John chapter 4

vs 21

Jesus response to the woman acknolwedges that her people did worship on the mountain, and also that the Jews did worship in Jerusalem. But he is looking further ahead - there will be a time where worship will not be tied to a specific place or thing. Jesus has come to give us a personal relationship with God. Notice that Jesus includes the woman with his language.

vs 22

Jesus has no problem producing and establishing the Jewish religious primacy over the Samaritans. The OT makes it clear enough that he is right on this front - especially that salvation, or a saviour, will come from the Jews and not the Samaritans.

vs 23

But according to Jesus, God does not truly desire worshippers who go to the temple, or worshippers who go to the mountain. He desires worshippers that worship him in spirit and in truth. People who understand their worship, and who desire to serve and worship God. And the time for this is come, according to Jesus.

vs 24

What does Jesus mean by worshipping in spirit? He says that God is spirit, and therefore we must worship God in spirit. Is this a reflection on the materialist sacrificial worship of the day? Perhaps. Or maybe this is a reflection of the eternal-mindedness that his worshippers must have, or the awareness of the spiritual kingdom.

vs 25

Even Samaritans knew that there was a Messiah coming - the Bible makes it clear - and even they had hope that he would set things straight. Perhaps she makes this statement because that was a typical end to such debates, "We don't know, but the Messiah will clear it up when he comes". But perhaps, because of Jesus saying that the time is now come in verse 23, she feels the need to mention the Messiah, just out of hope.

vs 26

Jesus has no qualms about saying who he is here. Quite different from the 'messianic secret' of the other gospels.

vs 27

As I said, it was quite surprising for a single man to be talking to a woman by herself in public. Not only that, but she was a Samaritan. So when the disciples stumble upon this, they are surprised, but interestingly they don't say anything about it at the time, either to her ("What do you want?") or to Jesus ("Why are you talking to her?"). The first question could have been to Jesus; after all, he talked to her because he wanted something - a drink.

vs 28

She leaves, and John records that she left her water jar behind. It is that sort of little detail that speaks volumes to me about the truth of the gospels. The suggestion seems that she left it behind because she left quickly.

vs 29

Jesus small action of knowing about the woman's marriages is what she names as the thing that could make Jesus the Christ - a miracle. But when he did it at first, all she thought is that he was a prophet. There is something more to her query - not least, surely, the fact that he openly said he was the Christ.

vs 30

And people, even Samaritans, were interested enough in the idea that the Christ could be around, that they are prepared to take the word of a woman (worth less than that of a man in this culture), and a woman who has had 5 husbands no less, that someone out near Jacob's Well is saying he is the Christ. They may not have been clamouring to become his disciples, but they at least were interested enough to go take a look. If someone ran into Brisbane or Manly saying they'd just met a man, within walking distance, who said he was the holy one sent from God, how many Aussies do you think would stop what they were doing and go see? It's another indicator to me that the people were conscious that the Messiah was coming, and so were looking for him.