The Samaritan Woman at
the Well Part 2

The Samaritan Woman at the Well Part 2 (John 4:27-42)

Jesus and the Samaritan Woman at the Well:

FROM LAST WEEK

Jesus and His disciples were enroute from Aenon, just north of the Dead Sea where they had been baptizing, and were on their way to somewhere in Galilee, which meant they had to pass through the countryside of Samaria.

There was a Woman in Samaria who was about to meet the Master, a meeting that would change her life forever.

So the story begins with Jesus resting at Jacob's Well, located in Jacob's Field near the city of Sychar in Samaria.

She came to draw water in the middle of the day, the other women came in the cool of the day. She came at a time when she would avoid other people. But that particular day Jesus was there waiting on her.

Jacob's Well

Joseph's Tomb, is located just north of Jacob's Well in a building marked by a white dome.

This Week's Study

Jesus had told the "woman at the well" who He was (actually had told her that He was the Messiah). He also offered her the "Well Spring of Water that springs up into eternal life," and she accepted.

Jesus spoke a lot about sowing seed, and seed time and harvest. In last weeks scripture we see examples of the sowing of the Word, this week the reaping the of the Word.

BEGIN SCRIPTURE:

VERSE 27 - Just then his disciples came back. They marveled that he was talking with a woman, but no one said, "What do you seek?" or, "Why are you talking with her?"

* The disciples trusted Jesus enough not to ask about the situation."

*The Jewish men were taught and warned not to talk to women, it was a part of their training. (Some rabbis added, even with one's own wife) Not talking to women was done in attempt to avoid temptation, and to avoid the appearance of sin. Does this not reveal their desperate attempt to attain perfection?

VERSES 28-30 - "So the woman left her water jar and went away into town and said to the people, 29"Come, see a man who told me all that I ever did. Can this be the Christ?" THE AMPLIFIED VERSION SAYS:"[Must not this be the Messiah, the Anointed One?]" "30They went out of the town and were coming to him.

*So she left her water containers, and we aren't told if she actually drew water out of the well, of if she gave Jesus a drink, you think she did) I hope so. Wouldn't that be an honor to be the one to give Him a drink of water? Yet, in Matthew 25:40 Jesus, in an excerpt of His parables said "..Truly, I say to you, as you did it to one of the least of these my brothers, you did it to me."

Anyway, I think it's safe to say that *Her water Jars were all of a sudden not so important. She had discovered that the water in that old well wasn't nearly as important as the water that "wells up into eternal life," the water that Jesus had to offer.

She had gone to tell the others about Jesus.

*The Samaritan's were a lot like the Jews in that "they wouldn't have had much regard for the witness of any woman, and the witness of an adulteress would have been worthless;"

and yet, she became one of the very first witnesses for Jesus. We can easily see a dramatic change in her, remember, she came to the well at a time of day to avoid others, and here we see her running to town and, as the "Amplified Version" says, "...come see a man whom must be the Messiah..."

We can still see that change in people today. There's just something about a new convert. They're on fire for the Lord and are some of the greatest witnesses for Christ.

So here she was, she had learned of this "living water springing up into eternal life" and she left her water pots and ran to town to tell others.

VERSE 31-32 - Meanwhile the disciples were urging him, saying, "Rabbi, eat." 32But he said to them, "I have food to eat that you do not know about." And in the (AMP) 32"But He assured them, I have food (nourishment) to eat of which you know nothing and have no idea."

VERSE 33 - So the disciples said to one another, "Has anyone brought him something to eat?" "

VERSE 34 - Jesus said to them, "My food is to do the will of him who sent me and to accomplish his work.

According to the (IVP) background Commentary Ancient teachers sometimes used food as a metaphor for spiritual food." Whatever, it seems rather obvious that Jesus was saying that He had received strength, or sustenance from the Spirit, or, from God.

*we easily see that Jesus had a responsibility, a work that God had sent Him to accomplish.

In John 5:17 (NKJV) "...My Father has been working until now, and I have been working." I can't help but wonder what the Father has been doing over the past few thousand years?

The bibles tells us that the earth and the heavens reflect His glory. Could He have something to do with 325 billion, and counting, new galaxies that the scientist say are still developing?

VERSE 35 - Do you not say, 'There are yet four months, then comes the harvest'? Look, I tell you, lift up your eyes, and see that the fields are white for harvest.

Most see this as a prophecy concerning the future, and the fields are still ready for harvest, (Jesus talked a lot about seed time and harvest) In our day don't you think Jesus would say "open your eyes, see what's happening", scripturally speaking, and maybe, "look at the prophecies, the fields are white for harvest")

but in addition, some think that when He said "lift up your eyes, and see that the fields are white for harvest" that He may also have been speaking of the Samaritans who were coming in response to the woman's testimony, and that they could be seen coming in the distance.

The following verses may possibly also partially apply to another study in that they more or less point to other scriptures dealing with rewards, and fruit.

VERSE 36 - Already the one who reaps is receiving wages and gathering fruit for eternal life, so that sower and reaper may rejoice together. = (AMP) 36Already the reaper is getting his wages [he who does the cutting now has his reward], for he is gathering fruit (crop) unto life eternal, so that he who does the planting and he who does the reaping may rejoice together.

THE SOWER REJOICES

we can relate to this can't we? Of all the joys associated with our Christian walk, there is none greater than sowing the word, or the Gospel, the plan of salvation and leading someone to Christ.

VERSE 37 - "For here the saying holds true, One sows and another reaps."

Here he is talking to the disciples who hadn't been there to sow. We see that when Jesus sowed the word the woman of Samaria reaped the benefits, and then she sowed and the people of Samaria reaped.

VERSE 38 - I sent you to reap that for which you did not labor. Others have labored, and you have entered into their labor."

* Here Jesus and the Samaritan woman sow, and the disciples see the harvest. I am reminded of all the prophets in the Old Testament, those down through the centuries who laid the groundwork in preparation. (were they not also sowers for this harvest)

IN VERSE 39 WE ARE TOLD THAT:

VERSE 39 - Many Samaritans from that town believed in him because of the woman’s testimony, "He told me all that I ever did."

Then we are told:

VERSES 40-41 - So when the Samaritans came to him, they asked him to stay with them, and he stayed there two days. 41And many more believed because of his word.

This invitation to stay there two days contrasts His experience in the Jewish towns. Some of them wanted Him to stay, but often (as in Matthew 8:28-34, when he cast the demons out of the two men who were living in the cemetery and the demons went into the pigs causing the pigs to crash of the cliff, and were killed;) the people asked Jesus to leave. It seems they would rather have the demons.

We know that the demons did not die with the pigs, so it leaves one to wonder where the demons went after they left the pigs. I would not have wanted to live in that town afterwards.

BACK TO OUR SCRIPTURE:

(To repeat) verse 40 "...And He stay there two days"

REGARDING HIS WILLINGNESS TO STAY THERE: A commentary from the "IVP background commentary" - "For Jesus to lodge there, eating Samaritan food and teaching Samaritans would be roughly equivalent to defying segregation in the United States during the 1950's or apartheid in South Africa in the 1980s --shocking, extremely difficult, and somewhat dangerous. the Jesus of the Gospels is more concerned with people than with custom."

AND THE LAST VERSE IN THIS STUDY:

VERSE 42 - They said to the woman, "It is no longer because of what you said that we believe, for we have heard for ourselves, and we know that this is indeed the Savior of the world."

She brought the people to Jesus, but they believed because of Him. Isn't that about all that's expected of us, to introduce others to Jesus?

BUT THERE IS MORE:

(a little from our last study) While researching Jacob's well, which is very close to 4000 years old now, I kept finding historical references to it all through the centuries, as far back as 700BC, and in the 3rd, 4th, 7th, 14th, , and right on up. It just caused me to wonder how many millions this Samaritan Woman by the Well has witnessed to over the centuries. This sure has witnessed to me.

This is a great example of God's love and total acceptance and deliverance. A love that accepts us where we are. Jesus, the King of kings, literally went out of His way to find and to offer this Samaritan woman a place in His kingdom. This woman without, without a name, and who doesn't appear again in scripture was an outcast in her own society. He reached out to her and she reached back.

So we see that Jesus love them enough to pay them a special visit, and a little later died for their sins, and brought them into the fold.

BUT THAT'S STILL NOT THE END OF THE STORY.

In Acts 8 we see that Philip was an early missionary to the Samaritans.

PHILIP IN ACTS 8:

5 Philip went down to the city of Samaria and proclaimed to them the Christ. 6 And the crowds with one accord paid attention to what was being said by Philip when they heard him and saw the signs that he did. 7For unclean spirits, crying out with a loud voice, came out of many who had them, and many who were paralyzed or lame were healed. 8So there was much joy in that city.

Evidently Philip's ministry was one of delivering the plan of salvation, and healings )( we might say of setting the captives free).

THEN IN VERSE 14: 14Now when the apostles at Jerusalem heard that Samaria had received the word of God, they sent to them Peter and John, 15who came down and prayed for them that they might receive the Holy Spirit, 16for he had not yet fallen on any of them, but they had only been baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus. 17Then they laid their hands on them and they received the Holy Spirit.

No wonder this is one of the all time favorite New Testament scriptures. ______________________________________________________________

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Woman at the Well Part 2