As you go through John, you have to love that John selectively picks events in the life of Jesus that we might not pay any attention to, and if we were doing the collection of what we'd write about Jesus, we may not write about this. But they're meant to shock us and cause us to rethink who Jesus is. Let me read from John 4. It's a long passage, John 4:1-45, but I'm just going to read a series of verses.
And he [Jesus] had to pass through Samaria. So he came to a town of Samaria called Sychar, near the field that Jacob had given his son Joseph. Jacob's well was there; so Jesus, wearied as he was from the journey, was sitting beside the well. It was about the sixth hour.
A woman from Samaria came to draw water. Jesus said to her, "Give me a drink." (For his disciples had gone into the city to buy food.) The Samaritan woman said to him, "How is it that you, a Jew, ask for a drink from me, a woman of Samaria?" (For Jews have no dealings with Samaritans.) 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." The woman said to him, "Sir, you have nothing to draw with, and the well is deep. Where do you get that living water? Are you greater than our father Jacob? He gave us the well and drank from it himself, as did his sons and his livestock." Jesus said to her, "Everyone who drinks of this water will be thirsty again, but whoever drinks of the water I give him will never be thirsty again. The water that I will give him will become in him a spring of water welling up into eternal life." The woman said to him, "Sir, give me this water so that I will not be thirsty or have to come here to draw water."
Now, here are some things that John wants you to understand. First, that Jesus got tired. He was weary because, in order for Jesus to be the second Adam who will stand in our place and provide that sacrifice, it's not just that he's fully God, he has to be fully human. And John's confronting us with his humanness--he's tired, he's hungry, he needs something to drink. Yes, he's just like us.
There's a second thing that John wants to shock you with, the fact that, as a Jew, he would ask a Samaritan woman to give him a drink. She can't believe that he's asking such a thing because Jews thought any kind of contact, particularly physical contact with a Samaritan, would render you ceremonially unclean. You would never ever do that. And she sort of says, "What are you doing asking me for a drink?" And then Jesus says, "If you knew the gift of God, who it is that asks you for a drink..." He's proclaiming who he is, don't you see? "I am the gift that your patriarchal fathers longed for. I'm the gift that you long for. I'm right here with you. I'm the fulfillment of the Law and the Prophets. It's me!
And when she asked him, "Are you greater than our father Jacob?" The answer is "Yes! Yes! Yes! This one sitting next to you at the well is everything that Jacob hoped for, everything that Jacob prayed for. He is the fulfillment of the covenant of Jacob." You know, you see his humility, and you see his declaration of who he is, but there's something else.
We get a hint of where the grace of God is going to go. It's not going to be restricted to just Jews. This grace is going to be for the world. This grace will blow beyond boundaries. And we have to remember that, in terms of our standing before God, we are as unclean as this Samaritan woman was. And we have no hope but the cleansing waters of God's grace. You're the Samaritan woman. I'm the Samaritan woman, but God has met us by his grace!
Questions for Personal Reflection or Group Discussion
1. How often have you given thought and reflection to the fact that Jesus was fully human, experiencing hunger, thirst, and weariness? Why is it important to know and understand that Christ was a human being? What's the personal significance to you that Jesus is just like you?
2. Why is Jesus' declaration of who he is to this Samaritan woman so significant? Why is it significant to you personally?
3. As Jesus speaks with this woman and breaks down multiple cultural barriers in the process, think through the implications of how that affects you. What kinds of obstacles was Christ willing to overcome to rescue you and reveal to you that he is the Savior of the world?
4. How has God's grace blown past specific boundaries in your life since you've come to know him? How has he changed you? How is he currently changing you today?
5. Why is it valuable to see yourself as the Samaritan woman from this passage? How does the significance of that comparison help you understand the grace of God more richly?
Conversation Prompts to Use with Children
For Younger Children:
• Why do you think Jesus became a human being just like us? Why is it important to know that he is human like us? Why is it important to know that he is also at the same time 100% God?
• How does knowing that Jesus is fully man and fully God apply to you and I today?
• Why do you think it's valuable to not skip passages in the Bible that don't make sense to us? What do you think we're supposed to learn from this kind of passage that might seem confusing?
For Older Children:
• What does it say about the human brain that we can't wrap our minds around Jesus being fully God and fully man at the same time? Why do you think confusing passages in the Bible scare people away? Do you think that's an appropriate response to certain parts of Scripture? Why?
• Is there comfort to you in knowing that Jesus understands human things like hunger, thirst, and weariness? Why?
• How is it comforting to you to know that Jesus is fully God at the same time he's fully human? When the Bible blows our categories for what we think should happen, how should we respond? How can I help you when you don't understand certain parts of Scripture?
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