DBG - November 7 - John 4-5

In this chapter Christ travels through Samaria.

vs. 1-3 – Christ leaves Judea as the religious leaders begin to take note of Him.  He departs for Galilee.  There are two routes that can be taken between Judea and Galilee.  One is shorter and goes through Samaria, and the other is longer and goes along the Jordan River.  Many Jews avoided going through Samaria because of the tensions with the people there.

vs. 4-42 – The Samaritans were descendants of mixed Jewish and Gentile ancestry who settled in that region during the days of the Assyrian Empire.  Their religion reflected their lineage as a mix of Judaism and paganism.  They had their own Temple at Mt. Gerizim, which they claimed was the true place of worship instead of the Temple in Jerusalem.  Sychar is the same as Shechem from the Old Testament, a place with deep ties to Abraham and his family.  There is a famous well there that was believed to have been dug by Jacob.  To this well Christ comes at noon.  The disciples go into the town to purchase food while Christ waits at the well.  A woman approaches to draw water.  This is unusual because that was typically done around dawn or dusk.  We see immediately that this woman is something of an outcast in the community.  Christ startles her by even speaking to her.  He gets her attention by speaking of living water that fully satisfies thirst.  He is not talking about the physical world, but the spiritual.  He reveals her sin, the darkness that caused the spiritual thirst for grace.  He shows His omniscience by knowing of her many marriages and current domestic situation.  The woman becomes defensive, thinking this was going to devolve into the old arguments about the Jewish and Samaritan religions.  But Christ is greater than all religion.  She admits that she knows the Messiah will come, and Christ reveals that it is He.  The woman rushes back to town and passes the disciples as they arrive with the food they had purchased.  The woman calls on everyone in the town to come and meet Christ.  The disciples had not witnessed to anyone in the town and brought back no converts.  This woman proved the greater soulwinner.  Christ stays in that town after many are saved. 

vs. 43-45 – This parallels Matthew 4:17, Mark 1:14-15, and Luke 4:14-15.  The people of Galilee were anxious to see Christ after seeing all that He had done in Judea. 

vs. 46-54 – Cana is about 18 miles from Capernaum.  A noble man comes to Christ from Capernaum seeking Christ’s aid for his son who was deathly sick.   Christ sends him back to Capernaum but does not accompany him.  What faith he must have had to trust in Christ’s instructions!  He is met on the way by messengers who tell them his son has miraculously recovered.  The turning point is the very hour (1 p.m.) he had spoken with Christ.  John records this as the second miracle Christ performed. 

In this chapter, Christ heals a man at the Pool of Bethesda.

vs. 1-18 – The feast that Christ attends in Jerusalem is not identified, but I believe, like many others, that this is the Passover.  That would mean that the first year of Christ’s ministry has passed since the beginning of John 4.  The Pool of Bethesda (“house of mercy”) was just outside the walls, north of Jerusalem.  It was actually two pools, up to forty feet in depth, surrounded by five porches.  Many people gathered there, hoping for miraculous healing.  Critics and, sadly, even some good Christians doubt John’s statement about the angel troubling the waters.  I see no reason to do so.  God can do what He wants with the angels He commands.  If we can believe that Jonah was swallowed by a fish or Christ fed 5,000 with a little boy’s lunch, what is so spectacular in this that it must be doubted?  There is a man who has been afflicted for thirty-eight years.  The man despairs that he will ever be healed, but his crippled body must regain its function to obey Christ’s command to rise and walk.  This was on the Sabbath, and the man is seen walking away, carrying the mat he had laid on for so many years.  The Jewish rulers are only concerned that he is breaking their customs and are not excited to see him healed.  They seek to apprehend the one who had healed the man and told him to break their Law by carrying his bed, but Christ has left the scene.  Christ does reconnect with the man later.  The Jews then find out that it was Jesus who had performed the healing.  When confronted, Christ states that He is on His Father’s business.  Now, the Jews understood this to mean He was claiming to be equal with God.  They had the truth, but they refused to accept it.  They are so enraged that they begin to plot to have Him killed. 

vs. 19-29 – Christ defends His claim to be the Son of God.  He claims equal purpose and power with Father.  I like verse 20, where Christ basically tells them if they were not happy now, they should just wait and see what was coming!  The dead were going to be raised.  Christ will one day judge the world.  Christ is the only means of salvation for mankind.

vs. 30-47 – Christ acknowledges that in a legal setting there is a need for corroborating witnesses.  He supplies five that attest to His deity: John the Baptist (verses 33-35), His works and miracles (verse 36), the Father (verses 37-38), the Scriptures (verse 39), and the Law of Moses (verses 45-47). 

Christ went out of the way to reach two people that many would have passed by.  The average Jew would not have had compassion on the Samaritan woman, and most Christians today sadly would avoid someone with such a reputation.  The lame man by the pool would evoke pity from people then and today, but even he acknowledged that none would help him.  But our Savior had mercy on them.  He went after the ones that were overlooked.  May we be the same as we serve Him.

“The Pool of Bethesda” by John Newton

Beside the Gospel pool
Appointed for the poor;
From year to year, my helpless soul
Has waited for a cure.

How often have I seen
The healing waters move;
And others, round me, stepping in
Their efficacy prove.

But my complaints remain,
I feel the very same;
As full of guilt, and fear, and pain.
As when at first I came.

O would the Lord appear
My malady to heal;
He knows how long I’ve languished here;
And what distress I feel.

How often have I thought
Why should I longer lie?
Surely the mercy I have sought
Is not for such as I.

But whither can I go?
There is no other pool
Where streams of sovereign virtue flow
To make a sinner whole.

Here then, from day to day,
I’ll wait, and hope, and try;
Can Jesus hear a sinner pray,
Yet suffer him to die?

No: He is full of grace;
He never will permit
A soul, that fain would see His face,
To perish at His feet.