Post by M.R. Hagerty on Mar 7, 2023 19:14:19 GMT -7
John 4:17-38
17 The woman answered and said, "I have no husband." Jesus said to her, "You have correctly said, `I have no husband'; 18 for you have had five husbands, and the one whom you now have is not your husband; this you have said truly." 19 The woman said to Him, "Sir, I perceive that You are a prophet. 20 "Our fathers worshiped in this mountain, and you people say that in Jerusalem is the place where men ought to worship."
21 Jesus said to her, "Woman, believe Me, an hour is coming when neither in this mountain nor in Jerusalem will you worship the Father. 22 "You worship what you do not know; we worship what we know, for salvation is from the Jews. 23 "But an hour is coming, and now is, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth; for such people the Father seeks to be His worshipers. 24 "God is spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth." 25 The woman said to Him, "I know that Messiah is coming (He who is called Christ); when that One comes, He will declare all things to us." 26 Jesus said to her, "I who speak to you am He."
27 At this point His disciples came, and they were amazed that He had been speaking with a woman, yet no one said, "What do You seek?" or, "Why do You speak with her?" 28 So the woman left her waterpot, and went into the city and said to the men, 29 "Come, see a man who told me all the things that I have done; this is not the Christ, is it?" 30 They went out of the city, and were coming to Him. 31 Meanwhile the disciples were urging Him, saying, "Rabbi, eat." 32 But He said to them, "I have food to eat that you do not know about." 33 So the disciples were saying to one another, "No one brought Him anything to eat, did he?" 34 Jesus said to them, "My food is to do the will of Him who sent Me and to accomplish His work.
35 "Do you not say, `There are yet four months, and then comes the harvest'? Behold, I say to you, lift up your eyes and look on the fields, that they are white for harvest. 36 "Already he who reaps is receiving wages and is gathering fruit for life eternal; so that he who sows and he who reaps may rejoice together. 37 "For in this case the saying is true, `One sows and another reaps.' 38 "I sent you to reap that for which you have not labored; others have labored and you have entered into their labor." (John 4:17-38)
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Commentary
John 4:17-19
17 The woman answered and said, "I have no husband." . . . Jesus said . . "You have correctly said, `I have no husband'; 18 for you have had five husbands, . .”
We learn that this was a setup designed specifically to get her to verbalize her state of living. It is not a setup in the negative connotation of taking advantage of her. It is simply a means of getting her to begin talking about her lifestyle. Jesus has first gained “permission” to do this by all the foregoing.
People have gates that guard their willingness to disclose personal things in their lives and we must knock at those gates with kindness and compassion, seeking permission to enter. Jesus spoke of things that intrigued her, He was a man of exceptional presentation and curiosity; and He has also put her at ease - He was not the kind of person who would take advantage of her. The gate had been opened.
Jesus further compliments her in being forthright and truthful; rather than deceptive or clever. But having gained some measure of permission to invade her private life, He now places His finger on the spot that is critical. ”you have had five husbands, and the one you have now is not your own.” This might seem technically incorrect. It is doubtful that she was ever married in her other relationships (though this is not ruled out) but she is nevertheless not married now. Yet Jesus says the husband she has now is not her own, meaning he does not belong to her in a legal sense. (This does not mean the man belongs to someone else, as in being married, because this would be adultery and she is not described as a woman in adultery.)
But this technicality is not the basis for testing Jesus’ words. God perceives the condition of marriage is valid whether civil union is involved or not. But this is not to mean people can disregard civil legalities. It means that if a man and woman lie together in sexual union, they have become man and wife in the eyes of God. Hence, Jesus identified six such unions for her, therefore six husbands.
19 "Sir, I perceive that You are a prophet.
Her tone has now immediately changed. Whatever dallying she might have pursued in this discussion, she now realizes that she is in the presence of someone with divine insight. He could not have known this about her by acquaintance (He is an unknown person to her and her community.)
Prophecy has two modes: fore-telling (predicting the future – the meaning we normally think of), and forth-telling (speaking as the voice of God’s in things recent or current.) When we study prophecy in the OT we find that a considerable amount of material is of the forth telling variety. God often decries the current condition of His people and calls them to repentance and faith.
Her statement here and those following are a way of giving space to this revelation, a sort of diversion for the moment that will reduce the pressure of this disclosure. She must know that He is bound to say more, so she moves the discussion to the subject of who He is and the role He is playing. It is not a question for clarification, it is a declaration. This leads her (conveniently) to shift the emphasis away from her personal life and onto subjects that pretend an interest in a higher order – who has the proper worship among our two peoples? And it is the kind of thing you would want to ask anyone blessed with insight from God.
John 4:20-23
20 "Our fathers worshiped in this mountain, and you people say that in Jerusalem is the place where men ought to worship."
“On this mountain” means Mt. Gerizim. Sychar was in the valley between Mt. Ebal to the N and Mt. Gerizim to the S. The Samaritans had chosen Mt. Gerizim as their rival against Mt. Moriah. A temple (later destroyed by Hadrian) was constructed on its summit to counter the Temple at Jerusalem.
21 " . . Woman, . . an hour is coming when neither in this mountain nor in Jerusalem will you worship the Father. 22 "You worship what you do not know . . for salvation is from the Jews.
The formality of where and how worship was best performed was coming to an end. It had been rigorously commanded in days of old and the Jews were faithful to keep it. The Samaritans were just as diligent to the idea that proper worship ought to be maintained, they just differed as to details. But Jesus was announcing that the new life was about to come into the world, in which worship would no longer be as it was, but in every man’s heart, in every place.
This is a hint to the coming of the Holy Spirit to indwell men’s hearts and make a sanctuary therein. This would make Mt. Moriah or Mt. Gerizim, Jerusalem or Samaria, in fact any particular temple, obsolete. We see this clearly in the ripping of the Temple curtain at the time of Jesus Crucifixion.
”what you do not know . . salvation is of the Jews”
This does to death the idea of independent movements apart from the will of God. Despite their desire to purify and restore religion, they had no calling from God to separate themselves. Theirs was different than a reform of Judaism. The Samaritans had built something independent not restored. They would not have been able to arrange for official Levites to run the temple services so were obliged to use half-breed mixtures from that tribe.
All of this was misplaced according to Jesus - “You worship what you do not know.” The Jews at least worshiped on the basis of revealed knowledge – that salvation is of the Jews. This is important because all religion must conform to the plan of God. God is planning the salvation of the world through His Son, and that in fulfillment to prophecy. When you move away from that heritage, you move out from under God’s plan and the means by which He will bring it to completion. Salvation is of the Jews and this cannot be changed, else all of prophecy is mistaken.
23 "But an hour is coming, and now is, when the true worshipers will worship the Father . .”
This might sound like a contradiction to all the foregoing. Why emphasize the Jews if a new phase of worship is coming? The new phase cannot be divorced from its roots. It is only possible by means of what God did with His people. Christ is the key to this new worship, but Christ is nevertheless of the Jews. The mention of the new hour coming is that this woman and all the world must come back to the promises of God in Judaism, now fulfilled in Christ.
It is as though there are two trains at the station, the right one and the wrong one. Some folks get on the wrong train, some get on the right one. When the right one begins to leave the gate, folks left on the wrong train soon realize the train they should have taken. Those who don’t wish to be left behind run to get on board. That is what Jesus is saying. Something is about to change. The correct train (the religion of God’s peculiar people) is about to leave the station. Get on board now, or you may find yourself standing in the station on the wrong train.
John 4:24-26
23 ”. . in spirit and truth; for such people the Father seeks to be His worshipers. 24 "God is spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth."
”in spirit and truth” will be explained below. Here Jesus declares whom the Father seeks.
The new worship is to be in spirit and in truth. The Father will be looking for that kind of worshiper. The reason is actually something that had been true from time immemorial. ”God is Spirit” Not God is a spirit, but is Spirit.
God is incorporeal. He exists in His essence in spirit form. That is why we use the word ‘spiritual’ - we are talking about things that pertain to Him as spirit. Jesus is teaching that if God is Spirit, we cannot relate to Him in merely physical terms, nor with merely of the faculties by which we communicate in the world. This includes the rational things, like human thoughts and the limits of human reason. ”My ways are not your ways, saith the Lord.”
We are to worship God with those means and capacities that can communicate with Him as Spirit. We are given such means in Christ. Every person who has ever lived was born with a spiritual component, but it came into the world dead unto God. It could not perceive rightly the things of God. ”But a natural man does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him; . . . because they are spiritually appraised.” I Cor 2:14) In Christ, our spirits are made alive toward God and we are able to ”compare spiritual things with spiritual.” These are those whom the Father seeks, those who are ready to be made alive in their spirits.
“The woman said to Him, "I know that Messiah is coming . . . when that One comes, He will declare all things to us." It is clear that she has now become overwhelmed. And we can understand why. Jesus has introduced something that is not only brand new but rather deep in terms of the operations of God. Rather than engage a subject for which she is ill-suited and certainly unprepared, she leans on the promise of Messiah, who will straighten out all such things when He comes, ”He will declare all things to us.”
Now Jesus has her in the right place. All the foregoing (the talk about living water, the way of her present life, the correct places of worship, the promise of something new) she has chosen cleverly to subsume under one enigmatic and distant topic: the coming of Messiah. And, ironically, to whom is she now talking?
26 "I who speak to you am He."
Jesus is rather careful to whom He reveals His identify. He is concerned about timing, but in cases where timing is not threatened, He often reveals Himself as Messiah. We will find this repeated again later in the tender case of the boy thrown out of the synagogue (John chapter 9.) What is so amazing here is that the genuine article is in front of her. For us, we are hearing His personal admission of identity as the King of Glory, the Creator of the universe, the real and genuine Savior of mankind.
The Divine Majesty that walked the courts of that very Heaven that is really there has actually and truly come to earth to dwell among men. And here, in ways not bombastic or spectacular, He quietly reveals this to one person alone and without fanfare.
In these cases, they go and announce this to others. But as humanity will often have it, the testimony of no-account persons is often discounted as below the noise. They seldom rise to a level that alarms the authorities. And for a time, this is to Jesus’ advantage.
John 4:27-32
27 At this point His disciples came, . . . yet no one said, "What do You seek?" or, "Why do You speak with her?"
In accordance with custom, His disciples are surprised that He is talking with a Samaritan, but we read that they were stopped from questioning Him about it. This is to say that by this time they had learned that the unexpected had a certain reasoning and usefulness in Jesus. He makes no mistakes, never takes the wrong path, never wonders which way is the correct way, never mistakenly talks to the wrong people. Hence, no one said, “What are you doing.”
28 So the woman left her waterpot, and went into the city and said to the men, "Come, see a man who told me all the things that I have done; this is not the Christ, is it?" They went out of the city, and were coming to Him.
John is careful to mention that the woman leaves her waterpot behind. She is so transformed by this encounter that the task for which she came is now far out of mind and all she can think of is telling others of this man at the well. This is the spirit and unction that Christians are to have in their daily lives. We are to have such an encounter with the Master that we can think of nothing but telling others about it.
Think for a moment that you have just received a windfall of a billion dollars, free and clear. (You’ve won the lottery, or inherited from a relative.) How long would it take you to tell others? As time passes, would you not still be thinking of ways to weave the news of your windfall into the conversation? We find this easy to realize with respect to money or things, getting married or having children. But meeting Christ in our hearts, connecting with the Savior, gaining eternal life – these we can somehow come to regard as unexceptional, even mundane, as we continue to live our lives.
Contrast now the difference between this woman and Nicodemus. Both were given revelations about the new life. Both had extraordinary aspects to their meeting with Jesus. Nicodemus was sophisticated, learned and wealthy. We know nothing more of what he did with his encounter with Jesus, except that he appears again to help with His burial. But the woman at the well is of no account socially, most likely shunned and
ostracized (albeit of her own doing.) Yet her transformation is noted in Scripture; along with the fruit of it. The people of the city were coming out to Him. This helps us understand why Jesus came not to the nobles and the rich, but to the lowly. That is where the fruit was to be found.