Prejudice and Patience, John 4:1-30

About this Episode

Prejudice and Patience, John 4:1-30 is the topic that will be discussed today on RIOT Podcast, a Christian Discipleship Podcast.

In the next 2 podcasts, we will cover John 4. In this chapter, we will see Jesus minister to a number of people, the sinful Samaritan woman, His own disciples, the many Samaritans who trusted in Him, and finally a nobleman and his household. What did all these people have in common? It was their faith in Jesus.

What we will see in this chapter is John fulfilling the purpose of his gospel by showing his readers how various kinds of classes of people came to believe in Jesus as the Son of God. This week we will meet the woman at the well, we will discover how her faith began, how it grew, and what it did for her and others around her.

We pick up where we left off in our last podcast; the Pharisees were trying to incite competition between Jesus and John the Baptist. So we pick up this week with Jesus leaving the scene and heading north towards Galilee. As we read our passage, keep in mind, he could have taken one of three possible routes; along the coast, across the Jordan then up through Perea, or straight through Samaria. He chose straight through Samaria and then went up. Let’s read and uncover why.

Read John 4:1-30

The orthodox Jews avoided Samaria because there was a long-standing, deep-seated hatred between them and the Samaritans. The Samaritans were a mixed race, part Jew and part Gentile that grew out of the Assyrian captivity of the ten northern tribes in 727 BC. The Samaritans were rejected by the Jews because they could not prove their genealogy. The Samaritans needed to established their own temple and religious services on Mount Gerizim.

Vs 6 says “Jesus arrived around noon and was weary from His journey.” This was an unusual time for a woman to come to get water; usually, it was in the morning when it was cooler. We see that Jesus deliberately sent his disciples away and waited at the well for her arrival. He knew He was to be about His Father's business.

Let’s unpack Jesus’ interview with this woman, as we go through this, notice how her knowledge of Him increases until she acknowledges that He is the Christ. There are 4 stages to her experience with Jesus.

In Vs 7-10 we see her first experience, she immediately sees Jesus as a Jew

In that day it was not proper for any man, especially a rabbi, to speak in public to a strange woman. It was especially Taboo for a Jew to touch any vessel that was common to Samaritans. But Jesus set that all aside so He could reach her soul.

Let’s read vs 11-15 in her second experience she recognizes that Jesus is greater than Jacob

Jesus was speaking about spiritual water, but she interpreted His words as literal water. Again we see how easily people can confuse the material and the spiritual aspects.

In Vs 16-24 her third experience takes her to believe that Jesus is a prophet.

Notice that at first, she did not want to admit her sin, she wanted to talk about her religion; we tend to deflect from repentance and do the same thing as she did.

Finally, in vs 25-30, her experience opens her eyes to see Jesus as Christ the savior of the world.

In spite of her ignorance, there was one truth this woman did know. The Messiah was coming and would reveal the secrets of hearts. We don’t know when or how she learned these truths we just know she did. In response, Jesus said, “I that speak to you, I am!” He spoke the holy name of God to her.