1 Now Jesus learned that the Pharisees had heard that he was gaining and baptizing more disciples than John— 2 although in fact it was not Jesus who baptized, but his disciples. 3 So he left Judea and went back once more to Galilee. 4 Now he had to go through Samaria. 5 So he came to a town in Samaria called Sychar, near the plot of ground Jacob had given to his son Joseph. 6 Jacob’s well was there, and Jesus, tired as he was from the journey, sat down by the well. It was about noon. ~ John 4:1-6
Among many other themes in this gospel according to John is the fullness of the Lord Jesus Christ. He lacks nothing. Contrasted in today's text is the emptiness of mankind. I point you back to John 1:14, which reads, "The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the one and only Son, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth.”
As we transition into John 4, we see this contrast demonstrated in the life of the woman at the well. But, before we consider this true story, we consider the first six verses of the chapter. According to v.1-3, the Lord Jesus leaves Judea because the Pharisees had heard of the growing popularity of the Lord Jesus. This story illustrates why we suffer from emptiness.
To date, the Pharisees had been given some evidence that the Lord Jesus was the promised Messiah, even one of their own went to the Lord Jesus with questions, yet they are not choosing to believe in Him. There is an important principle here that I must highlight. When God gives us revelation and we reject it, our hearts and our understanding of what is real will become more dull.
Rejecting God's truth is a dangerous thing. As is eventually demonstrated among these religious leaders, the rejection of truth seals their bondage to the lie of the evil one. This lie says, "you can determine what is truth for yourself." This lie is embraced when we deny God's brilliance in our lives. When we deny God's definition of things, we will be defined by something else. Most often, we are that something else, and due to our fallen nature, we do not choose wisely.
We gain insight from a story in the Old Testament. After the Philistines captured the Ark of the Covenant in battle. They took the ark into the temple of their god Dagon. Initially, Dagon was found on his face in front of the ark – and what did the Philistines do? They ignored the evidence and put Dagon back on his pedestal in front of the ark. The next day Dagon is found on his face in front of the ark, but this time his hands and head were broken off. What did the people do? They again ignored the evidence and made the spot where the broken hands and head of Dagon were found a holy place. Then the people developed tumors, which they could not ignore, so they called a counsel to try and decide what to do, notice the discussion:
The Philistines asked, “What guilt offering should we send to him?” They replied, “Five gold tumors and five gold rats, according to the number of the Philistine rulers, because the same plague has struck both you and your rulers. Make models of the tumors and of the rats that are destroying the country, and pay honor to Israel’s god. Perhaps he will lift his hand from you and your gods and your land. Why do you harden your hearts as the Egyptians and Pharaoh did? When he treated them harshly, did they not send the Israelites out so they could go on their way? (1 Samuel 6:4-6).
Back to John 4. In v.4 John informs us that the Lord Jesus needed to go though Samaria which lies between Judea and Galilee. This direct route from Judea to Galilee was about 70 miles, or two and a half days' walk. But many of the Jews chose not to go through Samaria. They traveled the hot desert road from Jerusalem to Jericho, and up the Jordan valley. Thus, because of the terrible prejudice that prevailed against the Samaritan people, they journeyed almost twice the distance on a much hotter and more uncomfortable road. The Lord Jesus cuts right through that ignorant, narrow-minded prejudice and went through Samaria.
In v.5, John tells us of the place where Jesus stopped. Jacob's well, at the foot of Mount Gerizim. The Israelites were commanded to read the Law of Moses every year from the tops of the twin mountains that span the valley that leads up to the city of Samaria, Mt. Gerizim on the east and Mt. Ebal on the west. Mt. Gerizim was the place where the blessings of the Law were read; while Mt. Ebal was where the curses of the Law were read to those who disobeyed it. There, about a half mile west of the village of Sychar, where Joseph's tomb is located, at the well which Jacob, in his day, had dug for his flocks and herds, Jesus sat down to rest.
It was "noon" when Jesus stopped at the well. As we will highlight tomorrow, the lady the Lord Jesus meets here was empty. She had not come to get water early in the morning, like the other ladies in the city. No, she came in the middle of the day, probably to avoid the women who probably spoke in condemning words and tones due to the fact that she was considered by them as a "less than". She was a "less than" because she allowed someone much lesser than the One known as "the truth" to define her.
If we live out of an identity based on how God sees us, we will no longer feel the need to find our worth in the lesser things of life. We will be free to live in a confident and secure manner, because the Perfect One will be our definer. And, as we experience life from His acceptance through His unconditional love, we will live confidently and boldly because we are being defined by Him rather than the lesser.
