Jesus in in Jerusalem for the first Passover of his formal ministry. Jesus has cleansed the temple.
And he has taught Nicodemus about the need to be born of water and spirit. And not just Nicodemus, but all of the men on the Sanhedrin, the highest court of Israel. Today, Jesus encounters the Samaritan woman. The favorite story of many people. We are in John 4:1-26.
Jesus Goes through Samaria [0:55]
After Jesus left Jerusalem he went with his disciples in the the countryside of Judea and baptized. Well, actually his disciples did the baptizing. Jesus decided to leave Judea and go back to Galilee (4:3) because the Pharisees heard that he was baptizing even more disciples than John.
Jesus was having great success! The Pharisees know it, and John’s disciples went to John and said the man who was with you is baptizing more people than we are. Everyone is going to him.
(John 3:26). Well, John wasn’t too concerned about that. John thought it was a good thing. You remember that I told you I am not the Messiah. He must become more, and I must become less. (3:28-30).
But what about the Pharisees? The Pharisees have no interest in Jesus increasing and becoming greater. And so Jesus leaves Judea and makes his way back to Galilee. And he goes through Samaria.
This is a bit unusual—for Jews to pass through Samaria. Sometimes they did it, but often Jews avoided Samaria. They would cross the Jordan River, travel north, and then cross back over the river into Galilee.
Samaritans Mixed Race [2:53]
For one thing the Samaritans were a mixed race. A mixed race of Jews and Gentiles. When the Assyrians invaded the Northern Kingdom in 722 B.C., they carried many of the Jews into captivity. And they brought in Gentiles who inter-married with the Jews who were left. Thus, you wind up with a Jewish-Gentile people.
Well, Jesus has been baptizing in Judea and he needs to go to Galilee. Many Jews would cross the Jordan River and go north to avoid passing through Samaria. But Jesus doesn’t do that. He goes right into Samaria. And then to Jacob’s well, right there close to Mt. Gerizim.
Mt. Gerizim and Ebal [3:58]
You will recognize Mt. Gerizim and Mt. Ebal from the life of Joshua. Mt. Gerizim, the mountain of blessings. And Mt. Ebal, the mountain of curses. When Joshua entered the Promised Land he took the Jews to the valley between these two mountains. (Josh. 8:33, 34). The priests and Levites stood with the ark of the covenant in the valley between Mt. Gerizim and Mt. Ebal. And inside the ark were the stone tablets containing the Ten Commandments.
And he commanded some of the tribes to stand on the slopes of Mt. Gerizim, and the other tribes on Mt. Ebal. Joshua read all the curses and blessings of the law, and the Levites repeated his words in a loud voice. All of those curses and blessings found in Deuteronomy 27 and 28. (Josh. 8:30-35; Deut. 27:14)
When Joshua read the curses for disobedience, the tribes on Mt. Ebal repeated the curses. And when he read the blessings for obedience, the tribes on Mt. Gerizim repeated the blessings. Joshua read, the Levites repeated in a loud voice, and the tribes recited.
And so this place became a perpetual reminder of the curses and blessings. Abram built his first altar nearby when he first entered Canaan (Gen. 12:6ff.) Joseph’s tomb was also nearby. And Jacob’s well. Very rich in sacred history.
Living Water [6:21]
O.K., so let’s get back to Jesus.
So, Jesus has come to Jacob’s well at the foot of Mt. Gerizim. It is midday. It is hot. There is a well, and he is thirsty. His disciples have gone into a nearby village to buy food.
While Jesus is waiting for his disciples to return with food, a woman comes to draw water from the well. He is a Jew. She is a Samaritan.
“Will you give me a drink of water?”
“”But you are a Jew. And I am a Samaritan. How can you ask me for a drink?”
Jews and Samaritans did not normally associate with each other. And a Jew would certainly not eat or drink out of the same cup as a Samaritan. There were some longstanding tensions between Jews and Samaritans, but Jesus turns the topic of water to drink from the physical water in the well which she can give him, to the spiritual water from heaven which he can give her.
Jesus had a way of doing that kind of thing. If you knew the gift of God; if you knew who has asked you for a drink; if you knew, you would have asked him for a drink. And he would have given you living water. (10, 11). If you drink my water, you will never thirst. If you drink my water, it will well up into eternal life. (13, 14).
Jesus is offering her spiritual water. But she doesn’t understand what Jesus is saying. Give me this water so I will not have to keep coming to this well and drawing it out.
Go get your husband. [8:52]
And Jesus gives this surprising response. She asks for water and he tells her to go get her husband and come back! He knows that she is living with a man who is not her husband. And he knows that she has been married five times.
What is the connection? Her spiritual thirst. Jesus wants to make her thirsty for the water that brings eternal life. So he turns her relationships with her five husbands and the man she is now living with into a discussion of spiritual matters.
“I have no husband!”
“You are right. You have had five husbands. And, the man you are living with now is not your husband.”
I moved to Guyana just a few weeks ago and happened to arrive in the middle of a medical missions outreach with nightly preaching. Very interesting what happened. During the outreach there were several weddings and a number of baptisms. Not formal weddings, but legal weddings where papers are signed by the bride and groom, witnesses sign. “I pronounce you man and wife. You may kiss the bride.”
So, I asked the local evangelist, Narine, what all of this was about? And he said all of these people have been living together and we teach them about marriage. And they get married. And we talk to them about the forgiveness of sins and baptize some of them.
You are a prophet. [11:10]
Well, this Samaritan woman is living with a man who was not her husband. And before him she had five husbands. She draws this conclusion that Jesus is a prophet. How else could he know about her life?
What do you do with a prophet? Much later in his ministry, Jesus miraculously fed the 5,000. The response of the people was: “This must be the prophet who was to come to the world.” And they wanted to force Jesus to be a king. (John 6:14, 15) The right response to a prophet is not, can you continue to feed us? The right response to a prophet is: what is the will of God?
The Jews had it wrong: they wanted to make Jesus a king. The Samaritan woman had it right: she has a question about the right place to worship. “The Samaritans worship on this mountain. But you Jews say that the right place to worship is in Jerusalem.”
She wants to know who is right?
Is she trying to get the attention off of her guilt? I don’t think so. People who feel guilty turn away from discussing religious matters. They do not ask religious questions. They change the subject to the weather or politics or sports. Or something.
The Place of Worship [13:15]
Her question was a deeply religious question. Where is the right place to worship? Mt. Gerizim or Mt. Moriah? Could it be that she wants to make atonement for her sin? She wants to know where to go to make atonement. Here at the Samaritan temple on Mt. Gerizim? Or, in Jerusalem
at the temple on Mt. Moriah?
There was a long standing debate going back hundreds of years. The Jews worshipped at the temple in Jerusalem, which was built on Mt. Moriah. The Samaritans worshiped at their own temple which was on Mt. Gerizim.
Temple Rivalry [14:12]
There was this fierce temple rivalry between the two groups going back centuries. While the Jews held their Passover in Jerusalem, there was a rival Passover by the Samaritans on Mt. Gerizim. They offered sacrifices and even had their own Jewish priests. The First Century historian Josephus says the Jewish priests were offered money, houses, and land to come over and serve in the Samaritan temple. (Jos. Ant. 11.8.2).
But—in about 128 B.C.—the Jews, a man named John Hyrcanus, one of the Maccabees, came to Mt. Gerizim and destroyed the Samaritan temple. But the Samaritans continued to worship there and I suppose somewhat rebuilt their temple.
When Jesus was a young boy, maybe ten to eleven, the Samaritans came into Jerusalem late at night before Passover. They went into the temple and spread human corpses around the temple to defile it and disrupt the Passover festival the next morning. After that the Samaritans were barred from entering the temple. And the Samaritans did a lot of other unpleasant things from time to time.
Well, Jesus the prophet, Jesus the Messiah, answers this question that had been debated for hundreds of years. Samaritans worship what they do not know. We worship what we know. Salvation is of the Jews. (22)
The Jews are right on this one. The Jerusalem temple is the place of worship. But, at the same time, it is not really not such an important question. Things are changing. The time is coming, and already is, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and in truth. God is seeking those kinds of worshipers because God is spirit. (23, 24).
In Spirit and in Truth [17:16]
What does that mean? In spirit and in truth? The time is coming and now is when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and in truth.
At first glance it seems so obvious that worship in spirit means with the right heart. Sincere. With the right attitude. And at first glance it seems obvious that in truth means to worship the Father according to how he has commanded it.
The Old Testament is full of admonitions and exhortations to worship God with the right heart and as he has commanded it to be done. And judgment upon those who did not. We think of Cain’s unacceptable sacrifice, and Nadab and Abihu who offered strange fire before the Lord. Saul who offered the sacrifice himself instead of waiting for Samuel. And King Uzziah who was struck with leprosy because he entered the Holy Place and burned the incense.
There is a long history of offences when men worshipped with the wrong heart and in the wrong way. But Jesus is announcing something new. Something different than before. The time is coming when the true worshippers will worship in spirit and in truth.
The change is worship moving away from the physical and the symbolic, to the spiritual and true. If you were take Hebrews and fold it up, fold it up, fold it up; if you were to put Hebrews into a nutshell, down to the fewest words possible, you would come out with this: “we worship in spirit and in truth.”
The symbolic, physical temple in Jerusalem was a copy of the true, spiritual temple in heaven. The high priest entered the Most Holy Place once a year. But Jesus, the true high-priest, entered the real Holy Place in heaven. The symbolic high priest sprinkled the symbolic blood of animals in the symbolic Holy Place for the sins of the people.(Heb. 9:7). But Jesus entered the true Holy Place in heaven with his own blood. (Heb. 9:11-14), The earthly, physical, symbolic sanctuary was only a copy of the true sanctuary in heaven. (Heb. 9:23, 24) (Also Heb. 7:18, 19; 8:5, 6; 9:11-13)
If the Samaritan woman wants to make atonement for her sin, if that is the reason she asked the question, the place to do it is at the temple in Jerusalem. But it will only be symbolic in nature. True atonement comes only through the blood of Jesus.
Little did she know who she was talking to. “When the Messiah comes, he will tell us everything.” Then Jesus said to her, “The one who is speaking to you is he.” So —she went and told the people in the town that she had found the Messiah. They invited him to stay and for two days he taught them and many became believers. “We know that this man is the Savior of the world.”
Rick Walker
Sophia church of Christ
Georgetown School of Preaching
Guyana, South America
