Read Matthew 4:12, Mark 1:14a, Luke 3:19-20 & 4:14 and John 4:1-3. This marks the official beginning of our Lord’s public ministry.
1. Why do you think Jesus waited until John was imprisoned to begin this public ministry?
He waited so that there would be no conflict with John’s ministry. There was no competition between them; our Lord waited for God’s timing.
2. Why do you think Jesus began in Galilee rather than Jerusalem, the center of the Jewish religious system?
He probably withdrew into Galilee to avoid the opposition to the message by the Jewish religious leadership. He did not confront the leadership at this time but went to where others would hear and respond. He also wanted to choose and train men to carry on his work. This could be done more effectively in Galilee than in Judea.
Read John 4:4-42. Galilee is located north of Judea. Between these two areas is Samaria. Samaritans were of mixed descent; they were part Gentile. As such, they were outcasts from Judaism and were rejected by Jews. Most Jews would have nothing to do with a Samaritan; most would not even walk through Samaria. This feeling was so strong that the usual route of a Jew from Judea to Galilee involved going to Jericho, crossing over the Jordan River east, then going up, bypassing Samaria, then crossing the Jordan again west into Galilee. We are told Jesus had to pass through Samaria. It may have been that floods had closed the fords, or it might have been the direct leading of the Holy Spirit to take this direct route. We do not know.
3. Why was Jesus sitting by the well at about six PM?
He was tired, and His disciples had gone into the city to find food.
4. The normal time for women to go to the well was in the morning. Why do you think this woman came at six P.M.?
She was probably not socially accepted by her own townspeople. Judged from what our Lord told her about her living arrangements and marriages, it is apparent she was to be considered by most a very immoral woman.
5. Why, do you think, did Jesus ask her for a drink?
We are not told why our Lord initiated this conversation with the woman. It could well have been to gain the opportunity of sharing the message with her. This was a legitimate request for Him to make. Too, He was no doubt thirsty, and from the conversation later, we know He had no way of drawing water from the well. Whatever the immediate cause, He was led by the Spirit of God and His own love to share the good news with her.
6. Why was she surprised Jesus would speak with her?
First, Jews simply did not talk to Samaritans. Secondly, men did not usually speak with unknown women they met on the road.
7. How did our Lord deal with her immorality?
He really didn’t other than mention it. It was not the issue at this point.
8. What, do you think, was Jesus trying to teach His disciples when He told them, ‘My food is to do the will of Him who sent Me, and to accomplish His work.’?
There were many things more important right now than satisfying physical needs. Communicating God’s message was much more important than eating a meal.
The Applications:
What are the applications of these passages to our lives today? Identify as many as you are able.
1. We are often impatient to begin a work or ministry and sometimes start it before its time rather than being sensitive to the leading of the Holy Spirit. Our Lord knew the work and ministry to which He was called. It was not a minor work or task but the most crucial ministry in all of human history. The emotional pressure to jump in and start this work must have been tremendous. Yet our Lord waited and was led by the Spirit of God to begin at just the right time. He waited patiently until John the Baptizer’s ministry was concluded. This prevented, for the most part, any conflict with John’s work, and it allowed His own work its fullest extent.
David, the king, also demonstrated this patience and waiting upon God. He had been anointed as king, knowing that it was God’s will for him to rule over Israel. But he refused to assume this position as long as Saul remained alive. Saul was the king until God removed him as such. David respected and honored him as king. Even when presented the opportunity to take Saul’s life and assume the throne, he declined and waited for God’s timing.
We must be careful not to rush to begin a work or ministry before God’s time is right, therefore, incurring needless hardships and conflicts. We desperately need to be sensitive to the Spirit of God and wait on Him.
2. In going back to Galilee to begin and carry out most of His ministry, our Lord deliberately avoided much direct confrontation with the established religious leaders of the day. The wisdom of this action can be understood when one realizes that many of these leaders would have prejudged Him without even giving His message a thought. Direct confrontation of the errors they held and practiced would not have convinced them; it would only serve to deepen their resolve to silence Him. Therefore instead of attacking them, Jesus proclaimed the positive message of the good news of the coming kingdom in Galilee and the surrounding areas. His message was directed to those who would be more apt to receive it and avoided the arguments and debates which would profit few and take time and effort away from the more profitable ministry. He did not ignore Jerusalem and Judea but concentrated His time elsewhere.
As a general rule, we too ought to avoid confrontation with those whose minds are closed as much as is possible and seek to concentrate time and effort in those areas which are more profitable for the ministry. Such confrontations gain little and usually only serve to harden the opposition. There are exceptions, of course; there are those whom God calls to work in difficult and hardened areas. We can only serve as He has directed us to serve.
3. Some of the best opportunities to minister to people come in the ebb and flow of living life rather than in formalized services. Our Lord dealt with people in everyday living and was always ready to share the message and be used by the Spirit of God. These everyday opportunities sometimes opened doors that would not have otherwise been open.
There was almost zero possibility of our Lord speaking to a gathering of Samaritan citizens of Sychar if He had requested a meeting or an opportunity to speak. Even if He had arranged an evangelization meeting, there would have been much opposition to anything He had to say because of the strong animosity between Jews and Samaritans. The opportunity to speak to one lone woman presented itself, and our Lord, ever ready to be used by His Father, used this chance to speak of the coming Kingdom. This witness to her led to the witness to the whole town.
We must be sensitive to the Spirit of God and ready to share the message with those that we come in contact within the daily living of life.
4. In sharing the message with the Samaritan woman, our Lord had to avoid being sidetracked by her questions and other issues. When the woman realized that, at the very least, the man she spoke with was a prophet, she shifted the conversation away from herself personally by asking a theological question about where one should worship. Our Lord did not ignore her question but answered it in a way that brought the conversation back to the coming kingdom.
In talking with others, when the topic of salvation is raised, the conversation is often shifted away to less important issues. We need to be careful to answer questions a person might ask, but at the same time redirect the conversation back to the central issue of faith in Jesus Christ. While our Lord did raise the subject of this woman’s sinful lifestyle, He did so to cause her to recognize Himself as a prophet and ultimately the Messiah. He did not spend more time showing her how wrong she was but presented the positive message of Himself as the Christ. Her sin was not the critical issue at this point; the coming kingdom was.
5. Many of the villagers, upon hearing the woman’s testimony, went out to see our Lord. When the disciples tried to get Him to take a break to eat instead of talking to these people, He told them He had food they did not know about. The point of this statement and discourse was that there were more important things for Him to do right at that moment than eat. The proclamation of the coming kingdom had precedence over getting to eat on time. Do we put our own physical needs and desires ahead of the ministry of God?