John 4:1-3 It
seems curious that the condition for Jesus to return to Galilee was that He
knew that the Pharisees knew that he had made more disciples than John the
Baptist. Why did it matter to Him what the Pharisees knew? But He went to
Galilee by way of Samaria.
John 4:4-42
Jesus needed to pass through Samaria. Why? There were other routes. Jews
normally didn't have dealings with Samaritans. But Jesus had an appointment
with a woman that He had to keep.
Sychar
- Jacob's well - is not specifically called out in the Old Testament. Evidently
it was well-known in the time of Christ. The blessing that Jacob gave Joseph is
described in Genesis 49:22-26, but it did not specify any land. The specific
allocation of land to the tribes of Manasseh and Ephraim was made by Moses as
recorded in Joshua 13:29-32, and then by Joshua in Joshua 16:11-17:18. So a
direct gift from Jacob to Joseph must have predated any of these tribal
allocations, and would have occurred in the time frame described in Genesis
30-50.
The
Samaritans were the descendants, both culturally and genetically, of the
mixture of the descendants of the ten northern tribes of Israel and the various
people that had been brought from all over the mideast at the time of the
deportation of the Northern Kingdom. This included people who were from
Babylon, Cuthah, Avva, Hamath, and Sepharvaim. (2 Kings 17:24)
In terms of
religion, they practiced a synthesis of Judaism with the religions of the
various places people had come from (2 Kings 17:27-34), plus some residual Canaanite
religions (2 Kings 17:16-17). So at the time of Christ, the highly law-abiding
Jews from Judea, who had the warnings of the Old Testament constantly before
them (for example, 2 Kings 17:18 & 23) shunned all contact. This was an
enormous cultural barrier that Jesus needed to tear down in order for the
gospel to be carried to the whole world.
So
much has been written about the meeting between Jesus and the woman at the well
that little needs to be added. By contrast to the woman caught in the act of
adultery (John 8:3-11) this woman did not face the threat of being stoned for
her adultery. In Samaria, she was probably considered a standing joke - that
loose woman who just slept with whoever would have her in order to not be
alone. But Jesus, who knew all of that (John 4:18,29), did not evaluate her
that way. He saw in her a person who would respond to the gospel. He saw value
in a person who had been created in the image and likeness of God (Genesis
1:27), and had fallen to such depths.
In
His presentation of the good news of the kingdom of God, Jesus started with a
revelation of the supernatural presence of God in Himself. The woman responded
with a discussion of the historical roots of Jewish worship - that is, worship
according to the Law of Moses. The gist of Jesus' response to this was the
revelation of the spiritual dimension of worship. The Law of Moses gave
instructions for worship that were a picture of eternal spiritual truths, which
Jesus announced would soon (in that hour which is coming) be superseded by the
reality of that spiritual worship. Because the promise of the coming Messiah,
who would pay the price for the sins of mankind and then deliver individual
humans from the power of sin so that they could live out God's plan and
intention for and in His kingdom, was fulfilled in Him who was standing there
talking to her.
The
disciples did not have a clue. Jesus tried to explain to them the transcendence
of the kingdom of God. Jesus used sowing and reaping parables - the metaphor of
raising and harvesting crops - on many occasions. Speaking in these terms, Jesus told them that
the time had come to reap for the Kingdom of God. They probably had a very hard
time accepting this teaching because Jesus was giving the gospel to Samaritans.
But it did prepare them for events in the book of Acts, when the Holy Spirit
impelled the disciples to take the gospel to the Gentiles. And the gospel was
offered to a woman who was the basest of sinners.
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