Finding Life

We see three major scenes unfolding in this passage - Jesus’ encounter with the woman at the well and her growing revelation of who He is.

Next, we see His interaction with His own disciples while the woman is running into town with her exciting news, and then we see Jesus engaging the people from the city of Samaria.

15 The woman *said to Him, “ Sir, give me this water so that I will not be thirsty, nor come all the way here to draw water.” 16 He *said to her, “Go, call your husband and come here.” 17 The woman answered and said to Him, “I have no husband.” Jesus *said to her, “You have correctly said, ‘I have no husband’;

18 for you have had five husbands, and the one whom you now have is not your husband; this which you have said is true.” 19 The woman *said to Him, “Sir, I perceive that You are a prophet. 20 Our fathers worshiped on this mountain, and yet you Jews say that in Jerusalem is the place where one must worship.”

21 Jesus *said to her, “Believe Me, woman, that a time is coming when you will worship the Father neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem. 22 You Samaritans worship what you do not know; we worship what we do know, because salvation is from the Jews.

23 But a time is coming, and even now has arrived, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth; for such people the Father seeks to be His worshipers. 24 God is spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth.”

25 The woman *said to Him, “I know that Messiah is coming (He who is called Christ); when that One comes, He will declare all things to us.” 26 Jesus *said to her, “I am He, the One speaking to you.”

27 And at this point His disciples came, and they were amazed that He had been speaking with a woman, yet no one said, “What are You seeking?” or, “Why are You speaking with her?” 28 So the woman left her waterpot and went into the city, and *said to the people, 29 “Come, see a man who told me all the things that I have done; this is not the Christ, is He?” 30 They left the city and were coming to Him.

31 Meanwhile the disciples were urging Him, saying, “Rabbi, eat something.” 32 But He said to them, “I have food to eat that you do not know about.” 33 So the disciples were saying to one another, “No one brought Him anything to eat, did he?” 34 Jesus *said to them, “My food is to do the will of Him who sent Me, and to accomplish His work.

35 Do you not say, ‘There are still four months, and then comes the harvest’? Behold, I tell you, raise your eyes and observe the fields, that they are white for harvest.

36 Already the one who reaps is receiving wages and is gathering fruit for eternal life, so that the one who sows and the one who reaps may rejoice together. 37 For in this case the saying is true: ‘One sows and another reaps.’ 38 I sent you to reap that for which you have not labored; others have labored, and you have come into their labor.”

39 Now from that city many of the Samaritans believed in Him because of the word of the woman who testified, “He told me all the things that I have done.” 40 So when the Samaritans came to Jesus, they were asking Him to stay with them; and He stayed there two days. 41 Many more believed because of His word;

42 and they were saying to the woman, “It is no longer because of what you said that we believe, for we have heard for ourselves and know that this One truly is the Savior of the world.” (John 4:15-42, NASB)

These three themes in John 4:15-42 can be summarized as:

• Man to Messiah

• Missing the Moment

• Multitudes finding Life

Man to Messiah (John 4:15-26)

In vv. 16-18, Jesus makes a seemingly random request which touches on a very sensitive area in her life: “Go and get your husband and bring him here.”

She answered him - “I have no husband.” Which was true but it was not the whole story. Jesus knew this and

but in a gentle way and even commends her for being honest:

You have correctly said, ‘I have no husband’;  for you have had five husbands, and the one whom you now have is not your husband; this which you have said is true (John 4:17-18).

With amazing gentleness He was saying, “I know how your thirst for love and intimacy has taken you down the wrong path. I know your misery and the shame your sin has brought you.” But Jesus also wanted her to understand the good news about what it was He was offering her.

Until she understood the depth and self-destructive effects of her sin, she would not understand her need for salvation nor appreciate the depth of His mercy, grace, and gift of eternal life.

When Jesus spoke precisely about her personal life, the woman’s perception of Jesus changed. “I thought you were just a man with water, (Greek) but now I am beginning to perceive you have the qualities of a prophet.”

Now that she knows that Jesus is more than just a man, she was thinking that perhaps He was like the prophet Moses and then she takes the attention off herself and back onto an age-old question - “which place is the right place to worship God? We think it’s this mountain over here and you think it’s in Jerusalem.”

If you really want to know God - only the Spirit of God can reveal the reality of who He is.  The Father is deliberately pursuing those who will worship Him for who He truly is.

Jesus finally reveals to her, “the One you are speaking about is Me.”

Missing the moment (John 4:27-30)

While the woman is going back into the city to tell everyone about this Person she has met, the disciples were focused on eating lunch, focused on the fact that He is talking with a woman. And though Jesus was no doubt hungry and thirsty He sees this as a teachable moment for the disciples. He took this time to teach them about priorities - what is most important to God (vv 31-38).

This food nourishes the soul, bringing joy and satisfaction. This satisfaction comes from doing the will of God. Jesus was saying - you are focused on the wrong things and missed the whole point of why I was speaking with the Samaritan but don’t condemn yourselves, there are plenty of opportunities all around you.

Jesus said “There will be moments when you will sow the seeds about Christ in someone’s life but may never see fruit of it in your lifetime and there will be moments when you reap the benefits of what others had done before you.

Multitudes finding Life (John 4:31-42)

While Jesus was teaching them the principle of planting and harvesting, the whole town came out to see and hear Him for themselves. As a result,

Many more believed because of His word; and they were saying to the woman, “It is no longer because of what you said that we believe, for we have heard for ourselves and know that this One truly is the Savior of the world” (John 4:41-42).