SERIES: The Gospel of John
Living Water for a Dying Woman, or Broken Wells, Thirsty People
SPEAKER: Michael P. Andrus
Introduction: Already in our study of the Gospel of John, we have noted the skillful use of contrast by the author. In chapter two the Apostle John followed the story of the joyful celebration at Cana, where Jesus turned water into wine, with the story of the cleansing of the Temple, where Jesus demonstrated righteous indignation. Joy and anger are major contrasts, but both are important aspects of the Savior’s character.
Today we see another startling contrast, this one between Nicodemus in chapter 3 and the woman at the well in chapter 4:
Nicodemus had a name; she remains nameless.
He was a man; she, obviously, a woman.
He was Jewish; she was a Samaritan.
He was morally upright; she was immoral.
He was rich; she was poor.
He was socially prominent; she was a societal reject.
He was a scholar; she was uneducated.
He came at night to protect his reputation she came at noon because she had no reputation.
Both needed Jesus.
Right in between these two stories is that greatest of all Scripture verses, John 3:16: “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him will not perish but have eternal life.” God so loved the world—the world of the rich, moral, scholarly, Jewish man and the world of the poor, immoral uneducated, rejected, Samaritan woman.
I have chosen to cover a rather lengthy passage this morning, which limits the amount of detail we can examine. But sometimes it’s more important to get the big picture than the minutia. We will use for our structure the many doublets that appear in the account: two thirsty souls, two cultural barriers, two kinds of water, two prerequisites for drinking, two diversionary tactics, two essentials of worship, and two kinds of faith. (By the way, we are skipping the last half of chapter 3 because I preached a sermon on that passage on October 13, 1991 entitled, “God’s Answer to Professional Jealousy.”) Let’s read our Scripture text from John 4:
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.[a])
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 livestock?”
13 Jesus answered, “Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again, 14 but whoever drinks 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.
Chapter 4 of John opens with the information that Jesus has decided to move from Judea to Galilee because His popularity was increasing more rapidly than He was comfortable with, and He did not want to precipitate a clash with the Pharisees in Jerusalem at this time. In going from Judea to Galilee verse 4 indicates that He had to go through Samaria. That seems like a simple piece of geographical trivia, but it is really a quite profound observation. Let’s set the stage geographically and perhaps we can see why.
Suppose this room is the land of Israel, rather long and narrow. North is to my right and south to my left. The foyer is the Mediterranean Sea, the piano represents the sea of Galilee and the baptistry is the Dead Sea. Between the Sea of Galilee and the Dead Sea runs the Jordan River, the eastern border of Israel. Behind me is Gentile territory (which is today the country of Jordan). Everything to the south of the center isle is Judea; everything to the north of the right aisle is Galilee. This section is Samaria.
Now if you were down in Judea and you wanted to go to Galilee, wouldn’t the easiest route be to go through Samaria? Sure, but orthodox Jews rarely did that. They would instead cross the Jordan River near Jericho, just north of the Dead Sea, walk north through Gentile territory until they got near Galilee, then cross over the Jordan again. It took twice as long, but that was the preferred route. Why?
The reason is that while Judea and Galilee were populated primarily by full-blooded Jews, most of the Samaritans were half-breeds, and the Jews did not look kindly upon people of mixed race. This racial tension went back 750 years to the time in 722 B.C. when the Assyrians attacked the ten northern tribes of Israel, destroyed the capital city of Samaria, deported most of the people, and replaced them with people from their own empire. These immigrants intermarried with the few Jews left behind and the resulting mixed blood population became known as Samaritans. They even developed a hybrid religion of their own.
Perhaps you recall from our study of the OT books of Ezra and Nehemiah that when the Jews returned from the Babylonian captivity and began to rebuild the temple in Jerusalem, their Samaritan neighbors (e.g., Sanballat, Tobiah, and Geshem) offered to help but were turned down. So the Samaritans built their own temple on Mt. Gerizim, to which the Samaritan woman refers here.
The Jews in Galilee and Judea looked with revulsion upon the Samaritans. In fact, when the Pharisees later wanted to slap Jesus with the nastiest epithet they could think of, they called Him a demon-possessed Samaritan (John 8:48). Considering all that, is it not significant that we are told in verse 4 that Jesus “had to go through Samaria?” Why did He have to? Not because He was in a hurry and was looking for the most direct route; He never seemed to be in a hurry. The only reason I can think of is that He knew He had a divine appointment in Samaria with a woman in great spiritual need.
Do you think it possible that God has similar appointments in store for us? Perhaps the next time we get stranded at an airport, or must wait interminably at the doctor’s office, we should ask ourselves, “I wonder why this had to happen today?” and then start looking around for the person who may be the answer! With that as background, our story begins with two thirsty souls.
Two thirsty souls (1-9)
Jesus is the first. He was weary from His journey, according to verse 6, and about noon sat down by a well. This well is identified as one Jacob dug 2,000 years earlier and it was located about a half mile outside the little Samaritan town of Sychar, where Jesus’ disciples had gone to get some groceries. The fact that the Son of God is thirsty reminds us of the important truth that Jesus was not only the Son of God but also the Son of Man. He was both God and man, and we must never emphasize His deity to the detriment of His humanity or vice versa. The fact that He suffered from thirst and other human weaknesses is used in the book of Hebrews as an encouragement to us. We don’t have a high priest, we are told, who is unable to sympathize with our problems because He was tried in every way we are, yet without sin.
The other thirsty soul is a Samaritan woman. The fact that she comes such a distance to draw water seems strange since historical records indicate there was plenty of water in Sychar. Some have suggested that perhaps she was a social outcast and had to stay as far as possible from other women for fear of disparaging looks and repulsive comments. Whatever the reason, these two thirsty souls meet in this unlikely place.
Jesus is the one who initiates the conversation by asking her, “Will you give me a drink?” And immediately we learn that He is confronting two major cultural barriers, namely racism and sexism.
Two cultural barriers (9, 27)
The woman responds, “You are a Jew and I am a Samaritan woman. How can you ask me for a drink?” The words “you” and “me” are in the emphatic position and should be read, “How can youask me for a drink?” She is shocked that Jesus would violate the centuries-old Jewish taboo against conversing with a woman in public, and furthermore, use the same cup a Samaritan used, for she noticed He had no cup of His own. Since the well is over 100 feet deep, if He’s going to get a drink it will have to be with her cup. That this expectation of racism and sexism wasn’t just a figment of her imagination is indicated down in verse 27 when Jesus’ disciples return and find Him talking with a woman. They are surprised and critical in their spirits, we are told, though none dares verbalize his feelings.
If you thought racism and sexism were 20th century innovations, you’re dead wrong—they’re as old as humanity. Racism is not just hating people of a different color; relatively few people would be guilty by that definition. There’s more to it than that. I believe racism is making any decision about another person based upon the color of his skin, the size of his nose, or the slant of his eyes; in other words, any decision based upon purely racial characteristics. By that definition I think many of us here would have to admit that there is some racism in us. If we would rather have our son or daughter marry an unsaved white person than a born-again black person, then we clearly suffer from racism.
There are those in our society who would define sexism the same way—making any decision about a woman based upon her gender. Those demanding that women be allowed to fly combat aircraft in war are a case in point. But I believe sexism has to be defined a bit differently, for the Bible indicates that it’s legitimate, even necessary, to make a few decisions about a woman, especially in the home and in the church, just because she is a woman. Real sexism enters the picture when men arbitrarily extrapolate from the home and church to society in general, assuming because God has granted headship in the home and church to men, somehow that justifies a lower status for women in society, including demeaning attitudes, fewer opportunities, lower wages, and sexual harassment.
Tragically even in the home and church men have often conveyed the impression that male headship means women are to be seen and not heard, that their giftedness is limited to hospitality and children’s ministry, and that their ability to understand and communicate the Word of God is suspect. I am convinced that in most evangelical churches, including this one, there are unspoken sexist attitudes and practices that are assumed to be biblical, but Jesus would never approve them.
Jesus showed by His actions here at Sychar that He had little room for cultural barriers that would hinder showing love and compassion to another human being. In essence He responded to the woman’s amazement at His non-racist and non-sexist attitude by simply continuing to reach out to her. In the process we learn thirdly about two kinds of water:
Two kinds of water (10-15)
He speaks to her about living water, but the woman, like Nicodemus, continues to think on the purely naturalistic plane. But perhaps we shouldn’t be too critical, for the term “living water” was the normal Hebrew expression for running water or bubbling water. In the bottom of Jacob’s well there was a bubbling or percolating effect, and all she can wonder about is how He expects to get that bubbling water out of such a deep well without a rope and a bucket.
But Jesus is, of course, talking symbolically of a different kind of water altogether—a kind that quenches thirst permanently and produces eternal life. Verses 13 & 14 have some important theology hidden in them. In verse 13 the word “drinks” is in the present tense in Greek, meaning that even the one who drinks regularly from Jacob’s well will still thirst again, for it provides only a temporary assuaging of a temporal need. But in verse 14 the verb “drinks” is in a different tense in Greek, which can be translated, “Whoever drinks (a single drink) of the water I shall give him shall never thirst.” And the word “never” is emphatic, containing a double negative, meaning: “he shall never thirst, not ever.” The woman, according to verse 15, wants the water she is being offered, but it’s important for her to realize there are two prerequisites for drinking living water.
Two prerequisites for drinking (10, 16-19)
Look at verse 10: “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.” The first prerequisite is that one must know the source of the living water: it comes from God in the person of His Son, Jesus. Living water is not a gift from Jacob but from God. Furthermore, it cannot be earned or purchased; it is a gift. And still further, the gift is in the form of a Person. Jesus is not just another weary traveler; He is not just a prophet; He is not just a great moral teacher. He is the Messiah, the Son of God, the giver of life.
So the first prerequisite for drinking living water is to know its source. The second prerequisite is found in that little word “asked” in verse 10. “If you knew…, you would have asked him, and he would have given you living water.” God never forces living water on anyone, but He gives it freely when anyone asks for it. This is a constant theme of Scripture: God’s sovereign provision awaits man’s willing response.
He loves the whole world, but individuals must believe.
He stands at the door and knocks, but we must open.
He provides living water, but we must ask for it.
The woman does ask for it in verse 15, but she doesn’t yet understand the difference between physical water and spiritual water. She says, “Sir, give me this water so that I won’t get thirsty and have to keep coming here to draw water.” In this she is like so many today who come to Christ with materialistic motives. They have been told that if they want peace and health and success and friends and victory over their addictions, Jesus can help them. But that is not the Gospel, friends.
Much of our preaching has confused physical water with spiritual water. People must know that their greatest need is for spiritual water because they are dying of spiritual thirst. Their pain and depression and addictions are just symptoms of their sin problem, and it takes living water to wash away our sins; in fact, it takes the blood of Jesus. So, Jesus subtly moves to convince her that she has a sin problem.
“Go, call your husband and come back,” He says. “I have no husband,” she replies. “You got that right!” Jesus responds. “You’ve had five and you’re not even married to the guy you’re living with now.” Why do you think Jesus would bring up this woman’s past and embarrass her like this? Because it is absolutely essential that she grasp that she is a lost soul, estranged from God and hopeless, unless she receives and drinks the living water He has to offer.
The woman’s response is almost humorous: “Sir, I can see that you are a prophet.” This stranger has obvious connections in the State Department and has been through her passport files. No use to deny her sordid past. But wait! Why not change the subject? Sure, that should work, so the woman tries the first of two diversionary tactics.
Two diversionary tactics (20, 25)
She begins to talk about denominationalism. Whose religion is better, she asks, the Samaritan or Jewish? Whose temple is better, the one on Gerizim or the one in Jerusalem? Have you ever experienced this kind of response when trying to witness to people? You’re sharing the Gospel and just about to ask the person if he or she is ready to make a commitment to Christ, and they ask, “Where did Cain get his wife?” Or, “What about the heathen? Are they going to hell even though they’ve never hear about Jesus?” At times like that I wish I could think on my feet as quickly as Jesus did. He doesn’t put the woman down or ignore her question; rather He uses the question to steer her back to spiritual things.
The woman tries a second diversionary tactic in verse 25. Jesus has just told her what true worship is. She knows she hasn’t been worshiping that way, so she says: “I know that Messiah is coming. When he comes, he will explain everything to us.” In other words, “spiritual questions can’t be answered until the end of the age. In the meantime, I’m hoping for the best.” To that Jesus responds, “The end of the age is upon you. I am the Messiah.”
But allow me to return to Jesus’ answer to the first diversion—the one about denominationalism. He uses that opportunity to teach her and us about two essentials of worship.
Two essentials of worship (21-24)
He begins in verse 21 by declaring that the worship centers of both the Jews and the Samaritans are temporary. “Believe me, woman, a time is coming when you will worship the Father neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem.” He is, in effect, predicting the destruction that Rome would bring on the entire Holy Land less than 40 years in the future. This is not to say, however, that Jesus considered the two worship systems equal, for they weren’t. The Samaritans worshiped in ignorance, primarily because they accepted only the first five books of the OT as Scripture.
The Jews, on the other hand, worshiped knowledgeably, since “salvation is from the Jews,” by which Jesus probably means that the plan of salvation was delivered through Jewish prophets and He Himself was a Jew. Of course, just because the Jews had more access to the truth than the Samaritans didn’t mean they were more likely to accept the truth; as a matter of fact, it was the Jews, not the Samaritans or the Gentiles, who were Jesus’ most inveterate enemies and who eventually called for the crucifixion of the Savior.
Nevertheless, a time is coming and has now come, says Jesus, when true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and in truth. Let’s forget about denominationalism, says Jesus, and concentrate on how a sinful human being is able to establish a personal relationship with a holy God. That is the issue.
What does it mean to worship in spirit? It refers to worship that knows no spatial or temporal limitations. It is not an outward worship but an inward worship. There are many people who feel they must be in a particular place to worship—i.e., in a sanctuary or on a mountain. But God is not localized. God is spirit and the worship that is brought to Him must be essentially of a spiritual kind. Oh yes, there was a sense in which God chose to localize His presence in the OT, but none of that is carried over to the NT. There are no temples for the NT church, no holy cities to which God’s people must make pilgrimages. Worship is spiritual.
Secondly, worship must be in truth, that is, according to God’s revelation. The Samaritans picked and chose among the Scriptures for the revelation they wished to follow. They adjusted Scripture to suit themselves. True worshipers cannot do that. I often hear people say something to the effect that “I worship God in my own way” or “I feel that God is like such and such.” True worshipers go to the Bible for the content of worship.
The conclusion to our story brings us to the last of the pairs that we have noted. When the disciples return from their trip to the mall in Sychar they are surprised to find Jesus talking with a woman. But no one dares ask Him how He could do such a thing. They have learned not to be shocked at anything Jesus does, for He is constantly stretching them in new ways. The woman, on the other hand, leaves her water jar, evidently in haste, and returns to the town proclaiming, “Come, see a man who told me everything I ever did. Could this be the Christ?” And the people come out of the town and make their way toward Him.
Two kinds of faith (39-42)
“Many of the Samaritans from that town believed in him because of the woman’s testimony, ‘He told me everything I ever did.’ So when the Samaritans came to him, they urged him to stay with them, and he stayed two days. And because of his words many more became believers. 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.”
The witness of the Samaritan woman is very effective, and many believe. But we have spelled out here, as perhaps nowhere else in Scripture, the extremely important truth that faith must become personal. It’s not enough to believe just because of what someone else says. There are many people who mentally accept the truths of Christianity because that’s what someone they respect believes. Many children believe because their parents have told them what the facts are. But there comes a time in everyone’s life when we must hear for ourselves and determine personally that Jesus is indeed the Savior of the World. Secondhand faith is not enough.
Let’s review. In our passage today we have found two thirsty souls separated by two major cultural barriers: racism and sexism. One of these individuals was a perfect man who needed an ordinary drink of water, the other an imperfect woman who needed spiritual water for a dry and thirsty soul. He couldn’t get to the ordinary water because He didn’t have a bucket. She couldn’t get to the spiritual water because she didn’t know the two prerequisites: that it’s a gift from God in the person of Jesus, and one has to ask for it.
When the woman was confronted with her sin, she tried two diversionary tactics to get the attention off herself. But Jesus merely brought the conversation back to the two essential issues in worshiping God—worship is not limited by location and worship must be in accord with Scripture. When the woman realized that He was the Messiah, she eagerly shared the good news and many believed, first of all because of her testimony, but then because they found out personally that Jesus was the Savior of the world.
This is an amazing story. Here we have God so loving the world, not in theory but in practice.
Conclusion: Do you have a thirsty soul today? Is your life messed up with sin? Is your worship a false worship? Is your faith a second-hand faith?
If so, Jesus is the answer. He will quench your thirst, provide for you a continual source of vitality, forgive your sin, and give you eternal life. Won’t you receive Him today as your Savior and Lord?
DATE: November 22, 1992
Tags:
Cultural barriers
Diversionary tactics
True worship
Faith