John 4:1-4 When therefore the Lord knew how the Pharisees had heard that Jesus made and baptized more disciples than John, 2 (Though Jesus himself baptized not, but his disciples,) 3 He left Judaea, and departed again into Galilee. 4 And {Jesus} must needs go through Samaria.

I have noticed that the quarantine from the Coronavirus has made people a little meaner, a little uglier, than they were before. I don’t know if it’s the masks that are hiding the faces, but people seem more predisposed to bed abrupt and rude during this time. I’m standing in line at Aldi’s, one of our local stores, and have my facemask and gloves on. Behind me are standing two Afrian-American women – neither observing social distancing toward me (or towardanyone) – who are apparently in a bad humor. The Caucasian lady in front of me is equally in a bad humor, and both parties are complaining LOUDLY how there are not enough registers opened. In my mind I wonder, “Where are you in such a hurry to go to?”. Under the Governor’s quarantine no one is rushing to eat out, or to make a doctor’s appointment. “Chill out” is the next words that come to mind.

Following Aldi’s, I head to Kroger’s to gas up the car and buy some crushed ice. We have no ice maker, so I usually buy the 20 pound bag of ice. After fueling up my van I step over to the Cashier and ask for a 20 pound bag of ice. She frostily tells me “We no longer carry 20 pound bags”, while rolling her eyes. So I tell her “Well, just me a bag of whatever you have – it will be all right.”

Trials and tribulations will often bring out the worst in people. What is bad about rudeness and other such negative emotions is that they spread as quickly as does the Coronavirus. A person with a bad or an unloving nature will easily rub off on others around them. Racists often make other racists. Haters often make other haters. The attitude you carry will, like a virus, spread to others. The Apostle wrote:

1 Corinthians 15:33 Be not deceived: evil communications corrupt good manners.

Or as another version puts it, “Bad company ruins good morals”. Or as King Solomon wrote:

Proverbs 13:20 He that walketh with wise men shall be wise: but a companion of fools shall be destroyed.

Proverbs 22:24-25 Make no friendship with an angry man; and with a furious man thou shalt not go: 25 Lest thou learn his ways, and get a snare to thy soul.

Your attitude sets the tone around you. If you are born again by faith in Christ then you are called to love others as you have been loved.

• Love is the fulfillment of the Law of God:

Romans 13:8 Owe no man any thing, but to love one another: for he that loveth another hath fulfilled the law.

• Love is the evidence that you have been born into God’s Family:

1 John 2:9-11 He that saith he is in the light, and hateth his brother, is in darkness even until now. 10 He that loveth his brother abideth in the light, and there is none occasion of stumbling in him. 11 But he that hateth his brother is in darkness, and walketh in darkness, and knoweth not whither he goeth, because that darkness hath blinded his eyes.

1 John 4:7-8 Beloved, let us love one another: for love is of God; and every one that loveth is born of God, and knoweth God. 8 He that loveth not knoweth not God; for God is love.

• Love is not merely emotion, but an outward action that seeks God’s best for others:

Galatians 5:13-14 For, brethren, ye have been called unto liberty; only use not liberty for an occasion to the flesh, but by love serve one another. 14 For all the law is fulfilled in one word, even in this; Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself.

• God modeled the love that He would have us show through the life of His Son, Jesus Christ:

1 John 4:9-12 In this was manifested the love of God toward us, because that God sent his only begotten Son into the world, that we might live through him. 10 Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that he loved us, and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins. 11 Beloved, if God so loved us, we ought also to love one another. 12 No man hath seen God at any time. If we love one another, God dwelleth in us, and his love is perfected in us.

Why Was Jesus Compelled To Go Through Samaria?

We read in our focal text today:

John 4:2-4 … Jesus himself baptized not, but his disciples,) 3 He left Judaea, and departed again into Galilee. 4 And {Jesus} must needs go through Samaria.

Jesus MUST NEEDS go through Samaria. The phrase translated “MUST NEEDS” is the Greek verb δεῖ deî, (pronounced die) which is translated “it is necessary, there is need of, it behooves, is right and proper”. The same word is used describing our Lord’s appointment with Calvary in:

Matthew 16:21 From that time forth began Jesus to shew unto his disciples, how that he MUST {deî} go unto Jerusalem, and suffer many things of the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and be raised again the third day.

It was imperative that Jesus go through Samaria. Jesus is compelled to go through Samaria. What compelled Him? Was it that this was the only road to get where He was going? No. Though the Jews from Galilee would often short cut through Samaria, the Jews from Judea refused to walk through the same area. It was their habit to take a circuitous route on the eastern bank of the Jordan instead of the more direct route through Samaria. Why? Because they considered the Samaritans to be half breeds, genetically unworthy to be recognized. This great hatred between the Samaritans and the Judeans went back to 722 B.C. when the Ten Northern Tribes of Israel were conquered by Assyria (see 2 Kings 17:6, 24). Because of their conquering those Jews who remained in Samaria remarried with pagan Assyrians. The subsequent children of these people were considered half-breeds and heretics. When God sent Ezra and Zerubbabel, along with Jeshua back into Jerusalem to rebuild the Temple after years of captivity the Samaritans offered to help in the rebuilding. We read:

Ezra 4:2-3 … they {the Samaritans} came to Zerubbabel, and to the chief of the fathers, and said unto them, Let us build with you: for we seek your God, as ye do; and we do sacrifice unto him since the days of Esarhaddon king of Assur, which brought us up hither. 3 But Zerubbabel, and Jeshua, and the rest of the chief of the fathers of Israel, said unto them, Ye have nothing to do with us to build an house unto our God; but we ourselves together will build unto the Lord God of Israel, as king Cyrus the king of Persia hath commanded us.

The Judean refugees abruptly turned away the offer of help from Samaria – and taking offense, the Samaritans responded in kind by hindering the rebuilding of the Temple (Ezra 4:4). This is the way of hatred. This is how Satan works in hatred.

The Assyrians overthrow Israel, taking the land.
God allows the Israelites to return after some years.
The returning Israelites come, bearing in their hearts hatred.
The descendants of the Assyrians offer help.
Israel, driven by hatred, rebuffs the children of Assyria.
Now the children of Assyria hate Israel.
A hatred that has continued for over 800 years!

Some people believe that God taught hatred of enemies in the Old Testament, but love of enemies in the New. Many are familiar with Jesus’ teaching:

Matthew 5:43-45 Ye have heard that it hath been said, Thou shalt love thy neighbour, and hate thine enemy. 44 But I say unto you, Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you; 45 That ye may be the children of your Father which is in heaven: for {God your Father} maketh his sun to rise on the evil and on the good, and sendeth rain on the just and on the unjust.

The truth is when Jesus stated “you have heard it hath been said”, He is not changing Old Testament Scriptural teachings. He is changing what many erroneous Old Covenant “scholars” taught. God never taught to hate your enemies. There were times when God had Israel remove certain peoples from this earth, but that was because their practices were so evil that they were unspeakable. The Old Testament tells us:

Proverbs 25:21 If thine enemy be hungry, give him bread to eat; and if he be thirsty, give him water to drink: 22 For thou shalt heap coals of fire upon his head, and the Lord shall reward thee.

The Apostle Paul quoted this text in Romans 12:20 Therefore if thine enemy hunger, feed him; if he thirst, give him drink: for in so doing thou shalt heap coals of fire on his head. He went on to add – as God inspired him – Romans 12:21 Be not overcome of evil, but overcome evil with good. When a Child of God responds to evil with good it had the effect of quenching the evil. But when a Child of God, ones like Zerubbabel and Jeshua, responds lovelessly toward the enemy – it pours gasoline on a flame. God told His Old Testament saints:

Exodus 23:4-5 If thou meet thine enemy’s ox or his ass going astray, thou shalt surely bring it back to him again. 5 If thou see the ass of him that hateth thee lying under his burden, and wouldest forbear to help him, thou shalt surely help with him.

God sometimes brings trial to an enemy to correct an evil. King Solomon said:

Proverbs 24:17-18 Rejoice not when thine enemy falleth, and let not thine heart be glad when he stumbleth: 18 Lest the Lord see it, and it displease him, and he turn away his wrath from him.

What God does or allows to be done to another, He is governed by seeking the best for that person or people. God has that right. He has said (Ezekiel 18:4) “all souls are mine”.

God has a purpose for every person who has ever been born, and that purpose is only realized when he or she is connected to the Godhead through Christ.

God sent Christ ointo the world to save ALL people – not just a select few. God spoke through the Prophet saying:

Ezekiel 33:11 … As I live, saith the Lord GOD, I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked; but that the wicked turn from his way and live: turn ye, turn ye from your evil ways …

Christ must needs go through Samaria because God our Father will have ALL MEN TO BE SAVED, and to come to the knowledge of the truth (1 Timothy 2:4). Our God did not send Christ Jesus our Lord to offer His salvation to just a few, but to whosoever will receive Him as Lord and Savior. Our God is “longsuffering to us all, not willing that any should perish, BUT THAT ALL SHOULD COME TO REPENTANCE” (2 Peter 3:9).

Love Compelled Jesus To Reach Others
Not Like Himself

John 4:5-9 Then cometh {Jesus} to a city of Samaria, which is called Sychar, near to the parcel of ground that Jacob gave to his son Joseph. 6 Now Jacob’s well was there. Jesus therefore, being wearied with his journey, sat thus on the well: and it was about the sixth hour. 7 There cometh a woman of Samaria to draw water: Jesus saith unto her, Give me to drink. 8 (For his disciples were gone away unto the city to buy meat.) 9 Then saith the woman of Samaria unto him, How is it that thou, being a Jew, askest drink of me, which am a woman of Samaria? for the Jews have no dealings with the Samaritans.

There was a time in America that water fountains were labeled “White’s Only” and “Colored Only”. What was taught during the Jim Crow era was that whites would be contaminated if they drank anything from the same source that the black person used. Jim Crow laws established strict segregation along racial lines, not just at water fountains, but also in schools, on buses, and in restaurants. These things were not driven by love, but by negative, unbiblical emotions.

The same was true in Jesus’ day. Solomon said “there is no new thing under the sun” (Ecclesiastes 1:9). Racism and bigotry has been around since the start of human history. When Jesus asked this woman of Samaria for a drink of water bigotry is evident in two texts.

1. Jesus is by Himself because “His disciples were gone away unto the city to buy meat”. Why would ALL of the disciples be gone away to buy meat? I suspect that prejudice and bigotry had something to do with this.
2. The Jews considered the Samaritans to be unclean people, and would not drink from the same well that they drank from. They justified this by taking Leviticus 15 and applying it to anyone who was not Jewish. Though the well in Samaria was originally Jacob’s well – deeded to Joseph his son – no Jew would drink from the same buc ket that a Samaritan drank from. This is why the woman said to Jesus:

John 4:9 … How is it that thou, being a Jew, askest drink of me, which am a woman of Samaria? …

“Don’t you know that this is a colored only fountain?” That is exactly what is going on. Beloved, our God does not see color. He sees people. Every person God sees is made in His image and after His likeness (Genesis 1:27). There are no inferior humans – all life is sacred. Jesus told His Church:

Matthew 28:19 … Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost:

Church, you MUST go to all races. God is no Respecter of persons. Peter must needs go to Cornelius, a Gentile believer. Love compels him to go, so that he can learn:

Acts 10:34-35 … God is no respecter of persons: 35 But in every nation he that feareth him, and worketh righteousness, is accepted with Him.

When the Holy Spirit falls on the early Church, Philip must needs go to Samaria (Acts 8:5). Love compelled him to go. Once he led Samaria into a great revival, the Holy Spirit sent Philip to an Ethiopian Official to share Christ with him. Love compels. If you have been loved of God, you must love as you were loved.

Beloved, if God had loved as we so horribly love, then few would have been saved. If God had only gone to people like Himself, then would ANY be saved?

We are none of us like God. The Bible says:

Romans 5:8 … God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.

We are NOTHING like God, yet God sought us out. The Samaritan woman is NOTHING like Jesus, and yet Jesus seeks her out. God the Son stepped outside of His comfort zone. Our God Who is righteous, and holy, and just, lowered Himself to go to and among the fallen sinner. God does not care if you are colored like a Samaritan or like a Jew or like a White or like a Black, Red, or Yellow people. Christ must needs go to Samaria because love compelled Him. The Pharisees asked “why does your Master eat with tax collectors and sinners?” (Matthew 9:11). The better question is, “Why does God care about any of us? Why would Jesus be compelled to go to Samaria to meet one woman not like Him?

Because this is what love looks like.
Love looks like a weary Jew sitting down with a Samaritan woman.

Love Looks Like Jesus

John 4:10-14 … {Jesus said} If thou knewest the gift of God, and who it is that saith to thee, Give me to drink; thou wouldest have asked of him, and he would have given thee living water. 11 The woman saith unto him, Sir, thou hast nothing to draw with, and the well is deep: from whence then hast thou that living water? 12 Art thou greater than our father Jacob, which gave us the well, and drank thereof himself, and his children, and his cattle? 13 Jesus answered and said unto her, Whosoever drinketh of this water shall thirst again: 14 But whosoever drinketh of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst; but the water that I shall give him shall be in him a well of water springing up into everlasting life.

This woman started her day like she had every other day. She lived her life in the momnent. She sought love, but never found it. Jesus promises this woman “a well of water springing up into everlasting life”. Perhaps her whole life she has lived as less than. Like many before her, she sought happiness in other fallen creatures. She says:

John 4:15 … Sir, give me this water, that I thirst not, neither come hither to draw.

Any change to her miserable existence would be welcomed. Jesus tells her:

John 4:16 … Go, call thy husband, and come hither.

F.B. Meyer notes:

“This really meant that she must confess her sins and have them put away before she could expect the up rushing of the fountain of life.”

The woman acknowledges,

John 4:17-18 … I have no husband. Jesus said unto her, Thou hast well said, I have no husband: 18 For thou hast had five husbands; and he whom thou now hast is not thy husband: in that saidst thou truly.

The woman has sought love in men. She has sought love in religion. Yet her life is unsatisfactory, unpleasing. She needed what all people need.

This woman needed to fall in love with the Savior.
She had been looking for the Messiah.
Now He is here!

John 4:25-30 The woman saith unto him, I know that Messiah cometh, which is called Christ: when he is come, he will tell us all things. 26 Jesus saith unto her, I that speak unto thee am he. 27 And upon this came his disciples, and marvelled that he talked with the woman: yet no man said, What seekest thou? or, Why talkest thou with her? 28 The woman then left her waterpot, and went her way into the city, and saith to the men, 29 Come, see a man, which told me all things that ever I did: is not this the Christ? 30 Then they went out of the city, and came unto him.

When Jesus found Peter, he left his fishing boat (Luke 18:28).

When Jesus found James and John, they left the family business (Mark 1:20)

When Jesus found the woman, she left her waterpot (John 4:28).

When Jesus found Matthew, he left his tax tables (Luke 5:28).

When Jesus found Zacchaeus, he left his tree (Luke 19:6).

When Jesus found Saul, he left off persecuting Christians (Acts 9:4).

Jesus must find people in order that they be changed. We must let Jesus shine through us. We must love those not like ourselves. We must do good in the power of God’s Spirit, that Christ may come to others. I cannot save anyone, but Jesus Christ can save everyone. Turn to Jesus. Turn to Jesus.

May Christ Jesus bless this message through His Word and His Spirit. Amen and Amen.