The Gospel According to John

Biblical Research Monthly
January, 1956
Dr. David L. Cooper
(Installment Twelve)

THE SAMARITAN MINISTRY

The Departure From Judaea

When Jesus realized that He was stirring up prejudice and hostility among the Pharisees because His disciples were beginning to outnumber those of John the Baptist, He left Judaea to return to Galilee. He could have followed the prevailing custom of skirting around Samaria, because its inhabitants were of both Jewish and Gentile descent and were therefore, abhorred by Jews of unmixed blood. But, as the Scriptures state, "He must needs pass through" (John 4:4). He deliberately chose to go through this land, not merely to save time and to shorten His journey, but to show that the salvation which He was to make possible on Calvary is for all who believe.

The Living Water

Reaching the outskirts of Sychar in Samaria at noon and being weary, He sat down by Jacob's well to wait while His disciples went into the city to buy food. While He was resting there, a Samaritan woman came to draw water. Through her, Jesus began His ministry in Samaria and gave us the example perfect of how to win an unregenerate soul. No Christian burdened for the lost, as all Christians should be, can afford to overlook the lesson that Jesus, the Master Teacher, taught near Sychar in the heat of the noonday sun.

"Give me to drink," He said. By this simple, mildly spoken request, He ingratiated Himself into her favor and unobtrusively began the conversation. Many a well-meaning Christian has defeated his purpose at the outset by abruptly approaching a person and persisting in talking with him.

Surprised, the woman replied, "how is it that thou, being a Jew, askest drink of me, who am a Samaritan woman?" (John 4:9). Her immediate recognition of Jesus as a Jew of unmixed blood, humanly speaking, has been rightfully pointed out as giving the blasphemous lie to the heinous and wholly unfounded theory that He was the son of Mary and a Roman soldier. She knew that the Jews would have no dealings with the Samaritans, for the Israelites left in the land by Sargon the Great had intermarried, and their descendants were despised as half-breeds.

Her question was exactly what Jesus had anticipated and emphasizes the importance in soul winning of engaging in the proper conversation and turning it in the right direction. "Jesus answered and said unto her, If thou knewest the gift of God, and who it is that saith to thee, Give me to drink; thou wouldest have asked of him, and he would have given thee living water" (John 4:10). Having led her naturally to inquire about who He was and how He could, without anything to draw with, give her living water from the deep well, He answered her in part, without revealing His identity at that point. He has thus shown the necessity of saying the right thing at the right time, and neither too soon nor too late.

"Every one that drinketh of this water shall thirst again: 14 but whosoever drinketh of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst: but the water that I shall give him shall become in him a well of water springing up unto eternal life" (John 4:13,14).

The woman immediately desired the living water, as Jesus had expected. But He knew that she had not caught the spiritual significance of His statement, but was thinking of running water, which was frequently referred to as living. Naturally she was eager to know of running water nearby, so that she would not have to draw water from the deep well. Jesus also knew that she must become aware of her fallen condition before she could receive the living water "springing up unto eternal life." Unfortunately, a Christian in his witnessing sometimes overlooks the necessity of a conviction of sin, or he may go to the opposite extreme and thereby do great harm. Actually, the awareness of sin cannot come fully before conversion. Instead, it increases as one grows in grace. The closer that one draws to the Lord Jesus Christ, the greater his own unworthiness appears and, in consequence, the more contrite he becomes.

Jesus perceived the abscess of sin on this woman's soul and lanced it with the deftness of a skilled surgeon. A Christian does not have the insight that Jesus had as God-man; but, in so far as the occasion permits, he should endeavor to learn, through observation and any other honorable means, the character of the person to whom he is witnessing.

Knowing that the woman was an adulteress, Jesus bade her to call her husband. His command, with the revelation that ensued, was the sharp lance that He plunged into her abscessed soul. Like many persons writhing under the conviction of sin, she tried to change the subject, to shift attention from herself to Him and to turn the conversation to a technical point of worship. "The woman saith unto him, Sir, I perceive that thou art a prophet. 20 Our fathers worshipped in this mountain; and ye say, that in Jerusalem is the place where men ought to worship" (John 4:19).

The Samaritans worshiped in the temple on Mt. Gerizim, which was the mountain of blessings, whereas Mt. Ebal opposite was the mountain of curses (Deut. 11:29; 27:12,13; Joshua 8:33-35). According to the historian Josephus, when Manasseh, brother of the high priest Jaddua, married a foreigner, the elders at Jerusalem commanded him to divorce her or else not to come near the altar. In keeping with a promise made to prevent the divorce which Manasseh was reluctantly considering, Sanballat, his father-in-law, built a rival temple on Mt. Gerizim. It was destroyed in 129 B.C., but the Samaritans still revere the mountain as the site of their temple and as the scene of Isaac's sacrifice. They also continue to celebrate the Passover on this mountain. In the synagogue at Nablus, located between Mt. Ebal and Mt. Gerizim, is preserved a manuscript called the Samaritan Pentateuch. This is the oldest portion of the Scriptures extant, dating back probably to the dividing of the kingdom after the death of Solomon. Jesus ignored the reference to Himself as a prophet, and He was not interested in the controversy about the temples. But, when the woman mentioned it, He turned it to good advantage: "Jesus saith unto her, Woman, believe me, the hour cometh, when neither in this mountain, nor in Jerusalem, shall ye worship the Father. 22 Ye worship that which ye know not: we worship that which we know; for salvation is from the Jews. 23 But the hour cometh, and now is, when the true worshippers shall worship the Father in Spirit and truth: for such doth the Father seek to be his worshippers. 24 God is a Spirit: and they that worship him must worship in spirit and truth" (John 4:21-24).

"The hour cometh and now is," Jesus declared. The Christian dispensation has come and will continue until His return to earth at the end of the Tribulation. Not Mt. Gerizim, not Jerusalem, not any one place is the chosen spot for worship. The whole world, anywhere, everywhere, may be used. Not until the Second Coming will there again be one central place of worship. Then in the millennial Jerusalem will be the Temple where the Lord Jesus himself will dwell, and all peoples will come there to worship Him and to be taught of Him (Isa. 2:1-4; Micah 4:1-8).

"God is a Spirit," Jesus declared, "and they that worship him must worship in spirit and truth." God has no corporeal being; He is Spirit. He is not to be worshiped through physical objects, but in spirit and in truth.

Jesus the Messiah

Again the woman attempted to change the subject by showing an interest in Messiah: "The woman saith unto him, I know that Messiah cometh (he that is called Christ): when he is come, he will declare unto us all things. 26 Jesus saith unto her, I that speak unto thee am he" (John 4:25,26).

Here, to this adulteress woman of Samaria, Jesus voluntarily made known His being the Messiah, He that is called Christ. Nowhere else in the Scriptures is recorded a similar announcement on His part. At His trial, He acknowledged His Messiahship, but He did not volunteer the information. When the high priest adjured Him—that is, put Him under oath—to say whether He was the Christ, the Son of God, He replied, "Thou hast said," a commonly used expression of affirmation. He usually referred to Himself as the Son of man, although no one else ever applied this term to Him. Even at His trial, after affirming His Messiahship, He declared: "Nevertheless I say unto you, Henceforth ye shall see the Son of man sitting at the right hand of Power, and coming on the clouds of heaven" (Matt. 26:64).

What is the meaning of this term that Jesus applied frequently to Himself? Actually, the meaning is a moot point, but a very plausible interpretation of it is found in Daniel 7:13,14: "I saw in the night-visions, and, behold, there came with the clouds of heaven one like unto a son of man, and he came even to the ancient of days, and they brought him near before him. 14 And there was given him dominion, and glory, and a kingdom, that all the peoples, nations, and languages should serve him: his dominion is an everlasting dominion, which shall not pass away, and his kingdom that which shall not be destroyed."

From this passage and others one can logically assume that Jesus preferred the term Son of man to that of Messiah, because of its wider scope. Jesus is indeed the Christ, the expected Messiah of Israel, but He is the redeemer of all who will believe. As Son of man, he presented Himself as God in human form, related to all mankind.

The Fields White Unto Harvest

Just after Jesus had finished making His unique announcement of His Messiahship, His disciples returned and were amazed to find Him speaking with the Samaritan woman, but, very wisely, not one of them spoke either to Him or to her. Their silence is a mighty object lesson to Christians. Interruptions can lose, instead of win, souls. The woman, so excited that she forgot her waterpot, went off to the city to tell the people. "Come, see a man, who told me all things that ever I did: can this be the Christ?" (John 4:29). And the crowds started from the city to see Him. Meanwhile the disciples urged Jesus to eat and were surprised to hear Him say that He had meat of which they knew nothing. This meat, He explained, was to do the will of the One who had sent Him and to accomplish His work. Then He taught His disciples a great truth. They were to reap what others had sown. They were to harvest the fields already white. For what purpose? "He that reapeth receiveth wages, and gathereth fruit unto life eternal; that he that soweth and he that reapeth may rejoice together" (John 4:36). There is no room for selfishness in the Lord's work. Reaper and sower have a common purpose, in which they should rejoice together. For together they are glorifying God by leading others to the Saviour and to life eternal. Without the reaper, the sower labors in vain. Without the sower, the reaper has nothing to harvest. Together they have the increase. Even so, the Biblical Research Society is today sowing seed to be reaped by the 144,000 evangels during the world-wide revival of the Tribulation (Revelation, chapter 7).

The Two-Day Revival

The woman of Samaria received the living water, for gradually she realized that Jesus who could tell her everything that she had ever done was indeed the Messiah, as He had said. With the realization came belief. Then the living water became in her "a well of water springing up unto eternal life," as Jesus said it would in anyone who receives it (John 4:14b). Even before full realization had come to her, she ran eagerly to tell others of Jesus. Figuratively speaking, she was bubbling over with the truth that she had learned, and the Samaritans were attracted to Him through her. They came to see for themselves, persuaded Him to abide with them for two days, and thus led others to believe on Him: "And many more believed because of his word; 42 and they said to the woman, Now we believe, not because of thy speaking: for we have heard for ourselves, and know that this is indeed the Saviour of the world" (John 4:41,42).

Thus, through an adulteress, Jesus launched His ministry in Samaria, and the woman, becoming "a well of water springing up into life eternal," caused many more to believe. After two days, Jesus went on to His original destination, Galilee. Had He stooped to the petty prejudices of His day, He would have skirted around Samaria en route, but "he must needs pass through." By so doing, He brought salvation to Samaria, a despised country, and thus showed that He is the Son of man, as well as the Messiah. Had He not designed to speak to the sinful woman at the well, she would not have received the living water. But He did speak to her and to all mankind, for "whosoever," He said, "drinketh of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst."

In returning to Galilee, Jesus was going back to His own country, humanly speaking, for He had grown to manhood in Nazareth. But this city had rejected Him in His earlier ministry: "And he went out from thence; and he cometh into his own country; and his disciples follow him. 2 And when the sabbath was come, he began to teach in the synagogue: and many hearing him were astonished, saying, Whence hath this man these things? And, What is the wisdom that is given unto this man, and what mean such mighty works wrought by his hands? 3 Is not this the carpenter, the son of Mary, and brother of James, and Joses, and Judas, and Simon? And are not his sisters here with us? And they were offended in him. 4 And Jesus said unto them, A prophet is not without honor, save in his own country, and among his own kin, and in his own house. 5 And he could there do no mighty work, save that he laid his hands upon a few sick folk, and healed them. 6 And he marvelled because of their unbelief" (Mark 6:1-6).

But when Jesus returned to Galilee, He was well received, for the Galilaeans had "seen all the things that he did in Jerusalem at the feast: for they also went unto the feast" (John 4:45). While He had been attending the Passover in Jerusalem, many had believed on Him, because of the "signs which he did" (John 2:23), the first of these signs being the changing of the water into wine at the wedding in Cana of Galilee (John 2:11). It was, in fact, to Cana that Jesus returned and resumed his ministry in Galilee. The hostile conditions in Judaea had rendered further work there at that time useless (John 4:1-3). But they had led to the spreading of the Word into Samaria and back into Galilee.