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John 4:19-26
This is an interesting part of Jesus’ ministry. First, because even here Jesus implies that His message or His ministry is first to the Jews, and then to the Gentiles. When He’s talking with the Samaritan woman.
Where does that come from…? Well – it comes from the covenant that God makes with Abraham. If you want you can read all of the promises God makes to Abraham from chapters 12-18 of Genesis. And what God says about Abraham in chapter 18 is interesting as well.
Genesis 18:18 (NIV) Abraham will surely become a great and powerful nation, and all nations on earth will be blessed through him.
So not only does God have a special relationship with Abraham and his descendants, but also will bless all other nations through the nation of Israel. And those numerous descendants are actually promised to Abraham by God.
There are some other things that feed into this part of the story, that we might need to know to fully understand what Jesus is doing here with this Samaritan woman. For me, it’s because I’m not an Israelite living in the time of Jesus – so I don’t always understand the significance of the subtleties written here.
We know from the account in 2 Kings that the Israelites were captive and sent to Samaria. While they were there, they worshipped other gods and God – Yahweh. They even sacrificed children and did other things in worshipping other gods that Yahweh had warned them not to do.
2 Kings 17:32-41 (NIV) They worshiped the Lord, but they also appointed all sorts of their own people to officiate for them as priests in the shrines at the high places. They worshiped the Lord, but they also served their own gods in accordance with the customs of the nations from which they had been brought. To this day they persist in their former practices. They neither worship the Lord nor adhere to the decrees and regulations, the laws and commands that the Lord gave the descendants of Jacob, whom he named Israel. When the Lord made a covenant with the Israelites, he commanded them: “Do not worship any other gods or bow down to them, serve them or sacrifice to them. But the Lord, who brought you up out of Egypt with mighty power and outstretched arm, is the one you must worship. To him you shall bow down and to him offer sacrifices. You must always be careful to keep the decrees and regulations, the laws and commands he wrote for you. Do not worship other gods. Do not forget the covenant I have made with you, and do not worship other gods. Rather, worship the Lord your God; it is he who will deliver you from the hand of all your enemies.” They would not listen, however, but persisted in their former practices. Even while these people were worshiping the Lord, they were serving their idols. To this day their children and grandchildren continue to do as their ancestors did.
In Jesus’ time an Israelite would not even associate with Samaritans – or travel through populated areas where they settled. Normally if they had to travel from point A to point B and that meant going through areas that had been settled by Samaritans, they would travel around that area. It didn’t matter how much longer that made the trip. Jesus didn’t do that.
In fact here in this story Jesus destroys many offensive practices of that day regarding other races and women. Let’s talk about their meeting for a moment. A Jewish man – not married to this Samaritan woman asking her to draw a drink would have been wrong on so many levels in that day and society.
Since they weren’t married, it was wrong of Jesus to even talk with her without her husband or other male member of her family present. And Jesus definitely should not have asked her to draw the water for Him because He shouldn’t touch anything a woman who is not His wife touches. And to top it off – she’s living in sin. Guilt by associating or talking with her would have been implied, and she’s a Samaritan. But Jesus goes beyond all of that and invites her to come and see.
John 4:19-26 (NIV) “Sir,” the woman said, “I can see that you are a prophet. Our ancestors worshiped on this mountain, but you Jews claim that the place where we must worship is in Jerusalem.”
“Woman,” Jesus replied, “believe me, a time is coming when you will worship the Father neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem. You Samaritans worship what you do not know; we worship what we do know, for salvation is from the Jews. Yet a time is coming and has now come when the true worshipers will worship the Father in the Spirit and in truth, for they are the kind of worshipers the Father seeks. God is spirit, and his worshipers must worship in the Spirit and in truth.”
The woman said, “I know that Messiah” (called Christ) “is coming. When he comes, he will explain everything to us.”
Then Jesus declared, “I, the one speaking to you—I am he.”
So, Jesus is revealing who He is – the Messiah – even to the most common of peoples, to the most undesirable people of that day and age. And not just to His Chosen Children – the Israelites – but also to those who are not His. You see to Jesus it doesn’t matter who you are or what you’ve done. All that matters to Him is weather or not you want to be in relationship with Him. Do you want Him to be your Savior? If you are thirsty for something new and refreshing, for something healing then come to the well that Christ provides.