Week 5 – Jesus Meets Us in Our Suffering – Part 1
(video is not available for this week’s lesson)
The Woman at the Well – John 4:1-42
As we continue to focus on how God’s goodness and grace gives meaning and hope to our hardship and suffering, we will look at a passage from the New Testament where Jesus encounters a woman who is suffering.
- How does Jesus impact her suffering and her life?
- How does He bring hope to her situation? What is that hope?
- What can we learn from her encounter with Jesus that might help us in our hardship and suffering?
To answer these questions, let’s walk through the six steps of our Dig In Worksheet that you used to study the passage this week. (For more explanation on the six steps, see the workbook.) Before we jump from reading the passage to immediate application, we need to do the hard work of repeated reading of the passage, asking questions, and seeking to understand what the text has to say. Our six steps will help our understanding and therefore our application.
#1 GET YOUR BEARINGS:
Genre: Gospel/Narrative
Author: the beloved disciple most likely refers to John, the apostle, son of Zebedee.
Date: AD 90-95
Audience: the Christian community
#2 “THEM/THEN”
HISTORICAL CONTEXT:
Who were the Samaritans?
- A people of mixed Jewish and Gentile ancestry who claimed descent from Jacob and worshiped the God of Israel.
- The Samaritans occupied the country formerly belonging to the tribe of Ephraim and the half-tribe of Manasseh. The capital of the country was Samaria, formerly a large and splendid city. When the ten tribes were carried away into captivity to Assyria, the king of Assyria sent people from Cutha, Ava, Hamath, and Sepharvaim to inhabit Samaria (2 Kings 17:24; Ezra 4:2-11). These foreigners intermarried with the Israelite population that was still in and around Samaria.
- These “Samaritans” at first worshiped the idols of their own nations, but being troubled with lions, they supposed it was because they had not honored the God of that territory. A Jewish priest was therefore sent to them from Assyria to instruct them in the Jewish religion. They were instructed from the books of Moses, but still retained many of their idolatrous customs. The Samaritans embraced a religion that was a mixture of Judaism and idolatry (2 Kings 17:26-28).
- Because the Israelite inhabitants of Samaria had intermarried with the foreigners and adopted their idolatrous religion, Samaritans were universally despised by the Jews. They engaged the Jews in bitter rivalry, often leading to political hostilities in Jesus’ day, sometimes requiring Roman intervention.
Other reasons for the animosity between Jews and Samaritans:
- The Jews, after their return from Babylon, began rebuilding their temple. While Nehemiah was engaged in building the walls of Jerusalem, the Samaritans vigorously attempted to halt the undertaking (Nehemiah 6:1-14).
- The Samaritans built a temple for themselves on “Mount Gerizim,” which the Samaritans insisted was designated by Moses as the place where the nation should worship. Sanballat, the leader of the Samaritans, established his son-in-law, Manasses, as high priest. The idolatrous religion of the Samaritans thus became perpetuated.
- Samaria became a place of refuge for all the outlaws of Judea (Joshua 20:6-7; 21:21). The Samaritans willingly received Jewish criminals and refugees from justice. The violators of the Jewish laws, and those who had been excommunicated, found safety for themselves in Samaria, greatly increasing the hatred which existed between the two nations.
- The Samaritans received only the five books of Moses and rejected the writings of the prophets and all the Jewish traditions.
- From these causes arose an irreconcilable difference between them, so that the Jews regarded the Samaritans as the worst of the human race (Jn 8:48) and had no dealings with them (Jn 4:9).
- The Samaritans expected a coming messianic leader. But they did not expect Him to be an anointed king of the Davidic line, since they rejected all the Old Testament except the Pentateuch. Based on Deuteronomy 18:15–18, they expected a Moses-like figure who would solve all their problems.
- Note: Since the Samaritans were restricted to the Pentateuch, they lacked the theological richness of the revelation of God in the rest of the OT. When Jesus says salvation is from the Jews (22) he is not saying all Jews will be saved, but that through the Jews came the knowledge of that salvation in the Scriptures. (NBC, Carson & Motyer)
- Despite the hatred between the Jews and the Samaritans, Jesus broke down the barriers between them, preaching the gospel of peace to the Samaritans (Jn 4:6-26), and the apostles later followed His example (Acts 8:25).
Read John 1:1-23; 13:1-3; 20:30-31 for further historical context.
LITERARY CONTEXT:
Key Words:
- Samaritans/Samaria
- Living water
- Worship, Spirit and truth
- Harvest, reap, sow
Structure of the Passage
How is the passage broken down into sections? How does what comes before and after our key passage in John 4 fit together to help shape the author’s main point?
- Contrast with story of Nicodemus in Ch. 3. The respectable, Jewish, religious, and pure man and she the outcast, immoral woman. But the point comes in the transition verse in John 3:36.
- “Whoever believes…” – This includes not just the pious Jew but “anyone” including Samaritans.
- From there the author takes us to Jesus’ encounter with the woman at the well.
John 4:1-6
- Read Ezekiel 37:15-28 for historical context on John 4
- History of bitter rivalry between Judah (Israelites) and Samaria Ezekiel 37:15-28
- The prophets had promised a day when the bitter rivals of Samaria and Judah would be reunited under one king
- Judah and all Israelites associated with this one king, and Joseph and all Israelites associated with him would be made into one nation under one king (Eze. 37:22)
- They would be saved from backsliding into idolatry, cleansed and restored to a relationship with God (Eze. 37:23)
- The promise of God dwelling among His people in His sanctuary (Eze. 37:26-28)
- At this point in John 4, none of these promises had been fulfilled.
John 4:7-15
- Living Water
- Jesus’ words about living water also remind of another Ezekiel passage Eze. 47:1-12; 43:1-12.
- The prophet Ezekiel is shown the living water that flows out from the temple after the return of God’s glory to the temple after the return from exile (though not in its former glory).
- Living water is also a picture of eternal life and the pouring out of God’s Spirit in the day of God’s salvation. (Isa. 44:3; 55:1-3)
- Women drew water from the well in the morning or late afternoon when the heat was less intense; coming at noon may indicate she was ostracized.
- 4:10-12 – Jesus introduces the main points of his conversation with the woman—who HE is and the nature of God’s gift of eternal life.
- Like Nicodemus, she does not realize that Jesus is speaking about spiritual issues.
- She assumes she is one of God’s people because she can claim Jacob as her spiritual father.
- Jesus implies He is much greater than Jacob. He can give the Samaritans something far greater than Jacob did.
- The woman is focused on the physical and Jesus is directing her to the spiritual, the eternal.
- Jesus gives life!
4:16-26
- Worship
- Jesus exposes her background primarily as a means of identifying Himself to her, not to shame her. Shame is the enemy’s tactic. Note: The fact that Jesus pinpoints her sin is not further commented on, so we should avoid making it a major point.
- She discusses worship with Jesus. It was rare for women to discuss theological issues with men.
- When she acknowledged that Jesus was a prophet (v. 19), she probably thought of an inspired person. This is at least some advance on her earlier view of him. Although the woman’s introduction of the issue of the place of worship may seem a diversion to avoid an unpleasant subject, it is more likely that her realizing that Jesus was some kind of Jewish prophet prompted her to show her acquaintance with Jewish-Samaritan differences over the main place of worship (v. 20). Worship was closely linked to a sacred place. In the past there had been a temple built on Mt. Gerizim to rival the temple at Jerusalem. Even after the Gerizim temple was destroyed by John Hyrcanus, the Samaritans continued worshipping on the mountain.
- Jesus is the Messiah who brings life to all, Samaritan and Jew. He reunites them in “true worship.”
- Once she begins to realize who Jesus is, then the spiritual nature of the conversation begins to make sense to her.
- Verses 21-25 bring the conversation to a focus: God is seeking “true worshippers” who will worship Him in Spirit and truth.
- God is spirit points to God as divine and like no other:
- He is omnipresent —He cannot be tied down to a place, controlled or regulated
- He is omniscient — He knows everything
- He is Spirit and Truth—He cannot be confined by a simple set of legalistic codes
- He is worthy —He must be worshipped in Spirit—all the time, everywhere and by everyone
- He has revealed Himself “in truth”— first to the Jews in the Old Testament and now in Jesus to “all who believe”
- Jesus is the Christ! Jesus is really the Messiah, for the Samaritans as well as the Jews (Cross Reference: Eze. 37:15-28)
- Jesus is the Christ. God gives eternal life through a person, not a place.
John 4:27-38
- Harvest/reap/sow are key ideas.
- Disciples encouraging Jesus to eat.
- Jesus reminds them His food is to “do the will of Him who sent me”— points to an eternal perspective.
- This section is an example and proof that it is really the “harvest time,” the Samaritans who hear the woman’s testimony display a true growing faith.
- Eternal life is being offered to the Samaritans and they are receiving it.
John 4:39-42
- Many heard and believed because of the woman’s testimony. Ties back to harvest/reap/sow in vv. 27-38.
Let’s consider what we have observed in the text and Jesus encounter with this woman in her suffering and hardship:
- How was the woman suffering when she encountered Jesus? Alone, ostracized, living in sin
- Did Jesus recognize her suffering? Yes, He knew all her deepest secrets, which are revealed as the conversation progresses. He ignores social customs and norms by speaking to a woman, and a Samaritan woman at that.
- What did Jesus address first, and how did He address it? He begins by addressing her spiritual need for “living water.” He knows her suffering and that her deepest need is a relationship with God.
- The woman at the well is consistently focused on the physical, here and now (water/well, mountain/worship), Jesus redirects her attention to her more significant spiritual need.
#3 AUTHOR’S AIM:
Jesus is Christ the Messiah who gives life. God gives eternal life through a person, not a place. This gift is available to “all” who believe.
#4 BRIDGE THE GAP:
- Jesus has completed what He came to accomplish on the cross.
- The original audience only sees in part what we know more completely now.
#5 TIMELESS TRUTH/GOSPEL IMPACT:
Jesus is Christ the Messiah who gives life. This gift is available to “all” who believe. The gospel impacts my perspective on my season of hardship and suffering. It gives an eternal perspective instead of focusing on the here and now. It brings comfort and hope because I have an understanding of who Christ Jesus is, what He has done, and who I am in Him.
#6 “US/NOW”
Let’s reflect on what we have observed in the passage and the timeless truth as we consider how this passage might apply to our lives, the “Us/Now.”
Jesus meets us where we are just as He did this woman. Regardless of our present suffering or hardship, He is greater! When we turn our eyes to Him, we gain perspective on our circumstances. Jesus always points us to something beyond our physical circumstances (what we are feeling or seeing). His grace is greater than any need or problem we have. His presence is always near. He grace is sufficient to sustain us and carry us through whatever season of hardship or suffering we find ourselves. Cry out to Him and He will meet you where you are with His glorious presence, His goodness and His grace.
“But he said to me, ‘My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.’ Therefore I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me. For the sake of Christ, then, I am content with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and calamities. For when I am weak, then I am strong.” —2 Corinthians 12:9-10 (ESV)
Rejoicing in Christ Jesus,
©2024
