Bible Study Notes - Jonah 3:10 to 4:11 Part III

Bible Study Notes

A Community to Redeem 

Jonah 3:10 to 4:11 Part III

Jonah 4:5-11 – A Definitive Dialogue on Love

In the latter portion of this passage, God uses a vine to demonstrate His love to Jonah.  After uttering his self-aggrandizing prayer about his death, Jonah goes to the eastern part of Nineveh, builds a shelter for himself, sits in the shade and waits to see what develops.  Providentially, a vine grows up over Jonah’s shelter and expands the shade and comfort it supplies.  Jonah, again in total indifference to the Ninevites, excitedly welcomes the vine as it eases his discomfort.  Pause and evaluate just how extensive Jonah’s self-seeking ways are. 

The next morning, the Lord afflicts Jonah’s by sending a worm which chews upon the vine, thereby causing it to wither.  The rising sun and scorching east wind eliminate any comfort Jonah previously had.  The blazing sun makes the prophet faint.  In fact, it coerces him to repeat his prayer for death.  Ignoring God as he persists within his oblivious attitude toward the Ninevites, Jonah once more thinks only of his needs.  Jonah cannot see God’s will within His mission to the Ninevites.  For that reason, God once more reproves Jonah by asking whether the prophet has the right to be angry about the vine that disappears as quickly as it grew.  Not surprisingly, Jonah steadfastly defends his right to be angry about the vine.  It stands to reasons his enraged emotions continually include his disdain for the Ninevites and the mercy God extends to them.  Jonah’s stubbornness exposes the spiritual bankruptcy in which he operates as a prophet.  His displeasure about the dead vine culminates in a suicidal rage because of the loss of shade in the blazing sun.  Yet, he never finds concerns about the potential loss of one hundred and twenty thousand (120,000) lives.

The Lord finishes this exchange about love with Jonah with sharing clues about the basis of His forbearance toward the Ninevites.  He describes them as a people incapable of distinguishing their left and right hands.  How could God justly condemn them given their extensive moral, ethical and spiritual ignorance?  Incredulously, Jonah maintains the loss of the vine which comforts him means more than the collectivity of the citizens of Nineveh.  God’s final question to Jonah reveals the Ninevites as “A Community to Redeem.”  If they are spiritually blind and practically hopeless, then are they not in need of wholesale transformation?  Those hard facts compel a loving, merciful and kind deity to show His compassion rather uncritical and unrestrained judgment.

This dialogue about sacrificial, selfless and redemptive love instructs us as we consider people whom we wrongfully judge and negatively describe; they really comprise communities in need of redemption.  The U. S. Census Bureau and the U. S. Department of Justice publishes annual statistics about the quality of life and different types of crime in local municipalities.  We often associate these pathological stats with certain races, cultures and socio-economic classes.  The two million people who are incarcerated in the United States, the largest raw number and percentage of citizens than in any other Western developed country, are a community to redeem.  The millions of children, who are wards of the State, as they pray for permanent adoptive homes while waiting in temporary foster care placements, are a community to redeem.  The millions of students in the public education system who dream of upward social mobility if they graduate from high school and college are a community to redeem.  Like the Ninevites, these hapless people probably have never been taught the love of God.  Instead of “throwing the book at them” with scriptural sanction, the community of believers known as the Church could resist the prevalence of retributive judgment in the dominant culture.  We could esteem their worth as equal to ours.  More importantly, in gratitude for the gift of God’s redeeming love, we could share freely what we receive.

Concluding Reflections

The Church, ecclesia, is the “called out” community of God’s people who uniquely and particularly dedicate their lives for God’s especial purpose.  One connecting link between each member of the Church is the experience of God’s redemptive love.  Although we came from very different walks of life, each of us stood in need of redemption before we came to Christ.  Together, we were a community to redeem.  As we walk progressively with the Lord and fellowship with each other, in order to fulfill “The Great Commission – Matthew 28:16-20,” we reach back and live the love.  We are called to look for communities to redeem just as we were.  Rather than pegging people as pathological statistics, we look at them with the eyes of the heart and spirit. 

Three Personal Objectives

• Evaluate Jonah’s anger (righteous indignation) toward God for His mercy toward the Ninevites.
• Learn to estimate the values of all human beings as equal to your own.
• Practice sharing God’s unlimited and unconditional love with everyone and seeing hurting people as communities to redeem.

Prayer

For the gift of your redeeming love in our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, we thank Thee.  Teach us always to recall that we were in need of Your gracious and loving redemption.  Daily remind us we stand perpetually in need of Your sustaining grace, unfailing love and enduring mercy.  Help us, by the power and might of Your Holy Spirit to live our gratitude as channels of Your peace, messengers of Your grace and instruments of Your love.  May the words of our mouths and the meditations of our hearts be acceptable in Your sight, O Lord, our Strength and Redeemer.  Amen.

Bible Study Notes - Jonah 3:10 to 4:11 Part II

Bible Study Notes

A Community to Redeem 

Jonah 3:10 to 4:11 Part II

Jonah 3:10 to 4:4 – Jonah Seethes in Anger

This passage centers upon two central themes, dividing evenly between Jonah’s fury over the Lord’s forgiveness of the Ninevites and our Heavenly Father’s enduing desire to teach humankind to love each other as He does.  The final verse of the third chapter details the success of Jonah’s preaching and the subsequent repentance and revival.  The Ninevites’ religious reforms successfully engender the mercy of Almighty God.  Surprisingly, Jonah is not pleased with the results of his preaching or God’s responses to the Ninevites.  Rather than relishing in this monumental and unparalleled spiritual success, Jonah ignites and nourishes his anger which represents his maniacal thirst for the annihilation of the city of Nineveh.  Nonetheless, God steadfastly teaches Jonah the radical, scandalous and incredulous nature of His love.  Moreover, although Jonah relegates the Ninevites to being worthless in terms of his time, talent, treasure and temperament, God perpetually sees them as a community to redeem.

Why does Jonah waste so much emotion fretting over his unfulfilled expectations of doom in Nineveh?  Initially, you assume Jonah does not wish to go on this missionary journey because he thinks he will fail.  Now that he succeeds, we understand his negative assumptions about the odds of success actually cloak his prejudice toward the people.  He thinks they are beneath him and people like him.  Jonah reveals his heart felt thoughts when he frankly discloses to God in prayer his contempt for the Ninevites.  “O lord, is this not what I said when I was still at home?  That is why I was so quick to flee to Tarshish.”  More significantly, Jonah did not want to travel to Nineveh to announce gloom and doom because he correctly suspects in the final analysis the Lord’s heart would yield to the repentance and humility of the people.  If God were going to destroy the Ninevites, He did not need Jonah to travel to the city and preach a very bleak sermon.  Also, if their repentance could constrain the mighty and avenging hand of God, then the trip was equally unnecessary.  Essentially, Jonah reasons this missionary expedition is appropriate if the Ninevites received their due punishment and the Lord air lifts Jonah out of the city before the onslaught of any hellfire and brimstone.

Startlingly, Jonah castigates God for being “a gracious and compassionate God, slow to anger and abounding in love, a God who relents from sending calamity.”  In seeking to denigrate God’s attributes of love, mercy and kindness, Jonah ironically describes a wonderful and majestic Heavenly Father whose infinite grace and compassion extends to a thousand generations forevermore.  Additionally, Jonah’s tirade discloses God’s patience toward humankind.  God is longsuffering in His willingness and capacity to wait for us to choose to live in right relationship with Him.  Having created us in His image and with the express desire of enjoying holy fellowship with us, God does not desire to punish us unnecessarily.  Like earthly parents who thoroughly enjoy friendship and communication with respectful, obedient, likeable and loving children, Almighty God greatly wants us “to get it right” with Him.  Accordingly, He quickly forgives when we are sincere about repentance and reestablishing our relationship with Him.

After defining those magnificent divine characteristics, Jonah prays for His death. Jonah determines he would be better off dead than alive.  The Ninevite revival disgusts the prophet to the degree of actually pleading with the Lord to take his own life.  Notice Jonah’s pathology grows to the insanity that he persuades himself that his one life holds greater worth than the collective lives of 120,000 citizens of Nineveh.  Examine how deeply twisted racial and religious discrimination can poison the minds and hearts of otherwise well-meaning believers!

The Lord asks Jonah about the prophet’s righteous indignation.  “Have you any right to be angry?”  It stands to reason that Jonah previously experienced immeasurable grace, mercy and love from God.  In the preceding chapter, he receives a blessed second chance after his stint in the belly of whale.  Should not Jonah’s thankfulness have motivated him to appreciate the revival in Nineveh?  Does he believe only Israel comprises the singular people to whom God bestows His compassion?  Jonah cloaks his cultural and religious chauvinism under the socially and theologically respectable designer garments of holy anger.  He posits God is wasting the divine self upon people who cannot appreciate such an incalculable gift.  However, God’s question reminds and exhorts Jonah the same God who had sympathy upon Jonah also loves the Ninevites with similar kindness.  What right does Jonah have to be angry?

Bible Study Notes - Jonah 3:10 to 4:11

Bible Study Notes

A Community to Redeem – Jonah 3:10 to 4:11

The Infinite Love of God for Humankind

What an awesome, amazing and incredible God whom we serve!  God’s infinite character extends to His unconditional and limitless love to humankind.  His heart is big enough to love each and every single one of the seven billion (7,000,000,000) people on earth.  His love extends freely to every person regardless of race, creed, color, ethnicity, culture, language, religion, politics or national origin.  Unfortunately, many well-meaning believers confuse God’s love with their personal preferences.  They fallaciously and misguidedly assume God only loves the people whom they love.  Equally falsely, they presume God’s judgment extends more greatly to people who are not like them.  Other uninformed believers choose to love people whose values and mannerisms are most similar to their own.  They mistakenly suspect God mimics their behavior as it relates to loving others.  In contrast, multiple biblical writers reveal an ever-present, all-kind, all-knowing, all-powerful and all-loving God whose affections for humankind does not adjust to the limited and often erroneous ways in which we relate to each other.

Biblical Background

Biblical authors in the Old and New Testaments depict a loving Heavenly Father who liberally supports humankind with an unfailing love.  People who genuinely apprehend and comprehend God’s unqualified love possess its ability to share with others without condition.  The book of Ruth tells the story of a Moabite woman who learns of God’s love from her marriage to a Jewish man whose mother in turn extends to her widowed daughter-in-law the grace, compassion and love of Almighty God.  Rahab, a prostitute, helps the Israelite spies as they conquer the Promised Land.  They, in gratitude, show her and her family God’s love.  Actually, she ends up in the genealogy of the Lord Jesus Christ.  The story of “The Good Samaritan” in the gospel of Luke demonstrates that God’s love transcends religion, race and culture as two priests (contemporarily Christian pastors) pass by a man in distress; the interracial Samaritan (descendant of both the Assyrians and the Israelites) whom the Jews despised had compassion on the victim on the Jericho road.  The great apostle of love in John’s gospel says God’s love in Jesus Christ is available to whosoever believes.  The apostle Paul prays the Ephesians will know the height and depth as well as the length and width of the love of Christ.  Paul’s description equates with infinity of the universe.  This image perfectly symbolizes God’s love has no limits.

In this passage, we observe the prophet, Jonah, who insists God should reserve His love for people who are most deserving of it.  Jonah actually becomes very angry toward God for squandering His compassion upon the Ninevites.  Although he eventually relents and obeys God’s call, Jonah harbors a twisted and gleeful expectation in his heart that God will destroy the city of Nineveh.  Imagine Jonah’s disdain and disregard for a city of one hundred and twenty thousand people (120,000) plus livestock!  Consider further the fact that Jonah is an anointed and commissioned prophet of God.  How do we balance his divine office with the utter indifference Jonah’s holds in his heart for the Ninevites? 

Jonah’s hard hearted attitude provides a mirror with which we examine our understanding of God’s love.  As committed disciples of the Lord Jesus Christ, do we esteem all people throughout the world as equal recipients of God’s love regardless of their personal and national histories?  Spiritual maturity equips us with desire and willingness to show God’s love, pardon and compassion to all people.  Nevertheless, Jonah pitifully determines a withering vine which provides him shade possesses greater worth than the entire population of a small city.  Perhaps, we like Jonah only assign value to people who directly enhance our lives.  Usually, they are people who look, act, speak, dress and live just like us.  But, people whose lifestyles differ from ours are children of God, too.  Our second lesson of this disgruntled prophet provides another chance to consider the many ways, intentionally and unintentionally, we regrettably imitate Jonah’s loveless behavior.

Bible Study Notes - Jonah 1:1-3 and 3:1-9 Part III

Bible Study Notes

Community with a Mission: Jonah 1:1-3 & 3:1-9 – Part III

Jonah 3:5-9 – Community with a Mission of Repentance and Revival

The king’s humility starkly represents the seriousness with which the Ninevites heed the word of the Lord.  He rises from the Assyrian throne; discards his royal robes; covers himself with sackcloth like his subjects; and sits down in the dust.  The king’s action reminds us of the lowly origins of humankind in contrast with the infinite and holy attributes of Almighty God.  We are dust!  God can blow upon our lives like a candle’s flame in the wind.  Who are we to think we can trespass the holiness and righteousness of God?  What an incredible depiction of the utter limitations of human beings.

Then, the king utilizes his royal power to compel legally the nation to adhere strictly to his proclamation demanding the continuance of the fast in sackcloth until God responds mercifully.  Furthermore, Ninevites were to cease and desist from “their evil ways and their violence.”  Prayer for divine relief is the basis of the proclamation.  The king evidently hopes that national unity in this effort will cause Almighty God “to relent and with compassion turn from his fierce anger so that we will not perish.”

Anthropologists and archeologists can tell us very little about the character of the Ninevites.  The biblical record remains one of the most reliable sources.  Accordingly, we can extract a few informative and instructive attributes about their collective personality.  First, notwithstanding their excessive evil and violence, they possessed humility to repent upon hearing the terrible word of the Lord.  Second, they had capacity to obey higher authority; they followed the king’s proclamation.  Third, although they greatly indulged their self-seeking desires and myriad lusts, they steadfastly maintained a belief in God.  Jonah’s preaching reminds them of spiritual disciplines of fasting, confession, repentance and fervent prayer.  Fourth, they practiced egalitarianism in which they valued each person regardless of his or her wealth, education, religiosity and social position.  From the king to the keeper of the cows, the entire nation appeals to God for relief and mercy.

This collective personality of the Ninevites offers instruction to churches as it relates to building and sustaining community.  If confronted with a similar spiritual challenge, would a church, congregationally and individually, attain humility, faith, and commitment to seek the Lord’s for wisdom?  What if nuclear families mimicked the actions of the Ninevites when turmoil afflicts one of their members?  Could a solution to drug infested neighborhoods and crime ridden municipalities be found in these spiritual responses to overwhelming dilemmas?  Although they were Assyrian and not Israelites, the Ninevites demonstrate the power of a community with a mission.  They turn from wholesale self-indulgence to living humbly under the guidance and protection of Almighty God.

Concluding Reflections

Jonah’s stubborn refusal to follow the will of God rightly lands him in the belly of the whale.  Our daily resistance to the urging of the Holy Spirit enables us to empathize with Jonah.  Our cumulative negative responses equate with a spiritual space equal to the darkness of three days and three nights in the abyss.  Yet, Jonah’s example encourages us to look beyond our human frailties, failures and incapacities to see of our “God of the second chance.”  He continually gives us the chance to “get it right” by finally heeding His “good, pleasing and perfect” will.  When we do so, we find immediate success and even excellence as Jonah did when he eventually preaches in Nineveh.  Surprisingly and favorably, Jonah discovers a community, with a mission of serving the Lord, as the Ninevites repent and exchange their self-centered lives for lives devoted to the Lord. 

  

Three Personal Objectives

• The road of self-reliance terminates in a spiritual Bermuda Triangle.
• God graciously bestows a second chance to follow His will when we finally obey.
• The humility and sincerity of the Ninevites teaches us the power of a community with a mission to serve the Lord.  Churches, families and neighborhoods can grow greatly by following their example.

 Prayer

For the beauty of this day, we thank Thee, O Lord.  For Your lovingkindness towards us, we thank Thee.  For the gift of Your revealed Word, we thank Thee.  Graciously, sanctify Thy Word within our minds and hearts so that we might not sin against Thee.  Teach us how to be a community with the mission of living to Thy honor, glory and praise.  In Your holy Name and for Your righteous cause, we pray.  Amen.

Bible Study Notes - Jonah 1:1-3 and 3:1-9 Part II

Bible Study Notes

Community with a Mission: Jonah 1:1-3 & 3:1-9 – Part II

Jonah 1:1-3 – Balancing Self-Determination and Passive Aggression

Jonah demonstrates a mystery in which opposite characteristics can exist in the same personality.  He possesses defiance and willfulness as he proactively disregards the divine order to go to Nineveh and proclaim the word of the Lord.  On the contrary, the prophet displays weakness in his method of avoidance by going on vacation.  Nevertheless, God sets apart this “reluctant missionary” for His distinct purpose of saving the Ninevites.  Battling these warring characteristics of self-determination and passive aggression, Jonah evades the situation initially.  Soon he falls into the hands of an angry and jealous God who will not tolerate humankind’s insult of His character and will.

Jonah 3:1-4 – “The God of a Second Chance”

The second portion of this passage reveals the obedience of the Ninevites who did not know Almighty God as Jonah does.  Prior to their remarkable feat of repentance and humility, the disgruntled and prideful prophet finally finds internal willingness to obey.  Conceivably, Jonah accedes to God’s commands in gratitude for the Lord’s mercy and grace in releasing him from the depths of darkness.  The text states plainly “Then the word of the Lord came to Jonah a second time.”  I imagine Jonah’s imprisonment in the belly of the whale affords time to reconsider his stubbornness.  He probably does not change his outlook upon the worth of the Ninevites.  Yet, in appreciation for God’s gracious offer of a second chance, Jonah ends his internal strife and balances his self-centered motives with the necessity of following a loving God who is kind enough to free him from perpetual darkness to see a new day again.

Jonah’s experience models the power of redemption for us.  It is never too late to begin serving God with our heart, mind, soul and strength.  We can begin today to reverse the course of our lives.  We can change our focus and priorities.  We can start each day with the intent of making Almighty God our “Ultimate Concern.”  Everything else pales in comparison to the majesty and magnificence of living peacefully and joyously in the perfect will of God.

Look at Jonah’s instantaneous success!  On the first day of adhering to God’s call, he achieves a national revival.  Interestingly, Jonah preaches one of the shortest sermons in the Bible and perhaps in the history of preaching.  In response to the warning of annihilation within the next forty days, “the Ninevites believe God.”  “From the greatest to the least,” the whole nation adorns sackcloth and participates in a fast.  They grieve over their sins and deny their natural appetites.  Essentially, the spiritual practice of self-denial enables us to more clearly receive divine revelation.  When you are chomping on a double cheeseburger, fries and an apple pie while drinking a soda rarely are you thinking about your spiritual condition.  Remarkably, Jonah’s message awakens the entire country despite their socio-economic status; the rich as well as the poor demonstrate faith in God by mourning, contrition, repentance and self-restraint.  Imagine a revival in contemporary America that the wealthiest one percent of citizens would join in solidarity with the underclass.

Bible Study Notes - Jonah 1:1-3 and 3:1-9

Bible Study Notes

Community with a Mission: Jonah 1:1-3 & 3:1-9

The Centrality of Community

We focus upon the development of communities in biblical times.  How did they begin and grow?  What were the primary values?  What structures of government, family, economy and religion did they implement?  What role did allegiance to God play in their lives, individually and collectively?  How do those societies and their understandings of communities differ from ours?  Further, let’s examine what the distinguishing factors of biblical communities can teach us about building stronger church communities today.

Today, we evaluate the community of Nineveh where the resistant prophet, Jonah, goes to declare the fierce word of the Lord.  Surpassing the actions of the Israelites, the Ninevites actually repent upon hearing the straightforward message of potential doom because of their wickedness.  The wholesale humility to adorn sackcloth and appeal to Almighty God for His grace and mercy singularly characterizes the people of Nineveh.  No other tribe or nation in scripture responds to God’s word as they do.  In fact, the Lord Jesus commends them for their repentance (Matthew 12:41).  What enabled the people who live in this Assyrian capital city to reverse the way in which they were living?  How were they able as a nation to understand they could no longer trample recklessly upon God’s holiness and squander His grace?

Biblical Background

We have another opportunity to consider the quirkiness of Jonah who does not care to become a member of the Ninevite community.  Actually, he relegates God’s first instruction to being an absolute waste of time.  “The captain of his own soul and the master of his fate,” Jonah proudly ignores God’s direction and purchases a ticket for a cruise to Tarshish.  Immediately, our minds fill with our childhood images of Jonah’s voyage and imprisonment in the belly of the whale.  Perhaps, we now think Jonah rightly deserves the three days and nights in the darkness of confusion, inertia and failure to reach his destination because of his categorical refusal to obey God’s instructions.  Yet, concentrating upon the frightening consequences of Jonah’s defiance eclipses God’s persistent kindness and mercy.  After the whale vomits Jonah out of his mouth and Jonah lands upon dry land, the Lord condescends and gives the prophet a second chance “to get it right.”  Often, God affords us the gracious opportunity to correct our mistakes after we have made wrong decisions.  Many believers popularly refer to our Heavenly Farther as “the God of a second chance.”  Out of His infinite knowledge, wisdom and patience, He kindly grants us another possibility to complete a divine mission.  Jonah receives another chance to preach to the people of Nineveh; thereby assisting them in establishing a genuinely spiritual, loving, honest and caring community that worships Almighty God.

Quite possibly, Jonah’s actions mirror our own resistance to following the Lord’s guidance.  Is there any divine directive you are presently postponing?  Has God put a call upon your life and you selectively choose to disobey Him with an excuse that you are busy doing other worthwhile things?  Have you purchased a ticket to Tarshish by conveniently making yourself unavailable to God?  Perhaps, devoting the lion’s share of your time, abilities and talents to your spouse, children and job prevents you from answering the Lord’s call.  Nonetheless, Jonah’s example encourages us to define clearly our resistance to God’s divine call upon our lives. 

Incidentally, the Bible teaches the priesthood of all believers; practically speaking, that means all disciples, whether clergypersons or laity, are ministers with a calling upon their lives.  God expects each of us to seek His guidance and discern the exact nature of our mission and purpose.  Then, He expects us to devote the bulk of our lives to serving Him as we serve other people thereby accomplishing our purpose and mission.  The biblical writer records the vivid illustration of Jonah to portray the considerable waste of time and talent when we brush aside the will of Almighty God.  Moreover and most fortunately, the prophet’s life illustrates the possibility of redemption when we finally accede to the voice of God.

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.