1-3) Jesus has celebrity status--people are talking about Him. He’s ticking Pharisees off because a carpenter is drawing more attention then their theological degrees and qualifications. Jesus is constantly on the run. Jesus is probably pretty tired.
4) “He had to go through Samaria.”
There’s enough in those six words to keep me fed for a long time. Because, actually, Jesus did not have to, geographically, go through Samaria. (According to a British theological scholar named Arthur Pink who died in 1952 haha) Jesus could have crossed the river and went through another land (Perea). So He took a route that was longer and out of his way. But still, John writes, “Jesus had to go through Samaria.” This shows us something about God’s ways… he doesn’t take the easy route always. I’d say he seldom takes the easy route. Jesus does a lot of things that seem unnecessary but in His eyes they are required. There is no other way.
We also know from those words that Jesus doesn’t act in response to what the Pharisees have outlined for him. Sometimes it seems like Jesus is a fugitive, but Jesus never bowed down to them—held them in reverence in the way that he would let them determine, through fear, what to do next. Jesus had one god, Jehovah…
To sum up: Jesus, hot and tired, goes out of his way… he must be up to something.
6) “It was the sixth hour.” Noon. Jesus walked an extra stretch in this hot land and the sun is high. Our Jesus could be exhausted, too. We think we have busy schedules. Imagine what was on Jesus’ plate.
7) Taboo. Jews weren’t really supposed to speak with Samaritans-- especially not Samaritan women.
(8-9) Also, his disciples had left him so he was alone with the Samaritan woman. What a trouble maker. The woman is quick to point that out to him. “You are a Jew and I am a Samaritan and I’m a woman…” Our Lord doesn’t let that stop him. He knows this woman needs His life… Jesus never lets cultural differences stop him from doing what he’s got to do.
10) “If you knew…” Jesus has got something so incredibly wonderful for this woman. Something that cultural boundaries, the walls this world his put up around this woman (and as we will see, she put up for herself) cannot stop from reaching her.
11) Jesus mentioned living water and this woman still has her mind on the boundaries of this world. “You don’t have anything to get water with.” She’s thinking about one part hydrogen, two parts oxygen.
14-15) Jesus is obviously (to us) speaking in spiritual terms but he woman is still interpreting this as H2O water—she’s thinking he is talking literally (and why should she not?)… She’s seeing this water as something convenient. But there is more to it than just that. Maybe she thinks Jesus is going to whip out a magic potion from the fountain of youth.
16-18) Jesus then broadens the discussion to another level. “Go call your husband.” She says “I have no husband.” This might actually be true. She might not, technically at this point have a husband. But Jesus isn’t looking at her with the “technical eyes of this world.” He sees her for what she truly is (if he were looking through the world’s lens, he probably wouldn’t be talking to her, as we already established.)
So, she says she’s got no husband and then Jesus tells her something about herself that she may or may not know: “You’ve had five husbands.” Whoops. So then this interaction is really going into the dangerous waters… Not only is she 1) a Samaritan (taboo) 2) a woman (bigger taboo) but now we know she’s a slut (run, Jesus, run!!). So Jesus went out of his way for a woman that was, culturally (to a Jew) at the bottom. This is our Jesus. “While we were still sinners, He died for us.” That statement permeates all that he does.
19-22) Okay, so now the woman is starting to understand that there’s more to this conversation than H2O… She first recognizes Jesus as a Prophet. He is clearly from God. But she’s still blind in the area of what Jesus is truly offering here. She brings up “Well… you worship over there and we worship over here…” Jesus says he’s from God and the first thing she thinks of is “church.” This happens to us, right, when we share the gospel? At least in America. Someone finds out I’m a Christian and they say, “Oh, are you catholic or protestant?”
Jesus is not offering the woman a nice church. He’s offering her something that goes way beyond “church.”
23) He tells her, “The time is coming and has now come when the true worshippers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for they are the kinds of worshippers the Father seeks. God is the spirit, and his worshippers must worship in spirit and in truth.”
This is a message for a Samaritan prostitute. To God, there is no Jew or Gentile anymore… that is huge. It’s as huge today as it was then. God doesn’t care what our background. I look around our “congregation”—a Kenyan fellowshipping with little white American women, a couple Indians, a Philippino, and a bunch of Thais. We can do that because we worship in God’s spirit. If we get away from God’s spirit, if we start to look at our “church” circumstances, we are lost. We are as lost as this Samaritan prostitute, who says, “well… you all worship over there and we worship over here…”
24-26) Praise God, because this woman starts to get it: “I heard there’s supposed to be a Messiah coming… He’s going to explain all of that to us.” Jesus says, “You’re looking at him.”
The world is waiting for a Messiah and this woman, this bad Samaritan woman is looking straight at him. The impact of that moment was incredible… especially when we see what follows
27) The disciples come back and boy are they confused… “Why are you talking to her!?” Are you trying to get us creamed? They are exhausted and tired too… and Jesus just made them go out of their way so he could talk to a bad Samaritan? When the Lord is leading our lives, we can expect moments like these. “What, you called me all the way to Thailand so I could have one three minute conversation with a Burmese girl at a bus stop and now you’re sending me home?!” Jesus works like this. Be prepared.
28-29) Jesus works this way because he sees the bigger picture. We see one Burmese girl but he sees nations of people through the seeds we plant. He tries to get his disciples to think that way. We see it in this account—the woman leaves her water jar behind and goes and tells people about Jesus. “Could this be the Christ? Check him out!” And now the Samaritans are all running to Jesus wanting to see who he is. Praise to God, because he does things that seem like a waste of time but he never wastes our time. God doesn’t work according to what the world thinks is practical or timely. We do, and that’s usually good… but God doesn’t. If God is going to be the one who leads us, we know that he will through us for some loops of confusion, but he’s He knows what He’s doing… We can trust him, like May trusts Him. “I can’t WAIT to see what God will do!” I pray I will never forget those words from her.
39) “Many Samaritans believed because of this woman’s testimony.” John acknowledges that in his gospel, that Jesus had the best plan. And that he chose a bad Samaritan woman to reach multitudes of people. And Jesus loves these people… They ask him to stick around and he does. He takes his time with them.
42)The real miracle of this story: The people hear about Jesus and then go see for themselves that His is, truly, “The savior of the world.”
