Post by foxjj on May 10, 2023 15:55:03 GMT
An Encounter in Samaria - John 4
Traveling from Judea to Galilee, Jesus and His disciples passed through the district of Samaria. Samaria was located between Judea to the south, and Galilee to the north. The people of the district were of mixed descendents. After the Assyrian, and later the Babylonian invasions, most of the population were taken into exile. The conquers sent people from other nations to live in the area and consequently, after inter-marriage they became known as Samaritans after Samaria the main city in the regain, bringing together two different cultures.
The Jews, who pride themselves on their pure heritage, looked down on the Samaritans and their mixed heritage. There were also religious differences between the two nations with the Samaritans following the Books of Moses known as the Pentateuch - also known as the Torah - which are the the first five books of The Hebrew Bible. The people of Samaria worshiped on Mount Gerizim while Jews worshiped in the great Temple in Jerusalem. Some Jews took their distaste for The Samaritans so strongly that, rather than journey through the district, they would cross The Jordan River into Perea on the eastern side, to avoid walking in Samaria.
Jesus was on a mission as He came into the territory of Samaria. While approaching the town of Sychar, been weary after His journey, He stopped to rest at a well. The scene is now set. Jesus waits by the well while the disciples go on into the town to buy food. It was not long until a Samaritan woman came with her water jar. It was the sixth hour - which would be noon - normally the women would come as a group to draw water in the cool of the evening. She sees the weary traveller sitting at the well. Who is this stranger? From the way he is dressed he looks Jewish, not a Samaritan.
“A woman from Samaria came to draw water. Jesus said to her, “Give me a drink.” (For his disciples had gone away into the city to buy food.) The Samaritan woman said to him, “How is it that you, a Jew, ask for a drink from me, a woman of Samaria?” (For Jews have no dealings with Samaritans.) Jesus answered her, “If you knew the gift of God, and who it is that is saying to you, ‘Give me a drink,’ you would have asked him, and he would have given you living water.” The woman said to him, “Sir, you have nothing to draw water with, and the well is deep. Where do you get that living water?” (John 4:7-11)
By speaking first Jesus would have startled the woman, because the Jews do not speak with Samaritans except for business purposes. In addition, men at that time did not speak with a woman on her own in public. In verse 10 Jesus makes a profound statement: "If you knew the gift of God and who it is that is saying to you, Give me a drink.” This statement prompts the question; what is the gift of God? Also who is this man speaking to the woman?
The gift of God is salvation from sin: “But as he considered these things, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream, saying, “Joseph, son of David, do not fear to take Mary as your wife, for that which is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. She will bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins.” (Matthew 1:20-21) The gift of God is also eternal life: “When Jesus had spoken these words, he lifted up his eyes to heaven, and said, “Father, the hour has come; glorify your Son that the Son may glorify you, since you have given him authority over all flesh, to give eternal life to all whom you have given him. And this is eternal life, that they know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent.” (John 17:1-3)
These verses of Scripture proclaim the gift of God for humankind as salvation through His Son. Consequently, without Jesus, there is no salvation which equates to eternal life with God. Therefore, Jesus is God’s gift to humanity as stated in John 3:16-17: “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him.”
Continuing in verse 10, Jesus also said: “ he would have given you living water.” In the following verse’s Jesus turner the conversation with the woman from natural water to spiritual: “Jesus said to her, “Everyone who drinks of this water will be thirsty again, but whoever drinks of the water that I will give him will never be thirsty again. The water that I will give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life.” The woman said to him, “Sir, give me this water, so that I will not be thirsty or have to come here to draw water.” (John 4:13-15)
The Samaritans would have been familiar with the story of how God had provided water in the wilderness through Moses, who struck the rock producing water from which the people and their livestock drank, as recorded in Numbers chapter 20. In John chapter 7 living water is equated with the Holy Spirit: “On the last day of the feast, the great day, Jesus stood up and cried out, “If anyone thirsts, let him come to me and drink. Whoever believes in me, as the Scripture has said, Out of his heart will flow rivers of living water.’” Now this he said about the Spirit, whom those who believed in him were to receive, for as yet the Spirit had not been given, because Jesus was not yet glorified.” (John 7:37-39)
Their conversation regarding things spiritual continued for some time. Then Jesus once more showed His power by revealing His knowledge of her immoral past. Eventually the woman said to him: “I know that Messiah is coming (he who is called Christ). When he comes, he will tell us all things.” Jesus said to her, “I who speak to you am he.” (John 4:26-27)
Only on rare occasions did Jesus reveal that He was Messiah. On this occasion it was to a woman who would go to the town telling the Good News with the result: “Many Samaritans from that town believed in him because of the woman's testimony, “He told me all that I ever did.” So when the Samaritans came to him, they asked him to stay with them, and he stayed there two days. And many more believed because of his word. They said to the woman, “It is no longer because of what you said that we believe, for we have heard for ourselves, and we know that this is indeed the Savior of the world.” (John 4:39-42)
What at first seemed like a casual encounter at the well was in fact a God ordained meeting between a woman in need of God’s gift with the giver of the gift. The unnamed woman who was known as the one to be avoided by any respectable person, left home alone carrying her water jar. Returning to the town she was the bearer of the good news that Messiah had come, leading to many believing in Jesus.
The Good News of Jesus Christ is just as relevant for you and I today. Therefore, I ask the all important question that each one of us needs to answer. Have you accepted the gift of God that Jesus came to offer each one of us?
“But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God, who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God.” (John 1:12-13)
Today, let us praise God for the gift of His Son.
John Joseph Fox
Traveling from Judea to Galilee, Jesus and His disciples passed through the district of Samaria. Samaria was located between Judea to the south, and Galilee to the north. The people of the district were of mixed descendents. After the Assyrian, and later the Babylonian invasions, most of the population were taken into exile. The conquers sent people from other nations to live in the area and consequently, after inter-marriage they became known as Samaritans after Samaria the main city in the regain, bringing together two different cultures.
The Jews, who pride themselves on their pure heritage, looked down on the Samaritans and their mixed heritage. There were also religious differences between the two nations with the Samaritans following the Books of Moses known as the Pentateuch - also known as the Torah - which are the the first five books of The Hebrew Bible. The people of Samaria worshiped on Mount Gerizim while Jews worshiped in the great Temple in Jerusalem. Some Jews took their distaste for The Samaritans so strongly that, rather than journey through the district, they would cross The Jordan River into Perea on the eastern side, to avoid walking in Samaria.
Jesus was on a mission as He came into the territory of Samaria. While approaching the town of Sychar, been weary after His journey, He stopped to rest at a well. The scene is now set. Jesus waits by the well while the disciples go on into the town to buy food. It was not long until a Samaritan woman came with her water jar. It was the sixth hour - which would be noon - normally the women would come as a group to draw water in the cool of the evening. She sees the weary traveller sitting at the well. Who is this stranger? From the way he is dressed he looks Jewish, not a Samaritan.
“A woman from Samaria came to draw water. Jesus said to her, “Give me a drink.” (For his disciples had gone away into the city to buy food.) The Samaritan woman said to him, “How is it that you, a Jew, ask for a drink from me, a woman of Samaria?” (For Jews have no dealings with Samaritans.) Jesus answered her, “If you knew the gift of God, and who it is that is saying to you, ‘Give me a drink,’ you would have asked him, and he would have given you living water.” The woman said to him, “Sir, you have nothing to draw water with, and the well is deep. Where do you get that living water?” (John 4:7-11)
By speaking first Jesus would have startled the woman, because the Jews do not speak with Samaritans except for business purposes. In addition, men at that time did not speak with a woman on her own in public. In verse 10 Jesus makes a profound statement: "If you knew the gift of God and who it is that is saying to you, Give me a drink.” This statement prompts the question; what is the gift of God? Also who is this man speaking to the woman?
The gift of God is salvation from sin: “But as he considered these things, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream, saying, “Joseph, son of David, do not fear to take Mary as your wife, for that which is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. She will bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins.” (Matthew 1:20-21) The gift of God is also eternal life: “When Jesus had spoken these words, he lifted up his eyes to heaven, and said, “Father, the hour has come; glorify your Son that the Son may glorify you, since you have given him authority over all flesh, to give eternal life to all whom you have given him. And this is eternal life, that they know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent.” (John 17:1-3)
These verses of Scripture proclaim the gift of God for humankind as salvation through His Son. Consequently, without Jesus, there is no salvation which equates to eternal life with God. Therefore, Jesus is God’s gift to humanity as stated in John 3:16-17: “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him.”
Continuing in verse 10, Jesus also said: “ he would have given you living water.” In the following verse’s Jesus turner the conversation with the woman from natural water to spiritual: “Jesus said to her, “Everyone who drinks of this water will be thirsty again, but whoever drinks of the water that I will give him will never be thirsty again. The water that I will give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life.” The woman said to him, “Sir, give me this water, so that I will not be thirsty or have to come here to draw water.” (John 4:13-15)
The Samaritans would have been familiar with the story of how God had provided water in the wilderness through Moses, who struck the rock producing water from which the people and their livestock drank, as recorded in Numbers chapter 20. In John chapter 7 living water is equated with the Holy Spirit: “On the last day of the feast, the great day, Jesus stood up and cried out, “If anyone thirsts, let him come to me and drink. Whoever believes in me, as the Scripture has said, Out of his heart will flow rivers of living water.’” Now this he said about the Spirit, whom those who believed in him were to receive, for as yet the Spirit had not been given, because Jesus was not yet glorified.” (John 7:37-39)
Their conversation regarding things spiritual continued for some time. Then Jesus once more showed His power by revealing His knowledge of her immoral past. Eventually the woman said to him: “I know that Messiah is coming (he who is called Christ). When he comes, he will tell us all things.” Jesus said to her, “I who speak to you am he.” (John 4:26-27)
Only on rare occasions did Jesus reveal that He was Messiah. On this occasion it was to a woman who would go to the town telling the Good News with the result: “Many Samaritans from that town believed in him because of the woman's testimony, “He told me all that I ever did.” So when the Samaritans came to him, they asked him to stay with them, and he stayed there two days. And many more believed because of his word. They said to the woman, “It is no longer because of what you said that we believe, for we have heard for ourselves, and we know that this is indeed the Savior of the world.” (John 4:39-42)
What at first seemed like a casual encounter at the well was in fact a God ordained meeting between a woman in need of God’s gift with the giver of the gift. The unnamed woman who was known as the one to be avoided by any respectable person, left home alone carrying her water jar. Returning to the town she was the bearer of the good news that Messiah had come, leading to many believing in Jesus.
The Good News of Jesus Christ is just as relevant for you and I today. Therefore, I ask the all important question that each one of us needs to answer. Have you accepted the gift of God that Jesus came to offer each one of us?
“But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God, who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God.” (John 1:12-13)
Today, let us praise God for the gift of His Son.
John Joseph Fox