Is Jesus the Jewish Messiah?

"Living Water"

(John 4:1-30, Preaching: Pastor Stephen Magee, February 15, 2009)

John 4:1-30 Now when Jesus learned that the Pharisees had heard that Jesus was making and baptizing more disciples than John ² (although Jesus himself did not baptize, but only his disciples), ³ he left Judea and departed again for Galilee. ⁴ And he had to pass through Samaria. ⁵ So he came to a town of Samaria called Sychar, near the field that Jacob had given to his son Joseph. ⁶ Jacob's well was there; so Jesus, wearied as he was from his journey, was sitting beside the well. It was about the sixth hour. ⁷ There came a woman of Samaria to draw water. Jesus said to her, "Give me a drink." ⁸ (For his disciples had gone away into the city to buy food.) ⁹ The Samaritan woman said to him, "How is it that you, a Jew, ask for a drink from me, a woman of Samaria?" ( For Jews have no dealings with Samaritans.) ¹⁰ Jesus answered her, "If you knew the gift of God, and who it is that is saying to you, 'Give me a drink,' you would have asked him, and he would have given you living water." ¹¹ The woman said to him, "Sir, you have nothing to draw water with, and the well is deep. Where do you get that living water? ¹² Are you greater than our father Jacob? He gave us the well and drank from it himself, as did his sons and his livestock." ¹³ Jesus said to her, "Everyone who drinks of this water will be thirsty again, ¹⁴ but whoever drinks of the water that I will give him will never be thirsty forever. The water that I will give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life." ¹⁵ The woman said to him, "Sir, give me this water, so that I will not be thirsty or have to come here to draw water." ¹⁶ Jesus said to her, "Go, call your husband, and come here." ¹⁷ The woman answered him, "I have no husband." Jesus said to her, "You are right in saying, 'I have no husband'; ¹⁸ for you have had five husbands, and the one you now have is not your husband. What you have said is true." ¹⁹ The woman said to him, "Sir, I perceive that you are a prophet. ²⁰ Our fathers worshiped on this mountain, but you say that in Jerusalem is the place where people ought to worship." ²¹ Jesus said to her, "Woman, believe me, the hour is coming when neither on 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 the hour is coming, and is now here, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for the Father is seeking such people to worship him. 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 he comes, he will tell us all things." ²⁶ Jesus said to her, "I who speak to you am he." ²⁷ Just then his disciples came back. They marveled that he was talking with a woman, but no one said, "What do you seek?" or, "Why are you talking with her?" ²⁸ So the woman left her water jar and went away into town and said to the people, ²⁹ "Come, see a man who told me all that I ever did. Can this be the Christ?" ³⁰ They went out of the town and were coming to him.

Judea, Galilee, and Samaria (1-6)

Jesus was born in Bethlehem, though His parents lived in Nazareth. Bethlehem was in the region of Judea, and Nazareth was in Galilee. In between Judea and Galilee was the territory of Samaria. The normal way of getting from Judea to Galilee involved crossing through Samaria. Relations between Judeans and Samaritans were not very good. In fact the Judeans looked down upon the inhabitants of both regions to their north. Judea included Jerusalem and the authorized place of Old Covenant worship. The northern regions had fallen to the Assyrians many decades before the fall of Jerusalem to the Babylonians in 586 BC. The Assyrians had deported many of the people from the northern tribes of Israel to other lands, and brought people from the other lands to the area that the northern tribes once inhabited. The result was that in Jesus' day, for some time the people called the Samaritans had been a mixed multitude that had combined religious ideas from a variety of places. They held to the inspiration of the first five books of the Bible, but nothing else. This meant that they did not recognize Jerusalem, and Mount Zion, the site of the temple, as the authorized place of worship, since that revelation came later than the first five books of the Bible.

If all this seems too confusing, perhaps you can think about the contemporary story of this region. You know that there is much conflict in this part of the world today. It has been that way for a long, long time. After the reign of King David around 1000 BC, God had revealed to His people the definitive location of His temple; Mount Zion in Jerusalem. To reject that central place of worship meant rejecting God's Law and the entire system of Old Covenant life. The Samaritans had rejected that way, yet there were still many in Samaria, and further north in Galilee, who considered themselves to be in the line of the promises of God to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. There is also much evidence that God still cared about them. This chapter of John's gospel is part of that evidence, and the focus of the Lord's electing love in this chapter begins with one Samaritan woman, and one thirsty Man. That Man is our Source of living water, our Husband, our Temple, and our Messiah.

The Source of Living Water (7-14)

First, Jesus is our Source of living water. The story begins with thirst. "Give me a drink," Jesus said to the Samaritan woman. This sounds somewhat abrupt to our ears, but the woman seems to take no offence. She is only surprised that Jesus, a Jew, would want to have anything to do with her, a Samaritan woman. She must have had much experience with Jews travelling through Samaria, and had either observed that they avoided interaction with Samaritans, or knew that they considered that contact with non-Jews would make them ceremonially unclean.

When she expresses her surprise at Jesus having anything to do with her, Jesus redirects the conversation to His ability. He could give her living water. By this expression, "living water," our Savior refers to the Holy Spirit, the third person of the Godhead. Later in this gospel (7:38-39), Jesus uses the same expression, but in that place the meaning of the image is explained. In the final book in the Bible the same expression is used (Revelation 7:17) in a description of heavenly life. Jesus, together with the Father, is the Giver of the Holy Spirit to people. The gift of physical water is a wonderful gift, a gift needed by people throughout the world. Even greater than this gift is the gift of the Holy Spirit of God. He draws us to God, makes our sin-dead souls alive, moves us along in our lives, fills us with Himself, is our constant Helper in this life, and the portion of those who live with Christ in the life to come. Needless to say, He is a very good gift, and you and I should ask for Him all the time, for we cannot live the Christian life, without this living water of the Holy Spirit. He is the water that Jesus gives. Without the death, resurrection, and ascension of Jesus Christ, the gift of the Holy Spirit could never have been given.

The Husband (15-18)

Second, Jesus is our Husband. While the Samaritan woman seems to express a desire for living water, she does not understand what she is asking for. For a second time, Jesus redirects the conversation, now to the question of husbands. There are many women who for a variety of reasons find themselves without a husband. Many times their stories are tragic, and we sympathize with them. Here Jesus shows tenderness in His dealings with this one woman. We do not know her whole story, but she quickly learns that Jesus does know her story.

He does not humiliate her, but He somehow seems to know her, and He is the one who brings up the issue of husbands. Why does He do this? The most obvious answer that initially comes to mind, is that Jesus is exposing her sin, and there may be something to that. Though we do not know the circumstance of her having five husbands, we are told that the one she has now in not her husband. We should be careful not to assume too much, since we are simply not told the nature of this relationship. What is most interesting is that the Man she is speaking with is the One the Scripture tells us is the Husband of His bride the church. Through His life and death, He proves Himself to be devoted to His people with a husband's love. He will provide for us no matter how many husbands we lose. He will protect us, no matter how alone we feel. His presence now is real, though not always felt. The day will come when His presence will not only be real, but will always be felt and known. If this woman truly comes to faith in God through Jesus Christ, she will have the perfect Husband.

The Temple (19-24)

Third, Jesus is our Temple. At this point in their conversation, the Samaritan woman says something very interesting: "I perceive that you are a prophet." He has told her things about her own life that a normal stranger passing through the region would have no way of knowing. What appeared to be a chance interaction between a Samaritan woman and a thirsty Jewish man who was just passing through now seems to be something much more significant. This meeting is not a coincidence, because Jesus seems to have met just the person that He intended to meet. She is the one who now brings up the topic of worship, and in particular, the topic of the place of worship, the topic that is so divisive between Jews and Samaritans.

We have seen that Jesus cares very much about the authorized place of Old Testament worship. Zeal for His father's house consumed Him. He cleansed the temple in John 2, and He would do so again the week before the cross. More importantly, He has come as the Temple of the Holy Spirit. Through faith in Him, the church is called the Temple of the Holy Spirit. Everywhere throughout the New Testament, the true worshipers of God are said to be in Jesus Christ. To be in Jesus is to have the living water of the Spirit in you. To be in Jesus is to abide in Him who is the Truth. Though Jesus loves the temple in Jerusalem, and though He easily settles the old debate by the simple statement that salvation is from the Jews, there is something much more important being revealed here to a Samaritan woman who brought up the topic of true worship. A new time has come. No longer will the temple in Jerusalem be the authorized place of worship. The church will gather in the Name of Jesus, and real worshipers of God will be found in Him, and will seek to abide in Him. If we want to worship God, then Jesus is our Temple.

The Messiah (25-30)

Finally, Jesus is the Messiah. This Samaritan woman brought up the matter of worship; now she is the one who raises the topic of the expected Christ. Throughout John's gospel, Jesus uses the words "I AM." This is the first time He does so. When she mentions the coming Messiah, Jesus says, "I AM, who is speaking to you." These words, "I AM," may refer to God's own name for Himself, but what is very plain here, unmistakably plain, is that Jesus is the Christ. What does this mean? It means that He is the long expected Savior, the One who will save through His special office as the Lamb of God. As one who dies for the sins of others, He will be the Lamb of God who takes away the sins, not only of the Jews, but also of the Samaritans, of the Galileans, and even of the world.

In verse 29, this special woman asks a final question: "Can this be the Christ?" This is the question that the world needs to consider. Is there anyone who is thirsty? Here is the Source of living water. Is there anyone who needs a friend? Here is the very best Husband. Is there anyone who wants to know where they can really worship God with solid joys and lasting treasures? Here is the Temple. Is there anyone who wants to be saved? Here is the Messiah.

Questions for meditation and discussion:

1. Who expresses surprise about this interaction, and what do you think are the reasons for their surprise?

2. What did the woman at the well want?

3. What was Jesus doing in pursuing this conversation?

4. Is Jesus the Jewish Messiah? What does this mean for Jews today? What does it mean for Gentiles?