Lessons from John 4: Living Water

For the purpose of our next several lessons, we have two divisions:

I. Living Water~~~John 4:1-26

II. Living Testimony~~~John 4:27-30

We learn that early in Jesus’ ministry, the opposition was rising against Him. His greatest opposition came from those who should have known Him and His Word best, and that was the Jewish religious leaders.

Yet instead of embracing the truth of who Jesus was and the ministry that had been given to Him by His Father, they refused to believe. They resented the fact that Jesus and His ministry was quickly gaining popularity, which also challenged many of their teachings. So in light of their growing jealousy and hostility, and knowing full well that His time had not yet come (time to give His life on the cross), Jesus quietly left Judea and returned once more to Galilee.

But the interesting thing is that verse 4 states that Jesus had to go through Samaria. Now Jesus could have taken three possible routes: along the coast, across the Jordan and up through Perea, or straight through Samaria which would be the shortest of all routes.

Yet any professing Jew, which Jesus was, would normally not take this route and would in fact make every effort to steer clear of Samaria.

Why, you might ask?

Jews and Samaritans

Well, after the deportation of the northern kingdom in 722 BC, the Assyrians settled foreigners in the land from Babylon and Media. Over time, these people intermarried. Like the Jews, they worshipped one God, and embraced the writings of Moses. Samaritans did not include the rest of the Hebrew Scriptures and often changed the others to fit their own desires. They did, however, recognize Jacob as a prophet. They worshipped on Mt. Gerizim, (known as the mount of blessing), but not in Jerusalem.

The Samaritans were hostile toward the Jews, opposed the construction of the temple (Ezra 4:1-5), and sided with the Syrians in the Maccabean Revolt of 168 BC. But the Jews retaliated in 128 BC by destroying the Samaritan temple on Mt. Gerizim. The Samaritans responded by desecrating the Jerusalem Temple by scattering human bones in the courtyard in about 10 AD. It was considered a defilement to the Jews to touch a dead body.

Because many of the remaining Jews intermarried with these foreigners, this resulted in a mixed race. Many of the more conservative Jews despised those who had remained and intermarried. Along with the people came their pagan forms of worship, in addition to a mixed version of faith in God.

Many Jews prayed that no Samaritan would be raised at the resurrection! And we will see later in John 8:48 that when Jesus’ enemies wanted to call Jesus an insulting name they called Him a Samaritan.

And so you can see that there were years of hatred and hostility that had built up between the two peoples. They did everything in their power to avoid one another.

Lost and Lonely

So why is it that we are told by John in verse 4 that when Jesus left Judea and was on His way back to Galilee He “had” to go through Samaria?

Well, after studying the text, I believe Jesus went because it was a life or death situation. Specifically, an unnamed woman in Samaria, who was from the town of Sychar. Apparently she was lost and lonely and needed a Savior. And we are told from the scriptures themselves that Jesus came to do the will of the Father, which was to seek and save the lost.

I believe Jesus “had” to cross the boundary lines and cultures in order to not only save her, but also to use her new gift of salvation to save the lives of many others.

Terri Hamman

Faith & Fitness Coach