Scriptural text: John 4:1-42
Lesson Context: As our text in John 4 begins, Jesus and His disciples had left Judaea and were heading to Galilee (John 4:3), where He made the headquarters of His ministry (Matthew 4:13-16). For this journey, Jesus chose not to take one of two longer routes in order to avoid Samaria. The shortest distance between Judaea and Galilee was to go through Samaria. The Samaritans and the Jews did not mix. There existed racial hatred between the Jews and the Samaritans. The Jews would take the longest route to avoid going through Samaria. But Jesus told His disciples that He must needs to go through Samaria. Against His disciples’ advice, Jesus made his way through Samaria.
The Stranger (John 4:7-15):
Physical Need (vv. 7-9). “There cometh a woman of Samaria to draw water: Jesus saith unto her, Give me to drink.” It was at the sixth hour (midday/noon), Jesus came and sat at Jacob’s well. A Samaritan woman came to the well to draw water. This was unusual for one to draw water at midday because this was the hottest time of the day. Theologians believed that the Samaritan woman came to draw water at the midday hour because she was an outcast from her community and especially from other women. “Give me to drink” was not an unusual request at a well. However John reveals why this was an unusual request at a well.
V.8. (For his disciples were gone away unto the unto the city to buy meat.) Jesus and his disciples sometimes carried funds to buy what they needed during Jesus’ preaching and teaching and teaching crusades. Ordinarily, they would not accept food from Samaritans.
V. 9a. (“Then saith the woman of Samaria unto him, How is it that thou being a Jew, askest drink of me, which am a woman of Samaria.)” The reason why Jesus’ request was surprising, One was a gender issue. Women were often viewed as “less than” by men in the ancient Roman world. Samaritan women were doubly stigmatized because of the animosity that existed between Judah and Samaria. Within her conversation with Jesus, she was amazed that Jesus knew about her several marriages and about the man that she was living with. The gospel writer, John, did not reveal why the woman was married several times.
9b. (“For the Jews have no dealings with the Samaritans”) The Samaritans were considered a mixed breed. They were Jews who intermarried the Assyrians. The Assyrians conquered people around the empire. When Israelites mingled with foreign peoples, the result was a syncretistic religion in which the Lord was worshipped in addition to other gods.
Spiritual Bounty (vv. 10-15):
V. 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.”) The gift of God refers to the Holy Spirit consistent with other New Testament usage. The Samaritan woman had no knowledge of the gift in a spiritual sense or of Jesus’ true identity.
Vs. 13-14. (“Jesus answered and said unto her, Whosoever drinketh of this water shall thirst again: 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.”) Thirst is a metaphor for spiritual need. Just as any person or creature dies without water they need, so too we die without the spiritual care that we need. Springing up suggests especially vital properties in the living spiritual water Jesus referred to.
The Promised One (John 4:28-30, 39-41).
- Question of Identity (vv. 28-30).
28a. (“The woman then left her waterpot, and went her way into the city”.) Leaving her waterpot behind indicated that the woman left in a rush. The city, Sychar.
28b-29a. (“And saith to the men, Come, see a man, which told me all things that ever I did.”) The woman’s invitation to Come, see is a reminiscent of Jesus’ invitation when he called His first followers in John 1:39. Describing Jesus’ knowing about her marriages and current living situation as told her all things that she did reveals something about the culture this woman was living in. In confirming Jesus’ accurate and supernatural knowledge of her life story, the woman’s testimony reveals that she was fully impressed by Him.
References: International Sunday School Lessons 2022-2023 Standard Lesson Commentary