John 4

It says so humanly that “the Lord”, Who is the Omniscient, “knew”, in the sense of came to know. It is as if it is told to Him or that He hears it being told somewhere. In this we see His truly being Man in the foreground, yet He is the eternal God Who knows everything. This is the wonder of His Person that we cannot fathom. He learns that the Pharisees have heard that He makes and baptizes more disciples than John. ‘Making disciples’ is done by baptizing (Mt 28:19). The Pharisees also came to John’s baptism. They were not baptized by him, but denounced by him (Mt 3:7).

John was already a threat to their position, but now they hear that the Lord is attracting even more people. As a result, they feel even more threatened. Their hatred of Him becomes manifest because they practice evil things that He brings to light. They do not want to be exposed by Him (Jn 3:20). In order to withdraw Himself from their hatred for the moment, the Lord leaves Judea, where the Pharisees are strongly represented.

John the evangelist mentions in an interlude that the Lord Himself does not baptize, but that His disciples do. His disciples cannot but baptize into a living Messiah. He Himself knows that He must first suffer and die as the Son of Man and therefore He does not baptize.

He leaves Judea and returns to Galilee. His coming to Galilee is the moment when in the other Gospels His public service begins, through which in Galilee “a great light” is seen (Mt 4:12-17). His way to Galilee leads through Samaria. He had to go through there. It is a Divine ‘had to’, for this is how His Father determines His way. As true Man He opened His ear to the Father that morning (Isa 50:4), by which He knows that in Samaria He will meet a weary woman. God wants to use that encounter to have a testimony among the nations that His Son is the Savior of the world (verse 42).

The Lord comes to Sychar. John reminds us that this city is near the parcel of ground that Jacob gave to his son Joseph. This tells us about the relationship between Jacob and his son Joseph. We know that Joseph was the son of his father Jacob’s love. Jacob had already given Joseph on one occasion a varicolored tunic as an expression of his love for him (Gen 37:3). He had also given Joseph a piece of land that he had bought from the sons of Hamor (Gen 33:19; Jos 24:32). In the relationship of love between Jacob and Joseph and its manifestations, we have a wonderful picture of the Father’s love for the Son. The Father loves the Son and has given all things into His hand (Jn 3:35).

Near Sychar is the well of Jacob. It is the well for the weary and thirsty pilgrim. The Lord Jesus is weary from His journey and sits down by the well as a weary Traveler. John again has an eye for detail and mentions that it is about the sixth hour.

We see how the Son of God shares in the general suffering of mankind when He sits there, tired from the journey, by the well to rest. He is content with that. He seeks nothing but to do the will of His Father, Who has led Him there. In what follows, we have a beautiful sequence of features or attributes of the Savior that all become visible in their full glory and splendor. Everything He says reveals His perfect Godhead. We see in Him that God is light and that God is love. From what He needs, it is clear that He is perfectly Man.

While the Lord is sitting there, resting, a woman of Samaria comes to draw water from the well. We become witnesses to an extraordinarily meaningful encounter of a lonely, poor, sinful woman with the Judge of the Living and the Dead.

He opens the conversation with the question whether she wants to give Him, the eternal God, the Creator of heaven and earth, a drink. As Man, He depends on this woman for a sip of water. He Who has provided food and drink for an entire nation in a wilderness for forty years, He Who has turned water into wine and feeds a hungry crowd, asks someone else for a drink. He utters no command, but He takes the place of a humble Questioner toward a woman who lives in sin. Thus the Lord begins the conversation with this woman He knows through and through. He knows how to approach her in order to finally give her the full blessing He has for her.

This encounter has been meticulously prepared by God. When the Son of God and the woman meet, no one is present. The disciples had to leave and make room for her. They know nothing of this grace. The woman too comes to the well alone. She is not with the other women. In her solitude, she meets the Savior of the world through the wonderful guidance of God Who brought her there. What a meeting! Two lonely people meet each other. But Who was lonelier than He? The conversation is between Him and her personally, without possible interference or distraction from others.

The Samaritan woman is most astonished by the Lord’s question. She sees that He is a Jew. She knows that in the eyes of the Jews she is ‘only’ a Samaritan woman and therefore has no significance. The contempt of Jews for Samaritans is great, so great, in fact, that Jews completely ignore the Samaritans. Jews are acting as if they don’t exist. There is no relationship whatsoever with them. That is why she is amazed at how it is possible that He, Who is for her at the moment no more than “a Jew”, is asking her for a drink.

In His respond, the Lord tells the woman about God Who has a gift. He says it in a way that awakens in her a longing for that gift. The Son does not present God as One Who demands, but as a Giver. If she knew the gift of God, which is eternal life in Him Who now speaks to her, she would reverse the roles. She would have asked Him a drink and He would have given her living water. God is the source of living water (Jer 2:13; Zec 14:8) and as God the Son He now offers that living water to men.

With this offer He wants to provide for her spiritual need, her spiritual thirst. He is able to quench that thirst. To this end He points to Himself as the Humble One Who is also the Son of the Father, yet Who has bowed down so deeply that He can ask a sinful woman for water. This is how close God has come to man in His Son, in Him Who is the true God and eternal life. With the words “who it is who says to you” He points to Himself as the weary and thirsty Man Who asks her for a sip of water and Who at the same time is the eternal Son of God. He is truly the gift of God to men.

Can God reveal more clearly that He is a Giver? The fact that she has no idea at this time doesn’t change the fact of that great gift of God. If she had any notion of it, she would have asked living water from Him. It is the question of the life-giving Word of God that presents God to the hearts of those who long for this living water. If we have that desire, it becomes active in our heart and connects us to the Lord Jesus and all that is to be found in Him.

The woman, like Nicodemus in the previous chapter, can only think on a natural level. Consequently, she limits the Lord’s words to the human resources on which she would depend to receive that living water. She asks Him where He can get the living water from. And is He perhaps greater than that which is of old, that has always met the needs, previously met the needs of Jacob and his family and possessions, and now meets her needs as well?

When there is no awareness of the glory of Christ, tradition is always an obstacle to accepting what comes from God. A great name and great gifts and a long tradition, blind us to God’s work in Christ. As a result, the true Great is not recognized in His greatness.

The Lord is in the process of breaking through her traditions. He first points her to the water of the well. That water refreshes for a certain period of time, but after that there is thirst and the need to drink again. Water from a natural well quenches thirst for a while, but not forever. This is how God has ordained it for the creature. This is different for those who are given to drink from the Holy Spirit. That is what Christ then speaks about with regard to the water He offers. The water He gives not only delivers from restless search for peace, but gives so much more. That water is a source of joy that someone receives in his innermost being and that he will never lose.

There is even more connected to it. That well in a person is connected to eternal life. By this the Lord refers to the gift of the Holy Spirit which He gives in the believer to become a fresh well of Divine joy in his innermost being (Jn 7:39). In John 3, the gift is the only begotten Son Whom God has given to the world (Jn 3:16). Here the gift is the Holy Spirit Whom God gives us through His Son enabling us to enjoy all that has been given to us in the Son.

All that God has given us can be summed up in: “Eternal life.” Eternal life has two aspects. It is both the Lord Jesus Himself (1Jn 5:20) and knowing the Father and the Son, which is also called eternal life (Jn 17:3). Possessing such a well that enables us to enjoy eternal life leads to lasting fulfillment. Where that well is present, there will be no need for anything else forever. These are the wonderful things associated with the gift of God.

The woman has already understood so many of the Lord’s words that she yearns to possess what He speaks of. Yet she still connects it with the natural well, where she will no longer have to go in order to quench her natural thirst.

Before the Lord can give her the water which will become a well of water in her, her conscience must first be brought into God’s light. She must first be convinced of her sins. In view of this, He says that she must go and call her husband. However, He says not only “go”, but also “and come here”. His goodness is not limited by her sinful life. On the contrary, His goodness is proven by it.

By His question, the woman is discovered to herself. When she says “I have no husband”, it is not an excuse, but an acknowledgment that she lives in sin by living together unmarried. The Lord confirms that her answer is correct. In the remainder of His response He speaks just a few words, but these words bring her into God’s light. However, she is not consumed by that light, but introduced into grace.

He demonstrates to her that to Him her history is an open book. The truth does not spare her and opens her sin to God and to her own conscience. She acknowledges this as the light of God. The woman acknowledges that the Lord’s words are not of human wisdom, but of God’s power. That is what a prophet does and what Christ as Prophet does here. A prophet speaks the words of God whereby the listener enters the presence of God and is discovered to himself (cf. 1Cor 14:24-25).

To the woman, the Lord was first only “a Jew” (verse 9), now He is already “a prophet” and soon she will confess Him as “the Christ” (verse 29). Thus we see how her faith rapidly progresses through the gracious work of Christ in her soul. It is grace that does not hide her sin from her and makes her realize that God knows everything. And yet, He Who knows everything is there without disturbing her. Her sin is before God, but God does not judge her. What a wonderful encounter is this between a heart burdened by sins and God, an encounter brought about by Christ. Grace inspires confidence.

Now the woman is aware that she is in God’s light, she speaks about worship, about honoring God. A heart that is convinced of its sins and convinced of God’s grace for sinners, starts to desire to worship God. This is what we witness in the woman. She expresses her longing for worship and at the same time her difficulty how and where to do it by indicating two places of worship.

The woman speaks about “our fathers” who “worshiped in this mountain”. For her, worship has always been connected to a long tradition. It is the same for countless Christians today. They come together in a church or a building because their parents and grandparents did the same. They have never wondered what the woman begins to wonder: What is the true place of worship?

The woman also knows that for “you”, that is the Jews, Jerusalem is the place of worship. Now she wants to know from the Lord Jesus which of the two is the true place of worship. He answers her question, putting faith in Him first. This is shown by the fact that He begins His teaching about worship by saying “woman, believe Me”. He makes it clear to her, that for faith, Jerusalem and Samaria as places of worship will both disappear entirely. Now that the Father is revealed in and by the Son, worship is no longer connected with any particular place on earth.

Although both Jerusalem and Samaria will disappear, they are not equal places of worship. The woman and all Samaritans have a worship that is not focused on the true God. They do not know what they worship. God has not committed Himself to them and has not revealed Himself to them as Yahweh. Their worship is directed to an unknown god, a product of their own religious imagination. For the Jews, “we”, it is true that they do know what they worship. To them God has revealed Himself and also said where and how He wants to be worshiped.

To the Samaritan woman the Lord therefore maintains Jewish worship. At that time this is still God’s chosen service because out of them is the salvation that is in the Christ (Rom 9:4-5). The Samaritans are imitators and hostile to God, otherwise they would have submitted to God’s ways and Word.

The Lord speaks of “what”, not ‘who’ is worshiped. Although God has revealed Himself in Judaism, this announcement is still only partial. The whole service is arranged in such a manner that someone who has no faith in God can also participate in it. In addition, God lived in darkness, behind the veil, and the common people were not allowed to approach Him. That is why worship is a ‘what’, meeting a precept, without necessarily having an inner relationship with God. When Christ died, that changed. Then God came out and revealed Himself through the Spirit as Father in the Son. Christians therefore know ‘Who’ they worship and not just ‘what’.

Here we have the first unfolding of Christian worship ever given by God to a human being. This worship goes beyond both Samaritan and Jewish worship. In Christian worship, the Father is worshiped, and it is no longer the worship of Yahweh, the God of Israel, or the Almighty, as the patriarchs knew Him. It is also no longer about mandatory worship as a demand of God (Deu 6:13). God is entitled to the worship of every human being on earth, and He has demanded that worship of man at all times. Even when the church is raptured and there will be a great tribulation on earth, the command sounds: “Worship Him” (Rev 14:7).

God does not demand worship of the church, because when the Son came to earth, God revealed Himself as a Giver. Thus, the Son of God comes to sinful people whom we see represented in this Samaritan woman. The Lord Jesus has revealed God, as He, the Son, knows Him. He has revealed the Father in the fullness of love and fellowship. The Son will also bring His own who are in the world into a conscious relationship with His Father as children of that Father (Jn 20:17) because they are born of God (Jn 1:12-13).

In this light both Mount Gerizim and Jerusalem disappear. The worship on Mount Gerizim was nothing but a self-willed religion; the worship in Jerusalem was merely the test and proof of man’s incompetence under the law to meet God. Christian worship is based on the possession of eternal life in the Son and the gift of the Holy Spirit as the power to worship (cf. Phil 3:3).

From now on, national religion is a deception, it is merely an attempt to bring to life what has disappeared when it comes to acknowledgment from God’s side. From now on the Father is seeking persons who worship Him as Father. For that purpose, those persons have to know Him as Father, which is only possible if they have accepted the Son.

We see here the great desire of the Father that is revealed by the Son. The entire work of the Son is aimed at bringing about that worship. Nowhere in Scripture do we read that the Father seeks anything else, although it is also important, for example, that we bear witness to the Lord Jesus. However, we may consider whether we give this desire of the Father the highest priority in our life.

The Lord adds another thing. The Father is seeking worshipers, but then it is also important to know how He wants us to worship Him. That is why the Son says that we must remember that God is spirit. He speaks about the ‘Father’ when it comes to blessings and about ‘God’ when it comes to responsibility. Therefore, when it comes to the way of worship, it is about responsibility and that is why He speaks about ‘God’ and ‘must’.

Worship of the Father must be done “in spirit”, that is in a spiritual way, guided by the Holy Spirit and not in an Old Testament, earthly, tangible way. The worship to which the Lord Jesus refers here is not an appearance that requires special clothing or sacred buildings or certain visible actions. It is about the heart and not about the eyes or the hands. Everything that is external only has the effect of diverting attention from Him, Who is represented to faith by the Holy Spirit.

It is also important that the worship of the Father is done in “truth”, i.e., in accordance with the truth which the Lord Jesus has revealed about the Father. Christian worship is focused on the Father and the Son of the Father. Only true believers can “worship in spirit and truth”.

What the Lord Jesus said about worship is far beyond the woman’s thinking. Yet she does not turn away from Him, but asks Him about the Messiah. That, in any case, is the thought that comes to her because of what He has said. She touches the core; she is at the source.

When the woman expresses her longing for the Messiah, the Christ, the Lord can reveal Himself to her. He has achieved His purpose with her. A poor Samaritan sinner accepts the Messiah of Israel Whom the priests and Pharisees rejected from among the people. Anyone who believes that Jesus is the Christ – or the Messiah – is born of God (1Jn 5:1). That is what she believes. Her heart has been touched and her conscience has been reached. The grace and truth that came to her in Jesus Christ (Jn 1:17) are now everything to her.

At that moment, the disciples come back. Now they could because the Lord has come to His purpose with the woman. Yet the woman has not gone when the disciples return. The Lord wants them to see what He has been doing during their absence. The disciples are amazed that He speaks with a woman. It was not common for a man to speak with a woman alone.

Like the woman, the disciples have not yet understood much of the grace and truth that are present in Christ and His search for those who are open to it. Had they known what the woman was seeking and what He said to her, they would have wondered even more. Not only did He speak to her, but He also revealed to her what she was seeking and showed her in Himself that He is all she needs. Above all, He fulfilled His own desire to acquaint this woman with ‘the gift of God’.

The disciples still have much to learn. They do feel that something special has happened, because they don’t ask the woman what she does seek nor do they ask the Lord why He does speak with her.

The woman is not leaving the Lord, but her waterpot. The waterpot is the symbol of her daily toil. She leaves it behind. She is completely seized by the new Object that has been revealed to her heart: Christ. A new world has opened up for her with new affections, new obligations, but also with a new power that lifts her up above her earthly toil. Christ has seized her heart and given her the strength to bear witness of Him.

She wants to tell the people in the city about this special encounter that has made everything in her life different. She is delivered from her sins and has a wonderful future. As long as she lives, she may get to know more and more of the Father through the Son and worship Him for that.

She speaks without any hesitation about Christ as the One Who revealed her sins to her, but also delivered her from them. To her He is still “a man”, but yet at the same time also “the Christ”. She is so absorbed in her new Object that she becomes a preacher without thinking about it. She proclaims Christ from the fullness of her heart and in utter simplicity.

Her testimony has a great effect. All those who see and hear her and who have known her must have noticed the great change that has taken place in her. Such an enthusiastic and personal testimony has great power because it is not only about feelings, but also touches the conscience. Her testimony is the beginning of a revival in the city. All go out of the city and come to the Savior. With Lot, the result of his bearing witness was quite different. When he bore witness to what had been made known to him, he was laughed at (Gen 19:14).

In their concern for their Master, the disciples mean well when they tell Him to eat something. They are back with the food they bought (verse 8). However well-intentioned, again the disciples show that they do not know the Lord much better and do not know much more about Him than the woman. Like the woman, they can only think about physical needs while the Lord is busy with the spiritual needs of the woman.

Then He speaks to them about a kind of food that He has to eat and that they don’t know. That food is doing the will of the Father (verse 34). His love for the Father leads Him thereto. That is the food that gives strength to those who are weary and increases the strength of him who has no strength (Isa 40:29-31). Christ has lived and worked out of the power of that food and therein He is an example to us as well.

The disciples do not understand the scope of the Lord’s words. They still can only think of earthly wells when it comes to meeting earthly needs. A heavenly well and especially the Father to fulfill spiritual needs is still beyond their understanding. They do not yet know the Father and are not yet fully focused on doing the will of the Father, whereas the Lord Jesus does know the Father and is fully focused on doing His will.

Then the Lord reveals what His food consists of, which gives Him the power. As obedient, dependent Man, He gets His strength from doing the will of the Father Whom He presents here as the One Who sent Him to accomplish His work. Accomplishing His work is to make His Father’s Name known and to glorify Him (Jn 17:4).

The Father has sent Him into a world that is under judgment, for man’s sin is clear. Yet at the same time the offer of God’s grace can become all the more evident in that situation. The gospel comes where man’s total depravity is unmistakable and therefore is crossing all borders.

The Lord connects with His example a saying familiar to them regarding the harvest. They can see from the wheat in the field how long it still takes before the harvest comes. The Lord then applies this to the proclamation of the gospel. He tells them to put their eyes up and look on the fields full of people. They will see that the time to reap has already come and therefore they have to work by preaching the gospel and bringing in the harvest.

The Lord encourages them to do this work of reaping by offering the prospect of reward. He also speaks about collecting fruit for eternal life because everyone who believes receives eternal life. What a great motive to work for the Lord Jesus! On top of that there is the great joy for both the sower who started the work and the reaper who was allowed to finish the work.

The Lord does not speak here about the work of sowing – as He does, for example, in Matthew 13 (Mt 13:3) – but only about reaping. He puts the result in the foreground. In connection with the glorification of the Father’s Name, reaping is the characteristic work. There is a difference in activity, but both sowing and reaping are necessary for the desired and full result. Everyone has his own position in the work of the Lord just as everyone has in the church as the body of Christ (1Cor 12:14). Although He also speaks of sowing, the characteristic work of the apostles is that of reaping.

He fully acknowledges the faithful service of His workers in earlier days. These are the prophets who spoke through the Spirit of Christ about the Savior and the sufferings of Christ and the glories thereafter (1Pet 1:10-12). What they have sown has not been in vain. The time to reap has waited, but has come with the coming of the Son of God. Someone who may bring people to the Lord is given the opportunity to do so because multiple people before him have already told them about Him. He may then give the final push, speaking the liberating word that under the gracious action of God’s Spirit brings someone to surrender to the Lord Jesus.

It is wonderful to see how God has blessed the simple testimony of the woman. Many come to faith in the Lord Jesus through her testimony. And what did her testimony consist of? Of nothing but acknowledging that her conscience has been brought into the light. She has learned to see herself as a sinner in God’s light. That light did not consume her, for it came to her in Him Who at the same time revealed to her the love of the Father. Her honest testimony is good proof that the heart hides nothing and knows how to appreciate grace. This is opposite to using grace as a cover for sin (Jude 1:4).

Through the word of the woman’s testimony, the Samaritans are attracted to the grace and truth revealed in Christ. They go to Him and ask Him to stay with them. This is always the result of a true work of the Spirit in heart and conscience. Someone who is convinced of it will always desire the Lord Jesus to stay with him, even if he does not yet fully know Who He is (Lk 24:29). It may also be that someone who is convinced by Christ has the wish to accompany Him (Lk 8:38). This reflects the same desire.

The reaction of the Lord to such desires depends on the work He wants the newly converted to do. In this case, He responds to their request by staying with them for another two days. Those must have been wonderful days, with a lot of teaching about the Father. The result of His stay is an increase of people who believe in Him. He is believed for His word, without asking for a sign. Initially He is recognized by some as a Prophet (verse 16-19,29), next He is recognized by many as “the Savior of the world”.

He is the Savior, not only for the Jews, but for the world (1Jn 4:14). The Samaritans who come to faith in Him are proof of this. They have heard Him and are convinced by His word inwardly that He has also come to save them.

When the word of Christ is believed, there is a connection between the heart and Him. He reveals Himself by what He says. That was the case then and it is no different now. Here the word of Christ receives its full value while faith gets its blessed result in the acknowledgment of Who He really is.

When the two days are over, the Lord leaves the area of Samaria to take again His place among the despised and humble in Galilee. According to the prophecy of Isaiah this is the area of His service (Isa 9:1-2). He may be the Savior of the world, but He does not forget His people Israel. In the son of the royal official we see a picture of this (verses 46-54). After the two days of testimony in the world, in which we can see a picture of the present time in which the Lord Jesus is revealed as Savior of the world and a people of worshipers of the Father is formed, He picks up the thread with His people Israel again.

On the one hand He fulfills the prophecy of Isaiah by living in Galilee. On the other hand He left Judea because they do not want Him there. There He is not given the honor that is due to Him. Now He did not come to claim that honor, therefore He left Judea. He did not come to seek His own honor, but the honor of Him Who sent Him.

In Galilee He does get honor. They love to receive Him. This has not to do with the faith in His words, as with the Samaritans, but with what they have seen of Him in Jerusalem. There they have seen how He has been working in grace and has healed people.

Again the Lord comes to Cana in Galilee. As a reminder, John adds that this is the place where He had made the water (for purification) wine (of joy). There is no more joy in that place, as death threatens to enter. There is a royal official in Capernaum, someone from the court of Herod, whose son is sick. It is a disease that will lead to death if no wonder of God happens.

At this moment, the Lord visits Cana again. Again He is in time to show the glory of the Father. Besides purification and joy He also brings life and healing. The royal official shows faith in Christ from Whom he hears that He has come to Galilee. His fame has hastened ahead of Him.

The royal official comes from Capernaum to Cana and goes to the Lord Jesus. He asks Him to come with him. He makes his need known to Him. It is about his son who is so sick, that he is about to die. Therefore his request is if He wants to heal him. While the royal official believes in the healing power of Christ, his faith is limited. He believes that the Lord should go to his son, as if He can only heal his son through His personal presence. But presence or absence is of no relevance to the Son of God. These are only circumstances and He, Who is God, is above them.

He points out to the royal official the nature of his faith which requires signs and wonders. It is the typical characteristic of a Jewish faith that believes only when it sees proof. The faith of a heathen chief was greater (Lk 7:7). Although the words of the Lord reveal the weakness of the royal official’s faith, his weak faith persists. He is not discouraged and implores Him to come with him before his child dies.

A trial of faith by the Lord is aimed at making the wonder greater. Through his persevering faith, the royal official gets more than he asks and hopes for. He gets a direct hearing. Through his perseverance he shows the characteristics of real faith. He takes God at His Word, without signs, wonders and feelings. He no longer insists that the Lord must come with him, but he goes away in faith.

The Lord is so oncoming that the man does not even have to wait until he is at home to see with his own eyes the result of the word of Christ and to see his faith confirmed in it. While he is on his way, his slaves meet him with the message that his child is alive. They use the same words as Christ by talking about ‘living’, without having heard Him say those words. They have seen the effect of Christ’s word at the moment He spoke it, when they saw that life flowed back into the mortally sick child.

The slaves confirmed to the royal official what the Lord had said. The royal official wants to know at what time his son began to get better. In the absence of their lord, the slaves will have paid even more attention to the condition of the child, so that they can tell him the right moment of the beginning of the healing. It indicates a good relationship between the royal official and his slaves. The father also knows what time it was when the Lord spoke the words to him that his son lived.

The words of the Lord are life. In Him is life and He reveals it on the basis of faith. The result is life not only for the child, but also for the royal official and his whole household, because all come to faith in the Son of God.

This wonder is indicated by John as the second sign of the Lord Jesus. In the first sign joy is central. In this second sign life is central. Without life that He gives, there can be no joy.