Book of John Chapter 4

Rumors started immediately about Jesus among the Pharisees. Jesus had began teaching, leading and encouraging his followers to baptize Jews like John the Baptist had been doing. When things started heating up, Jesus went home to Galilee ( home), along the way he had to go through a Samaritan town.

Samaritans and Jews had a long history of tension. A lot of the tension started in 722 BC, when the Assyrians took the Jews into captivity yet left some of the poorer nonthreatening people behind. These Jews intermarried with settlers of Mesopotamia and Syria. This type of mixing was forbidden according to Mosaic law. When the Jews returned from Babylonian captivity, they wanted to rebuild the temple. The Samaritans wanted to help, but the Jews rejected their help. Resentment set in which caused years of tension, rifts, and oppositions between the mixed people of Samaria and those that saw themselves as “pure bloods.”

What I find interesting is that when you look at the ancestry of Jesus, you will see Rahab, the harlot in his blood line. She was a Canaanite, who comes from Canaan the grandson of Noah. They were cursed people, descendants of Ham, who sinned against Noah. Rahab’s heritage was that of idolatrous and wicked people.

So in the bloodline of Jesus, we see a harlot woman, who was redeemed for protecting God’s interests. We too are brought into G-d’s family when we believe His son, Yahshua, and we bring honor to the family through approved living. We too can overcome our sinful nature, through the living water, the message and redemption of Jesus. ( Joshua 2)

So Jesus ( Yahshua) is traveling through a territory that was considered non-friendly. Samaritans felt that Jews saw them as half-breeds, mutts if you will. He spoke to the Samaritan lady, by acknowledging he showed her respect. He asked her for a drink of water from Jacobs well. He took a normal daily activity and turned into ministry work, an opportunity to speak truth. We should be doing this too.

He tells her that He has living water available for her. Her spiritual blinders did not allow her to understand the deeper meaning at first. When the Holy Spirit penetrates a soul, eyes and ears open. When he spoke bluntly about her private life, the Holy Spirit opened her heart and ears.

Jesus is the living water that quenches our very souls, when we accept his teachings, a new life springs forward. In John Chapter 4 tells, Jesus reminds us that salvation comes from the Jews, we must not every forget that. We should always bless the Jewish people, even those that’s eyes are not open yet to the true Messiah. A lot of modern day churches, have tried to take the Jew out of Jesus, but we must remember our KING is a Jew. He is the king of the Jews. When we worship a Jewish King, become part of His Kingdom, we become like Him. Be careful not to look down on non-believing Jews or gentiles, we are to show God’s love and grace to everyone. Our love and light will provoke the non-believer to jealousy. They will want what they see in us- Jesus. True believers worship in Spirit and Truth. God is Spirit. Jesus professes he is the promised Messiah.

Jesus knows everything there is to know about us, nothing is hidden from God the Father or the Son. He knows if we curse, if we have sexual fantasies, if we are living in sin, if we do drugs, if we drink….Our way of living is NO surprise to Jesus. God knows every sin and every thought. There should be some fear in that, which should lead us to come out of perceived hiding. The key is repentance and correction before it’s too late. We will see in the end of times, more and more spirit filled believers will be given words of knowledge, private information about people, as a way to get people to pay attention. This will allow the Holy Spirit to work faster.

The disciples were surprised that Jesus was associating with the Samaritan woman, this is outside the social norms of the day. They were probably concerned that he might be light headed, not thinking clearly, perhaps thinking the explanation for this casual encounter was a sugar low. They immediately started wanting to give him food after seeing him talk with her.

He was fulfilled by doing God’s will, which includes witnessing to all sinners. Sometimes ministry work takes sacrifice, risk, uncomfortable encounters, not prejudging and invested time. We must stay focused on finishing what He has called us to do. Our physical needs are far less important than feeding the spiritual needs of the lost sheep. It’s time to harvest, cultivate the lost sheep. Some of us come along and plant seeds in hearts. Others come at the right time to bring people into a deeper relationship. Whatever the divine purpose is at the time, we are to continually be harvesting believers for G-d. As you go along the way, look for opportunities everywhere like grocery stories and gas stations.

This woman was amazed at the words of knowledge that Jesus had about her personal life. Her testimony witnessed to many in her community. He shared the word for two days, and many Samaritans became believers. We too need to invest time, share our testimonies and teach the word to bring people into the fold. We might have to move around our schedules or delay our plans, but it’s worth it.

Jesus headed to his home town, around people who knew him. Many had witnessed miracles at the Temple when they saw him there at Passover. But his own people did not respect or believe him. We too will have a greater impact with strangers than our own families. Don’t be surprised at the lack of support from family and those close to you.

Why is it that we don’t believe unless we see signs and wonders? Today, even when there are modern day miracles, people tend to rationalize the healing or give more credit to medicine or doctors. In this story, a royal official had a ton of faith, believing that Jesus could just speak a word and his son would be healed. He did not see it necessary that Jesus actually see or touch his dying son. All he wanted was a spoken word. His son was healed at the very moment Jesus claimed it. We must pray for this kind of faith. We must believe in the spoken word of God. Believe that we can move mountains with faith in the name of Yahshua. Let the scripture below be a warning …We must not just have a sense of God but we must believe in His POWER

Evil in the Last Days

1But understand this: In the last days terrible times will come. 2For men will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boastful, arrogant, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, 3unloving, unforgiving, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, without love of good, 4traitorous, reckless, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, 5having a form of godliness but denying its power. Turn away from such as these!

6They are the kind who worm their way into households and captivate vulnerable women weighed down with sins and led astray by various passions, 7always learning but never able to come to a knowledge of the truth.

Reflection/Action:

1. Read John Chapter 4: Write important scriptures and journal what you got from the reading…life application.
2. Do you have any prejudice against any race or group? Repent
3. Do you have a secret sin? Pray about it. Stop it. Admit.
4. Is there someone you feel called to witness too? Schedule time with them. Read bible, pray…share your story.
5. This week, everywhere you go, look for opportunities to minister- harvest. Write down your divine encounters.
6. Pray to have the Faith that Jesus had.