John · chapter 4 of 21
Updated on
John 4 tells how Jesus, on his way to Galilee, passes through Samaria and talks with a woman at Jacob's well, offering her living water and revealing himself as the Messiah. Many Samaritans believe in him. Then, at Cana, he heals from a distance the son of a royal official of Capernaum, in the second sign John records in Galilee.
After the conversation with Nicodemus, a Jewish leader, John 4 shows Jesus speaking with a Samaritan woman, whom many Jews looked down on. The Gospel thus shows that the life Jesus gives is not limited by ethnic, social or religious boundaries. The chapter joins two scenes, Samaria and Cana, both about faith in the Messiah and trust in his word.
Jesus leaves Judea to return to Galilee, and he had to pass through Samaria. Tired from the journey, he sits by Jacob's well near the town of Sychar, around noon. A Samaritan woman comes to draw water and he asks her for a drink, which is surprising, since Jews did not associate with Samaritans. Jesus tells her that if she knew the gift of God and who was speaking to her, she would ask him, and he would give her living water. She points out that the well is deep and he has no bucket; Jesus explains that the water he gives becomes a spring welling up to eternal life. She asks for this water. Then Jesus tells her to call her husband; she answers that she has none, and he says she has had five and the one she has now is not her husband.
The woman sees that he is a prophet and raises the dispute about the place of worship, whether on the mountain of Samaria or in Jerusalem. Jesus says the hour is coming, and is already here, when true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth. When she mentions the Messiah who is coming, Jesus tells her that he, who is speaking with her, is he. The woman leaves her water jar, goes into town and tells the people to come and see a man who told her everything she ever did. Jesus teaches his disciples that his food is to do the will of the one who sent him.
Many Samaritans believe because of the woman's testimony, ask Jesus to stay two days, and after hearing him many more believe and recognize him as the Savior of the world. Then Jesus returns to Galilee and to Cana. A royal official, whose son is ill at Capernaum, begs him to come down and heal him. Jesus tells him his son lives; the man believes and goes. On the way his servants meet him with news that the boy lives, and he learns that the fever left at the very hour Jesus spoke. His whole household believes, and John calls this the second sign.
References follow ESV book names and verse numbers. Read each verse in your Bible before the explanation.
Jesus tells the woman that if she knew the gift of God and who was asking her for water, she would ask him and receive living water. He presents salvation as a gift to be received, not a merit to be earned.
The water Jesus gives becomes in the one who drinks it a spring welling up to eternal life. He promises a lasting inner satisfaction that does not depend on circumstances.
God is spirit, and those who worship him must do so in spirit and truth. Worship no longer depends on a mountain or a building, but on a heart led by the Spirit and faithful to God's truth.
The Samaritans tell the woman they no longer believe only because of what she said, but because they have heard Jesus themselves, and they recognize him as Savior of the world. Faith is born from testimony but grows through personal encounter with Christ.
6 questions with answers and references, ready for Sunday school, small group or a Bible quiz night.
Answer: By Jacob's well near Sychar, around the sixth hour, that is, noon. — John 4:5-6
Answer: Living water, which would become a spring of eternal life. — John 4:10-14
Answer: That she had had five husbands and the man she now had was not her husband. — John 4:17-18
Answer: In spirit and truth. — John 4:23-24
Answer: She left her water jar, went into town and told the people to come see Jesus. — John 4:28-29
Answer: His servants told him the boy lived, and the fever had left at the very hour Jesus spoke. — John 4:50-53
Jesus breaks barriers: he speaks with a woman, a Samaritan, with a complicated life, and he does not despise her but treats her with respect and truth. In a group you can ask whom we avoid because of their background, past or reputation, and what Jesus would do with that person. The Samaritan woman also becomes a witness without being perfect: her simple testimony opens a whole town to meeting Jesus.
The chapter also invites us to examine our thirst. Many things promise to satisfy, but only Jesus gives a life that does not run dry. And his word on worship reminds us that what matters most is not the place or the form but a sincere heart before God.
John 4 shows that Jesus is the Savior of the world, for Samaritans and Jews alike, and that his word has power even at a distance. In John 5 the tension grows: Jesus heals a man on the Sabbath and the authorities begin to oppose him.
There was an old religious and ethnic hostility. The Samaritans had their own place of worship on Mount Gerizim and accepted only part of the Scriptures, and the Jews looked down on them. That is why the woman is surprised that Jesus speaks to her and asks for a drink.
Jesus does not condemn her. He shows that he knows her life and touches the very place where she was seeking satisfaction without finding it. That leads her to recognize him as a prophet and opens the conversation about worship and the Messiah.
They are similar, since both happen at Capernaum and at a distance, but the details differ: here a royal official and his son, there a centurion and his servant. Most scholars treat them as separate episodes.