April 22,2012
Lesson Focus:
Jesus invites everyone
to have eternal life
Lesson Scripture:
John 4:7-15,23-26,28-30
INTRODUCTION. Do you remember the last time you were really thirsty? You might have used some very strong statements like “I was desperate for water” or “I thought I would die.” Water is essential to physical life, it is required by all living beings, and without it we will die.Our lesson this week shows us the need for living water for our souls and how we can receive it from the Giver of life, Jesus Himself.What is more amazing is that it is given freely to undeserving people.Would you qualify?Let’s find out together.This week’s printed text begins with verse 7, but verse 4 specifically says of Jesus,“He must needs to go through Samaria.” It was common for Jews travelling from Judea to Galilee to cross the Jordan River and proceed north on the east side of the river in order to avoid going into Samaria, where the people were of a mixed race (Jewish and heathen) and considered by the Jews to be impure.For Jesus to feel the necessity to go through Samaria instead of around it was significant. God knew that this Samaritan woman’s heart was ready to receive the truth and so He led His Son to the place where He would encounter the woman and have a wider ministry.
(vs. 7). Verse 6 tells us that Jesus was tired from His journey from Jerusalem to Galilee and arrived at the well where He would meet this woman at “about the sixth hour.”Then in this verse John said, “There cometh a woman of Samaria to draw water: Jesus saith unto her, Give me to drink.” While Jesus rested on the well, a Samaritan woman came to draw water from the well.Jesus then began His conversation with her by asking her for a drink of water. He had no vessel with which to draw water Himself and the well was deep, so He asked her for assistance.
(vs. 8). John here tells us parenthetically where the disciples were at this time. He wrote “(For his disciples were gone away unto the city to buy meat.)” This statement will help us understand what this woman meant in the next verse when she told Jesus that “the Jews have no dealings with the Samaritans.”
(vs. 9). In reply to Jesus’ request for a drink of water, “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? for the Jews have no dealings with the Samaritans.”The woman was very surprised when she was suddenly spoken to by a Jewish man asking for water. There were at least three reasons for her surprise: (1) she was a Samaritan, a member of the hated mixed race, (2) she was living in sin (see verse 10), and (3) she was in a public place.Traditionally, no respectable Jewish man would talk to a woman under these circumstances, but Jesus did. He crossed all barriers to share the gospels, and we who follow Him should do the same.In mentioning that“the Jews have no dealings with the Samaritans,”the woman was referring to the fact that Jews never used the same untensils or vessels used by Samaritans.To a Jew, doing this would make them impure.The Jews had business dealings with the Samaritans because verse 8 tells us that after they arrived at the well, Jesus’disciples went into the city of Sychar to buy food.
(vs. 10). Jesus responded to the woman by saying to 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.” Jesus immediately explained to her that if she knew who He was and what He had to offer her, she would have asked Him and He would have given her “living water.” Of course Jesus was referring to the Holy Spirit (see John 7:37-39). As the Son of God, Jesus could give her eternal life something she, at this time, knew nothing about.But Jesus introduced her to this truth in order to lead her into further conversation. Jesus didn’t look down on her because of her status in life. He loved her and made Himself available to her as He does to all of us.
(vs. 11).The woman answered Jesus and said, “Sir, thou hast nothing to draw with, and the well is deep: from whence then hast thou that living water?” She took Jesus’ comment literally, thinking only of literal water coming from a literal well. But Jesus was speaking spiritually. Note: This woman, of course, couldn’t understand what Jesus was really saying because she didn’t have the ability to understand spiritual truth. In his letter to the church at Corinth, the Apostle Paul wrote that “the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God; for they are spiritually discerned” (I Corinthians 2:14). Therefore, her response was understandable. She could only think about how deep the well was and that Jesus had nothing to draw water with.
(vs. 12).Since the woman thought Jesus was talking about literal water and couldn’t see how Jesus could give her water when he had nothing to draw it with, she posed a logical question. She asked Jesus, “Art thou greater than our father Jacob, which gave us the well, and drank thereof himself, and his children, and his cattle?” She wanted to know if Jesus was greater than Jacob who gave them the well. Notice that she referred to Jacob as “our father Jacob.” Even though the Jews and the Samaritans had great differences, they both claimed Jacob as one of their founding fathers. The woman knew all about Jacob. She knew that he, his sons, and his livestock had drunk from that well. She was about to learn about Someone much greater and personal than Jacob.
(vs. 13).Jesus’ response to the woman was “Whosoever drinketh of this water shall thirst again.” Here, Jesus made it plain that He was talking about a different water than she was. One was physical and the other spiritual. Jesus indicated that anyone who drinks the water she was talking about “shall thirst again.” In other words, the physical water could only satisfy thirst temporarily.Note: This is a good example of how the unsaved are not able to understand spiritual truth. It is only through the enlightening ministry of the Holy Spirit that spiritual truth can be grasped; and until a person receives Jesus as personal Saviour, the Holy Spirit does not indwell him or her.
(vs. 14).Jesus continued to say, “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.” Unlike the physical water the woman was talking about, Jesus said in contrast the water He would give was permanently satisfying. The phrase “a well of water springing up into everlasting life” means that the one who drinks the spiritual water that Jesus gives can find satisfaction without end. Once our eternal destination has been settled as a result of our faith in Jesus Christ, we have peace and assurance about the future that will never leave us.
(vs. 15).Now the woman replies to Jesus and “saith unto him, Sir, give me this water, that I thirst not, neither come hither to draw.” Her response to Jesus’ explanation indicates that she still didn’t understand what Jesus meant. She was still thinking along physical lines. Addressing Jesus as “Sir,” a term of politeness, she asked Him to give her that water, but her main reason for wanting it was so that she wouldn’t have to make daily trips to the well. This is the meaning of her statement “give me this water, that I thirst not, neither come hither to draw.” The woman mistakenly believed that if she received the water Jesus offered, she wouldn’t have to return to the well each day. She was only interested in what Jesus was saying because she thought it could make her life easier. But if what she though was true, people would accept Jesus’ message for the wrong reasons. Christ didn’t come to take away challenges.He came to change us on the inside and to empower us to deal with problems from God’s perspective. Note: The woman still didn’t understand what Jesus was talking about. It takes time to accept something that changes the very foundations of your life. Jesus gave the woman time to ask questions and put pieces together for herself. Sharing the gospel won’t always have immediate results. When you ask people to let Jesus change their lives, give them time to weigh the matter.
(vs. 23).Since the woman changed the subject to where worship should take place, Jesus emphasized that what is really important is how and whom to worship. Jesus said to the woman, “But the hour cometh, and now is, when the true worshippers shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth: for the Father seeketh such to worship him.” The Old Testament had given specific locations for worship, and there was a great deal of ritual and formality involved. But when Jesus said, “But the hour cometh, and now is” He was saying that the Old Testament rituals and formalities was now coming to an end. The Messiah had now come and was changing those things regarding worship right then. Jesus said that going forward “true worshippers shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth.” Jesus was saying that people need to worship God with the proper attitude in their own spirits and that their worship must be based on the truth revealed by God. So, what do you do when you attend worship service? Do you focus on God, exalting Him in your minds and seeking to offer Him heartfelt adoration and praise? Or do you only think about the people and situations going on around you?
(vs. 24). Jesus continued to say “God is a Spirit: and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth.” The fact that “God is a Spirit” means that He is not a physical being limited to one place. He is present everywhere and can be worshipped anywhere and at anytime. No, it’s not where we worship that matters, but who and how we worship. Again, when one worships God in spirit and truth, he or she worships with the proper attitude in their own spirits and that worship is based on God’s revealed truth and on who He is. Note: Too often we base our worship on what God has done for us. However, that should not be the basis of our worship. We should worship God because He is God. If God never does another thing for us, He is still God and deserves worship for no other reason.
(vs. 25).John then writes that “The woman saith unto him, I know that Messias cometh, which is called Christ: when he is come, he will tell us all things.” The Samaritans accepted only the Pentateuch (the first five books of the Bible), so they were looking for a messiah like Moses (see Deuteronomy 18:15-16). She also knew that the coming Christ would “tell us all things.” The things He would explain to the Samaritans included things related to life, worship, and anything else that mattered to them.
(vs. 26). Jesus then “saith unto her, I that speak unto thee am he.” For the first time in His ministry, Jesus openly declared that He was the Messiah, the Christ. However, He would not tell the Jews yet because of the possibility of trouble. But this woman was no threat to Jesus so He felt free to let her know who He was.
(vs. 28). After Jesus revealed Himself to the Samaritan woman, John tells us in verse 27 that the disciples returned and were surprised to see Him talking to the woman, but none of them asked Him why. At this point John says, “The woman then left her waterpot, and went her way into the city, and saith to the men.” She was so excited that she left her waterpot behind and rushed into the city to tell others what had happened. John says that the woman went into the city and “saith to the men.” This does not mean that she spoke to only men because the word for “men” here is “anthropois” which means humans.
(vs. 29).When she arrived in the city, she told the people of Sychar to “Come, see a man, which told me all things that ever I did: is not this the Christ?” The woman was asking a rhetorical question for she knew this had to be the Messiah because He was able to tell her all about herself.As far as she was concerned, anyone who knew all about her past had to be someone extraordinary.She appealed to the people to come and hear what Jesus had to say.
(vs. 30).In this verse John says, “Then they went out of the city, and came unto him.”Many people came to see and hear Jesus on the basis of what they heard and saw in this woman. Witnessing begins at home (see Acts 1:8) and with those we know.They are the ones who will notice a change in us when we come to Christ. Note: It seems obvious that this woman became a believer after Jesus revealed Himself as the Messiah. He had offered her living water, and she received it and experienced new life within herself. People could no doubt see in her countenance that she was a changed woman.
Conclusion. When we discover the Messiah for ourselves, we must tell others about Him. That’s what the Samaritan woman did. Jesus gave her new life, even though neither she nor anyone else deserves it. So it can be with each of us. We too experience new life in Jesus when we recognize that He is the Messiah. He gives us the water of life freely for the asking, to all who come to Him in faith.
No comments:
Post a Comment