Jesus left
Judea to go to Galilee.
Jesus left Judea and went to
Galilee, but He had to go through Samaria. The Samaritans weren't
liked by the Jews and the Jews wouldn't have anything to do with the
Samaritans.
Jesus comes to
Jacob's well at meets a Samaritan woman.
Jesus was
tired from traveling and when He came to Jacob's well, He sat by the
well to rest. A Samaritan woman came to draw some water and Jesus
asked her to give Him a drink. His disciples had been with Him
but had gone into the city to buy some food. The woman said to
Jesus, "How is it that You, being a Jew, ask a drink from me, a
Samaritan woman?"
Jesus answers the Samaritan woman and
tells her He could give her "living water."
Jesus
told her that If she knew the gift of God, and
who is asking her, Give me to drink, that she would have
asked of him, and he would have given her living water.
The woman told Him that she had
nothing to draw with and where was that living water?
Jesus continued talking to her and told her that that
whoever drinks of this water will be thirsty again, but that the water
He gives, a person would never be thirsty again and that the water He
gives will be a fountain of water that springs up into everlasting life.
Jesus tells the
Samaritan woman things about her that no ordinary stranger would have
known.
The woman asks Jesus to give her
this living water. Then Jesus told her to go and call her husband
to come there. But the Samaritan woman said she had no
husband. Then Jesus told her that she answered right and
continued to tell her things that no ordinary stranger would have
known. She realized that Jesus had special knowledge from God and
so she brought up the question of the proper place to worship. Jesus
said to her, "Woman, believe me, the hour cometh, when ye shall
neither in this mountain, nor yet at Jerusalem, worship the Father."
He then told her, "You worship what you do not know, we
know what we worship, for salvation is of the Jews, but the hour is
coming, and now is, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in
spirit and truth, for the Father is seeking such to worship Him.
God is spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and
truth."
Jesus was suggesting that the whole system of sacrifices
would soon be replaced. The Old Testament required sacrifices,
but one day Jesus' own sacrifice, His death, burial, and resurrection,
would replace the Old way, but that didn't mean there were no
differences between Jews and Samaritans. The Samaritans still
lacked something.
The Samaritan
woman left and went into the city.
Then His
disciples came back from town and they were surprised that Jesus was
talking to a Samritan woman. They didn't even ask Him why He was
talking to her. The woman then left to go into the city.
The Samaritan
woman told the people in the city about Jesus.
The Samaritan
woman went into the city and spoke to the men telling them about Jesus
and how He told her all things that she had ever
done. The Samaritan woman realized that Jesus was
someone special. She wanted them to come and see Jesus too.
Then she said, "Could this be the Christ?"
Then the men went out of the city and
came to Jesus.
CONCLUSION: Jesus had chosen to travel
through Samaria even though Jews did not like the Samaritans.
Jesus showed His love for all people. The woman believed that
Jesus was the Messiah (Christ) from the things that Jesus knew about
her. The Samaritan woman then wanted to know about what He had to
say about where the proper place to worship God should be. The
Jews worshiped in Jerusalem, but the Samaritans didn't go to Jerusalem
because the Jews did not like them, so they worshiped on a
mountain. Jesus told her that there would come a time that true
worshipers would worship in Truth and Spirit. Jesus was
suggesting that the whole system of worship would change
eventually. God wants us today to worship Him in Truth and
spirit. We can worship God in Truth by following God's Word,
which is truth. God also wants us to worship in Spirit. He
wants our hearts and soul. God wants us to believe and trust in
Him. If we believe in Him and love Him, we will also obey Him and
worship Him the way He wants us to. Worship is a way to thank God
and show our Love for Him. Worship is not for our
entertainment. God is the spectator and object of our
worship. When we want to be entertained, then we become the
spectator. Remember, God is pleased when we worship Him the way
He has chosen and not our way.
