Reflection on John 4

Reflection on John 4 #1

Karen

Most of John 4 records the one-on-one talk between our Lord Jesus and an unnamed Samaritan woman. This is one of my favorite stories because I often thought of myself being the woman who talked with the Lord who is the one and only true lover of my soul. This gives me a lot of insight of my Lord as well as myself.

At that time, the antagonism of the Pharisees grew as they took note of Jesus' growing ministry. To avoid premature conflicts, Jesus took His disciples, "left Judea and went back once more to Galilee." Judea was the southern province, Galilee was the northern one. In between the provinces, there was Samaria. Samaritans were either descendants of few Jews intermarried with gentile settlers, or gentiles. They intertwined the worship of idols with confused belief in the true God, the God of Israel. They accepted only the five books of Moses, but rewrote even those to inject their own ideas. They twisted history and truth to elevate themselves over the hated Jews. They claimed Mount Gerizim, not Mount Zion was the most sacred spot of earth.

The Gospel says that our Lord Jesus "had to go through Samaria." But He did not have to unless He wanted to. He wanted to meet up with a lonely nameless Samaritan woman who had very low moral standard. "So He came to a town in Samaria called Sychar, near the plot of ground Jacob had given to his son Joseph. Jacob's well was there, and Jesus, tired as He was from the journey, sat down by the well. It was about the sixth hour." His disciples went into the nearby town to buy food at that time. Jesus sat there alone in His weariness. It was noon when the heat was greatest. Then there came an outcast Samaritan woman who had to draw water at this unusual hour to avoid other women. She had no idea the Lord Jesus was waiting for her to offer her the greatest gift of God.

Jesus took the initiative by asking her for water, "Will you give me a drink?" By asking for a service, our Lord Jesus immediately placed Himself at a very humble position. Our Lord was sympathetic, understanding and graciously humble as He started the conversation this way to win this lonely woman's soul. The woman was so surprised when Jesus, a Jewish man, spoke to her. The nature of the request must have shocked her too, for Jews wouldn't even use Samaritan's utensils. But she also felt His kindness and His respect toward her. By breaking the silence and making the request, our Lord broke the barriers of culture and religion, and softened this woman's heart. She had the courage to ask frankly, "You are a Jew and I am a Samaritan woman. How can you ask me for a drink?"

Jesus had won the woman's confidence and attention. He changed the direction of the conversation to awaken her spirit. He answered, "If you knew the gift of God and who it is that asks you for a drink, you would have asked him and he would have given you living water." The one who needed a drink of water now pointed to the woman that she needed to ask for "the gift of God" or "living water". And the Jewish man who just asked her "for a drink" would gave her the "living water" gladly. The woman’s mind was still fixed on her task of drawing water from the well and misunderstood the "living water" as physical water. She was happy that someone would think about her need but suspected the capability. She said, "Sir, you have nothing to draw with and the well is deep. Where can you get this living water?" She challenged Jesus, "Are you greater than our father Jacob who gave us the well?" Who could be greater than her great ancestor in her mind? Had she begun to sense some superior power in Jesus?

Jesus simply explained that He wasn't speaking of any physical water such as the fresh spring water in Jacob's well. He said, " Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again, but whoever drinks the water I give him will become in Him a spring of water welling up to eternal life." Being thirsty and thirsty again was something the woman was very familiar with. This was her unhappy experience in her physically and emotionally thirsty yet unsatisfied life. We all experienced this thirst and know how it feels. Such thirst is as a bottomless pit. We want things or people to make us content, to quench our thirst, but soon after we obtain them they slip out of our hands. The more we depend on external things for conscious satisfaction, the more quickly our thirst returns to hound us with increasing intensity.

Only if we drink the water Jesus gives, we "will never thirst." When Jesus promised to give "living water" to us, above all He promised Himself to us, the Word of God to us, or the Holy Spirit to us. "Living water" also pictures the inner spring of joy that continually renews and satisfies the heart of the true believer. Having the "living water" at the deepest core of our beings, we find love, peace, joy, and the meaning to existence. Our inmost needs completely and permanently meet. Jesus alone has power to give God's gift of "living water" to anyone who asks. The woman wanted it and asked, "Sir, give me this water." She still didn't comprehend what the "living water" meant in Jesus' word, but she wanted whatever Jesus offered so that she "won't get thirsty and have to keep coming here to draw water." The woman might be very ignorant of the Scripture, totally opposite of the Pharisee named Nicodemus, but she responded quickly to Jesus' offer. It is not necessary to understand all that is involved to ask for Jesus' gift. Anyway, in this world, it is impossible to understand all that is involved with the idea of "living water" and "eternal life" The poor Samaritan woman didn't understand all, the Scripture scholar Nicodemus didn't do better than her. We couldn't either. But we all can look at Jesus and ask, "Lord, I want your gift, please give it to me."  He will. But He will first make our hearts and hands clean to be worthy to have the precious gift with us. Conviction of sin and repentance from sin are the first steps in granting us the living water.

The next thing Jesus mentioned, the woman definitely understood. Jesus told her, in order to get the wonderful "living water", she needed to "Go, call your husband and come back." The woman assumed that Jesus did not know her. But she didn't have any interest to lie in front of Him, the One who promised the gift of "living water" to her. She didn't give an excuse: my husband is not available for whatever reason. She quickly replied, "I have no husband." She didn't lie and call the man with whom she was living her husband, or maybe she never gave him this title in her heart. She wasn't ready to tell the mess of her life yet.

Jesus spoke next to fully expose the situation of her life in its full light. He wasn't trying to embarrass her, to shame her, or to condemn her. He was trying to help her, to let her face her problem. He opened the wound at the place where His cure was to begin because He is the greatest Physician. He said to her, "You are right when you say you have no husband. The fact is, you have had five husbands, and the man you now have is not your husband."

Did she at this moment catch sight of herself and her morally downhill life in the light of God's truth? Did she feel Jesus speaking truth with compassion and grace? Knowing the worst about her, He chose to approach her, to talk to her, to offer her "living water". Even He knew the darkness inside her heart, He didn't despise her, and He loved her deeply. The woman felt the love and acceptance from the Lord so she accepted His searching words about her past. She said no words of self-pity or self-defense. She looked away from herself to Him. She had much more important thing to ask Him, "Sir, I can see that you are a prophet. Our fathers worshiped on this mountain, but you Jews claim that the place where we must worship is in Jerusalem." She really wanted to know: How should I, a sinful woman, worship? Where should I go to worship?

The Lord understood this woman didn't understand much about worship. He knew how seriously she now desire truth. He asked the woman, "Believe me, woman." He asked this woman in spiritual poverty to have faith in Him. Then He said, "a time is coming when you will worship the Father neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem." He told the woman the Jews and the Samaritans should worship the same Father. And there would no longer be one place of worship when the time came. And the Lord dealt with the woman's prejudice against Jews and the Old Testament. He told her "You Samaritans worship what you do not know; we worship what we do know, for salvation is from the Jews." God revealed Himself to Jews through Old Testament. Jesus Christ, the Messiah, came through the Jews. Samaritans should acknowledge this truth. They should be warned the danger of their man-made worship which placed them under God's wrath.

The Lord told the woman, "Yet a time is coming and has now come", time is never a limitation for Him. Jesus' presence makes past, present and future real at once. And He only accepts the worship from "the true worshipers" who "will worship in spirit and in truth." He emphasizes, "God is spirit, and his worshipers must worship in spirit and in truth." True worship is done with human heart by acknowledging we are sinners. True worship comes from within, is not put on, and is not empty rituals. True worship is the full revelation of God's truth in its entirety. We worship by joining our spirits with His. He is spirit, and so are we. God's requirement for "true worshipers" remains the same today.

When the woman realized that Jesus answered her essential question: how can sinful people like her worship a holy God? Jesus assured her, amid all her sinfulness, that the Father seeks people like her to worship Him "in spirit and in truth." She already believed Jesus was at least "a prophet". She now thought of Jesus being Messiah as God's Prophet who would reveal God's truth. She wanted to learn more truth from Him. She started to wonder if Jesus were "the Prophet, the Messiah", not simply "a prophet". The woman said, "I know that Messiah (called Christ) is coming. When he comes, he will explain everything to us."

Looking at her eyes, Jesus revealed Himself plainly to her, declared, "I who speak to you am he." Can you imagine the scene? By Jacob's well, at noon, the Lord told this sinful woman who failed all intimate relationships that He is the One and Only, the true lover of her soul. And He was waiting for her all the time. Have you experienced the meeting with the true lover of your soul like this Samaritan woman did? If not, I want to let you know, He is waiting for you for your meeting. He will show you your situation to make you confess your "husband" problem, or maybe your "parents, children, siblings, neighbors, co-workers,..." problems. And He will offer you "living water" which bubbles within your heart to cleanse you, for you to renew your soul, to know the truth, in order to worship Him "in spirit and in truth."

Jesus' conversation with the woman seems to have ended abruptly with the disciples' return. The woman left her water jar, went back to the town. She wanted to run back to her town as quickly as possible. Without guilty in her heart since her sin was forgiven, without water jar on her shoulder since drawing water was no longer the foremost task in her mind, this woman must run like a deer! She called her town folks, "Come, see a man who told me everything I ever did. Could this be the Christ?" The woman changed. She showed her love for her Lord whom she just met, and her concerns for her neighbors who for a long time despised her. The town people were surprised by the woman's kindness in fact that she shared the good news with them. They were also shocked by the woman's courage in her open confession but without any hint of shame. Why didn't she hide her sin anymore? But they were more interested in the One who showed kindness to this sinful outcast woman and caused her change. "They came out of the town and made their way toward him."

When they got there, what did they find? They found that Jesus was waiting for all of them. "They urged him to stay with them, and he stayed two days." Our Lord was the first Jew who stayed with the Samaritans for the sake of their salvation. "And because of his words many more became believers." They said to the woman, "We no longer believe just because of what you said; now we have heard for ourselves, and we know that this man really is the Savior of the world." We all need to meet with Jesus personally for our salvation. And once we are saved, we need to call our neighbors "come" and "see Him".

Reflection on John 4 #2

After Jesus revealed Himself plainly to the Samaritan woman His identify as Messiah, his disciples, carring the food they bought, returned from town to Him at Jacob's well. They were surprised by two things. First, they found Jesus talking with a Samaritan woman. They didn't understand why their Master and Rabbi did a thing forbidden by the Jewish law. They had questions. But no one dared to ask, "What do you want?" Or "Why are you talking with her?"  They kept their questions to themselves not  because they totally respected their Master, if this was the case, they wouldn't even have questions in their heart to start with. They didn't ask the questions because it was uncomfortable to ask those kind of question. They should have asked those hard questions to get clear answers which could help them better understand how to minister to women later. The Samaritan woman dared to ask Jesus all her questions, His own disciples didn't. Today we should ask Jesus whatever questions bothering us. He will give us answers. But even we don't ask Him, His answers are in the Bible already. Like in this case, the Lord used His action, His way of approaching to the despised Samaritan woman, to show His followers how to approach a sinful woman, or man.

The second thing which surprised the disciples was that they found their hungry and tired Master whom they left at the well, didn't seem hungry and tired now. But this time they clearly showed their curiosity by urging Him, "Rabbi, eat something." The warm food in their hands must smell good. But their Master wasn't paying attention to the food in their hands. He told them, " I have food to eat that you know nothing about." The disciples were more curious than before. They asked one another, " Could someone have brought Him food." Previously, Nicodemus couldn't understand "born again" mentioned by Jesus, the Samaritan woman couldn't understand "the living water" Jesus mentioned. Now the disciples couldn't understand what was His "food", what drove His hunger and tiredness away, what brought joy in His eyes. 

Having captured His disciples curiosity, Jesus started to train them. He began to prepare them to labor alongside Him, to taste the joy and delight of spiritual childbirth. Jesus said to them, "My food is to do the will of Him who sent me and to finish His work." The secret food which sustained Him was to "do the will of" His Father" who sent Him and to finish triumphantly. This was also the secret source of His joy in His eyes. His Father sent Him to win people's souls. Jesus took deepest joy in offering His "living water" to the Samaritan woman, and to countless others, to win their souls for His Father. Jesus' life aim on earth was to do His Father's will and finish it. Do we make His goal ours? Do we know this is the only goal which can satisfy us and bring us true lasting joy? Present joys brought by wealthy, fame or power fade into insignificance soon or later. But the labor you did to do the will of God has eternal significant and gives you eternal joy.

We all have goals we wish we can achieve. And this undoubtedly involves effects we don't want to make. But we need to make the efforts we don't want to make to achieve the goals we wish to achieve. The goal or aim "to do the will of Him who sent me and to finish His work" is a divine calling. It involves divine effort to achieve the goal. We need Holy Spirit to help us to answer the call and achieve the goal.

Perhaps at that time, Jesus and His disciples saw a big crowd of Samaritans coming toward them. They were coming to meet Jesus. Jesus asked His disciples, "Do you not say, ‘Four months more and then the harvest’?" Yes, farmers plant and harvest at different times, but the same is not always true of spiritual harvest. In Nicodemus' case, Jesus sowed the seed, but the harvest was yet to come. With the Samaritan woman, Jesus just sowed the seed, immediately, the harvest was ready to reap. Jesus reminded them, "I tell you, open your eyes and look at the field! They are ripe for harvest." And Jesus both sowed and reaped for this crop of Samaritans. He explained, "Even now the reaper draws his wage, even now he harvest the crop for eternal life, so that the sower and the reaper may be glad together." Jesus' joy for being the sower and the reaper at the same time was so obviously. This is the reward or wage Jesus tasted that day to empower Him to bear the pain of the cross and give His Father the glory. And later He would receive the reward in far greater measure in heaven. As His followers, we are either sowing or reaping, by faith in Him, we can possess the joy of harvest now and taste it in far greater measure in eternity. 

Next Jesus quoted an old saying "One sows and another reaps" before He explained to them the nature of their future task, "I sent you to reap what you have not worked for. Others have done the hard work, and you have reaped the benefits of their labor." The Lord Jesus and Holy Spirit had done the hard work for all the followers' later task. They would or will reap the benefits of Jesus' sacrificial work.

Just as Jesus finished training class for His disciples, the men and women from the Samaria town Sychar came in front of Him. They could not ignore that the woman changed tremendously. She was so shameful that she had to avoid the crowd. How could she has the courage to ask them in loud voice, " Come, see a man who told me everything I did." She said such thing without any shame, but with abundant joy, and even with kindness toward them who dispised her so obviously. The woman boldly told them, "Could this be the Messiah?" They wondered too. Other than Messiah, who could make the woman changed so completely and instantly? They followed the woman to find out the truth for themselves because they were not content merely to hear about Him from her. They found Jesus waiting for them at the well. "They urged Him to stay with them, and He stayed two days." This was exactly what He had desired when He knew He "had to go through Samaria". Our Lord Jesus was the first One who broke the barriers to serve and save the dispised Samaritans. He knew the needs of Samaritans. "And because of His words many more became believers." Some years later, mentioned in Acts 8, when "Philip went down to a city in Samaria and proclaimed the Christ there.... there was great joy in that city." By then, their Lord had been on the cross, had resurrected and ascended. The Lord did His hard work for them to benefit from His labor. They were thankful and joyful.

The first big group of Samaritan believers told the woman, " We no longer believe just because of what you said; now we have heard for ourselves, and we know that this man really is the Savior of the world." Their faith became grounded in their own personal relationship with Jesus. True faith can never be a "hand me down". It is always a first hand, personal experience. The phrase "the Savior of the world" proclaimed by the Samaritans appears in the Gospel of John for the first time here, and it is the only time in the book. The first group of people who received salvation and openly confessed Jesus as "the Savior of the world" were Samaritans, not Jews. Salvation came first to the Jews, but God sent Jesus into the world to save the world, not only Israel. At that time, majority of Jews  who were privileged to receive the Savior first ignored or dispised Him. But the unprivileged, less educated Samaritans received Jesus as their Savior and "the Savior of the world." 

"After the two days He left for Galilee. ... When He arrived in Galilee, the Galileans welcomed Him." It seemed very strange at the time when He should enjoy the open welcome by His own town folks, Jesus Himself "pointed out that a prophet has no honor in His own country." What did He mean? Let see the reason behind the welcome Galileans gave to Jesus. It was because "They had seen all that He had done in Jerusalem at the Passover Feast, for they also had been there." In another words, they were welcoming Jesus because what He was able to do, but giving no credit for who His word said He was. The Galileans honored Jesus for what He did, but not for who He is. They were welcoming Jesus' service, not Himself as a person. Today so many people want God's service, God's gifts, God's blessings, want God to be their personal aid. But they want nothing about God Himself and His word. Jesus wants us to honor Him for who He really is. His Father desires the same.

"Once more He visited Cana in Galilee, where He had turned the water into wine." The first sign He performed. At the same town, He would perform "the second miraculous sign" to save a boy in another town called Capernaum without even leaving this town Cana.

"There was a certain royal official whose son lay sick at Capernaum. When this man heard that Jesus had arrived in Galilee from Judea", He must ride on his fastest horse, rushed from Capernaum to Cana. "He went to Him and begged him to come and heal his son who was close to death." He probably tried to get all the medical help he could get. Now he turned to Jesus of Nazareth as his last hope for his son's life. He asked Jesus for a service to "heal his son". Jesus never turned down anyone's request for help. Jesus would heal the boy. But Jesus wanted to offer more than this simple service to the officer who came from another town to ask His help.

Jesus told him, "Unless you people see miraculous signs and wonders, you will never believe." Jesus used "you people" to address a much bigger audience than the desperate father. Jesus spoke to all unbelievers who not honor Him for who He is, but beg Him for services only. The officer needed to know that Jesus didn't need to do as he suggested, "to come and heal his son". Jesus is the Almighty Himself. Space and time, even death are not limitations for Him. Jesus challenged this father to have higher level of faith in Him.

The father must felt that Jesus encouraged him to take the next step to show he believed in His power to heal. But he still didn't grasp how mighty He is. He said to Jesus, "Sir, come down before my child dies." As a officer, this man's words are short and clear. But this man needed first to believe the word of Jesus without any outward proof. His full faith would be built up this way. It applies to all true believers. To help to build the full faith in this desperate father, Jesus gave him a short and clear command, "You may go. Your son will live." Jesus refused the man's simple request in order to give him much more. Jesus gave the man full faith to trust His word and wait with peace in heart to see the realization of every word He said. His word is as powerful as Himself. His word gives life and sustains life. His word is the power of creation and salvation. To believe Jesus is to believe His word. To honor Jesus is to honor His divine word and act on it.

Faith is not a feeling, it is an action. To believe is to act. The royal official understood the command. He believed Jesus' word and acted on it to show his true faith. "The man took Jesus at His word and departed." He didn't rush back to his son's sickbed. On that day he went on to do his other business with peace in his heart. He decided to return home the next day.

"While he was still on the way, his servants met him with the news that his boy was living." The servants may worried about their master who didn't return the day before to be with his deadly ill boy. They surly wanted to share with him the unbelievable good news. They told him, "The fever left him yesterday at the seventh hour." The father remembered that this was the exact time at which Jesus had said to him ,"Your son will live." He had believed Jesus' word without seeing the realization. Now the realization of Jesus' word in turn strengthened his faith, gave him much more joy, made him much more thankful to Jesus. The Lord Jesus answered his request in His way which blessed him so much more. 

The father must shared with his household what happened at Cana. "So he and all his household believed."