As we have been working our way through the Gospel of John, we are continuoulsy finding Jesus to deliberately place himself in situaions that for the time and place he lived, to be…awkward.
On example of this we see in John 4. Jesus “had” to go through Samaria. “How can this be awkward?” you may think. Well, to be frank, it would be awkward because the Jewish people and the Samaratians didn’t interact with each other. And if I am really frank, the Jewish people considered the Samaritain people to be a paria. You can get a better sense of what the situation was like by reading through the books of Nehemiah and Ezra. Nehemiah deals with the political environment that existed between the Jewish people returning from the Babylonia Captivitiy, while Ezra deals with the religious implications of the renewing the convenant and dealing with the people who were claiming to be a part of the covenant, but hadn’t been following it during the time they were in the land.
Back on topic: Jesus had to go through Samaria. I think that if you have been reading along with us, you can pretty easily see that Jesus didn’t HAVE to do anything, and when the narrator says that he did, it noramally means that Jesus had a plan that required him to be at a specific place. In this case, Jesus knew that he was going to be meeting this woman who would be at the well, and that what would happen next would lead to the propigation of the Gospel amongst those who weren’t practicing Judaism.
John 4 has Jesus arriving at this town in Samaria at noon and going to well that is in the center of the town. Noon would have been an awkward time. It’s hot, and getting hotter. Most people would be in their homes eating the noon day meal or they would have been somewhere in the shade. They wouldn’t have been going to the middle of town to fill a large jar with water. Except, there is a woman who does just that.
Living Water and Praise on the Mountain
This leads to a discussion about how Jesus would give this woman living water, and a discussion of this woman’s life choices. She initially takes him literally and wants to know how she can get this “living water.” In all honesty this is a perfectly reasonable question In our age of indoor plumping and water purification systems, we don’t aways understand why some questions are important. Living water would have been moving water. It would have been water that is in a stream, creek, or river. In other words, it removes the need for a well. This later leads to a discussion about the proper place to worship since the Samaritains were worshiping on a mountain, but the Jewish people were worshiping at the temple in Jerusalm. Which is right?
But what is the main point of this whole exchange? Let’s break down the discussion topics: living water and where do we worship. Jesus has come to give Living Water, and he is the Living Water. Jesus is the sustainer of life. There is no creek that will be able to give you that. And no matter how stingent your religious practices, those also won’t save you. John seems to buildon this theme through out the Gospel – religous exercises are not what saves, it is faith in God. If you have followed me for any length of time, you will have heard me either discuss it in blog form, or on my YouTube Channel: Road Trippin with Rachael that it is not the actions that save a person, but a saved person will do the actions because that is how they show that they love God and are in a relationship with him. Jesus is calling the people of Samaria to worship God in Spirita dn Truth, and in the moment this scene takes place, that means they need to do away with the syncretism that had developed and turn to God to worship in the way that God had said in the Torah was appropriate. And it is these Samaratians that recognize who Jesus is, and who come to saving faith in the Son of God out of their sin, not the religious leaders of the day.
I hope that you’ve enjoyed taking a look at John 4 and that you will find it helpful with your small groups.
Road Trippin With Rachael 
Leave a comment