who drink the water I give them ('The water that I give them' is the “living water” of verse 10, identified in John 7:37-39 as the Holy Spirit dwelling within believers.) will never thirst ('never be thirsty again' - A person's deepest spiritual longing to know God personally will, amazingly, be satisfied forever. We were created with a hole in our heart that can only be satisfied with God). Indeed, the water I give them will become in them a spring of water welling up to eternal life (The phrase 'will become in them will become in them a spring of water welling up to eternal life' is reminiscent of Isaiah 12:3; 44:3; 55:1-3)."
15 The woman said to him, "Sir, give me this water so that I won't get thirsty and have to keep coming here to draw water."
16 He told her, "Go, call your husband and come back." 17 "I have no husband," she replied. Jesus said to her, "You are right when you say you have no husband. 18 The fact is, you have had five husbands, and the man you now have is not your husband. What you have just said is quite true." - The woman had had 'five husbands' who had either died or divorced her. When Jesus says 'the one you now have is not your husband', he implies that merely living together does not constitute a marriage. A marriage requires some kind of official sanction and public ceremony at which a man and woman commit to the obligations of marriage and the community then recognizes that a marriage has begun [see John 2:1; also SOS 3:11; Mal 2:14; Matthew 9:15]. Sexual relationships prior to marriage were without question thought to be morally wrong [Genesis 38:24; Exodus 22:16; Deut 22:13-29; Matthew 15:19; John 8:41; Acts 15:20; 1 Corinthians 6:18; 1 Corinthians 7:2,9; 1 Thess 4:3; and the imagery in 2 Corinthians 11:2]
19 "Sir," the woman said, "I can see that you are a prophet. 20 Our ancestors worshiped on this mountain, but you Jews claim that the place where we must worship is in Jerusalem." (A Samaritan temple on Mount Gerizim was also recorded in Josephus. It was destroyed by the Hasmonean leader John Hyrcanus during his reign [134–104 B.C.]. This temple has been identified by some with a large Hellenistic-era structure made with unhewn stones atop Tel er-Ras at the northern spur of the mountain, although many have suggested that a more probable location is beneath the old Byzantine [4th–7th century A.D.] church atop the mountain itself. Despite the destruction of this temple, Samaritan sacrificial worship has continued atop Mount Gerizim even until the modern era. Additionally, Mount Gerizim [Deut 11:29; 27:12] was the OT setting for the pronouncement of blessings for keeping the covenant and the mountain on which Moses commanded an altar to be built [Deut 27:4-6]. The fathers who worshiped on Mount Gerizim include Abraham [Genesis 12:7] and Jacob [Genesis 33:18-20], who built altars in this region. The Samaritans believed the temple was to be built on Mount Gerizim, for they believed that only Genesis–Deuteronomy [also called the Pentateuch, Torah, or Law of Moses] were inspired, and they changed the wording here and there to support their views). 21 "Woman," Jesus replied, "believe me, a time is coming when you will worship the Father neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem. (Jesus is inaugurating a new age in which people will not have to travel to a physical temple in one city to worship but will be able to worship God in every place, because the Holy Spirit will dwell in them, and therefore God's people everywhere will become the new temple where God dwells [1 Corinthians 3:16-17; Ephesians 2:19-22].)
22 You Samaritans worship what you do not know; we worship what we do know, for salvation is from the Jews. 23 Yet a time is coming and has now come when the true worshipers will worship the Father in the Spirit and in truth, for they are the kind of worshipers the Father seeks. 24 God is spirit, and his worshipers must worship in the Spirit and in truth." - 'God is spirit' means that God is not made of any physical matter and does not have a material body but has a more wonderful kind of existence that is everywhere present [therefore worship is not confined to one place, as it says in verse 21], is not perceived by the bodily senses [John 3:6,8], and yet is so powerful that he brought the universe into existence [John 1:1-3,10; 17:5]. Because “God is spirit,” the Israelites were not to make idols “in the form of anything” in creation as did the surrounding nations [Exodus 20:4].
25 The woman said, "I know that Messiah" (called Christ) "is coming. When he comes, he will explain everything to us." 26 Then Jesus declared, "I, the one speaking to you—I am he." 27 Just then his disciples returned and were surprised to find him talking with a woman. But no one asked, "What do you want?" or "Why are you talking with her?" 28 Then, leaving her water jar, the woman went back to the town and said to the people, 29 "Come, see a man who told me everything I ever did. Could this be the Messiah?" 30 They came out of the town and made their way toward him - This is the affect of the Gospel of Grace, when it penetrates the heart, it makes you want to go share it with those who do not know the same freedom from their past...
31 Meanwhile his disciples urged him, "Rabbi, eat something." 32 But he said to them, "I have food to eat that you know nothing about." 33 Then his disciples said to each other, "Could someone have brought him food?" 34 "My food," said Jesus, "is to do the will of him who sent me and to finish his work. - Jesus again speaks in terms of the physical world to teach about different realities in the unseen spiritual world. The accomplishment of Jesus' mission is more important to him than physical food [Deut 8:3; Matt 4:4; Luke 4:4; Matt 6:25; Mark 3:20-21] Jesus is talking about the Missio Dei, it is the same 'food' we are offered, and it is the same relationship we are invived into...God is a God on mission, who sent his son on mission, who saves us from ourselves to the mission of God, if we DON'T get this, we miss the the other half of salvation, and damn ourselves by living life focused on our own issues, problems, past, etc, etc, and live a life as a jaded self-righteousness and self-focus.
35 Don't you have a saying, 'It's still four months until harvest'? I tell you, open your eyes and look at the fields! They are ripe for harvest (In the physical realm, there is a period of time between sowing and harvesting. But in the spiritual realm, Jesus' coming has already ushered in the end-time harvest in which sowing and reaping paradoxically coincide, so that the “crop” of believers is now being gathered into God's kingdom. The immediate reference may be to the approaching Samaritans who are going to believe in Jesus). 36 Even now those who reap draw their wages, even now they harvest the crop for eternal life, so that the sower and the reaper may be glad together (This statement is reminiscent of Amos 9:13, where the “treader of grapes” overtakes “him who sows the seed,” depicting the abundance and prosperity of the new age. Hence Jesus claims that he is ushering in the messianic age in which sowing and reaping coincide. There is a unique joy that comes from seeing others come to faith). 37 Thus the saying 'One sows and another reaps' is true. 38 I sent you to reap what you have not worked for. Others have done the hard work, and you have reaped the benefits of their labor."
39 Many of the Samaritans from that town believed in him because of the woman's testimony, "He told me everything I ever did." 40 So when the Samaritans came to him, they urged him to stay with them, and he stayed two days. 41 And because of his words many more became believers. 42 They said to the woman, "We no longer believe just because of what you said; now we have heard for ourselves, and we know that this man really is the Savior of the world." - Not just of Jews. Jesus' large-scale harvest among the Samaritans marks the first indication of the universal scope of his saving mission [John 10:16; 11:51-52]. The early church engaged in a Samaritan mission as well [Acts 8:4-25]. Hence the pattern of Jesus' mission according to John—from Judea [Nicodemus, John 3:1-15], to Samaria, to the Gentiles [John 4:46-54; 12:20-33]—anticipates the post-Pentecost mission of the early church [Acts 1:8]
43 After the two days he left for Galilee. 44 (Now Jesus himself had pointed out that prophets have no honor in their own country [tells the reason Jesus is now going to Galilee: he is going to minister where he does not yet have honor, so that people would then come to believe in him. The wording of the proverb is different in Matthew 13:57; Mark 6:4; and Luke 4:24, and the application there is also different].) 45 When he arrived in Galilee, the Galileans welcomed him. They had seen all that he had done in Jerusalem at the Passover Festival, for they also had been there.
46 Once more he visited Cana in Galilee, where he had turned the water into wine. And there was a certain royal official whose son lay sick at Capernaum. 47 When this man heard that Jesus had arrived in Galilee from Judea, he went to him and begged him to come and heal his son, who was close to death.
48 "Unless you people see signs and wonders," Jesus told him, "you will never believe." (Some may become entranced with signs and wonders and fail to see that they point to Jesus and hence fail to believe in him (John 6:2, 26, 30). However, this does not mean that John views “signs” in and of themselves negatively. To the contrary, Jesus' miracles are one of the primary means God uses to bring people to faith in him; they often lead people to follow Jesus or place their faith in him as the Messiah [John 2:11,23; 3:2; 4:53-54; 6:2,14; 7:31] yet they do not always change the hearts of men) 49 The royal official said, "Sir, come down before my child dies. 50 "Go," Jesus replied, "your son will live." The man took Jesus at his word and departed. 51 While he was still on the way, his servants met him with the news that his boy was living. 52 When he inquired as to the time when his son got better, they said to him, "Yesterday, at one in the afternoon, the fever left him." 53 Then the father realized that this was the exact time at which Jesus had said to him, "Your son will live." So he and his whole household believed. 54 This was the second sign Jesus performed after coming from Judea to Galilee.
No comments:
Post a Comment