John 4:1-30

Summary
Today’s reading talked about Jesus leaving Galilee for Judea and he passed through a well in Samaria. At the well, Jesus requested for water from a Samaritan woman who had come to fetch water but, she refused saying that the Jews have no business with the Samaritans, Jesus then responded that if you knew the gift of God and the identity of the one asking you of water, you would have asked him and He will give you living water instead. She then requested for the water, Jesus then used the opportunity to evangelize to her because he had gained her full attention. She then shared her thoughts on place of worship but Jesus enlightened her that the place of worship has no significance, we can worship God anywhere and the criteria for worship is to worship God in spirit and truth and those are the kind of people He wants to have fellowship with. Finally, she then caught the revelation that it was the Messiah (Christ) that has been speaking with her. The woman left her water pot and went to the city to share the good news.

Life Application
It is our duty as God’s representatives or ambassadors to actually reach out and demonstrate God’s love to others, like Jesus did by not condemning the Samaritan woman but was patient enough to make her understand who was talking to her and the need for to be saved, we saw the result of that single act of love and patient, the woman did not keep the good news to herself but shared it with others. This is what is expected of us as children of God in our dealing with others, we should give them also the opportunity to receive Christ as their savior and not give up on them because they haven’t made that decision.
Don’t ever give up on anyone because Jesus never gave up on you but was always patient with you.

Personal Declaration
I will pay attention to my love life and be considerate in dealing with people.

Reading – John 4:1-30

Jesus Talks With a Samaritan Woman

4 Now Jesus learned that the Pharisees had heard that he was gaining and baptizing more disciples than John— ² although in fact it was not Jesus who baptized, but his disciples. ³ So he left Judea and went back once more to Galilee.

⁴ Now he had to go through Samaria. ⁵ So he came to a town in Samaria called Sychar, near the plot of ground Jacob had given to his son Joseph. ⁶ Jacob’s well was there, and Jesus, tired as he was from the journey, sat down by the well. It was about noon.

⁷ When a Samaritan woman came to draw water, Jesus said to her, “Will you give me a drink?” ⁸ (His disciples had gone into the town to buy food.)

⁹ The Samaritan woman said to him, “You are a Jew and I am a Samaritan woman. How can you ask me for a drink?” (For Jews do not associate with Samaritans.^[a])

¹⁰ Jesus answered her, “If you knew the gift of God and who it is that asks you for a drink, you would have asked him and he would have given you living water.”

¹¹ “Sir,” the woman said, “you have nothing to draw with and the well is deep. Where can you get this living water? ¹² Are you greater than our father Jacob, who gave us the welland drank from it himself, as did also his sons and his livestock?”

¹³ Jesus answered, “Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again, ¹⁴ but whoever drinks the water I give them will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give them will become in them a spring of water welling up to eternal life.”

¹⁵ The woman said to him, “Sir, give me this water so that I won’t get thirsty and have to keep coming here to draw water.”

¹⁶ He told her, “Go, call your husband and come back.”

¹⁷ “I have no husband,” she replied.

Jesus said to her, “You are right when you say you have no husband. ¹⁸ The fact is, you have had five husbands, and the man you now have is not your husband. What you have just said is quite true.”

¹⁹ “Sir,” the woman said, “I can see that you are a prophet. ²⁰ Our ancestors worshiped on this mountain, but you Jews claim that the place where we must worship is in Jerusalem.”

²¹ “Woman,” Jesus replied, “believe me, a time is coming when you will worship the Father neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem. ²² You Samaritans worship what you do not know; we worship what we do know, for salvation is from the Jews. ²³ Yet a time is coming and has now come when the true worshipers will worship the Father in the Spiritand in truth, for they are the kind of worshipers the Father seeks. ²⁴ God is spirit, and his worshipers must worship in the Spirit and in truth.”

²⁵ The woman said, “I know that Messiah” (called Christ) “is coming. When he comes, he will explain everything to us.”

²⁶ Then Jesus declared, “I, the one speaking to you—I am he.”

The Disciples Rejoin Jesus

²⁷ Just then his disciples returned and were surprised to find him talking with a woman. But no one asked, “What do you want?” or “Why are you talking with her?”

²⁸ Then, leaving her water jar, the woman went back to the town and said to the people,²⁹ “Come, see a man who told me everything I ever did. Could this be the Messiah?”³⁰ They came out of the town and made their way toward him.

Footnotes:

1. John 4:9 Or do not use dishes Samaritans have used