Today's Devotional

John Chapter 4

1Therefore when the Lord knew that the Pharisees had heard that Jesus was making and baptizing more disciples than John
2(although Jesus Himself was not baptizing, but His disciples were),
3He left Judea and went away again into Galilee.
4And He had to pass through Samaria.
5So He came to a city of Samaria called Sychar, near the parcel of ground that Jacob gave to his son Joseph;
6and Jacob's well was there. So Jesus, being wearied from His journey, was sitting thus by the well. It was about the sixth hour.

The Woman of Samaria

7There came a woman of Samaria to draw water. Jesus said to her, "Give Me a drink."
8For His disciples had gone away into the city to buy food.
9Therefore the Samaritan woman said to Him, "How is it that You, being a Jew, ask me for a drink since I am a Samaritan woman?" (For Jews have no dealings with Samaritans.)
10Jesus answered and said to her, "If you knew the gift of God, and who it is who says to you, 'Give Me a drink,' you would have asked Him, and He would have given you living water."
11She said to Him, "Sir, You have nothing to draw with and the well is deep; where then do You get that living water?
12"You are not greater than our father Jacob, are You, who gave us the well, and drank of it himself and his sons and his cattle?"
13Jesus answered and said to her, "Everyone who drinks of this water will thirst again;
14but whoever drinks of the water that I will give him shall never thirst; but the water that I will give him will become in him a well of water springing up to eternal life."
15The woman said to Him, "Sir, give me this water, so I will not be thirsty nor come all the way here to draw."
16He said to her, "Go, call your husband and come here."
17The woman answered and said, "I have no husband." Jesus said to her, "You have correctly said, 'I have no husband';
18for you have had five husbands, and the one whom you now have is not your husband; this you have said truly."
19The woman said to Him, "Sir, I perceive that You are a prophet.
20"Our fathers worshiped in this mountain, and you people say that in Jerusalem is the place where men ought to worship."
21Jesus said to her, "Woman, believe Me, an hour is coming when neither in 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 an hour is coming, and now is, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth; for such people the Father seeks to be His worshipers.
24"God is spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth."
25The woman said to Him, "I know that Messiah is coming (He who is called Christ); when that One comes, He will declare all things to us."
26Jesus said to her, "I who speak to you am He."
27At this point His disciples came, and they were amazed that He had been speaking with a woman, yet no one said, "What do You seek?" or, "Why do You speak with her?"
28So the woman left her waterpot, and went into the city and said to the men,
29"Come, see a man who told me all the things that I have done; this is not the Christ, is it?"
30They went out of the city, and were coming to Him.
31Meanwhile the disciples were urging Him, saying, "Rabbi, eat."
32But He said to them, "I have food to eat that you do not know about."
33So the disciples were saying to one another, "No one brought Him anything to eat, did he?"
34Jesus said to them, "My food is to do the will of Him who sent Me and to accomplish His work.
35"Do you not say, 'There are yet four months, and then comes the harvest'? Behold, I say to you, lift up your eyes and look on the fields, that they are white for harvest.
36"Already he who reaps is receiving wages and is gathering fruit for life eternal; so that he who sows and he who reaps may rejoice together.
37"For in this case the saying is true, 'One sows and another reaps.'
38"I sent you to reap that for which you have not labored; others have labored and you have entered into their labor."

The Samaritans

39From that city many of the Samaritans believed in Him because of the word of the woman who testified, "He told me all the things that I have done."
40So when the Samaritans came to Jesus, they were asking Him to stay with them; and He stayed there two days.
41Many more believed because of His word;
42and they were saying to the woman, "It is no longer because of what you said that we believe, for we have heard for ourselves and know that this One is indeed the Savior of the world."


John Chapter 4 starts off with the story of Jesus at the well with the Samaritan woman. The stage is set for by the introduction to the scene by John. Jesus is going through Samaria for a reason. Its not coincedental that Jesus is there, he just didn't do things that wheren't intentional. So here is Jesus and the passage says it is about the sixth hour which means it is about 12:30 in the afternoon. It would have been very hot at this time of day int hat area of the world. The other important information here is that no one should have been at the well at this time of day. The fact that the woman was there says that she was an outcast in her society because she didn't come to the well with eveyone else. So anyways back to the story. Jesus asks the woman for a drink of water. Dialogue continues after this and Jesus, as usuall, has a great effect on the woman he is talking with. It seems that he is surrounded by an aura of truth and honesty that instantaniously won people over. She is so dramatically impacted by there conversation that she tells people that Jesus told her everything she ever did. When Jesus identifies the woman for who she really is she is astonished and no longer questions that he is the messiah that he claimed to be. As she is out fetching the men in her life and probably other people from the town to come see Jesus, Jesus takes the opportunity to prepare his disciples for what is about to happen. First he tells them that he has "food that they know nothing about." This is where the NASB version of the bible blows out all the other bibles out there. In the NASB the verse says that "They are white for harvest." This is glossed over in most translations as "They are ripe for harvest." This was done because there is no white crop in that area. Later it was learned that the people who came to the well wore white robes. Jesus not onyl predicts his crucifixtion here, but int he same paragraph identifies to the disciples that he will prepare people for the teaching of the disciples. As was the theme of my last devotional we once again are the harvest workers. Jesus sows the seeds in the hearts of man, and it is our commision to reap that harvest for the Lord. The other thing Jesus drops in here is the messsage that we are just as likely to be the one who sows the seeds in people never to see the results of our labors. We could pray for someone for years and one day one person in passing might say God be with you, and the person converts. The key to being ok with this is to understand that it isn't about getting or seeing results it is about a personal dependance on God for your daily bread. Jesus says his food is to do the work of the one who sent him. That should be our sustanance as well. It is nice to reap because that takes no work, but there is a bigger reward for the person who works daily to do god's will. When the people fianly reach the well from the town Jesus teaches them and many of them convert to believers. Now it is not the teaching of Jesus that directly convinces these people to believe, but the testimony of the woman. God has done and continues to do many amazing things, but there is nothing so convincing, so attractive in all of nature as the life that has been breathed into a believer. It is shockingly obvious to poeple, the light of Christ is blinding to people in the dark. There is more to John 4, but i think that this story is enough to consume at one time. It is so amazing all that can be spoken about how Christianity works in so few sentences. In just 42 verses John outlines many different aspects of living as a believer. The role of the disciple, the follower, the leader, the sowwer, the reaper, the lost, the witness, and more are all described in detail in just one story. I hope this has been informational to you and not to dilluted by my rambling and disorganization to understand. It is an honor for me to write these things that you may know Christ better. I am so happy to be a tool.

in Him
matt