요한복음 Chapter 4

Translation: ESV

4

And he had to pass through Samaria.

Key Message

Jesus had to go to Samaria, crossing social prejudice and religious boundaries, toward an ostracized soul.

▸'He had to pass through (ἔδει, edei)' is a word indicating not geographical necessity but divine necessity.

'He had to pass through (ἔδει, edei)' is a word indicating not geographical necessity but divine necessity. Geographically, Jews traveling from Galilee to Judea typically avoided Samaria and took the route east of the Jordan River. But Jesus 'had to' pass through Samaria. This is because there was a woman waiting at that well. God's providence moves toward one specific soul.

Related Verses

And when Jesus came to the place, he looked up and said to him, 'Zacchaeus, hurry and come down, for I must stay at your house today.'
7

A woman from Samaria came to draw water. Jesus said to her, 'Give me a drink.'

Key Message

Jesus transcends all social prejudice and religious boundaries to approach an ostracized soul first.

▸Jesus crosses three social boundaries of the time: Jew vs.

10

Jesus answered her, 'If you knew the gift of God, and who it is that is saying to you, "Give me a drink," you would have asked him, and he would have given you living water.'

Key Message

The living water Jesus gives is not water that resolves physical thirst but the Holy Spirit who eternally resolves the thirst of the soul.

▸Jesus leads the conversation to another dimension.

14

But whoever drinks of the water that I will give him will never be thirsty again. The water that I will give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life.

Key Message

The living water Jesus gives is the Holy Spirit who gives eternal satisfaction, welling up from within the recipient to eternal life.

▸Two characteristics of the water Jesus gives are declared: never being thirsty again, and a spring welling up from within.

23

But the hour is coming, and is now here, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for the Father is seeking such people to worship him.

Key Message

True worship is not offered in a place or form but in the Spirit and in Christ who is the truth, and God seeks such worshipers.

▸This is a key teaching about worship.

26

Jesus said to her, 'I who speak to you am he.'

Key Message

Jesus revealed himself as the Messiah not to the religiously privileged but directly to a marginalized woman.

▸This verse is one of the rare passages in John's Gospel where Jesus directly declares that he is the Messiah.

29

'Come, see a man who told me all that I ever did. Can this be the Christ?'

Key Message

One who has met Jesus who knows everything about the past becomes an evangelist who shares that grace with others.

▸The woman immediately runs to the village and testifies about Jesus.

34

Jesus said to them, 'My food is to do the will of him who sent me and to accomplish his work.'

Key Message

The fundamental driving force of Jesus' life was to do the Father's will and to accomplish his work.

▸When the disciples urge him to eat, Jesus speaks about spiritual food.

42

They said to the woman, 'It is no longer because of what you said that we believe, for we have heard for ourselves, and we know that this is indeed the Savior of the world.'

Key Message

Jesus is not the Savior of one nation but the Savior of all the world, and this truth was first confessed by the ostracized Samaritans.

▸The faith of the Samaritan villagers who spent two days with Jesus matures.