The Gospel of John | Spiritual Thirst Part 1 – John 4:1-26
Nothing in the world will be able to fulfill our longing for something of this world. Only Jesus Christ can meet the needs of our thirst.
At the outset of this passage, John references the previous supposed tension that exists between the disciples of Jesus and the disciples of John. Where the Pharisees viewed John’s teaching as dangerous to their system of governance, Jesus’ teaching brought with them the claims of authority and divinity. Yet, Jesus had no patience for the challenges that would only seek to cause rivalry and division. So, with no need to further division among the believers, he left. On his journey, He came to Samaria (whether the journey dictated this out of the way path or was merely the divine providence and plan of God is a matter of much academic debate). As the disciples went off to find food, Jesus approached the well and a woman at the well looking for water with no means of obtaining it.
Throughout the previous chapters of John, Jesus has met with the high society of the Pharisees, cleansed the temple, and overall kept the company of those who tended to be upstanding Jewish people. Yet, even though His ministry up until this point has been Jewish people, it reflected people you would not have ordinarily understood to be the people a King and Savior of the world would keep company with. He openly rebuked the Pharisees for their ironic lack of faith, the disciples tended to be uneducated and rough around the edges, and the prophet preparing the way of the Lord (John the Baptist) is described as being wild looking. Now, we see Jesus openly ministering to those whom society would deem as unclean and untouchable. The unclean Samaritan woman, while she may have outwardly been seeking water, inwardly struggled to find fulfillment in the things around her. Only Jesus Christ can provide the redemption and validation we long for. Therefore it is only the one, true God who rightfully deserves our worship from the depths of our soul to the expanses of reality.
Ministering to the Unclean
There is a fair amount of shock value that comes from the scene that John unfolds in chapter four that would have readily been understood by the readers. For starters, the conflict between the Jews and Samaritans had been a long established conflict. The Jews considered the Samaritans to be some of the lowest class of people, pagan in their beliefs having rejected the true faith and by and large unfit righteousness. The Samaritans blended elements of the worship of the God of the Jews and the Gods of the Babylonians, ostracizing themselves from the Jewish people who viewed the Samaritans as half-breeds and unholy. For a Jewish person to be seen with a Samaritan would have been highly scandalous. Furthermore, Jesus met with a woman during a time when mixed gender one on one contact would have been viewed as scandalous. Even more so, the time of day that the woman came to drew water would have put her there at a time when no one else would have been present. She knew her sin, her reputation, and opted instead to get water during a time when she would not be met by any other person.
Imagine her surprise to come to the well, looking to be alone and mind her business and see a Jewish man who not only did not openly avoid her, but willfully talked to hear and asked her for favors. To Jesus Christ, there action or behavior that would serve as a disqualified for contact with Him. Typically, we can understand this passage as us serving as a Christ-like figure where we should be willing to talk with any person. While this is not wrong, it misses one of the deeper messages. We are the samaritan woman. We are the unclean who do not deserve to be in the presence of God, yet, Jesus Christ comes to us all the same. One of the recurring themes of John comes from Christ becoming present in the midst of the people who do not deserve what God offers. Jesus’ presence in the midst of the woman demonstrates the grace of God. When we understand our rightful position as sinners in need of a Savior, will we be able to fully understand, appreciate, and minister to the sinners that culture deems unworthy.
- Why would society view the woman at the well as an outcast?
Seeking Fulfillment
What started off as a simple conversation about water, quickly moved to an opportunity to get at the heart of the woman. Jesus offers water beyond what the well can provide that the woman would be thirsty for, a water that would fulfill her completely and never leave her thirsty again. Craving this water, the woman asks that Jesus give her this water and Jesus wastes no time to getting at the heart of the issue; divorced five times and living with a man outside of wedlock (likely, the source of much scorn and tottering of her reputation). Jesus laid bare the sins of this person before her, not in a vengeful way but in an earnest way. By speaking of the intimate knowledge of her private sins, Jesus revealed His identity while caring for the person in front of her. Clearly, to be fetching water at this time of day, noon, the hottest time for this type of labor, would mean she likely sought to avoid conversation or interaction with people because of her reputation around the town.
The actions of the Samaritan woman demonstrate a longing for fulfillment that she sought in the arms of various men. Yet, each time the Samaritan woman had been let down. The various relationships never provided her with the fulfillment and satisfaction that she longed for that she would even now be willing to tarnish her reputation for a chance at supposed “love” from a man who would not commit to her. The coming of Christ would be the best thing to happen to this woman as she sought for something only Christ could provide. Remember, it was Christ who approached her first, knowing full well her past sin and still welcoming her into His presence. Jesus offered the Samaritan woman the love and acceptance that the Jewish people and the Samaritans could not.
We must not, however, think ourselves any better than the Samaritan woman. We all struggle with our own private sin, hers merely had been public in her community for all to judge. Each one of us, to some degree, seeks to find purpose, fulfillment or worth in something other than Jesus Christ. For some, the find it in popularity and being liked by those around them. For other, they find it in having amassed wealth and security. Still other will seek pleasure in various forms of either drugs or sex. While they may seem to be working for a little, ultimately any attempts to find fulfillment in anything other than Jesus Christ will fail. God is our creator and sustainer. He is all we need and nothing else can compare to the richness of His glory. Sin an idolatry has a way of enticing us to crave more but ultimately leaves us a tattered broken mess. Jesus, though, takes our broken pieces, takes us in our death, and restores us by His grace, brining us back to life in Him.
- How does Jesus handle the private sins of the person? What does this say about His intentions?
True Worship
In talking to Jesus, the woman quickly came to understand that Jesus did not represent a mere man but a prophet offering living water with intimate but unknown details of her life. This must be the long awaited Messiah! The period of silence was coming to an end and people would hear from the Lord in new ways as the Messiah would come to save them! As Jesus talks about worshipping in spirit, He talks about worshipping from the depths of our being. This is no superficial worship that merely gives lip service to the Lord or goes through the motions. Instead, it comes from the genuine outpouring of our being. Worship originates in our desperate need for something beyond ourselves and God’s grace-filled provision to be all we need. When we worship in spirit, the depths of our soul cry out in praise and adoration, not for gifts, not for the physical blessing of God but that our God would even approach us in our unworthy and lowly state and set us up on the foundation of eternity.
The temptation would be to understand worship as merely an emotive reaction to God, but this would only have the effect of worshipping our own emotions and reducing God to nothing more than someone who gives us warm positive feelings. Instead, worship will also worship in truth. The Samaritan people had developed a hybrid system of worship, intertwining the Jewish and pagan worship practices together. They abandoned the truth for cultural synthesis thinking they were able to define truth. Only God, as the creator and sustainer of all creation can rightfully determine truth and existence. We do not get to define truth only live in it. Truth rightfully guides and empowers our worship to overflowing in our willful adoration and submission to an infinite and loving God.
When we worship in spirit and truth, we worship with the fullness of our person. The emotive calling that resonates deep within the soul shakes with the theological depth that comes from understanding the true person and nature of God. For the woman at the well, her inclusion into the people of God through the Messiah marked an opening of God’s presence to the outside world. Salvation came from the Jews in that God intended they would be the witness to God’s work in the world but now God’s presence extended beyond the walls of Israel. Worship is not defined to a particular place, a particular time, or a personal preference. Instead, worship stems from our submission to the most High King over all creation, knowing that we are saved by the redemption of Jesus Christ no matter our past circumstances. He loves us out of His loving nature and longs to be with us throughout all eternity.
- What does it mean to worship in spirit and in truth?
Discussion Questions
- Everyone has distractions they tend to go to in order to find their self-worth and fulfillment that they thirst for. What things do you thirst for? How have these shown themselves to not fulfill or satisfy?
- Why do we thirst for other things? What deep longing are we searching for? How does God provide living water for our thirst?
- It is easy to cast people aside for their uncleanliness or unrighteousness. Why does doing so neglect the fullness of the Gospel? Why should we willingly reach out to the outcasts and unclean?
- Does understanding the amount that Jesus has forgiven us in the past help us to see past the sin in other people’s lives?
- What does it look like to worship in spirit and in truth?
