Six Witnesses

Word study: Unique - u·nique -adjective
1. existing as the only one or as the sole example; single; solitary in type or characteristics.
2. having no like or equal; unparalleled; incomparable.
3. limited in occurrence to a given class, situation, or area.
4. limited to a single outcome or result; without alternative possibilities. 

Unique does not mean rare, unusual, peculiar, or one of just a few. A thing is either unique or not; there are no degrees of uniqueness. Unique means the only one. When Jesus is referred to as the only-begotten Son of God, it literally means the uniquely-born Son of God; He’s the ONLY ONE conceived of eternal God and born of a woman. The only human ever born without an old sin nature. He is total deity and true humanity in one person forever. We must never become confused about Who and What Jesus Christ is.

We continue with the Unique Person of the universe as He states His credentials to the people He came to save. Speaking to hostile unbelievers, Jesus knew they were suspicious of His power and authority. Whether they asked or not, He offered them evidence of His deity.

Witness I – The Holy Spirit

John 5:31-32: If I alone bear witness about myself, my testimony is not true. There is another who bears witness about me, and I know that the testimony that he bears about me is true.

Jesus always honored the law He came to fulfill. In that law, the testimony of only one person was not accepted as valid evidence. Jesus made reference to “another who bears witness,” and that witness cannot be disputed. This is another of the same kind as Himself, witnessing to truth in the minds of human beings.

Witness 2 – John the Baptist

You sent to John, and he has borne witness to the truth. Not that the testimony that I receive is from man, but I say these things so that you may be saved. John 5:33-34

Jesus did not require any man’s testimony to prove His deity, but if people are to receive salvation, they need to understand Who He is. He reminded them that at one time, they sent an official delegation to John.

He was a burning and shining lamp, and you were willing to rejoice for a while in his light. John 5:35

God’s message had been burned into John’s soul for 30 years. Result: John’s ministry shown publicly for about 6 months. Truth burns as a flame in our souls until it has taken control of our thinking. Then it shines forth for the world to see, because we cannot contain it within. Such was John’s testimony regarding the Christ.

Witness 3 – The Works

But the testimony that I have is greater than that of John. For the works that the Father has given me to accomplish, the very works that I am doing, bear witness about me that the Father has sent me. John 5:36

Even John the Baptist didn’t know, however, the extent of the works the Father had assigned to the Son. Only the Godhead had access to that information. That is the witness of Jesus – His Father’s works. The Jews’ temporary attentiveness to John was entirely the will of their emotional pattern. They were fascinated by John’s power, but they rejected John’s Christ. This somewhat reminds me of that oft quoted remark attributed to Gandhi, “I like your Christ, I do not like your Christians.” Coming from an unbeliever, this means absolutely nothing. If he’d believed in Christ, he would have loved Christ’s Church, even though we seem so unlike our Christ. What he liked was his own human good, which he was mistakenly comparing to our Christ. The Jews were looking for their own brand of religion in both John and Jesus. It wasn’t there. Religion cannot co-exist with God’s grace.

Witness 4 – The Father

And the Father who sent me has himself borne witness about me. His voice you have never heard, his form you have never seen, and you do not have his word abiding in you, for you do not believe the one whom he has sent. John 5:38-39

They claimed to believe in the Father. They called themselves His people. These Jews could have never heard His voice or seen His form, for He is spirit and has no physical being or audible voice. Matthew 3:17 records a phenomenal “voice from heaven” identifying Jesus as “My beloved Son, in Whom I am well pleased” The Father speaks to us through His written Word. Those who believe in Him and take in His Word, cultivating it in our souls, cannot help but believe in the One Whom He has sent. Jesus is the embodiment of God’s Word, The Logos. Those in whom that Logos abides will know and believe the Word incarnate – God the Son. Those in search of religion will never recognize the Son. Those with God’s Word abiding within will know Him anywhere.

Witness 5 – The Scriptures

You search the Scriptures because you think that in them you have eternal life; and it is they that bear witness about me, yet you refuse to come to me that you may have life. I do not receive glory from people. But I know that you do not have the love of God within you. I have come in my Father's name, and you do not receive me. If another comes in his own name, you will receive him. John 5:39-44

Of course, they searched the Old Testament scriptures. They were professional theologians. They had the scriptures and set great store by them. At least they knew where to look for eternal life. The problem was they were so blinded by religion that they couldn’t see that the eternal life they were seeking was in the Person of Jesus Christ, God the Son. The scriptures bear Him witness, but the legalists refuse to receive His grace. Jesus doesn’t depend on mankind for honor and glory; He has those things in abundance from the Father and the Holy Spirit. He came to give them something they could not receive any other way. They refused it.

Jesus knew their scripture-quoting was just an act. He observed their speech and behavior, and saw no love for God in their souls. Here He stood before them, representing the Father and being rejected. When another comes, representing himself (Antichrist), these phonies will gladly accept his lies. They walk among us, brethren.

Witness 6 – Moses

How can you believe, when you receive glory from one another and do not seek the glory that comes from the only God? Do not think that I will accuse you to the Father. There is one who accuses you: Moses, on whom you have set your hope. For if you believed Moses, you would believe me; for he wrote of me. But if you do not believe his writings, how will you believe my words?” John 5:44-47

The phony religionists are only interested in impressing one another; they are not really seeking God’s glory. Jesus came to provide salvation for them, not to accuse them. They could never be any more condemned than they already were, from birth. The very Old Testament scripture (Moses) is the one who exposes their shame. They study and discuss Moses (the Pentateuch) among themselves and challenge each other’s intellect and theology regarding Moses; their confidence is in Moses. Moses wrote of the Savior – Deuteronomy 18:15-19:

“The Lord your God will raise up for you a prophet like me (Moses) from among you, from your brothers—it is to him you shall listen—just as you desired of the Lord your God at Horebon the day of the assembly, when you said, ‘Let me not hear again the voice of the Lord my God or see this great fire any more, lest I die.’ And the Lord said to me, ‘They are right in what they have spoken. I will raise up for them a prophet like you from among their brothers. And I will put my words in his mouth, and he shall speak to them all that I command him.  And whoever will not listen to my words that he shall speak in my name, I myself will require it of him.”

If they really believed Moses, they would have believed Jesus, for He was the subject of Moses’ writings. They didn’t really believe Moses’ writings; they just loved to debate those writings, as a means of justifying to one another their own arrogance.

This same principle was demonstrated to the rich man in Torments. Luke 16:27-31: I beg you, father, to send him to my father's house—for I have five brothers—so that he may warn them, lest they also come into this place of torment.’ But Abraham said, ‘They have Moses and the Prophets; let them hear them.’ And he said, ‘No, father Abraham, but if someone goes to them from the dead, they will repent.’ He said to him, ‘If they do not hear Moses and the Prophets, neither will they be convinced if someone should rise from the dead.’”

The Word of God – Logos – is the life force of the universe. We who believe the Logos recognize and believe the uniquely born Son of God, Who is Logos incarnate and our only Savior. 

Moses wrote of Him.

The Authority of the Son

After Jesus’ shocking display of power by healing the lifelong lame man, and after His even more shocking order that the man pick up and carry his bed, although it was the Sabbath day, the Jews were eager to chastise the man and to condemn the actions of Jesus. John doesn’t give us any words they spoke to Jesus about this, but they didn’t have to speak. He knew exactly what was in their minds, and He confronted them with truth much more compelling than the physical healing, or even the issue of Sabbath-breaking. The whole incident provided Him opportunity to present to the Jews His credentials as the unique Son of God. This was profound doctrine, far beyond their nit-picking legalistic religion.

So Jesus said to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, the Son can do nothing of his own accord, but only what he sees the Father doing. For whatever the Father does, that the Son does likewise. John 5:19

“Truly, truly” always indicates a point of doctrine. Divine truth, from the ultimate source. It means “listen up. I have something important to teach you.” They were mentally and vocally questioning His power to heal and His authority to overrule the Sabbath prohibition. The answer: “I, the Son, didn’t do this alone, but with the clear instruction and support of My Father.” They knew Who His Father was.

For the Father loves the Son and shows him all that he himself is doing. And greater works than these will he show him, so that you may marvel. For as the Father raises the dead and gives them life, so also the Son gives life to whom he will. The Father judges no one, but has given all judgment to the Son, that all may honor the Son, just as they honor the Father. Whoever does not honor the Son does not honor the Father who sent him. John 5:20-23

Jesus is describing a close, personal family relationship with the Father of creation and salvation. His statement shows that the Father and Son work together as collaborators/partners in their work of keeping the universe in order and providing salvation for mankind. God the Father (spirit only), is the source of all eternal truth and the designer of all creation. God the Son (spirit and body), is the executor of every work the Father has planned and designed. The Jews were marveling at the one specific work they had just seen. There would be far greater works, in their own lifetimes and in future history, as the Son would demonstrate His equality with the Father in acts of mercy, teachings of grace, atonement for sin, and in bodily resurrection from the dead.

The Father raises the spiritually dead by giving eternal life to all who believe in His Son. The Son has this same power. He IS the atonement. He IS the propitiation. Therefore, He, like His Father, gives life to those who were formerly dead in their sins. The final judgment, however, belongs to the Son. As the unbelievers are gathered before Him at the great white throne, He will demonstrate to them that their human good can never measure up to His own perfect righteousness, which they have rejected. The Father will not judge them, because He judged their sins in His Son. This leaves them to face the One who paid for their sins on the cross.

People who say they believe in God but cannot accept the work of Christ for their salvation do not really believe in God. The Father and Son are one. If the Father is not honored, the Son is also not honored (“I believe in the love Jesus taught, but cannot accept that Old Testament God”) – this dishonors the Jesus they claim to love. If the Son is rejected, the Father’s plan is rejected. Jesus is God, God is Jesus. If you reject the one, the other is dishonored. The unbeliever cannot win.

Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life. He does not come into judgment, but has passed from death to life. John 5:24

“Truly, truly,” Point of doctrine, again: whoever (anybody) hears Jesus and believes the Father sent Him has (right now and forever) eternal life. There will be no judgment for them. They have passed – once for all time and eternity - from spiritual death to God’s life. God’s plan is grace. God’s policy is grace. God’s salvation is received by grace. The one who believes in Jesus’ finished work has a new and permanent position: IN CHRIST forever.

“Truly, truly, I say to you, an hour is coming, and is now here, when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God, and those who hear will live. John 5:25

Point of doctrine: there is a an appointed time, which has now arrived; those who are spiritually dead will hear (akouo – give audience to, understand) the Son of God, and this hearing will lead to eternal life.

For as the Father has life in himself, so he has granted the Son also to have life in himself. And he has given him authority to execute judgment, because he is the Son of Man. John 5:26-27

God the Father and God the Son share the same eternal life, as well as 9 other characteristics of divine essence. One of those is perfect Justice (judgment). The Son will be the final executor of God’s Justice, because He has the unique qualification of being the Perfect Man.

Do not marvel at this, for an hour is coming when all who are in the tombs will hear his voice and come out, those who have done good to the resurrection of life, and those who have done evil to the resurrection of judgment. John 5:28-29

The Jews have been receiving a lesson from God the Son about spiritual truths that far surpass His power to heal physically. This is a lesson in soteriology (salvation) and eschatology (last things). If they found this Sabbath day healing incomprehensible, there are far greater things coming soon, and are even now in process.

There will be a physical resurrection of those who have died. At His voice, they will come out of their tombs. Those who have done (literally) The Good (received the perfect righteousness of God by faith in Jesus Christ) will be in the resurrection of the righteous (I Corinthians 15:22, I Thessalonians 4:13-18). The unbelievers – those who have done (literally) The Evil (rejected the perfect atonement of Jesus Christ in favor of their own human good. They died without Christ) will be in the resurrection of the unrighteous (Revelation 20:4-6, 11-14). Life for the believers, judgment for the unbelievers. That’s the division; those are the eternal consequences of individual volition (free will) in the human race.

All are born condemned, as the result of Adam’s original sin. Salvation is free to all, but not all will receive it, because it requires faith in the finished work of Jesus Christ on the cross, and some will not believe.

“I can do nothing on my own. As I hear, I judge, and my judgment is just, because I seek not my own will but the will of him who sent me” John 5:30

Jesus was here in physical body to do the work the Father had planned and authorized Him to do. This was all decreed in eternity past. Jesus’ one purpose in life was to fulfill the plan of the Father. The Jews’ criticism of the Son was pointless, because He was following His Father’s plan, and nothing would interfere with that.

In these paragraphs, Jesus has given The Jews an introduction to the doctrine of the oneness of the persons of God.  We call it the doctrine of the Trinity. God is one in essence. Each person of the Trinity - Father, Son, Holy Spirit – has exactly the same essence: Sovereignty, Righteousness, Justice, Love, Eternal Life, Omniscience, Omnipresence, Omnipotence, Veracity, Immutability. Each manifests these characteristics in different forms. God the Father, the planner of all creation and history, is spirit and eternally invisible. God the Holy Spirit, a partner in creation, restoration and regeneration, is also spirit and cannot be seen, but can be experienced, convincing of sin, awakening the human spirit to faith in Christ, and nurturing the believer in growth to spiritual maturity. God the Son is the bodily person of God – seen, felt, heard – born into the human race as the Perfect Man and Perfect God in one person forever. We call that the Hypostatic Union – the unique person of the universe.

This unique person was standing before them, teaching The Jews the plan and purpose of God, now being fulfilled in this one Man. He has only just begun. There is more of this discourse in the following paragraphs, showing just Who and What He is, and proving His authority as Eternal God.

Jesus was speaking to people so blinded by religion they had no concept of grace or of the personalities of God. As He began His public ministry, Jesus kept His message simple, to accommodate the ignorance of His audience. We, too, must present simple, basic truths until we have the attention of those who want to know more. Hitting them with advanced doctrinal vocabulary is overwhelming to them and obscures the truth we represent.

Jesus' claim of equality with God was the final outrage to The Jews. From this point on, they earnestly plotted to destroy Him.

Healing at the Pool

After this there was a feast of the Jews, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem.

Now there is in Jerusalem by the Sheep Gate a pool, in Aramaic called Bethesda, which has five roofed colonnades. In these lay a multitude of invalids—blind, lame, and paralyzed. One man was there who had been an invalid for thirty-eight years. When Jesus saw him lying there and knew that he had already been there a long time, he said to him, “Do you want to be healed?” The sick man answered him, “Sir, I have no one to put me into the pool when the water is stirred up, and while I am going another steps down before me.” Jesus said to him, “Get up, take up your bed, and walk.” And at once the man was healed, and he took up his bed and walked. John 5:1-9

In certain versions of this passage, there was an added portion about angels in the water (vs. 3-4). It was apparently folklore which some scribe added for reasons we don’t know. Folklore is not scripture, so this English Standard Version and other modern translations simply omit it.

The subject of the story is the man who had lain helpless by the pool for probably most of his life, hoping to be helped into the water when it was disturbed, which was the legend or superstition about this pool. Many others lay there too, and did so every day.

This was Passover time, when the streets of Jerusalem were crowded with Jews from all over the area. A great time for Jesus to demonstrate His healing power. The Sheep Gate was the first one rebuilt by Nehemiah upon the nation’s return from Babylonian captivity. It represents salvation. This was a time of celebration and a special, historic place. Bethesda means House of Mercy. The pool is fed by an underground stream which builds up pressure every so often and “belches,” like a geyser. There is spiritual connotation in the physical infirmities of the people lying there, waiting to be healed by the disturbance in the water. The categories were 1) blind – powerless to see God, 2) lame – powerless to walk with God 3) paralyzed – powerless to work for God. Jesus knew (aorist tense) from eternity past about this man’s condition, just as He knew from eternity past about the woman at Jacob’s well and the nobleman’s dying son. He came here to heal this man.

“Do you want to be healed?” (!) That would be an attention-getter, much like “give me a drink of water.”  Oddly, the man didn’t give a simple yes or no answer. He obviously didn’t realize the implication of Jesus’ question, so he began to babble his excuse for lying there so long. There was no one who cared enough for him to help him into the water he thought would heal him. When he tried to drag himself there, others would rush in ahead of him, beating him out. Desperate people do desperate things. This was not a compassionate scene, but one of degradation and despair.

Next, the shocking command: “Get up, take up your bed, and walk.” 

We don’t see him arguing. He immediately obeyed.

Now that day was the Sabbath. So the Jews said to the man who had been healed, “It is the Sabbath, and it is not lawful for you to take up your bed.” John 5:10

The Jews (religious leaders, remember, not the common folk) were constantly lurking about, monitoring the activities they could criticize and chastise, especially Jesus, now that He was openly ministering among the people. This man troubled them greatly. They did not understand Him or His message and seemed to have no way to counter His growing popularity. One of their pet rules was the Sabbath…anything one does on the Sabbath that can be called work is forbidden. This was a crime punishable by death in The Jews’ law. And they called everything work. It was a never-ending laundry list of “shall nots.” They overstressed the commandment regarding the Sabbath day to the point of exasperation, corrupting God’s original law and adding rules and prohibitions that God never gave nor intended as burdens to His people. The Jews, however, loved to burden the people. That’s how they kept them under control. They ignored the miracle of the healing to nag the man for carrying his bed on the Sabbath.

The Sabbath day is a remembrance of God’s grace. He made total provision in six days. We rest on the Sabbath to remember the perfect provision of God in our salvation. He did it all; we can do nothing.There had been many infirm people at that pool that day. Jesus healed one. He didn’t come to physically heal everyone, but to bring eternal life to everyone. Perfect physical health would be a disaster in a race of spiritually dead people. That one man’s healing made a bold statement about the power of the healer and about the phoniness of manmade religion. This act drew attention from the religious oppressors.

Jesus was His own perfect publicist. The healing was instantaneous, permanent and freely received, as is salvation by grace through faith in the finished work of Jesus Christ. The walking demonstrated the healing. Carrying the bed was visual testimony of the healing and it identified the one healed. This event was a public proclamation of grace in freedom from religion, superstition and ritual.

Well, even I will admit that carrying one’s bed is work, but the Lord of the Sabbath is the one who gave the command, and so this was, to say the least, an exception. It sure made a point with the healed man and all who witnessed this event, including The Jews. They did not yet comprehend Who this was who overruled the Sabbath law. Nor did the healed man, but he and they would soon get a taste of His authority.

But he answered them, “The man who healed me, that man said to me, ‘Take up your bed, and walk.’” They asked him, “Who is the man who said to you, ‘Take up your bed and walk’?” Now the man who had been healed did not know who it was, for Jesus had withdrawn, as there was a crowd in the place. John 5:11-13

Lawful or not, the man who healed me gave the command. Jesus had mingled into the crowd, and our healed man didn’t know who it was, or where He went. Interestingly, the man headed straight for the temple, for that is where Jesus found him later.  

Afterward Jesus found him in the temple and said to him, “See, you are well! Sin no more, that nothing worse may happen to you.” The man went away and told the Jews that it was Jesus who had healed him. John 5:14

The man’s healing had been public, calling attention to the healer. The temple conversation was private, intimate, personal instruction, for the assurance and spiritual growth of the new believer:

For 38 miserable years, you didn’t know what to believe. Now you know. Don’t slip back into an attitude of unbelief (sin). That would be placing yourself back at the mercy of the world (worse thing).

The man went away and told the Jews that it was Jesus who had healed him. And this was why the Jews were persecuting Jesus, because he was doing these things on the Sabbath. But Jesus answered them, “My Father is working until now, and I am working.” John 5:15-17

John 5:18 - This was why the Jews were seeking all the more to kill him, because not only was he breaking the Sabbath, but he was even calling God his own Father, 

making himself equal with God.

The Official's Son

The scene at Jacob’s well (John 4:26-42) was ending with the woman running into town to witness to everyone she saw. The townspeople’s curiosity was aroused by her tactful question: “could this be the Christ?” They came streaming down the hill to see for themselves who this amazing person could be. This indicates the genius of our Lord’s evangelism. His disciples, being Jews, could not evangelize the Samaritans because of their mutual resentment and distrust of each other. Racial prejudice is a crippling barrier to the sharing of God’s grace. When the Lord Himself demonstrated His deity to the woman and she believed, she, the Samaritan, was the evangelist to her own people. Jesus knew who they would hear. She was not perceived as a  threat to any of them, so they were willing to listen with an open mind to the words of the Savior Himself.

When the disciples kept on begging Jesus to eat something, He explained to them that His sustenance (“meat”) was in the completion of the work of salvation the Father had given Him to do. He used the word teleoo (finish), in verse 34. It means complete, accomplish, consummate, consecrate, fulfill, make perfect. There was nothing more satisfying to Jesus than the accomplishment of the Father’s will! The Father’s will is the salvation of the human race. Whoever will believe. That was much more important to Him than physical food. He was relishing the result of a job well done – the harvest of many souls in that Samaritan town. Jesus would move on to some individual healing miracles, but the incident at the well showed that  one soul saved is better than many bodies healed. Healed bodies will still age and die. Souls saved are alive forevermore, and will perpetuate a chain of response in others as they live and grow IN CHRIST.

So he came again to Cana in Galilee, where he had made the water wine. And at Capernaum there was an official whose son was ill. When this man heard that Jesus had come from Judea to Galilee, he went to him and asked him to come down and heal his son, for he was at the point of death. So Jesus said to him, “Unless you see signs and wonders you will not believe.”  The official said to him, “Sir, come down before my child dies.” John 4:46-49

The official really wanted Jesus to go with him to his dying child. He wanted to witness the healing for himself. Obviously, he had heard much already about Jesus’ ability to heal, and was desperate enough to risk asking this man to help his son. Jesus’ challenging comment apparently awakened him to the truth of Jesus’ power to heal without being physically present at the bedside. What goes on in the soul of a born-again believer cannot be seen, but it is eternal spiritual healing. At that point (vs. 49) the man realized with Whom he was speaking, calling Jesus “Sir” (kurios – Lord) indicates his belief.

Jesus said to him, “Go; your son will live.” The man believed the word that Jesus spoke to him and went on his way. As he was going down, his servants met him and told him that his son was recovering. So he asked them the hour when he began to get better, and they said to him, “Yesterday at the seventh hour the fever left him.” The father knew that was the hour when Jesus had said to him, “Your son will live.” And he himself believed, and all his household. John 4:50-55

Wow. “Just go on about your business. This is taken care of.”  What? Don’t continue to beg and plead? Don’t do some kind of penance? Don’t sit and wait for confirmation? Go on with life?  Yes. The issue is settled. The greater miracle had already occurred in the nobleman’s soul. He could now relax and accept the lesser miracle. In verse 52, when his servants told him the boy was recovering, the description was “the fever left.” That was immediately. Instantaneously. That is the way Jesus heals. In one stroke. Unmistakably a miracle. We can walk through a lengthy recovery process with our eyes fixed on Jesus, with Bible doctrine in our souls as a stabilizing force. That is a good lesson in faith and discipline. Miraculous healing, however, happens instantaneously and completely and it calls attention to the omnipotence of our sovereign creator.  That is what happened to the boy’s fever, at exactly the time Jesus told this man “your son will live.”

Verse 53 – The nobleman believed yesterday. He told his family and “all his household” believed today.

Verse 56 -- This was now the second sign that Jesus did when he had come from Judea to Galilee. We saw the first in John 2:11, the creation of wine at the wedding.

At The Well

Now when Jesus learned that the Pharisees had heard that Jesus was making and baptizing more disciples than John (although Jesus himself did not baptize, but only his disciples), he left Judea and departed again for Galilee. And he had to pass through Samaria. So he came to a town of Samaria called Sychar, near the field that Jacob had given to his son Joseph. 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. John 4:1-6

Knowing that the Pharisees would continue to track Him and try to interfere in His ministry, Jesus headed back to Galilee, by way of Samaria. Samaria and the Samaritan people were despised by Jews, and especially by the Pharisees, who considered them a mongrel people, having been descended from a mixture of the fallen northern tribes of Israel and their Assyrian captors. Racial prejudice between the two people groups had been the norm for generations. The Samaritans studied the Pentateuch and worshiped the God of Israel, as that was also their heritage. Evangelizing and baptizing is rewarding work, but can be quite tiring, and Jesus was tired. It was high noon as He rested by the well.

Verse 7: A woman from Samaria came to draw water. High noon, remember. Hot sun. This was not a wealthy woman, or she would not have been drawing water. She was not a respected woman, or she would have come in a cooler time of day, when all the other women came to the well. She came alone to do her chore. Jesus initiated conversation.

Verse 8: Jesus said to her, “Give me a drink.” (For his disciples had gone away into the city to buy food.) 

Our omniscient Lord knew this woman would appear here, and He needed to speak privately with her, without the prying eyes and ears of his disciples, Jews, who had known nothing but contempt for Samaritans their whole lives. Prejudice works both ways, as we well know. Verse 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.) Not only a Samaritan, but a female Samaritan!
Double curse. Our Lord was not impressed with social restrictions.

  

Verses 10-12: 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.”  (The living water of eternal life). 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? Are you greater than our father Jacob? He gave us the well and drank from it himself, as did his sons and his livestock.” 

Notice it is “our father Jacob.”  Her question implies “who do you think you are?” The Samaritans were also descended from Jacob, as were the Jews. This ancient well had special historical and religious significance to both peoples.

Verse 13-14: Jesus said to her, “Everyone who drinks of this water will be thirsty again, but whoever drinks of the water that I will give him will never be thirsty again. The water that I will give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life.”

Jesus, the creator of all things, created the water in Jacob’s well. That physical water must be consumed over and over again, as the body becomes thirsty, but the water He offers here is spiritual water of eternal life. The aorist tense of the word “drinks” in verse 14 indicates one drink is good forever. Then that spiritual water will be within the soul of that person for all eternity. Well, who wouldn’t want such water? She has become at least curious, if maybe a little sarcastic. As with Nicodemus, she thinks only in physical terms.

Verse 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.”

Jesus said to her, “Go, call your husband, and come here.” The woman answered him, “I have no husband.” Jesus said to her, “You are right in saying, ‘I have no husband’; for you have had five husbands, and the one you now have is not your husband. What you have said is true.” John 4:16-18. Now we see the reason she comes to the well alone, at high noon. This is a woman of ill repute. The other women of the town won’t be seen in her company.

Verse 19: The woman said to him, “Sir, I perceive that you are a prophet. 

Now the light is coming on. This man is no ordinary Jew. He has some deeper knowledge. Of course, she probably suspected that from the beginning of this exchange. Next, she tries to use a tactic that is quite common among unbelievers who find themselves talking with a messenger of God. Let’s quibble about religion; denominational details; place of meeting. Jesus never raised any issue regarding the place of worship. It was entirely the challenge of the unbeliever. The Jews had their temple at Jerusalem, where the Samaritans were not welcome. The Samaritans had a temple, also, on Mt. Gerizim. The woman was reacting to a perceived prejudice which Jesus did not have. He was here out of compassion for her, and He offered her His living water with no requirements from her except she receive it.

Our fathers worshiped on this mountain, but you say that in Jerusalem is the place where people ought to worship.” Jesus said to her, “Woman, believe me, the hour is coming when neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem will you worship the Father. John 4:20-21

Place of worship is a false issue.

Verse 22: You worship what you do not know; we worship what we know, for salvation is from the Jews. 

People who are simply practicing religion don’t know what they are worshiping. The Jews were the conduits of God’s Word to the world. The Savior was a Jew and Jews were the first messengers of the good news. Ignoring her smoke screen and her sin, Jesus got directly to the true issue:

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. God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth.” 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.” John 4:23-25

True worship is not a place or a ritual. True worshipers will now worship God the Father in the filling of the Holy Spirit and in doctrinal truth. The coming of the Messiah made that so. The woman was beginning to realize this man might have knowledge of the Messiah.

Verse 26: Jesus said to her, “I who speak to you am he.” The English translations have the “he” in italics, which means the word is added, supposedly for clarity. In this case, it dilutes the meaning. His statement is, “the one speaking to you, I AM.”

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?” So the woman left her water jar and went away into town and said to the people, “Come, see a man who told me all that I ever did. Can this be the Christ?” They went out of the town and were coming to him. John 4:27-30

Jesus was not, as some secularists believe and teach, a rebel or a revolutionary. However, he was a nonconformist to tradition and taboo. He was not afraid to be seen speaking with a woman, but the disciples were afraid to question Him about it. She finally realized the importance of what she had just seen and heard, and took her news to town.

Meanwhile the disciples were urging him, saying, “Rabbi, eat.” But he said to them, “I have food to eat that you do not know about.” So the disciples said to one another, “Has anyone brought him something to eat?” Jesus said to them, “My food is to do the will of him who sent me and to accomplish his work. Do you not say, ‘There are yet four months, then comes the harvest’? Look, I tell you, lift up your eyes, and see that the fields are white for harvest. Already the one who reaps is receiving wages and gathering fruit for eternal life, so that sower and reaper may rejoice together. For here the saying holds true, ‘One sows and another reaps.’ I sent you to reap that for which you did not labor. Others have labored, and you have entered into their labor.” John 4:31-38

What wonderful refreshment it is to give someone the truth and see them begin to grasp it. Jesus didn’t need physical food to be fulfilled. His fulfillment was seeing the lost woman come to understand Who He was and what He would do for her. Even better, she was about to share that witness with the town. Her testimony got their attention, but when they heard and saw Him, they knew.

Many Samaritans from that town believed in him because of the woman's testimony, “He told me all that I ever did.” So when the Samaritans came to him, they asked him to stay with them, and he stayed there two days.  And many more believed because of his word. They said to the woman, “It is no longer because of what you said that we believe, for we have heard for ourselves, and we know that this is indeed the Savior of the world.” John 4:39-42. 

We have heard and we know.

The woman got it. She had to share it. She evangelized the whole town. 

After the two days he departed for Galilee.  (For Jesus himself had testified that a prophet has no honor in his own hometown.) So when he came to Galilee, the Galileans welcomed him, having seen all that he had done in Jerusalem at the feast. For they too had gone to the feast.