John 4:1-6

¹The Pharisees heard that Jesus was gaining and baptizing more disciples than John, ²although in fact it was not Jesus who baptized, but His disciples. ³When the Lord learned of this, He left Judea and went back once more to Galilee. ⁴Now He had to go through Samaria. ⁵So He came to a town in Samaria called Sychar, near the plot of ground Jacob had given to his son Joseph. ⁶Jacob's well was there, and Jesus, tired as He was from the journey, sat down by the well. It was about the sixth hour.

An overarching theme of John's gospel is that Jesus is fulfilling the Old Testament types and shadows. The old is passing away, and the new is being ushered in. That continues in this passage as the Kingdom of God is revealed to a woman who wondered where it was best to worship. Jesus tells her that locale is unimportant; what matters is that worship be done in spirit and in truth. Remember we spoke of doing the truth in John 3:21. In our tour of the tabernacle, we’re still passing by the laver, the place of ceremonial washing and cleansing with water, which both cleanses from impurity and sustains us on our journey.

The apostle John has explained the Pharisees’ interest in John the Baptist’s ministry, but now we learn that Jesus’ ministry is overshadowing John’s as it grows larger than John’s. And as you might expect, the Pharisees notice. Precisely because they notice, Jesus leaves the region. Why? It’s not yet time to aggravate them to the point of seeking His death. Jesus knows His time is short; He’s got a schedule to keep. He’s introduced Himself to Judea and now it’s time for Him to continue working elsewhere (namely in Galilee again). Whatever His reason for leaving, the cue was the Pharisees hearing of His ministry’s success. What do you make of the importance of the fact that Jesus is not the One who baptizes? John seems to go out of his way to point this out. Does it matter? Why or why not? Calvin suggests that the point is that the minister of the sacrament is unimportant. Christ is the author and the Spirit does the baptism internally. That’s what matters. Any thoughts? Notice Jesus is “the Lord” in v3.

John uses intentional language in v4 when he writes that Jesus “had to go through Samaria.” The reality is that He did not have to go through Samaria to get to Galilee. The most common Jewish route was along the Jordan River away from Samaria. The Jews despised Samaritans, and rightly so. Samaritans had corrupted the worship of God by mixing in pagan rituals. But of course we know that the pious Jews were only using their supposed zeal for the law to justify their hatred. In reality, the Jews were envious of them, because the Samaritans were dwelling in the land allotted to the Jews. There was just ground for the separation, provided that their feelings had been pure and well regulated. For this reason Christ, when He first sends the apostles to proclaim the Gospel, forbids them to turn aside to the Samaritans (Matthew 10:5). But Jesus had to go through Samaria. He had a divine appointment, and there’s no escaping divine appointment. Have you ever “had” to go a certain direction in your life? Can you look back and see how God purposed it for your good (Romans 8:28)? Others’ good (Philippians 1:21-26)?

We read that Jesus came to Sychar, a town of historic significance – the land Jacob gave to Joseph. Jesus rested by Jacob’s well, because He was tired. His humanity is made clear here, as He is actually fatigued and not just pretending – as some who denied His humanity have said. It was noon – the sixth hour, a time of day when the well would not be used much. People came in the morning and/or in the evening, but not often in the middle of the day. Nevertheless, this divine appointment is obvious. Jesus sat by the well and met a woman. Think about the Old Testament well scenes (Genesis 24 – Abraham’s servant (for Isaac) and Rebekah; Genesis 29 – Jacob and Rachel; Exodus 2 – Moses and Zipporah). Well-scenes in the Bible are scenes of betrothal and marriage – highly significant moments. John parallels them with this account. He might have Moses’ well scene and the subsequent Exodus from slavery and Jesus’ well scene and the subsequent exodus from sin both in mind as he records this episode.

In one commentary that I read on the conversation between Jesus and the Samaritan woman, it was said that the woman’s language is filled with imagery of temptation, that she is a sort of a seductress, someone who preys on men – after all, she had 5 husbands and was living with a sixth man who was not her husband. The commentator suggested that we might miss that, as I did due to the lack of tone from reading without hearing the words, but we need to remember that Jesus is tired, exhausted, and He was tempted in every way that we were yet was without sin. As the commentator said, “Whereas this woman is tempting Jesus; Jesus is wooing her also in an altogether different sense. It’s not so much this woman that is advancing toward Jesus, but Jesus who is advancing towards her. He’s come for His bride, you might say. There’s a strategy at work here.” Note that Jesus is breaking down the walls of ethnicity and gender when it comes to a relationship with God. The old is passing away – or is already gone. The new is coming – and is now even here. We'll look at the conversation, beginning tomorrow.