(1) Background information:
a. Samaritan and Mount Gerizim
(NET) Samaria. The Samaritans were descendants of 2 groups: (1) The remnant of native Israelites who were not deported after the fall of the Northern Kingdom in 722 B.C.; (2) Foreign colonists brought in from Babylonia and Media by the Assyrian conquerors to settle the land with inhabitants who would be loyal to Assyria. There was theological opposition between the Samaritans and the Jews because the former refused to worship in Jerusalem. After the exile the Samaritans put obstacles in the way of the Jewish restoration of Jerusalem, and in the 2nd century B.C. the Samaritans helped the Syrians in their wars against the Jews. In 128 B.C. the Jewish high priest retaliated and burned the Samaritan temple on Mount Gerizim.
v.9b (For Jews use nothing in common with Samaritans.)
(NET) The background to the statement use nothing in common is the general assumption among Jews that the Samaritans were ritually impure or unclean. Thus a Jew who used a drinking vessel after a Samaritan had touched it would become ceremonially unclean.
b. woman
4:27 Now at that very moment his disciples came back. They were shocked because he was speaking with a woman.
(IVP) Jewish piety warned men not to talk much with women (some rabbis added, even with one’s own wife!), both because of temptation and because of what others might think.
(IVP) Jewish piety warned men not to talk much with women (some rabbis added, even with one’s own wife!), both because of temptation and because of what others might think.
c. woman who have had 5 husbands and living with another man who was not her husband v.18
(IVP) she had been married five times and is not married to the man with whom she now lives. Samaritans were no less pious and strict than Jews, and her behavior would have resulted in ostracism from the Samaritan religious community—which would have been nearly coextensive with the whole Samaritan community.
(PNTC) Apparently the woman came to the well alone. Women were more likely to come in groups to fetch water, and either earlier or later in the day when the heat of the sun was not so fierce. Possibly the woman’s public shame (4:16ff.) contributed to her isolation.
(2) Repeated words
well v.6,12, water v.7, 9, living water, v.10,11, fountain of water springing up to eternal life v.14
ask for water to drink v.9, you would have asked him, and he would have given you v.10,
thirsty again v.13,14, 15
husband v.16, 17, 18, Right when you said...v.17b, truthfully v.18b, true worshipper v.23, worship in spirit and truth v.23
worship v.20,21, 22,23, a time is coming v.21, 23, worship the Father in spirit and truth, 23,24, (BKC) God is Spirit... a declaration of His invisible nature. He is not confined to one location. Worship of God can be done only through the One (Jesus) who expresses God’s invisible nature (1:18) and by virtue of the Holy Spirit who opens to a believer the new realm of the kingdom
Messiah will come and whenever He comes, He will tell us everything v.25.
4:4 But he had to pass through Samaria.
(NET) Travel through Samaria was not geographically necessary; the normal route for Jews ran up the east side of the Jordan River (Transjordan). Although some take the impersonal verb had to (δεῖ, dei) here to indicate logical necessity only, normally in John’s Gospel its use involves God’s will or plan (3:7, 3:14, 3:30, 4:4, 4:20, 4:24, 9:4, 10:16, 12:34, 20:9).
(NET) Travel through Samaria was not geographically necessary; the normal route for Jews ran up the east side of the Jordan River (Transjordan). Although some take the impersonal verb had to (δεῖ, dei) here to indicate logical necessity only, normally in John’s Gospel its use involves God’s will or plan (3:7, 3:14, 3:30, 4:4, 4:20, 4:24, 9:4, 10:16, 12:34, 20:9).
Summary: from the will of God Jesus passed through Samaria to meet with a Samaritan woman, a woman who was not culturally, religiously, and morally accepted by Jews. Jesus eventually brought their conversation from water to eternal life, which was the same topic in chapter 3. A religious Pharisee, Nicodemus, needed to be borned from above and have eternal life. Same was needed for this Samaritan woman. In chapter 3, Jesus told Nicodemus to believe and have eternal life 3:16, and now, He reminded the Samaritan woman to be truthful before she could have the eternal life 4:16-24. In chapter 3, there was a lot of debate whether Jesus was coming from God, and in chapter 4, Jesus revealed that He was the Messiah by telling the woman about her personal life v.29.
Do not focus on the controversy of worship, but focus on whom you are worshipping. Not "where" to worship, but "Who" we worship to. The Messiah has come and this is part of the new revelation. Because of what Jesus had done on the Cross, we can all come before God through Him. The temple, priest, and sacrifice came to pass. We should worship God through Jesus Who is the Spirit and the Truth.
Reflection: Do we have any prejudice against certain people? Or do we screen out certain people when we outreach for evangelism? Or are we ourselves like this Samaritan woman who are being looked down to?
Are we truthful to Jesus? Of course, Jesus knows us very well, but He reminded this Samaritan woman to worship in truth. Are we brave enough to expose all our past, our weakness, our sin, our personal lifestyle before God and ask for His forgiveness? This is the beginning of worship.
The true worshipper will worship the Father in spirit and truth. Are we focusing too much on other things than Jesus?
Audrey
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