Jesus, The Gift Divine I Know (Charles Wesley)
John 4 (interlinear Greek) John 4 (KJV – NRSV)
Key verse (4:23): But the hour cometh , and now is, when the true worshippers shall worship the Father in spirit and truth: for such doth the Father seek to be his worshippers.
Meditation (4:14): the water that I shall give him shall become in him a well of water springing up unto eternal life.
A Woman of Samaria
1 When therefore the Lord knew that the Pharisees had heard that Jesus was making and baptizing more disciples than John 2 (although Jesus himself baptized not, but his disciples), 3 he left Judaea, and departed again into Galilee. 4 And he must needs pass through Samaria. 5 So he cometh to a city of Samaria, called Sychar, near to the parcel of ground that Jacob gave to his son Joseph: 6 and Jacob’s well was there. Jesus therefore, being wearied with his journey, sat thus by the well. 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 into the city to buy food. 9 The Samaritan woman therefore saith unto him, How is it that thou, being a Jew, askest drink of me, who am a Samaritan woman? (For Jews have no dealings with 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: whence then hast thou that living water? 12 Art thou greater than our father Jacob, who gave us the well, and drank thereof himself, and his sons, and his cattle? 13 Jesus answered and said unto her, Every one that 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 become in him a well of water springing up unto eternal life. 15 The woman saith unto him, Sir, give me this water, that I thirst not, neither come all the way hither to draw.
16 Jesus saith unto her, Go, call thy husband, and come hither. 17 The woman answered and said unto him, I have no husband. Jesus saith unto her, Thou saidst well, I have no husband: 18 for thou hast had five husbands; and he whom thou now hast is not thy husband: this hast thou said 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 neither in this mountain, nor in Jerusalem, shall ye worship the Father. 22 Ye worship that which ye know not: we worship that which we know; for salvation is from the Jews. 23 But the hour cometh, and now is, when the true worshippers shall worship the Father in spirit and truth: for such doth the Father seek to be his worshippers. 24 God is a Spirit: and they that worship him must worship in spirit and truth. 25 The woman saith unto him, I know that Messiah cometh (he that is called Christ): when he is come, he will declare unto us all things. 26 Jesus saith unto her, I that speak unto thee am he.
“This land in our Saviour’s time was divided into three parts: Judea in the south, Galilee in the north, and Samaria lying between them… The Samaritans, both in blood and religion, were mongrel Jews, the posterity of those colonies which the king of Assyria planted there after the captivity of the ten tribes, with whom the poor of the land that were left behind, and many other Jews afterwards, incorporated themselves. They worshipped the God of Israel only, to whom they erected a temple on mount Gerizim, in competition with that at Jerusalem. There was great enmity between them and the Jews.” (Matthew Henry) By “mongrel” is meant that the original Jewish people had children with those tribes sent into the land by the Assyrians.
“The Jews say that those who wished to get wives went to the wells where young women were accustomed to come and draw water; and it is supposed that women of ill fame frequented such places also.” (Clarke) Here Jesus chose to rest, while his disciples went into town to get food. I suspect that the Apostle John stayed with him, as it is unlikely they would leave him by himself in such a place. If so, that would explain how John knows what happened with the woman at the well and can testify to it. I think it unlikely that Jesus bragged on himself with the details of the story when his disciples returned. Surely, it would not have been safe to leave him alone in Samaritan territory.
Nicodemus came to Jesus, drawn to him by his reputation. The woman at the well appears to be a chance encounter, “the preventing grace of God sometimes brings people unexpectedly under the means of conversion and salvation. He is found of them that sought him not… Christ takes this occasion to instruct her in divine things.” (Matthew Henry) We do well to witness in the same careful, loving manner when we encounter someone in need of Christ. “Christ will convert this woman, not by showing her that the Samaritan worship was schismatical (though really it was so), but by showing her her own ignorance and immoralities, and her need of a Saviour.” (Henry)
“When the Lord speaks of spiritual things, in language well suited to awaken the heart, directing her attention to heavenly things in a way that one would have thought it impossible to misunderstand, she cannot comprehend it. The natural man cannot understand the things of the Spirit: they are spiritually discerned.” (Darby) Like Nicodemus, the woman at the well did not fully comprehend what Jesus was trying to explain. Here, he speaks of living water. To Nicodemus he spoke of new birth. In both cases, they did not (at first) see the spiritual significance of the teaching. “We should honor men who are eminent in piety, or endued with other uncommon gifts; but it ought to be in such a manner that God may always remain eminent above all — that Christ, with his Gospel, may shine illustriously, for to him all the splendor of the world must yield.” (Calvin)
“A good man is satisfied from himself, for Christ dwells in his heart. The anointing abides in him; he needs not sneak to the world for comfort; the work and the witness of the Spirit in the heart furnish him with a firm foundation of hope and an overflowing fountain of joy… What he had said concerning his grace and eternal life he found had made little impression upon her, because she had not been convinced of sin: therefore, waiving the discourse about the living water, he sets himself to awaken her conscience, to open the wound of guilt, and then she would more easily apprehend the remedy by grace.” (Henry) “As water quenches the thirst, refreshes and invigorates the body, purifies things defiled, and renders the earth fruitful, so it is an apt emblem of the gift of the Holy Ghost, which so satisfies the souls that receive it that they thirst no more for earthly good; it purifies also from all spiritual defilement, on which account it is emphatically styled the Holy Spirit; and it makes those who receive it fruitful in every good word and work.” (Clarke)
“Living water was a common phrase among the Jesus for spring water.” (Wesley) “The Jews used the expression ‘living water’ to denote springs, fountains, or running streams, in opposition to dead and stagnant water. Jesus here means to denote by it his doctrine, or his grace and religion, in opposition to the impure and dead notions of the Jews and the Samaritans… The soul by nature is like such a desert, or like a traveler wandering through such a desert. It is thirsting for happiness, and seeking it everywhere, and finds it not. It looks in all directions and tries all objects, but in vain. Nothing meets its desires. Though a sinner seeks for joy in wealth and pleasures, yet he is not satisfied. He still thirsts for more, and seeks still for happiness in some new enjoyment. To such a weary and unsatisfied sinner the grace of Christ is ‘as cold waters to a thirsty soul.'” (Barnes)
“He distinguishes between the use of the two kinds of water; that the one serves the body, and only for a time, while the power of the other gives perpetual vigor to the soul… he does not say that, from the very first day, we drink so as to be fully satisfied, but only means that the Holy Spirit is a continually flowing fountain; and that, therefore, there is no danger that they who have been renewed by spiritual grace shall be dried up. And, therefore, although we thirst throughout our whole life, yet it is certain that we have not received the Holy Spirit for a single day, or for any short period, but as a perennial fountain, which will never fail us. Thus believers thirst, and keenly thirst, throughout their whole life; and yet they have abundance of quickening moisture; for however small may have been the measure of grace which they have received, it gives them perpetual vigor, so that they are never entirely dry… The grace of Christ, therefore, does not flow to us for a short time, but overflows into a blessed immortality; for it does not cease to flow until the incorruptible life which it commences be brought to perfection.” (Calvin) By this, we are reminded of the two waters mentioned in his teaching of Nicodemus.
At first, the woman at the well properly asks Jesus to give her this water so that she need not come all the way hither to draw. As for so many, what we want from Christ is an easier life. We want his gifts to make our way prosperous and smooth, better than that of our neighbors who do not profess to be Christians. We are drawn to the prosperity gospel and its promises of worldly wealth and ease. But this living water is not to make us rich in worldly goods, living the good life in Christ. It is to make us good people, living a life of holiness and spiritual peace. In his response to the woman, Jesus gets to the heart of the matter, which is her relationship with men. Jesus, being a Jew, was clearly a stranger to her town and reputation. Only a prophet would have known about her. But it was not deliverance from poor choices that she wanted from a prophet. She wanted to know how to worship properly so she would be forgiven by God for her sins.
Calvin takes a somewhat different tack, “Nothing is more common than for sinners to change the conversation when it begins to bear too hard upon their consciences; and no way of doing it is more common than to direct it to sonic speculative inquiry having some sort of connection with religion, as if to show that they are willing to talk about religion, and do not wish to appear to be opposed to it. Sinners do not love direct religious conversation, but many are too well-bred to refuse altogether to talk about it; yet they choose to converse about some speculative matter, or something pertaining to the mere ‘externals’ of religion, rather than the salvation of their own souls. So sinners often now change the conversation to some inquiry about a preacher, or about some doctrine, or about building or repairing a place of worship, or about a Sunday school, in order to seem to talk about religion, and yet to evade close and faithful appeals to their own consciences.”
The context of the question she asked is explained by Wesley and Clarke. “Sanballat, by the permission of Alexander the Great, had built a temple upon Mount Gerizim, for Manasseh, who for marrying Sanballat’s daughter had been expelled from the priesthood and from Jerusalem, Neh xiii, 28.” (Wesley) The temple on Mount Gerizim carried out sacrifices like that in Jerusalem but was destroyed 150 years before the time of Jesus. “When the Romans took over control of Palestine in 64-63 BC, the Samaritans were free to restore their independent religious customs.” (Interpreter’s Bible) The Samaritans worshipped locally on this mount rather than in the true temple in Jerusalem. Thus, “The worship of the Samaritans was a defective worship – they did not receive the prophetical writings.” (Clarke) This leads to the question of what is true worship? “It is required of all that worship God that they worship him in spirit and in truth… We must depend upon God’s Spirit for strength and assistance, laying our souls under his influences and operations; we must devote our own spirits to, and employ them in, the service of God (Rom 1:9), must worship him with fixedness of thought and a flame of affection, with all that is within us… In truth, that is, in sincerity. God requires not only the inward part in our worship, but truth in the inward part, Psa 51:6. We must mind the power more than the form, must aim at God’s glory, and not to be seen of men; draw near with a true heart,” (Clarke)
Jesus is saying that it does not matter so much where you worship but how you worship. “Why, and in what sense, is the worship of God called spiritual? To understand this, we must attend to the contrast between the spirit and outward emblems, as between the shadows and the truth. The worship of God is said to consist in the spirit, because it is nothing else than that inward faith of the heart which produces prayer, and, next, purity of conscience and self-denial, that we may be dedicated to obedience to God as holy sacrifices. .. as God is always like himself, he did not from the beginning of the world approve of any other worship than that which is spiritual, and which agrees with his own nature. This is abundantly attested by Moses himself, who declares in many passages that the Law has no other object than that the people may cleave to God with faith and a pure conscience. But it is still more plainly declared by the Prophets when they attack with severity the hypocrisy of the people, because they thought that they had satisfied God, when they had performed the sacrifices and made an outward display. .. In all ages God wished to be worshipped by faith, prayer, thanksgiving, purity of heart, and innocence of life; and at no time did he delight in any other sacrifices.” (Calvin)
A dramatic change came over the woman in this encounter with Christ. At first, her interest was only in making her physical life easier. Jesus offered more and what he said penetrated to her soul. He enlivened her interest in working through what most troubled her heart. Her eyes were opened spiritually to his message as we learn from her going back to tell her people she had found the Messiah. Her enthusiasm was contagious as we discover in the next few verses. Even her first searching question indicated a longing to know God. “She proposed it with a good design; she knew she must worship God, and desired to do it aright; and therefore, meeting with a prophet, begs his direction.. When we are in company with those that are fit to teach, let us be forward to learn, and have a good question ready to put to those who are able to give a good answer.” (Matthew Henry)
What does it mean to worship in spirit and in truth? “We must depend upon God’s Spirit for strength and assistance, laying our souls under his influences and operations; we must devote our own spirits to, and employ them in, the service of God (Rom 1:9), must worship him with fixedness of thought and a flame of affection, with all that is within us.” (Matthew Henry)
Come and See
27 And upon this came his disciples; and they marvelled that he was speaking with a woman; yet no man said, What seekest thou? or, Why speakest thou with her? 28 So the woman left her waterpot, and went away into the city, and saith to the people, 29 Come, see a man, who told me all things that ever I did: can this be the Christ? 30 They went out of the city, and were coming to him. 31 In the mean while the disciples prayed him, saying, Rabbi, eat. 32 But he said unto them, I have meat to eat that ye know not. 33 The disciples therefore said one to another, Hath any man brought him aught to eat? 34 Jesus saith unto them, My meat is to do the will of him that sent me, and to accomplish his work. 35 Say not ye, There are yet four months, and then cometh the harvest? behold, I say unto you, Lift up your eyes, and look on the fields, that they are white already unto harvest. 36 He that reapeth receiveth wages, and gathereth fruit unto life eternal; that he that soweth and he that reapeth may rejoice together. 37 For herein is the saying true, One soweth, and another reapeth. 38 I sent you to reap that whereon ye have not labored: others have labored, and ye are entered into their labor.
39 And from that city many of the Samaritans believed on him because of the word of the woman, who testified, He told me all things that ever I did. 40 So when the Samaritans came unto him, they besought him to abide with them: and he abode there two days. 41 And many more believed because of his word; 42 and they said to the woman, Now we believe, not because of thy speaking: for we have heard for ourselves, and know that this is indeed the Saviour of the world.
It must have been quite a shock for the disciples to see Jesus conversing with a Samaritan woman at the well. But, “they did not venture to put a question; for we are taught by their example that, if any thing in the works or words of God and of Christ be disagreeable to our feelings, we ought not to give ourselves a loose rein so as to have the boldness to murmur, but ought to preserve a modest silence, until what is hidden from us be revealed from heaven.” (Calvin) The woman leaves when the disciples return. At first, we might think it is out of embarrassment, as Jesus was a single man and she had no husband. But we learn that she is excited to share who she met at the well and what he had told her. “It is an indication of haste, that she leaves her pitcher, and returns to the city. And this is the nature of faith, that when we have become partakers of eternal life, we wish to bring others to share with us; nor is it possible that the knowledge of God shall lie buried and inactive in our hearts without being manifested before men.” (Calvin)
“When he sat down upon the well, he was weary, and needed refreshment; but this opportunity of saving souls made him forget his weariness and hunger… Let us learn hence a holy indifference even to the needful supports of life, in comparison with spiritual things.” (Matthew Henry)
Clarke tells us that “This woman was the first apostle of Christ in Samaria! She went and told her fellow citizens that the Messiah was come; and gave for proof, that he had told her the most secret things she had ever done.” From this we should learn to never hinder a woman from preaching, nor should we berate her for her past behavior. We discover that many of the Samaritans believed on him because of the word of the woman, who testified, That is a remarkable statement. Some will not come directly to Christ by the preaching of the Gospel message. They may need to be drawn in by personal relationships and testimony. The people of the city even besought him to abide with them. Whatever she may have witnessed, it was compelling enough to draw them to Christ. “For whence does it arise that, as soon as they hear a word about Christ, they are so eager to seek him, but because they had learned, from the Law and the Prophets, that the Redeemer would come?” (Calvin)
Then again, maybe some of the men in town were afraid Jesus might be talking smack about them, so they went to check him out and stop it. In any case, they ended up believing. Matthew Henry explains, “One would have thought that his telling the woman of her secret sins would have made them afraid of coming to him, lest he should tell them also of their faults; but they will venture that rather than not be acquainted with one who they had reason to think was a prophet… These Samaritans, for the sake of the woman’s saying, believed so far as to come and see, to come and make trial… aith comes to its growth, strength, and maturity, by hearing the testimony of Christ himself; and this goes further, and recommends his doctrine to our acceptance, and obliges us to believe it as undoubtedly certain. We were induced to look into the scriptures by the saying of those who told us that in them they had found eternal life; but when we ourselves have found it in them too, have experienced the enlightening, convincing, regenerating, sanctifying, comforting, power of the word, now we believe, not for their saying, but because we have searched them ourselves: and our faith stands not in the wisdom of men, but in the power of God.”
Thy Son Liveth
43 And after the two days he went forth from thence into Galilee. 44 For Jesus himself testified, that a prophet hath no honor in his own country. 45 So when he came into Galilee, the Galilaeans received him, having seen all the things that he did in Jerusalem at the feast: for they also went unto the feast.
46 He came therefore again unto Cana of Galilee, where he made the water wine. And there was a certain nobleman, whose son was sick at Capernaum. 47 When he heard that Jesus was come out of Judaea into Galilee, he went unto him, and besought him that he would come down, and heal his son; for he was at the point of death. 48 Jesus therefore said unto him, Except ye see signs and wonders, ye will in no wise believe. 49 The nobleman saith unto him, Sir, come down ere my child die. 50 Jesus saith unto him, Go thy way; thy son liveth. The man believed the word that Jesus spake unto him, and he went his way. 51 And as he was now going down, his servants met him, saying, that his son lived. 52 So he inquired of them the hour when he began to amend. They said therefore unto him, Yesterday at the seventh hour the fever left him. 53 So the father knew that it was at that hour in which Jesus said unto him, Thy son liveth: and himself believed, and his whole house. 54 This is again the second sign that Jesus did, having come out of Judaea into Galilee.
This healing of the son of the nobleman leads into the healing on the sabbath of the next chapter. Jesus demonstrates his power of life, to restore the boy, even at a distance. The nobleman demonstrated faith in Jesus. Jesus recognized his faith. Like the woman at the well, he had a testimony to give that Jesus healed his son.
We discover here that Jesus can heal from a distance. “Though Christ is now in heaven, and his church on earth, he can send from above… When he denies what we ask, he gives what is much more to our advantage; we ask for ease, he gives patience. Observe, His power was exerted by his word. In saying, Thy son lives, he showed that he has life in himself, and power to quicken whom he will. Christ’s saying, Thy soul lives, makes it alive.” (Matthew Henry) We do not need Christ to come back to earth to heal our families.
Videos
Changed Lives (Timothy Keller) John 4:1-26
The Healing (Timothy Keller) John 4:46-54
He Knows You Completely (Colin Smith) John 4:1-30
He is the Savior (Colin Smith) John 4:31-4
He Can Be Trusted (Colin Smith) John 4:43-54
Sources
The Interpreter’s Bible One-Volume Commentary on the Bible, 1971
Making a Difference in the World 