John 4

1 – 3

The Pharisees heard that Jesus was making and baptizing more followers than John.
(But really Jesus Himself did not baptize people. His followers did the baptizing.) Jesus knew that the Pharisees had heard about Him. So He left Judea and went back to Galilee.

Jesus stayed away from Judea because the leaders did not believe in Him and it was not God's timing to go there yet.

4. On the way He had to go through the country of Samaria.

The Samaritans were people that came from the Jews who were left behind when the Jews were taken to Babylon. They married the people in the land and because they were half Jewish, the Jews looked down on them. The Jews would walk a long way around to keep from being near the Samaritans.

God sent Jesus to walk this way and we need to be alert when God is changing our schedule because there is someone waiting to hear God's Words.

5 – 8

In Samaria Jesus came to the town called Sychar. This town is near the field that Jacob gave to his son Joseph.

Jacob’s well was there. Jesus was tired from His long trip. So He sat down beside the well. It was about noon.

A Samaritan woman came to the well to get some water. Jesus said to her, “Please give Me a drink.” (This happened while Jesus’ followers were in town buying some food.)

Women did not usually come to get water at noon. This shows us that this woman was not respected and tried to stay away from the other women.

9. The woman said, “I am surprised that you ask me for a drink. You are a Jew and I am a Samaritan.” (Jews are not friends with Samaritans.)

People think that we are going to push the Bible on them so they push something on us, before we get the chance to speak.

10. Jesus said, “You do not know what God gives. And you do not know who asked you for a drink. If you knew, you would have asked Me, and I would have given you living water.”

When we share the Gospel we use salt to make people thirsty to hear more.

11. The woman said, “Sir, where will you get that living water? The well is very deep, and you have nothing to get water with.

Those who are without Christ are confused about the difference between what is spiritual and what is natural.

12. Are you greater than Jacob, our father? Jacob is the one who gave us this well. He drank from it himself. Also, his sons and flocks drank from this well.”

She is ready for an argument. She is reminding Jesus that Samaritans also have Jacob for their father. People are always trying to turn the conversation to a different subject when their heart tells them that there is a spiritual battle coming.

13 – 14

Jesus answered, “Every person who drinks this water will be thirsty again. But whoever drinks the water I give will never be thirsty again. The water I give will become a spring of water flowing inside him. It will give him eternal life.”

This water is like some of the things that we think we want in this life. After we get them we are still not happy and then we want something else.

15. The woman said to him, “Sir, give me this water. Then I will never be thirsty again. And I will not have to come back here to get more water.”

You can know that God's Spirit is working when people begin to say, "Please tell me more about this." When you hear this, quietly asked the Lord to build on this and show you what to say next. Ask Him for the right Scriptures to speak to this person.

16. Jesus told her, “Go get your husband and come back here.”

If we know something about this person's life we can ask them a question to see if they will lie to us. The answer they give will show us which direction to take as we talk to them.

17 – 19

The woman answered, “But I have no husband.” Jesus said to her, “You are right to say you have no husband.

Really you have had five husbands. But the man you live with now is not your husband. You told the truth.” The woman said, “Sir, I can see that you are a prophet.

When God gives us a word of knowledge we should bring it into the conversation. Most often, people will change the subject. Do not push a subject that they are not comfortable with. You do not have permission to control someone else's life. It is the same when you try to help a drowning man. He has to stop fighting you or you will both drown.

20. Our fathers worshiped on this mountain. But you Jews say that Jerusalem is the place where people must worship.”

The city of Sychar is near Mount Gerizim and Mount Ebal. These are the mountains of blessing and cursing (Joshua 8:33). She was pointing to Mount Gerizim, the mountain of blessing, which the Samaritans used as their place of worship.

21. Jesus said, “Believe me, woman. The time is coming when you will not have to be in Jerusalem or on this mountain to worship the Father.

You will know when you are touching a nerve because they will try to change the subject. Bring the conversation back to the Gospel and do not get off on some other subject.

22. You Samaritans worship what you do not understand. We Jews understand what we worship. Salvation comes from the Jews.

The people of the world do not know what they are worshiping.

23 – 24

The time is coming when the true worshipers will worship the Father in Spirit and truth. That time is now here. And these are the kinds of worshipers the Father wants. God is Spirit. Those who worship God must worship in Spirit and truth.”

The place where you worship God is not important. What what is important is that you worship not only would your mind, but with your spirit and while not hiding anything from the truth.

25 - 26

The woman said, “I know that the Messiah is coming. When the Messiah comes, He will explain everything to us.” (Messiah is the One called Christ.) Then Jesus said, “He is talking to you now. I am He.”

Jesus did not give the Pharisees a direct answer about this until later because He knew that they would not believe it. Listen closely when you are talking to people, and God will show you how much they are able to hear.

27 Just then his followers came back from town. They were surprised because they saw Jesus talking with a woman. But none of them asked, “What do you want?” or “Why are you talking with her?”

The custom is for women to counsel with women and men counsel men. Titus 2:4

28 – 30

Then the woman left her water jar and went back to town. She said to the men, “A man told me everything I have ever done. Come see him. Maybe he is the Christ!” So the people were leaving the town and coming to see Jesus.

She no longer needed to hide from her sins, God knew about them and they were covered. When someone trusts Christ they feel so free that they cannot wait to go tell others what happened to them. The women would not listen to her.

31. While the woman was away, His followers were begging Him, “Teacher, eat something!”

People who have not had the joy of leading someone to Christ are not interested in hearing about it. They will say, "Oh, that is nice! Let us go eat." These are the ones who bury the gift God gave them in the ground.

32 – 34

But Jesus answered, “I have food to eat that you know nothing about.” So the followers asked themselves, “Did somebody already bring Jesus some food?”

Jesus said, “My food is to do what the One who sent Me wants Me to do. My food is to finish the work that He gave me to do.

We are put on this earth to finish a job that God has given given us. When we find out what it is, nothing else is as interesting to us.

35. You have a saying, “Four more months to wait before we harvest the grain.” But I tell you, open your eyes. Look at the fields that are ready for harvesting now.

While Jesus was talking, the men of Shechem could have been walking through the fields on their way to see what the woman was talking about. Jesus is showing the disciples what the real harvest is.

36 – 38

Even now, the one who harvests the crop is being paid. He is gathering crops for eternal life. So now the one who plants can be happy along with the one who harvests.

You have a saying, “One person plants, but another harvests the crop.” I sent you to harvest a crop that you did not work for. Others did the work, and you get the profit from their work.

We continue the ministry that other people started. Philip continued the work that Jesus had started here and many lives were changed. Somebody may have spent years talking to a man about Jesus and later he is ready for our words. Acts 8:5 – 8

39 – 40

Many of the Samaritans in that town believed in Jesus. They believed because of what the woman said: “He told me everything I have ever done.” The Samaritans were coming to Jesus and kept on begging Him to stay with them. So He stayed there two days.

Even though Jesus did many good things in other cities, no other city asked Him to stay.

41 – 42

Many more believed because of the words He said. They said to the woman, “First we believed in Jesus because of what you told us, but now we believe because we heard Him ourselves. We know that this man really is the Savior of the world.”

People who are testing God want to see a miracle. People who know that something is wrong in their lives only need to hear God's words and it is enough for them.

43 – 45

Two days later, Jesus left and went to Galilee. (Jesus had said before that a prophet is not respected in his own country.)

When Jesus arrived in Galilee, the people there welcomed Him. They had seen all the things He did at the Passover Feast in Jerusalem. They had been at the Passover Feast, too.

We need to know when people are not ready to hear us. In that case, all we can do is pray that God will send someone that they will listen to. Matthew 13:57

46 – 50

Jesus went to visit Cana in Galilee again. This is where Jesus had changed the water into wine. One of the king’s important officers lived in the city of Capernaum. This man’s son was sick.

The man heard that Jesus had come from Judea and was now in Galilee. He went to Jesus and begged him to come to Capernaum and heal his son. His son was almost dead.

Jesus said to him, “You people must see signs and miracles before you will believe in Me.” The officer said, “Sir, come before my child dies.” Jesus answered, “Go. Your son will live.” The man believed what Jesus told him and went home.

This man could have said, "How can I be sure? Capernaum is twenty miles away. Please come to my house so that I can be sure that my son is healed." When we take God at His Word He is pleased with us and will do what is good for us.

51 – 54

On the way the man’s servants came and met him. They told him, “Your son is well.” The man asked, “What time did my son begin to get well?” They answered, “It was about one o’clock yesterday when the fever left him.”

The father knew that one o’clock was the exact time that Jesus had said, “Your son will live.” So the man and all the people of his house believed in Jesus. That was the second miracle that Jesus did after coming from Judea to Galilee.

Notice that this man paid attention to what Jesus was saying, and because of this he had faith to trust God. In the same way, if we are reading or hearing God's Words, we will have the faith to trust God in our situation.

So faith comes from hearing, and hearing by the Word of God. Romans 10:17

He sent out His word and healed them. Psalm 107:20