The Gospel According to John Chapter 4

The Gospel According to John Chapter 4The Bible Text from <a href="https://www.bible.com/bible/111/JHN.4.NIV" target="_top" class="ke-link">https://www.bible.com/bible/111/JHN.4.NIV</a> Gospel to the Samaritans, Food of Jesus Jesus Talks With a Samaritan Woman1 Now Jesus learned that the Pharisees had heard that he was gaining and baptizing more disciples than John- 2 although in fact it was not Jesus who baptized, but his disciples. (The ministry and baptism of Jesus and His disciples were known to many.)3 So he left Judea and went back once more to Galilee. (The trip was northbound.)4 Now he had to go through Samaria.(1, Samaria) (Samaria is located between the Galilee in north and Judea in south.)5 So he came to a town in Samaria called Sychar (Near Shechem where Jacob bought some land, Gen. 33:18-19), near the plot of ground Jacob had given to his son Joseph. (Many at the time avoided passing through the region on their travel between Galilee and Jerusalem/Judea due to the historical background, Jesus, however, entered in to the region despite of others.)6 Jacob’s well(2) was there, and Jesus, tired as he was from the journey, sat down by the well. It was about noon (sixth hour. Noon or evening?).7 When a Samaritan woman came to draw water, (Was she isolated from the local people or not?) Jesus said to her, “Will you give me a drink?” (It was taboo for a Jewish man to ask a Samaritan woman for water. But Jesus did.)8 (His disciples had gone into the town to buy food.) (There were only Jesus and the woman.)9 The Samaritan woman said to him, “You are a Jew and I am a Samaritan woman. How can you ask me for a drink?” (For Jews do not associate with Samaritans.) (The woman was astonished by the request because of the culture of the time. Jesus and His Gospel, however, precede any cultural barrier.)10 Jesus answered her, “If you knew the gift of God and who it is that asks you for a drink, you would have asked him and he would have given you living water.” (Jesus intended to share the Gospel, the Kingdom Truth, with the woman with the necessity of water. Jesus is the source of life-giving water.)11 “Sir,” the woman said, “you have nothing to draw with and the well is deep. Where can you get this living water? (But the woman, bounded by the physical water, didn't understand the meaning of living water of Jesus.)12 Are you greater than our father Jacob, who gave us the well and drank from it himself, as did also his sons and his livestock?” (The father Jacob gave physical water. Is Jesus greater than Jacob?)13 Jesus answered, “Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again, (Physical water has limitation.) 14 but whoever drinks the water I give them will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give them will become in them a spring of water welling up to eternal life.” (But the living water from Jesus lasts forever.)15 The woman said to him, “Sir, give me this water so that I won’t get thirsty and have to keep coming here to draw water.” (The woman asked Jesus for the living water.)16 He told her, “Go, call your husband and come back.” (Jesus tried to introduce Himself to a higher level by mentioning her husband.)17 “I have no husband,” she replied. Jesus said to her, “You are right when you say you have no husband. (She didn't have a husband at the time.)18 The fact is, you have had five husbands, and the man you now have is not your husband. What you have just said is quite true.” (Jesus, however, revealed that she had got through five husbands to survive.)19 “Sir,” the woman said, “I can see that you are a prophet. (The woman came to know the true and higher identity of Jesus because of the omniscience of Jesus.) 20 Our ancestors worshiped on this mountain, but you Jews claim that the place where we must worship is in Jerusalem.” (Due to the enlightenment, she began to ask Jesus for deeper truth of worship. The Samaritans used to worship in Samaria while the Jews in Jerusalem. It was a pursuit for the deeper truth of God.)21 “Woman,” Jesus replied, “believe me, a time is coming when you will worship the Father neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem. (Jesus opens the door to the truth of Jesus which will lead people to the true God and the true worship.)22 You Samaritans worship what you do not know; we worship what we do know, for salvation is from the Jews. (Jews had been better than Samaritan in terms of the location of worship.)23 Yet a time is coming and has now come (But Jesus begins the new era of faith and worship.) when the true worshipers will worship the Father in the Spirit and in truth, for they are the kind of worshipers the Father seeks. (Worshipping Spirit God should be done in the Spirit and in truth. The only True God can accept the whole-hearted worship of believers.)24 God is spirit, and his worshipers must worship in the Spirit (HOW in any form) and in truth (WHY, the Attributes of the Triune God.).” (3, Worship in the Spirit and in truth)25 The woman said, “I know that Messiah” (called Christ) “is coming. When he comes, he will explain everything to us.” (She had a hope of Messiah who will reveal the truth.)26 Then Jesus declared, “I, the one speaking to you- I am he.” (Jesus claims Himself to be the Messiah.) The Disciples Rejoin Jesus27 Just then his disciples returned and were surprised to find him talking with a woman. But no one asked, “What do you want?” or “Why are you talking with her?” (Jesus' disciples, who returned with food, wondered about Jesus' unconventional conversation with the Samaritan woman, but could not ask question.)28 Then, leaving her water jar, the woman went back to the town and said to the people,29 “Come, see a man who told me everything I ever did. Could this be the Messiah?”30 They came out of the town and made their way toward him. (The woman ran to the town and invited the residents to see Jesus. And people came out to Jesus. She was not totally isolated from others, but one of them.) The Food of Jesus31 Meanwhile his disciples urged him, “Rabbi, eat something.” (The disciples served Jesus with food.)32 But he said to them, “I have food to eat that you know nothing about.” (Jesus said that He had His own food.) (4. Our Food and His Food)33 Then his disciples said to each other, “Could someone have brought him food?” (The Jesus' answer wondered the disciples.)34 “My food,”said Jesus, “is to do the will of him who sent me and to finish his work. (The food of Jesus is doing God's work. The obedient life should be the priority of life and service for God.)35 Don’t you have a saying, ‘It’s still four months until harvest’? I tell you, open your eyes and look at the fields! They are ripe for harvest. (The present time is the only God-given time of life and service. What and how belong to us according to His sovereignty.)36 Even now the one who reaps draws a wage and harvests a crop for eternal life, (Working for God itself is our wage.) so that the sower and the reaper may be glad together. (Can the sower and the reaper be grad together?)37 Thus the saying ‘One sows and another reaps’ is true. (Is it fare that one sows and another reaps?)38 I sent you to reap what you have not worked for. Others have done the hard work, and you have reaped the benefits of their labor.” (Is it fare some people work harder and others harvest from their labor? Yes, it is fare and makes perfect sense because it's all for the same Kingdom of God with the different roles. This is the Kingdom Ecosystem. In God we live together, believe together, serve together, for His glory.) Many Samaritans Believe39 Many of the Samaritans from that town believed in him because of the woman’s testimony, “He told me everything I ever did.” (Many Samaritans came to faith because of the testimony of the woman. They were neighbors.)40 So when the Samaritans came to him, they urged him to stay with them, and he stayed two days. (Jesus stayed two more days with them and taught the truth.)41 And because of his words many more became believers.42 They said to the woman, “We no longer believe just because of what you said; now we have heard for ourselves, and we know that this man really is the Savior of the world.” (When they had heard Jesus themselves, their faith in Him became deeper.) Jesus Heals an Official’s Son43 After the two days he left for Galilee. (Back to Galilee from Samaria.)44 (Now Jesus himself had pointed out that a prophet has no honor in his own country.) (Jesus was not welcomed by the hometown people due to their preconception of him.) 45 When he arrived in Galilee, the Galileans welcomed him. They had seen all that he had done in Jerusalem at the Passover Festival, for they also had been there. (Some Galileans who had seen Jesus and His action in Jerusalem welcomed Jesus.)46 Once more he visited Cana in Galilee, where he had turned the water into wine. And there was a certain royal official whose son lay sick at Capernaum. (In Cana, Jesus met a royal officer who's son was sick in Capernaum.)47 When this man heard that Jesus had arrived in Galilee from Judea, he went to him and begged him to come and heal his son, who was close to death. (The officer asked Jesus to come to his son and cure his son.)48 “Unless you people see signs and wonders,” Jesus told him, “you will never believe.” (The miracles and signs were the convincing evidences of the Lordship of Jesus.)49 The royal official said, “Sir, come down before my child dies.”50 “Go,” Jesus replied, “your son will live.” The man took Jesus at his word and departed.51 While he was still on the way, his servants met him with the news that his boy was living. (The officer wanted Jesus to come for his son, but Jesus rejuvenated his son with His will, saying, in distance.)52 When he inquired as to the time when his son got better, they said to him, “Yesterday, at one in the afternoon, the fever left him.”53 Then the father realized that this was the exact time at which Jesus had said to him, “Your son will live.” So he and his whole household believed. (Realizing the healing power of Jesus, the household of the officer came to faith in Jesus.)54 This was the second sign Jesus performed after coming from Judea to Galilee. (It was the second sign after the water-wine sign in Cana.) (1, Samaria) (Google AI)Samaria served as the capital of the Northern Kingdom of Israel, established by King Omri, but it is best known in the Bible for its downfall to the Assyrians in 722 B.C. due to idolatry, resulting in the deportation of the ten tribes and the resettlement of the region with foreign peoples.  Key Biblical Events in Samaria include:   (King Jeroboam I of the Northern Kingdom of Israel (reigned c. 931–910 BC) established alternative worship centers, including a temple/shrine in Dan in north Bethel in south (not primarily Samaria, which became the capital later), to prevent the northern tribes from returning to Jerusalem. His acts of establishing idolatrous shrines and non-Levitical priests are described in 1 Kings 12:25–33.)   Capital City: King Omri built Samaria as the capital of the Northern Kingdom (Israel) in the 9th century B.C..   Idolatry: It became a center of idol worship, particularly Baal worship under King Ahab.   Prophetic Ministry: Prophets like Elijah and Elisha operated there, warning against apostasy. Elisha notably prophesied the end of a severe famine during a brutal Assyrian siege.   Fall to Assyria (722 B.C.): After a three-year siege, Assyria conquered the city, exiled many Israelites, and brought in foreign populations. Rise of the Samaritans: The remaining Israelites intermarried with these foreign settlers, creating a mixed religious and ethnic group despised by Jews in the New Testament.   (The Ten Lost Tribes of Israel refer to the ten northern tribes of the ancient Kingdom of Israel exiled by the Neo-Assyrian Empire around 720 BCE, disappearing from mainstream history as they assimilated into other peoples, though legends persist about their fate, with some believing they merged into other groups, migrated, or will one day return as prophesied in religious texts. The tribes were Reuben, Simeon, Dan, Naphtali, Gad, Asher, Issachar, Zebulun, Manasseh, and Ephraim, while Judah and Benjamin formed the southern Kingdom of Judah, which survived longer.)   New Testament Events: Jesus traveled through Samaria, breaking social taboos by speaking to a Samaritan woman at Jacob's well and preaching there. He also told the parable of the "Good Samaritan," reversing the negative view of them.  (2, Jacob's Well) (Google AI)Jacob's Well is an ancient, deep stone well near Nablus (biblical Shechem) in the West Bank, traditionally associated with the patriarch Jacob. It is famously recognized as the site where Jesus encountered the Samaritan woman and spoke of "living water" (John 4). It is currently located inside a Greek Orthodox monastery. (No mention in OT though.) (3, Worship in the Spirit and in Truth)more at: <a href="https://cafe.daum.net/k331/PeqF/89" target="_top" class="ke-link">https://cafe.daum.net/k331/PeqF/89</a> (4. Our Food and His Food)Our Food Indicates-   Our limitation: We must eat to survive.   God's Blessing: God provides.   Our Responsibility: We must work hard to feed ourselves.   The First Representation of Human Culture: How we live according to the Flesh. (1Jn.  2:15-16, Rom. 12:1-2, The pattern of the world.)   Our Idol: We became slaves under our own needs and desires.His Food Indicates- Kingdom Life, Rom. 12:1-2   Turning to the Kingdom Value & Business:   Committing to the Kingdom Value & Business:   Rewarded from the Kingdom Value & Business by God: