Bible Study Notes - Gospel of John 4:27-42

Bible Study Notes – 

Gospel of John 4:27-42

In this week’s passage, we observe a conversation between Jesus and His disciples as they return from town, having gone to purchase food and other refreshments.  Their trip equates with a contemporary visit to a convenience store for cold cuts, chips, sweet snacks and beverages.  You recall they are in Samaria enroute to Galilee.  Temporarily, they stop at Jacob’s well in the heat of the day.  Whereas the water is refreshing, they still need food.  While they are away, Jesus encounters the Samaritan woman who eventually believes in Him.  Upon her conversion, she leaves Jesus and returns home to share the good news of having encountered the Messiah with her family, friends and neighbors.  Subsequently, the disciples reappear as Jesus’ conversation with the Samaritan woman concludes. 

Their exchange between Jesus and His disciples opens a window into the consistent seminar sessions between Him and them during the three and a half years of His public ministry.  Repeatedly, He utilizes everyday life examples, particularly agricultural parables, to instruct His disciples about His kingdom.  They presume Jesus is waiting for a proper time to overthrow the Roman Empire and restore Israel to her former glory as in the days of David and Solomon (Acts 1:6).  Stealthily, James and John, the sons of Zebedee, approach Jesus and ask for the two highest positions in His forthcoming kingdom.  One brother wishes to sit at His left and the other wants to sit at His right.  Were they participating in a modern American presidential campaign, they lend their support in anticipation of victory and the spoils of a major cabinet position such as Secretary of State, Defense or Treasury.  As they focus wholeheartedly upon their self-seeking, ulterior motives, they fail to appreciate the mission and purpose of the kingdom which Christ came to inaugurate.

With the benefit of two thousand years distance, we quickly and facilely condemn the disciples for their denseness and selfishness.  However, many contemporary believers profess faith in the Lord Jesus Christ for very personal and selfish reasons also.  It does not stand to reason we would have more correctly comprehended the authentic message of Christ prior to the resurrection had we been in the disciples’ places.  Acknowledging this temptation yields necessary humility with which to read this passage. 

Consider the following ideas and questions as you read the passage.

• To the disciples’ great surprise and chagrin, they return from an adjacent Samaritan town with various sundries to find Jesus talking with a Samaritan woman.  Although none of them voices their questions, not surprisingly they still desire to know what the woman wants from Jesus and what led to this conversation.  This conversation is rather unorthodox as a Rabbi would not singly converse with a woman yet alone a Samaritan woman.  Possibly, the disciples question the Lord’s motives.  Extending due reverence to Him, they ask their questions silently as they remain curious for an explanation about this bizarre occurrence during their brief absence.
• In the next two verses, the Samaritan woman begins an evangelistic  crusade as she abruptly leaves her water jar, symbolizing the ineffective and non-satisfying water of religion, tradition and rituals, and returns to town to share her encounter with Jesus.  The evangelist utilizes this story to remind his readers of the transformative results in the lives of any persons who genuinely encounter Jesus Christ. 
• John supplies a very succinct synopsis of the Samaritan woman’s evangelistic appeal to the townspeople.  She emphasizes Jesus’ prophetic abilities and omniscience as He tells her “everything I ever did.”  Readers of the Gospel of John for centuries have expanded mentally her account of Jesus’ unconditional love which heals and redeems her brokenness.  She undoubtedly tells them about His refusal to judge or demean her.  He wins their theological argument by emphasizing God’s nature of love, Spirit and truth.  He helps her to see with the eyes of her heart what love really is.   He leads her out of her serial monogamy of unrequited love, fives divorces and hopeless.  He empowers her to see her intrinsic worth as a child of Almighty God regardless of her religious beliefs which actually contributed to her brokenness.  Conceivably, she says much more as she details her born again experience which emerges from her definitive conversation with Jesus. 
• The Samaritan appeals directly to the religious and prophetic sensitivities of her audience by asking poignantly “Could this be the Christ?”  Like the Jews, the Samaritans had been conditioned for centuries to expect a Messiah who would deliver them from their oppression, subjugation and exploitation.  Her question motivates them to leave town and seek a personal encounter with Jesus.
• As they travel to Him, the disciples encourage Jesus to have some of the food they purchased.  Their suggestion allows Him to instruct them about “food” in the kingdom of God.  This exchange details the parallel between faithful and focused ministry and spiritual food which sustains disciples as we obey “The Great Commandment” (Matthew 22:34-40) and fulfill “The Great Commission” (Matthew 28:16-20).
• Exhibiting their typical cluelessness and obtuseness, they disciples erroneously wonder whether someone else had brought food to Jesus.  They fail to comprehend his reply “I have food to eat that you know nothing about.” 
• Jesus defines “my food” as doing the will of Almighty God who sent Him and to complete His will.  Spiritual food for disciples equate with discernment, acceptance and implementation of God’s revealed will.  Feasibly, they listen bewilderingly as they contemplate their heartfelt and longstanding desire for Israel’s political and economic restoration.  Their literal perspective demonstrates their inability or refusal to comprehend His enduring teachings about the gospel and kingdom of God which seek spiritual wholeness for all of God’s children regardless of the social, economic or political context in which they live.
• The thirty-fifth and thirty-sixth verses in this passage parallel Matthew 9:35-38 in which Jesus encourages His disciples and hearers to pray to Almighty God for workers to enter the harvest field of souls as the kingdom of God centers upon the right of each person to actualize his or her divine abilities and natural endowments without systemic obstructions.  History proves the disciples’ myopia as we understand the limitations of politics, government, academe, science or technology to afford this right to individuals.  Jesus invites His disciples to further their commitment to Him by devoting their lives to an eternal cause that extends beyond their personal politics and physical lives.
• These verses are evangelistic in nature.  For modern disciples, these verses exhort us to prioritize “The Great Commission.”  The Church faces its perpetual reason for being which is to make disciples, conduct baptisms and teach new believers everything the Lord teaches us.
• In the thirty-eighth verse, Jesus emphasizes the necessity of disciples devoting themselves to fulfilling “The Great Commission.” 
• This passage concludes with the belief of many Samaritans.  The testimony of the Samaritan woman causes many of her hometown people to believe in Jesus.  Perhaps, the radical change in her character and genuineness of her testimony amazes her family and friends.  Chances are most people know someone, if he or she announces a wholesale change in his or her life, whose new lifestyle and worldview would command our undivided attention and coerce some type of personal change.  Given this woman’s reputation which undoubtedly had to have been known by her family and neighbors, her change would shake these people out of their daily complacency.  Further, her transformation reflects the fallacy of religion when it is devoid of genuine spirituality, moral standards and ethical principles.  Moreover, her conversion reflects Christ’s power to encourage and empower any individual toward inner healing and wholeness.
• They proactively choose to believe in Christ because of their direct encounter with Christ.  They state collectively “We know that this man really is the Savior of the world.”
• Interestingly, this passage ends with a fundamental reversal of the racial, ethnic and religious hatred with which it began.  As the Samaritan woman and Jesus together remove the foregoing barriers and relate forthrightly to each other, they discover legitimate divine love and consideration.  As they do so, He instructs the disciples on the importance of expanding their understanding of the kingdom of God and she tells her townspeople about the Christ whom she met and happens to be Jewish. 
• John’s use of this story coheres with Paul’s consistent admonition to the Asia Minor New Testament churches that life in Christ essentially and practically eliminates historical human barriers to genuine relationship.