In spirit and in truth
John 4:3-34
He left Judaea, and departed again into Galilee. 4 ¶ And he must needs go through Samaria. 5 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. 6 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. 7 There cometh a woman of Samaria to draw water: Jesus saith unto her, Give me to drink. 8 (For his disciples were gone away unto the city to buy meat.) 9 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. 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. 11 The woman saith unto him, Sir, thou hast nothing to draw with, and the well is deep: from whence then hast thou that living water? 12 Art thou greater than our father Jacob, which gave us the well, and drank thereof himself, and his children, and his cattle? 13 Jesus answered and said unto her, Whosoever drinketh of this water shall thirst again: 14 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. 15 The woman saith unto him, Sir, give me this water, that I thirst not, neither come hither to draw. 16 Jesus saith unto her, Go, call thy husband, and come hither. 17 The woman answered and said, I have no husband. Jesus said unto her, Thou hast well said, I have no husband: 18 For thou hast had five husbands; and he whom thou now hast is not thy husband: in that saidst thou truly. 19 The woman saith unto him, Sir, I perceive that thou art a prophet. 20 Our fathers worshipped in this mountain; and ye say, that in Jerusalem is the place where men ought to worship. 21 Jesus saith unto her, Woman, believe me, the hour cometh, when ye shall neither in this mountain, nor yet at Jerusalem, worship the Father. 22 Ye worship ye know not what: we know what we worship: for salvation is of the Jews. 23 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. 24 God is a Spirit: and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth. 25 The woman saith unto him, I know that Messias cometh, which is called Christ: when he is come, he will tell us all things. 26 Jesus saith unto her, I that speak unto thee am he. 27 ¶ And upon this came his disciples, and marvelled that he talked with the woman: yet no man said, What seekest thou? or, Why talkest thou with her? 28 The woman then left her waterpot, and went her way into the city, and saith to the men, 29 Come, see a man, which told me all things that ever I did: is not this the Christ? 30 Then they went out of the city, and came unto him. 31 In the mean while his disciples prayed him, saying, Master, eat. 32 But he said unto them, I have meat to eat that ye know not of. 33 Therefore said the disciples one to another, Hath any man brought him ought to eat? 34 Jesus saith unto them, My meat is to do the will of him that sent me, and to finish his work.
The Gospel narrative of the woman Jesus met at the well is a well-recognized scripture among the Church today, for it contains so many amazing details and amazing revelations about Christ and God.
Let’s go through the scripture passage, line by line, and see what it reveals to us about Jesus and his ministry.
The first part of the passage says Jesus left Judaea and went to Galilee and then he decides to go into the region of Samaria.
John 4:3-6
He left Judaea, and departed again into Galilee. 4 ¶ And he must needs go through Samaria. 5 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. 6 Now Jacob’s well was there.
At the time previous, Jesus had just attended a wedding in Cana and commemorated the Passover in 30 AD, three years before his death on the cross. After the Passover feast Jesus headed in the country side of Judea where Jesus taught his disciples and baptized those who came to see and hear Jesus.
John 3:22-24
¶ After these things came Jesus and his disciples into the land of Judaea; and there he tarried with them, and baptized. 23 And John also was baptizing in Aenon near to Salim, because there was much water there: and they came, and were baptized. 24 For John was not yet cast into prison.
Jesus then walks from Judea toward Galilee and makes his journey through the region of Samaria where he sends his disciples into town to buy food and stops at a particular famous watering well in the town of Sychar, believe to be about near the region of mount Shechem.
Before we can truly understand the rest of this passage, we have to go over some history. Roughly nine hundred years prior, King Solomon, who ruled over all 12 tribes of the united kingdom of Israel, broke God’s commandments when he worshipped the idols, or gods, of his several foreign wives he was married to. God then took away Solomon’s kingdom rule over the 12 tribes and Israel was divided into two houses from then on.
Solomon’s son Rehoboam would rule as king over one tribe, the tribe of Judah, and reign in Jerusalem where YHWH was worshipped in his temple at Jerusalem. The other eleven tribes split away from Rehoboam’s rule and formed the house of Israel in Samaria. One of the tribes of the house of Israel, specifically the tribe of Benjamin, joined the tribe of Judah and became known as the house of Judah, two tribes under the reign of king Rehoboam.
The remaining ten tribes formed the house of Israel under the new reign of king Jeroboam.
Jeroboam feared that the ten tribes under his reign would leave for the southern house of Judah because God’s holy temple was in Jerusalem. So, Jeroboam created two calves of gold and said to the house of Israel “these be your gods” and so Israel of the house of Israel worshiped the two calves, placing one idol in Bethel, in Mt Ephraim while the divided southern house of Judah worshipped God in Jerusalem.
This division causes at times warfare between the ten tribes northern house of Israel in Samaria, and southern house of Judah or “the Jews”
Because the great sin of Jeroboam worshipping the golden calves in the mount Ephraim and Dan, God brought his judgement on the house of Israel by the Assyrian empire who invaded in 722 B.C. and removed all 10 tribes of the northern house of Israel away into Assyria land, and in time to be lost into the Gentiles, or the nations.
Later, God was angry with Judah, or the house of the Jews, because they did not learn from the fate of the fallen house of Israel’s sins. So, God removed Judah in 586 B.C. by the Babylonians in what is known as the Babylonian captivity, where the Jews were removed to Babylon, Persia for a seventy-year captivity.
When this happens, the Babylonians implanted settlers from Babylon into the region and into Samaria. These new settlers would, in time, worship their gods alongside of worshipping YHWH.
So, in the days of Jesus’s ministry, it was common for Jews, or the those of house of Judah, to not mingle much with inhabitants of Samaria, because they were foreigners and Samaria had an awfully bad history in reputation among the Jews.
The Samaritans also had their religious differences from the Jews, as they had a different torah (first five books of the law) in Aramaic and they disregarded some of Hebrew prophetic books. They also built a temple in Mt Gerizim (long before Christ came) causing further hostility between Jews and those in Samaria.
Samaria was largely avoided by those in Judea. It is this disregarded and despised region that Jesus directly travels through.
Jesus after sending his disciples away to buy food and being weary of his travel, comes to a well, the well of Israel’s (the children of 12 tribes of Israel) father, Jacob, whom God later changed Jacob’s name to Israel.
It’s at Jacob’s well that Jesus meets a Samaritan woman.
John 4:6-8
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. 7 There cometh a woman of Samaria to draw water: Jesus saith unto her, Give me to drink. 8 (For his disciples were gone away unto the city to buy meat.)
It is noon time and Jesus asks the woman for a drink. Notice what the Samaritan woman replies to Jesus’ request.
John 4:9
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.
She is mystified, perhaps astonished, that a Jew would even talk with a Samaritan, and a Samaritan woman at that, let alone asked her for a drink, “for the Jews have no dealings with the Samaritans.”
Note that Jesus’ ministry is now brought to a foreign place, a person of a group of people looked down upon and despised by the Jews. It’s here we are going to learn, and the woman will experience, the amazing revelation of God.
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.
The woman then replies, amazed by his words:
John 4:11-12
The woman saith unto him, Sir, thou hast nothing to draw with, and the well is deep: from whence then hast thou that living water? 12 Art thou greater than our father Jacob, which gave us the well, and drank thereof himself, and his children, and his cattle?
The woman does not understand, but quips back at Jesus asking if he is greater than her father Jacob, and his well.
This woman has to be not only a Samaritan, but also a remnant of a lost Israelite of the ten tribes of Israel, for only Israel had Jacob as a “father.”
Jesus is speaking one of his lost sheep of Israel. Note what he says next.
John 4:13-14
Jesus answered and said unto her, Whosoever drinketh of this water shall thirst again: 14 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.
Jesus is actually speaking of the promise of the Holy Ghost, or indwelling of the Holy Spirit, which is like a well of water springing up into everlasting life and salvation.
Jesus possessed this Spirit of God, he will one day give freely to those who believe in him.
The woman doesn’t fully understand this, but is now intrigued by this statement.
John 4:15
The woman saith unto him, Sir, give me this water, that I thirst not, neither come hither to draw.
Jesus then replies to the Samaritan woman something strange, yet amazing. He asks for her husband.
John 4:16
Jesus saith unto her, Go, call thy husband, and come hither.
Jesus knows something about this woman.
John 4:17-18
The woman answered and said, I have no husband. Jesus said unto her, Thou hast well said, I have no husband: 18 For thou hast had five husbands; and he whom thou now hast is not thy husband: in that saidst thou truly.
This woman has had five marriages and now she lives with a man who is not even her husband. Perhaps, though not stated here, she was so was exhausted by poor relationships with men she does not have faith in marriage any more.
Jesus revealed her sad life story to her, and now the woman is wondering who is this man!
John 4:19-20
The woman saith unto him, Sir, I perceive that thou art a prophet. 20 Our fathers worshipped in this mountain; and ye say, that in Jerusalem is the place where men ought to worship..
The woman just acknowledged Jesus a prophet and now reveals that she is an Israelite of the tribes whose “fathers worshipped in this mountain” (the idolatry of the house of Israel).
John 4:21-24
Jesus saith unto her, Woman, believe me, the hour cometh, when ye shall neither in this mountain, nor yet at Jerusalem, worship the Father. 22 Ye worship ye know not what: we know what we worship: for salvation is of the Jews. 23 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. 24 God is a Spirit: and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth.
What was Jesus telling this woman?
“Believe me, the hour cometh, when ye shall neither in this mountain, nor yet at Jerusalem, worship the Father.”
First a change is coming, where false gods will not be worshiped by her, nor shall she worship the Father in Jerusalem.
Jesus essentially says to the woman, you may worship idols but we know what we worship: for salvation, or the temple of God, is worshipped by the Jews.
Then Jesus makes an amazing statement.
John 4:23-24
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. 24 God is a Spirit: and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth.
What was Jesus actually stating here?
A change will take place, and is taking place now, from the normal current system of worship requiring worship in Jerusalem to worship God.
A new thing is being done, soon, anyone will be able to worship God in their own place anywhere, at any time, and any place. It will not be required to make a pilgrimage to Israel nor to Jerusalem to please God, for God will hear your prayers or receive your worship wherever you are in the world! He just requires your true faith!
You see, Jerusalem and the even the temple of God had become nothing less than an idol of the people. Their worship and rituals were largely seen by God as empty and vain idolatry. Something had to change.
God demands more from us and his people Israel and now all people because as Jesus taught “God is a Spirit” and “they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth.”
How does the woman respond to this amazing revelation?
John 4:25
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 woman is not only a Samaritan, and an Israelite, but has no doubt been taught the prophecies about the coming of the Messiah.
Jesus then reveals himself to the woman, who he is.
John 4:26
Jesus saith unto her, I that speak unto thee am he.
That revelation ended the conversation.
Soon his disciples appeared back from their buying food and are wondering in amazement why he was talking to this woman.
The woman now leaves her water jug behind and leaves the scene to go tell somebody what she has just experienced.
John 4:27-30
¶ And upon this came his disciples, and marvelled that he talked with the woman: yet no man said, What seekest thou? or, Why talkest thou with her? 28 The woman then left her waterpot, and went her way into the city, and saith to the men, 29 Come, see a man, which told me all things that ever I did: is not this the Christ? 30 Then they went out of the city, and came unto him.
The woman leaves Jesus, whom she now believes is the Christ and Messiah of Israel, and tells some men in the city about her encounter with Jesus.
Isn’t that amazing? When you first get to truly know Jesus, who he really is, the first thing you want to do is go and tell someone about him. This is what the woman did, and she caused others to come see Jesus. She gave her testimony.
Read on.
John 4:31-34
In the mean while his disciples prayed him, saying, Master, eat. 32 But he said unto them, I have meat to eat that ye know not of. 33 Therefore said the disciples one to another, Hath any man brought him ought to eat? 34 Jesus saith unto them, My meat is to do the will of him that sent me, and to finish his work.
The disciples did not truly understand nor comprehend the man (God in the flesh) in their presence, even though they had witnessed his miracles and seen first hand his works.
So, what have we learned from this story in John’s Gospel?
Jesus breaks societal norms of exclusion and seeks out not only those of his own people (Israel) but others who are outsiders, cast aways, the despised and forgotten, or foreigners (Gentiles) and the sinner, or the ungodly.
God is interested in being worshiped in truth and in the spirit; and you can worship him anywhere, any day, any time, any place, for God does not require us to be in the land of Israel, nor worship in Jerusalem, nor to have a temple. God wants your sincere true worship from the heart and you can do that anywhere you are! You can experience and worship God right now!
What a beautiful lesson, what an amazing God we serve!
O Heavenly Father, we thank you for loving and caring for us even though we were strangers to you and thank for sending Jesus to die for our sins, the ungodly, so that he could bring us closer in truth to worshipping you. We thank you for your living waters, the Holy Spirit you have promised each and every one who truly believes in your Son’s holy saving name.
We Praise your beautiful name and give you all the glory!
Do you have faith in God, in Jesus?
Do you know Jesus?
He died for your sins!
Do you believe the Gospel message?
What should you now do to know Jesus the Christ?