John 4
- Who wrote it
- Traditionally John, the son of Zebedee
- Who it was for
- Followers of Jesus, Jewish and Gentile
- What was happening
- A woman at Jacob's well in Samaria, and an official's son healed
What’s happening
When Jesus learns that the Pharisees have heard he is making and baptizing more disciples than John, he leaves Judea and goes again to Galilee, and he "must pass through Samaria." He comes to a city of Samaria called Sychar, near the parcel of ground Jacob gave to his son Joseph, where Jacob's well is. Jesus, being tired from his journey, sits by the well. It is about the sixth hour, around noon. A woman of Samaria comes to draw water, and Jesus says, "Give me a drink." His disciples have gone away into the city to buy food. The woman says, "How is it that you, being a Jew, ask for a drink from me, a Samaritan woman?" (For Jews have no dealings with Samaritans.) Jesus says, "If you knew the gift of God, and who it is who says to you, 'Give me a drink,' you would have asked him, and he would have given you living water." "Sir, you have nothing to draw with, and the well is deep. From where then have you that living water? Are you greater than our father Jacob?" Jesus answers, "Everyone who drinks of this water will thirst again, but whoever drinks of the water that I will give him will never thirst again; but the water that I will give him will become in him a well of water springing up to eternal life." "Sir, give me this water, that I may not thirst." "Go, call your husband." "I have no husband." "You said well, 'I have no husband,' for you have had five husbands; and he whom you now have is not your husband." "Sir, I perceive that you are a prophet. Our fathers worshiped in this mountain, and you say that in Jerusalem is the place where people ought to worship." Jesus says, "Woman, believe me, the hour comes, when neither in this mountain, nor in Jerusalem, will you worship the Father. You worship that which you don't know. We worship that which we know; for salvation is from the Jews. But the hour comes, and now is, when the true worshippers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for the Father seeks such to be his worshippers. God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth." The woman says, "I know that Messiah comes, he who is called Christ. When he has come, he will declare to us all things." Jesus says, "I am he, the one who speaks to you." The disciples return and marvel that he is speaking with a woman, but no one asks why. The woman leaves her water pot, goes into the city, and says, "Come, see a man who told me everything that I did. Can this be the Christ?" They go out to him. Meanwhile the disciples urge him to eat, and he says, "I have food to eat that you don't know about ... My food is to do the will of him who sent me, and to accomplish his work. ... Behold, I tell you, lift up your eyes, and look at the fields, that they are white for harvest." Many of the Samaritans from that city believe because of the woman's testimony, and when they come they ask him to stay, and he stays two days. Many more believe because of his word, and they tell the woman, "Now we believe, not because of your speaking; for we have heard for ourselves, and know that this is indeed the Christ, the Savior of the world." After two days he goes to Galilee, where the Galileans welcome him, having seen all he did at the feast. He comes again to Cana, where he had made the water wine, and a certain royal official whose son is sick at Capernaum goes to him and begs him to come and heal his son. Jesus says, "Unless you see signs and wonders, you will in no way believe." "Sir, come down before my child dies." "Go your way. Your son lives." The man believes the word that Jesus spoke to him and goes. On the way his servants meet him: "Your child lives!" He asks what hour he began to get better, and they say, "Yesterday at the seventh hour the fever left him," and the father knows it was the very hour Jesus had said, "Your son lives." He believes, and all his household. This is again the second sign that Jesus did, having come out of Judea into Galilee.
Why the setting matters
Samaria lay between Judea and Galilee, and Jews often avoided it by going around, but John says Jesus "had to" go through, which signals purpose. Samaritans were descended from the northern kingdom and the peoples resettled there by Assyria, and they accepted only the five books of Moses and worshiped on Mount Gerizim; the Jews had destroyed their temple there around 128 BC. The disciples' surprise, and the woman's, reflect both the ethnic and gender barriers. Jacob's well near Sychar (near ancient Shechem) is a real site, still shown today, and about a hundred feet deep. The sixth hour is noon; many have read the woman's coming at that hour as avoiding other women, though John gives no reason. The five husbands have been read literally, or as standing for the five foreign gods the Samaritans' ancestors brought (2 Kings 17:24-34); it is debated. "Living water" meant fresh flowing water, as against still well water, and also prepares for the Spirit (7:37-39). Jesus' "I am he" is the first of John's "I am" statements, and to the woman, a Samaritan, he declares himself Messiah. "Savior of the world" in 4:42 is a title that also was used for the Roman emperor, and John applies it to Jesus through the words of Samaritans. The royal official was in the service of Herod Antipas, and this is the second Cana sign, a healing at a distance by a word.
Who’s in this chapter
Jesus
Tired and thirsty, he speaks with a Samaritan woman and heals an official's son.
The Samaritan woman
Comes to the well at noon, and leaves her water jar to tell her town.
The disciples
Return with food, surprised he is talking to a woman.
The Samaritans of Sychar
Ask him to stay and say he is the Savior of the world.
The royal official
Takes Jesus at his word, and goes home to find his son alive.
Talk it through
- Jesus asks a Samaritan woman for a drink. What does he cross by doing that?
- The woman asks about where to worship, and Jesus answers about how. What does worship in spirit and truth ask of us?
- She leaves her jar and goes to tell the town. What does that say about what happened to her?
- The official believes Jesus' word before he sees anything. How is that different from Nicodemus or the crowd in Jerusalem?
Read John 4
World English Bible
1Therefore when the Lord knew that the Pharisees had heard that Jesus was making and baptizing more disciples than John 2(although Jesus himself didn’t baptize, but his disciples), 3he left Judea and departed into Galilee. 4He needed to pass through Samaria. 5So he came to a city of Samaria, called Sychar, near the parcel of ground that Jacob gave to his son, Joseph. 6Jacob’s well was there. Jesus therefore, being tired from his journey, sat down by the well. It was about the sixth hour. 7A woman of Samaria came to draw water. Jesus said to her, “Give me a drink.” 8For his disciples had gone away into the city to buy food.
9The Samaritan woman therefore said to him, “How is it that you, being a Jew, ask for a drink from me, a Samaritan woman?” (For Jews have no dealings with Samaritans.)
10Jesus answered her, “If you knew the gift of God, and who it is who says to you, ‘Give me a drink,’ you would have asked him, and he would have given you living water.”
11The woman said to him, “Sir, you have nothing to draw with, and the well is deep. So where do you get that living water? 12Are you greater than our father, Jacob, who gave us the well and drank from it himself, as did his children and his livestock?”
13Jesus answered her, “Everyone who drinks of this water will thirst again, 14but whoever drinks of the water that I will give him will never thirst again; but the water that I will give him will become in him a well of water springing up to eternal life.”
15The woman said to him, “Sir, give me this water, so that I don’t get thirsty, neither come all the way here to draw.”
16Jesus said to her, “Go, call your husband, and come here.”
17The woman answered, “I have no husband.”
Jesus said to her, “You said well, ‘I have no husband,’ 18for you have had five husbands; and he whom you now have is not your husband. This you have said truly.”
19The woman said to him, “Sir, I perceive that you are a prophet. 20Our fathers worshiped in this mountain, and you Jews say that in Jerusalem is the place where people ought to worship.”
21Jesus said to her, “Woman, believe me, the hour comes, when neither in this mountain, nor in Jerusalem, will you worship the Father. 22You worship that which you don’t know. We worship that which we know; for salvation is from the Jews. 23But the hour comes, and now is, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for the Father seeks such to be his worshipers. 24God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth.”
25The woman said to him, “I know that Messiah comes, he who is called Christ. When he has come, he will declare to us all things.”
26Jesus said to her, “I am he, the one who speaks to you.” 27At this, his disciples came. They marveled that he was speaking with a woman; yet no one said, “What are you looking for?” or, “Why do you speak with her?” 28So the woman left her water pot, went away into the city, and said to the people, 29“Come, see a man who told me everything that I did. Can this be the Christ?”
30They went out of the city, and were coming to him. 31In the meanwhile, the disciples urged him, saying, “Rabbi, eat.”
32But he said to them, “I have food to eat that you don’t know about.”
33The disciples therefore said to one another, “Has anyone brought him something to eat?”
34Jesus said to them, “My food is to do the will of him who sent me and to accomplish his work. 35Don’t you say, ‘There are yet four months until the harvest?’ Behold, I tell you, lift up your eyes and look at the fields, that they are white for harvest already. 36He who reaps receives wages and gathers fruit to eternal life; that both he who sows and he who reaps may rejoice together. 37For in this the saying is true, ‘One sows, and another reaps.’ 38I sent you to reap that for which you haven’t labored. Others have labored, and you have entered into their labor.”
39From that city many of the Samaritans believed in him because of the word of the woman, who testified, “He told me everything that I did.” 40So when the Samaritans came to him, they begged him to stay with them. He stayed there two days. 41Many more believed because of his word. 42They said to the woman, “Now we believe, not because of your speaking; for we have heard for ourselves, and know that this is indeed the Christ, the Savior of the world.”
43After the two days he went out from there and went into Galilee. 44For Jesus himself testified that a prophet has no honor in his own country. 45So when he came into Galilee, the Galileans received him, having seen all the things that he did in Jerusalem at the feast, for they also went to the feast. 46Jesus came therefore again to Cana of Galilee, where he made the water into wine. There was a certain nobleman whose son was sick at Capernaum. 47When he heard that Jesus had come out of Judea into Galilee, he went to him, and begged him that he would come down and heal his son, for he was at the point of death. 48Jesus therefore said to him, “Unless you see signs and wonders, you will in no way believe.”
49The nobleman said to him, “Sir, come down before my child dies.” 50Jesus said to him, “Go your way. Your son lives.” The man believed the word that Jesus spoke to him, and he went his way. 51As he was now going down, his servants met him and reported, saying “Your child lives!” 52So he inquired of them the hour when he began to get better. They said therefore to him, “Yesterday at the seventh hour, the fever left him.” 53So the father knew that it was at that hour in which Jesus said to him, “Your son lives.” He believed, as did his whole house. 54This is again the second sign that Jesus did, having come out of Judea into Galilee.
Text: World English Bible, Public domain. About our sources