Spirit and Truth – John 4:16-26

Bible Odyssey notes helpfully about the importance of wells in ancient Israel:

“Although the primary function of wells in ancient Israel was to supply water for the household, the centralized, open location of wells allowed them to serve as social gathering places. Travelers stopped to water their camels there (Gen 24:11, and wells could be landmarks (Num 21:16, Deut 10:6).  Wells were also places of betrothal scenes. As the young women likely went out together to collect water, young men of the village realized that this event gave them a perfect opportunity to socialize with the women away from the watchful eyes of the girls’ fathers and male relatives.” 

But here was this woman alone at the well during the hottest part of the day.  No other women to socialize with because she was living a life that brought her shame.  She was primed for the greatest conversation of her life.

Jesus told her, “Go, call your husband and come back here.”  But she answered, “I don’t have a husband.”  Jesus said, “You’ve spoken well that you don’t have a husband.  You’ve had five husbands and the one you have now is not your husband.  This you have said truly.”  She responded, “Sir, I see that you are a prophet.  Our fathers worshiped at this mountain, and  you say that in Jerusalem is the place we ought to worship.”  Jesus said, “Believe me, woman, that an hour is coming when neither here at this mountain nor in Jerusalem will you worship the Father.  You don’t know what you worship.  We worship what we know, because salvation is from the Jews.  But an hour is coming, and now is, that the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and in truth.  This is who the Father is seeking to worship Him.  God is spirit, and those who worship Him must worship Him in spirit and in truth.”  She said, “I know that Messiah is coming, who is called the anointed one.  When he comes, he will tell us all things.”  He answered her, “I am he, the one speaking to you.”  (John 4:16-26)

Was the woman divorced five times or widowed five times or some combination?  Even if widowed five times she was now living with a man to whom she was not married.  This information shows that what she had placed her hope in to make life work was a man.  Jesus knows this information by a word of knowledge from the Holy Spirit and only brings it up because this woman, like all unbelievers, must count the cost of discipleship.  To become a follower of Christ she must find her hope entirely in Him, not in the strategies of her own heart.  She must see that she is hopeless without him, not hopeless without a man in her life.  Whatever we have placed our hope in is worthless as a way of finding life.

The woman seeks to divert attention away from her own life, or perhaps she is now genuinely seeking and must know what the truth is about the religion she has been following.  Is Mt. Gerizim the place God wants worship or is Jerusalem?  Jesus clarifies that her form of doctrine is not the correct one, but he turns the tables on her in that he says neither mountain is as important for worship as is the intent of one’s heart.  Will she worship God in the enablement of the Holy Spirit and in truth?  That is what the Father is seeking.

She then asks the most pertinent question, albeit indirectly, “Are you the Messiah?”  And Jesus answers in the affirmative.  She is crossing the thresholds necessary to be saved.  She counts the cost after trusting Jesus enough to satisfy her curiosity about spiritual things.  Then she seeks the truth sincerely and, we will see, she believes.

Discussion Questions

1. What have you found makes for great conversations in your experience?
2. Why do you think the Samaritan woman chose to come to the well when no other women were there?
3. Can we get words of knowledge from the Spirit in our evangelism?
4. Francis Schaeffer has written about the evangelist taking the roof off of the shoddily constructed defenses a person builds to give them hope. Why did Jesus have to take off the woman’s “roof” before she could be saved?
5. Did Jesus sidestep the woman’s question about differences between Samaritans and Jews?
6. What does worshiping in spirit and truth mean and how well are you conforming to it?