LISTEN TO JESUS: LIVING WATER

LISTEN TO JESUS

LIVING WATER

John 4:4 And he must needs go through Samaria.

Susie: The Jews did not like the Samaritans and would sometimes take the long way around rather than travel through that region. When the Northern Kingdom was taken captive by the Assyrians, a small group was left behind. The Assyrians brought in other groups to live there, and the Jews who remained intermarried with them. Therefore, the Samaritans were despised as “half-breeds” and idol worshippers. They had also built a temple on Mt. Gerizim and worshipped there rather than traveling to Jerusalem.

Susan: An extreme mutual prejudice persisted between the Jews and the Samaritans. The Jews did not consider the Samaritans to be genuine worshippers of the one true God. The Samaritans were loathsome to the Jews and vice versa.

Susie: There were other routes to Galilee that Jesus could have taken as many other Jews did, but he “needed” to go through Samaria. This could have been because it was the shortest route, or more likely it was that He knew of the divine appointment waiting for Him at Jacob’s well. 

Susan: Jesus knew He was about to embark on a life changing encounter, not just for one woman but for an entire community.

John 4:5-6 Then cometh he to a city of Samaria, which is called Sychar, near to the parcel of ground that Jacob gave to his son Joseph. Now Jacob's well was there. Jesus, therefore, being wearied with his journey, sat thus on the well: and it was about the sixth hour.

Susan: Jesus exhibited the frailty of His humanity as He was exhausted from traveling. 

Susie: He experienced hunger and thirst just as we do, so He sent the disciples to buy food. As we learned in John 1:14, “The Word became flesh.” He was completely human, willingly limiting His powers as God.

Philippians 2:6 (Phillips) For he, who had always been God by nature, did not cling to his prerogatives as God’s equal, but stripped himself of all privilege by consenting to be a slave by nature and being born as mortal man.

John 4:7-9 There cometh a woman of Samaria to draw water: Jesus saith unto her, Give me to drink. (For his disciples were gone away unto the city to buy meat.) 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.

Reformation Study Bible:

4:9 Jews have no dealings with Samaritans. This phrase could also be translated, “Jews use nothing in common with Samaritans,” referring to the legislation that forbade a Jew to eat or drink with Samaritans, who were more lax in their understanding of ritual cleanness. The surprise was not so much that Jesus would speak with a Samaritan, but that He would drink from a Samaritan vessel.

Susan: This is reminiscent of the separate drinking fountains for “White” and “Colored” . . . 

Susie: . . . which I even remember seeing as a child in the late 1950’s and early sixties.  

Susan: How sad that these kinds of behaviors were still present and tolerated in our lifetimes.

Susie: However, the separation between the Jews and the Samaritans was due more to religious views than the race issue. The Samaritan woman was shocked that Jesus, a Jew, would talk to a woman, let alone a Samaritan woman. 

Susan: At that time women were not seen as equal to men and were treated like property.  Women had very few rights, and their husbands were in control of all property.

Susie: It was even more astounding that He would be willing to drink out of her water jug since it might not be “ceremonially clean” according to Jewish standards! He was definitely stepping outside the social norms of the day.

John 4:10 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.

Susie: Jesus, who would later die on the cross to give us the gift of forgiveness of sin and eternity with God, says, “If you only knew who you were talking to!”  

Susan: He basically says, “You don’t know this yet, but you should be the one asking Me for drink.” 

Susie: Jesus IS the gift of God and has the power to give the gift of the indwelling Spirit to those who believe on His name. He speaks of “living water” which goes whoosh over her head because, like Nicodemus, she is thinking literally rather than figuratively. 

Susan: She is only processing His words in terms of her five senses.

Reformation Study Bible:

4:10 the gift of God. This expression emphasizes that salvation is not earned but given (Eph. 2:8). Jesus Himself is the gift of God (3:16; Gal. 2:20; Eph. 5:25). living water. In the Old Testament, living or running water was employed figuratively as a reference to divine activity (Jer. 2:13; Zech. 14:8). See also v. 14 and 7:37–39.

Ways we can apply this to our lives: Although there is no direct application in these verses, we can draw some conclusions.

1.               Jesus does not harbor prejudice against any people. Nor should we.  “Then Peter opened his mouth, and said, Of a truth I perceive that God is no respecter of persons. But in every nation he that feareth him, and worketh righteousness, is accepted with him” (Acts 10:34-35).

2.               Jesus gives us far more than He asks of us. He asked for water but offered the woman eternal life.