John 4:4-10 : He needed to pass through Samaria. So he came to a city of Samaria, called Sychar, near the parcel of ground that Jacob gave to his son, Joseph. Jacob’s well was there. Jesus therefore, being tired from his journey, sat down by the well. It was about the sixth hour. A woman of 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 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.) Jesus 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.”
We learn a great deal about Jesus by taking a close look at this passage. For one, Jesus not only stopped in Samaria, but He decided to sit down and start chatting with Samaritans. We find out right here in the text that Jews didn’t believe in associating with Samaritans. Obviously, Jesus did. This speaks volumes about Jesus. He really was for the world not just for the Jews, although much of His ministry on earth last time was focused on the Jews according to God’s plan. Ultimately, Jesus knew that He would be for the whole world as John speaks a great deal about in this book.
Let’s back up a little bit. Notice that it says that Jesus was tired from His journey. Jesus was human. He knew what it was like to get tired. Notice that it is ok for us to sit down by wells and rest. God knows that we need rest. This is another part that shows that Jesus was not a spirit or a phantom as some have said.
It is very interesting to me how Jesus starts up a deeper conversation. Just like when He was talking to Nicodemus, He starts to use unusual word pictures such as “living water.” He tells her that she should be the one asking for water from Him. Again, Jesus takes an authoritative tone and starts to tell her what she should do. It is interesting that Jesus never drops His authority just because people don’t want to hear it.
Some people accept his authority, others don’t, but He continues to say what He should say. You can read ahead to find out how this woman reacted to such bold talk.
John 3:31-36 : “He who comes from above is above all. He who is from the earth belongs to the earth, and speaks of the earth. He who comes from heaven is above all. What he has seen and heard, of that he testifies; and no one receives his witness. He who has received his witness has set his seal to this, that God is true. For he whom God has sent speaks the words of God; for God gives the Spirit without measure. The Father loves the Son, and has given all things into his hand. One who believes in the Son has eternal life, but one who disobeys the Son won’t see life, but the wrath of God remains on him.”
Here we read more of John the Baptist’s testimony about Jesus. This is still in response to those who were saying that Jesus was getting more disciples than John. John says that whatever Jesus says is more important than anything anyone else would say. He explains that this is because Jesus is the only one who came from Heaven and can talk about heavenly things based on his first-hand experience.
John was a major prophet. Here John is saying that no one other than Jesus can come close to His importance. This is important to consider because some people try to compare Jesus to men. Once again, Christianity spoken of here as an exclusive religion. It doesn’t allow anyone to be on the same level as Jesus. He is God’s only Son.
John also mentioned that no one was accepting His message. He explained that God gave Jesus a limitless supply of the Holy Spirit and that He had put “all things” in His hands. This is an extreme situation. Jesus deserves to be treated as the most important person ever to come to earth, but men are not even listening to Him at all. Perhaps it will comfort you that Jesus went through this and felt what it was like to not be treated as He really deserved.
Then John repeats Jesus’ message that anyone who believes on Jesus has everlasting life but anyone who doesn’t will not only not get life, he will get God’s wrath instead. These wonderful and fearful words are repeated in John in the following references: John 3:16; 3:18; 5:24. There is life to those who believe and wrath for those who don’t. It is easy to see why this message was repeated. Hell is no place for anyone but that is exactly where the Bible says we will be going if we don’t believe in Jesus. It is important that everyone hears these words and understands that it is Jesus who says them and He was like no other person who ever came to this world.
John 1:4 : In him was life, and the life was the light of men.
According to John, there was clearly something different about Jesus. He had life in Him. It is true that when we are born we have life, but why do we automatically search for more? Something inside of us longs for more than what we get when we are born. We don’t feel like we are really living to the extent that we want to be living.
John was a witness to the fact that Jesus was really living, but there is another important aspect to this. This life had the properties of light to mankind. This is just full of meaning, most of it I don’t think I fully appreciate yet. Up to this point we have been talking about Jesus and His work during creation. It is very interesting, that the first thing that God created (other than the earth and the heavens) was light.
Light in the physical realm makes it easy to see where you are and where you are going physically. It makes sense then that light in the spiritual realm makes it easy for you to see where you are and where you are going spiritually.
Since John was clearly talking about life inside, the light he was talking about is logically an inner light or a spiritual one. Now light has a positive quality that is obvious. When the light is on you can clearly see things. This allows you to avoid problems and move quickly to places you want to go. But light also can seem like a bad thing; when you are trying to hide, darkness is preferred. When a person is ready to go into the light for its benefits and is ready to stop hiding, the light is clearly the best choice.
The life of Jesus was a light to men and not all men appreciated that fact. We will learn more about that as we move through this book.