The Bad Samaritan Comes to the Well

John 4:1-14

 

INTRO: This is the story of the bad Samaritan.  J. Vernon McGee says: “This woman is obviously a dissolute woman.  I think she is probably as common as pig tracks.  She’s rude and immoral.  We would call her today a hussy or a broad, if you please” (389).  This woman of Samaria is the kind of woman that some self-righteous folks would never talk to and never help.  But as verse 4 says concerning Jesus: “He must needs go through Samaria.”  Why must He go through Samaria?  He must needs go through Samaria because there is a bad Samaritan who needs to be saved.

 

I.        VSS 1-5, JESUS “MUST NEEDS GO THROUGH SAMARIA.”

A.       Vs 1, Baptism’s proper place is given in this verse.  The Bible says: “Jesus made and baptized more disciples than John.  First, they are made disciples by salvation, and then they are baptized.  That is the proper order: regeneration, then baptism.

1. Making and baptizing disciples are two distinct acts.  Salvation and baptism are two different acts.

2. When “the Pharisees heard that Jesus made and baptized more disciples than John, “it stirred them up.”

B.       Vs 2, This verse is of utmost importance.  If baptism was the most important thing that a minister is to do, we can be assured that Jesus would have been baptizing every convert.  Instead, we read: “Jesus Himself baptized not, but His disciples.”

1. Paul said in I Cor 1:17: “Christ sent me not to baptize but to preach the Gospel.”

2. What the Lord’s disciples do in His name and by His authority are as done by Him.

a. To be a member and under the authority of the Lord’s church is a great privilege for which we should be thankful.

b. It is the church that has the authority to fulfill the great commission.

C.      Vs 3, Our Lord’s preaching and the baptizing of converts by His disciples had stirred up the Pharisees (vs 1).  Because of his popularity at this time, the Lord knew that the religious leaders would be plotting to kill Him.  The Lord knew that the time of His death was not at hand.  When the time did come, He would lay down His life for the sheep; but for now, He must leave Judea.

1. The word for “left” is the Greek word atheken which means “to leave something to itself, to leave to ones own fate, to leave to ones own devices.”

a. Jesus now leaves for Galilee and elsewhere.  Where the bulk of His ministry will be.

b. Jesus leaves Jerusalem and Judea to their own devices.

2. Jesus walked away from Judea and before He would return many would die in their sins.  The Bible says: “My Spirit shall not always strive with man.”  There comes a time when you will be left to your own devices.

D.      Vs 4, The key word in the verse is “must.”

1. Jesus could have done what strict Jews did.  He could have crossed the Jordan River before coming to Samaria and passed through Perea and then re-crossed the Jordan into Galilee.  By doing this, He would have avoided contact with this mixed race (part Jew and part Gentile ).

2. Because Jesus had a divine appointment, he “must needs go through Samaria.”

3. Because there was a bad Samaritan woman who needed saving, Jesus “must needs go through Samaria.”

4. Because of foreordination, Jesus “must needs go through Samaria.”  Jesus was seeking a sheep who was not of the Jews (Jn 10:16).

5. The word “must” speaks of predestination.  It was the purpose and plan of God for Jesus to go through Samaria.

6. God’s purpose for preaching is the salvation of sinners.  God chose the foolishness of preaching to save the lost.

E.       Vs 5, Jesus came to the city of Sychar.  The name Sychar means “purchased” and is the Old Testament city of Shechem.

1. Some historical events that took place at Shechem (Sychar).

a. God first appeared to Abraham at Shechem (Gen 12:6).  It is here that God the Son appears to a bad Samaritan.

b. Shechem was one of the cities of refuge (Josh 20:7-8).  The cities of refuge were places of safety.  Jesus came to Sychar to provide eternal safety for a bad Samaritan woman.

2. Sychar was close to the Land that Jacob had given to his son Joseph (Gen 48:22).  Jesus would here give eternal life to this needy woman.

 

II.       VSS 6-12, A CONVERSATION WITH A BAD SAMARITAN.

A.       Vs 6, If we were going by Roman times, the hour that Jesus got to the well was about 6 o’clock in the evening.  But we are here following Jewish time which makes the sixth hour 12 noon.

1. The Bible says that Jesus was “wearied” or tired.

a. Jesus was weary from His journey.

b. Jesus is God manifest in the flesh (Jn 1:14).

c. “The God of eternity came down to this earth.  The Word was made flesh and dwelt among us– He pitched His tent here among us.  He went through Samaria and sat down on a well in order that He might reach this woman of Samaria” (McGee 389).

2. Jesus, on purpose, waits at the well for a poor, despised Samaritan whom He already knows about.

B.       Vs 7, At midday the bad Samaritan woman comes to the well for water.

1. It was midday when she came.

a. The sun was at its greatest height and heat.

b. The woman was weary and thirsty under the glare of the mid-east sun.

c. Pink says: “The hour corresponded with her spiritual condition– weary and paraded in her soul” (173).

d. The sixth hour also speaks of man.  In this case, man lost and need.

2. “Give me to drink.”  The Lord is physically thirsty and asks for a dink.  Jesus, the Water of Life, asks a poor sinner for water.  What condescension.

3. “Give me to drink.”  Jesus thirsted in His heart for the salvation of the bad Samaritan.  In compassion, He thirsted for her destitute lost soul.

C.      Vs 8, The very fact that the disciples of Jesus went to town to buy food shows the complete rejection by Jesus of Jewish prejudice.

D.      Vs 9, “The Jews have no dealings with the Samaritans.”

1. This means:

a. The Jews despised the Samaritans.

b. The Samaritans were outcasts.