I AM HE

(2007 West Coast UBF Summer Bible Conference – Lesson I)

  

John 4:1-26 

Key Verse 4:26 

  

                Then Jesus declared, “I who speak to you am he.” 

  

Read verses 1-6. Who were the Pharisees and what did they hear about Jesus? In what sense was this a good thing, but also a problem? Why did Jesus decide to go to Galilee? Where did he stop along the way?

  

** The Pharisees were the religious leaders and authorities. They heard that Jesus had been gaining and baptizing more disciples than John the Baptist. 

  

** John the Baptist was so popular that the religious authorities and all the people thought that he might be the Christ. But so early in his ministry, Jesus was gaining more disciples than John. This certainly might have worried the Pharisees who were already worried about John. It was good that many people were coming to Jesus because he wanted to give them eternal life. But this was a problem to the Pharisees who felt threatened and jealous that people were going to John and Jesus, rather than to them. The Pharisees had already begun to harass John. 

  

** The passage suggests that Jesus felt it was not a good time to deal with the Pharisees’ possible harassment. 

  

** He went through Samaria and stopped at a well in the town of Sychar. 

  

** Jesus was tired, hungry and thirsty from traveling through the desert regions of Judea and Samaria. The journey to Sychar thus far was probably about 35 miles from where he had previously been baptizing. John also notes that it was about the sixth hour, which is arguably noon. He was alone since the disciples had gone into town to buy food. The scene is ready for the woman to enter and speak with Jesus. 

  

Read verses 7-10. What was unusual about this woman coming to the well at that particular time? What did Jesus ask her? Why did she refuse? What did Jesus reveal that he has to give to her? What does this offer reveal about this woman and about Jesus?

  

** This woman came alone to the well at the sixth hour. It is very hot at noon, especially in the Middle East. Also, it was the custom for women to come to the well either early in the morning, before dawn, or late in the afternoon, after dusk, when it was not so hot. It was also custom for women to go to draw water in groups to socialize and gossip. But the fact that this woman came alone at noon suggests that something is wrong. She may be purposely avoiding people or is being avoided. 

  

** He asked her for a drink. Jesus initiated the conversation. This seems to be small. But when we try to begin fellowship with other people, especially those who are not social and with whom we do not have good relationship, to say something first and initiate the conversation is huge. Jesus stood as the one who needed her help and Jesus’ humility probably opened her heart more easily.

  

** She refused on the basis of the known prejudices of the time between Jews and Samaritans. 

  

(historical note: The region of Samaria was once the Northern Kingdom of Israel. The division of Israel’s kingdom occurred during the reign of Solomon’s son, Rehoboam. Samaria, the city, became the capital of the kingdom and the center of idol worship. After about 200 years of being a kingdom, in 722BC the King of Assyria captured Samaria and deported all of the Israelites from the land. He replaced the Israelites with Assyrians and other foreigners. They intermarried with remaining Israelites and with some who had come back. And so the blood of Israel was not longer purely Israel. Now the Southern Kingdom of Israel, called Judah, also suffered from capture and exile from the land in rough 587BC at the hands of the king of Babylon. Only parts of Judah had been exiled and captured, mostly the nobility. However, unlike the Northern Kingdom, Judah was repopulated with Israelites and those who had been in exile were allowed to return home. And so the blood of the people of Judah had remained pure—to whatever extent it was already kept from foreigners. Because of this, there was a deep seated prejudice against Samaritans by the Jewish people, the people of the Southern Kingdom Judah. Politically, culturally, and by bloodline, they became distant and antagonist towards each other. There was also the deep seated prejudice among the two groups for each believed that they were rightful kingdom and house of Israel.) 

  

** He said that he had living water which he could give her, if she asked. 

  

** The woman: 1) Jesus’ offer of living water suggests that she was thirsting for something more than simply water. She had a different, deeper kind of thirst problem which he came to solve.  The woman’s bitter answer supports this. Thirsty people have nothing to give to others. Jesus was a thirsty, tired traveler. What is the trouble with giving him a drink? No one was looking. 2) Jesus said, "If you knew the gift of God and who it is that asks you for a drink..." This woman's problem could be understood as ignorance: she was ignorant about the gift of God and about who Jesus was. If she had known these things, she would have asked Jesus for living water. Why don't we come to Jesus and ask him for living water? Maybe it’s because we don't know the gift of God and/or we don't know Jesus that well.

->Jesus: Verse 4 says, "Now he had to go through Samaria." Why did Jesus have to go through Samaria, especially since this was not common at the time? It was to offer this woman living water.
  

  

Read verses 11-14. How did the woman respond? What does this show about her? What, according to Jesus, is the difference between the water from Jacob’s well and the water he gives? 

  

** Read verses 11-12. 

  

** She was very sarcastic and bitter to Jesus, purposely trying to tear him down. Her answer sounds mean, but it shows that she was a very weary and tired person who was thirsty. She was also hurt by the despise of the Jews upon Samaritans. Samaritan men despised Samaritan women. And she was despised by the Samaritan women as we see later probably as an ‘immoral woman’ because of her lifestyle.

  

** Read verses 13-14. a) Those who drink from the water of Jacob’s well will be thirsty again. It does not satisfy for more than a little while. It demands people come back for more unceasingly. b) The water from Jesus is “living” water. It does more than just satisfy. It works in us and wells up in us, making those who drink of it springs of life! It satisfies and transforms. 

  

  

Read verses 15-18. What did the woman ask Jesus for? What did he tell her to do? What does her answer reveal about her? What had been her life-long problem? Why do you think Jesus brought up such a painful and sensitive topic? 

  

** She asked for his living water, albeit, somewhat sarcastically and mockingly. She did not understand what Jesus was getting at. By this time she had already called Jesus, ‘sir’. 

  

** Read verse 16. 

  

** She was still searching for the right man. 

  

** Her life-long problem was her thirst problem. She had thirsted for the right man who could make her happy. This thirst had driven her to marry five times, and then settle on a male roommate for number 6, probably because she was so weary and tired from husbands 1-5. She had used all her life and reputation for this sake, but still was not satisfied. She said, “I have no husband.” So indeed what she said, “I have no husband,” is her cry, “No husband ever satisfied me!” 

  

** Because he wanted to truly satisfy her. To do this, she had to confess her specific thirst to Jesus. She had to recognize her own problem as well so that she could thirst for the right thing. In her current state, she could not receive Jesus’ living water. Although it was the most painful topic for her to talk about, Jesus compassionately and wisely brought out her problem to save her. 

  

  

Read verses 19-24. What did the woman think of Jesus now? (19) Why do you think she brought up the controversy about which place to worship at? What did Jesus teach her about true worship and God?

  

** She was shocked that Jesus had known all about her and said, “Sir, I can see you are a prophet.” She recognized him as a servant of God. 

  

** The place of worship was a long standing controversy between Samarians and Jews because of what took place during the division of the kingdom of Israel. A separate place of worship was established in Samaria to prevent people from going to Jerusalem and defecting to the Southern Kingdom Judah. But her question now reveals that her thirst really was a deeper problem and longing for more than human love or affection, but something only God can satisfy.

  

** Jesus taught her about true worship. True worshipers worship God the Father in spirit and in truth. It is in sincerity of heart, not merely outward actions or places, but according to God’s word. He taught her that God was looking for people, just as she was looking for the right man. Jesus told her that worship is a matter of salvation. Her thirst problem revealed her need for salvation from sin and death. Jesus teaches that thirst and worship are related. She was thirsty because she did not worship God. But Jesus wanted to give her salvation and true satisfaction. 

  

  

Read verses 25-26. Why was the woman looking for the Messiah? What did Jesus reveal to her? What did this mean to the woman? What does this mean to you?

  

** She said, “When he comes, he will tell us everything.” He would be her true husband who could be everything to her. 

  

** Read verse 26. 

  

** Jesus was her true husband and in him she could be satisfied and happy. She could believe in him and worship him freely.

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