Bible ReadingJohn 4:1-42 “So then, when the Lord knew that the Pharisees had heard that Jesus was making and baptizing more disciples than John (although Jesus Himself was not baptizing, but His disciples were), He left Judea and went away again to Galilee. And He had to pass through Samaria. So He came to a city of Samaria called Sychar, near the parcel of ground that Jacob gave to his son Joseph; and Jacob’s well was there. So Jesus, being wearied from His journey, was sitting thus by the well. It was about the sixth hour. There came a woman of Samaria to draw water. Jesus said to her, ‘Give Me a drink.’ For His disciples had gone away into the city to buy food. Therefore the Samaritan woman said to Him, ‘How is it that You, being a Jew, ask me for a drink since I am a Samaritan woman?’ (For Jews have no dealings with Samaritans.) Jesus answered and said to her, ‘If you knew the gift of God, and who it is who says to you, ‘Give Me a drink,’ you would have asked Him, and He would have given you living water.’ She said to Him, ‘Sir, You have nothing to draw with and the well is deep; where then do You get that living water? You are not greater than our father Jacob, are You, who gave us the well, and drank of it himself and his sons and his cattle?’ Jesus answered and said to her, ‘Everyone who drinks of this water will thirst again; but whoever drinks of the water that I will give him shall never thirst; but the water that I will give him will become in him a well of water springing up to eternal life.’ The woman said to Him, ‘Sir, give me this water, so I will not be thirsty nor come all the way here to draw.’ He said to Him, ‘Go, call your husband and come here.’ The woman answered and said, ‘I have no husband.’ Jesus said to her, ‘You have correctly said, ‘I have no husband’; for you have had five husbands, and the one whom you now have is not your husband; this you have said truly.’ The woman said to Him, ‘Sir, I perceive that You are a prophet. Our fathers worshiped in this mountain, and you people say that in Jerusalem is the place where men ought to worship.’ Jesus said to her, ‘Woman, believe Me, an hour is coming when neither in this mountain nor in Jerusalem will you worship the Father. You worship what you do not know; we worship what we know, for salvation is from the Jews. But an hour is coming, and now is, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth; for such people the Father seeks to be His worshipers. God is spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth.’ The woman said to Him, ‘I know that Messiah is coming (He who is called Christ); when that One comes, He will declare all things to us.’ Jesus said to her, ‘I who speak to you am He.’ At this point His disciples came, and they were amazed that He had been speaking with a woman, yet no one said, ‘What do You seek?’ or, ‘Why do You speak with her?’ So the woman left her waterpot, and went into the city and said to the men, ‘Come, see a man who told me all the things that I have done; this is not the Christ, is it?’ They went out of the city and were coming to Him. Meanwhile the disciples were urging Him, saying, ‘Rabbi, eat.’ But He said to them, ‘I have food to eat that you do not know about.’ So the disciples were saying to one another, ‘No one brought Him anything to eat, did he?’ Jesus said to them, ‘My food is to do the will of Him who sent Me and to accomplish His work. Do you not say, ‘There are yet four months, and then comes the harvest’? Behold, I say to you, lift up your eyes and look on the fields, that they are white for harvest. Already he who reaps is receiving wages and is gathering fruit for life eternal; so that he who sows and he who reaps may rejoice together. For in this case the saying is true, ‘One sows and another reaps.’ I sent you to reap that for which you have not labored; others have labored and you have entered into their labor.’ From that city many of the Samaritans believed in Him because of the word of the woman who testified, ‘He told me all the things that I have done.’ So when the Samaritans came to Jesus, they were asking Him to stay with them; and He stayed there two days. Many more believed because of His word; and they were saying to the woman, ‘It is no longer because of what you said that we believe, for we have heard for ourselves and know that this One is indeed the Savior of the world.’”
[39:25]Luke 19:10 “For the Son of Man has come to seek and to save that which was lost.”
[48:58]John 6:27 “Do not work for the food which perishes, but for the food which endures to eternal life, which the Son of Man will give to you, for on Him the Father, God, has set His seal.”
[58:43]Luke 10:2 “And He was saying to them, ‘The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few; therefore beseech the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into His harvest.’”
[01:24:32]Observation questions- In John 4, what are the disciples amazed by when they return, and what do they not say out loud to Jesus? [39:47]
- What does the woman leave behind after speaking with Jesus, and what simple message does she bring back to the city? [40:01]
- What contrast appears in the passage between what the disciples bring back from town and what the woman brings back from town? [01:10:45]
- How do the Samaritans describe the change from first believing because of the woman’s testimony to later believing because they heard Jesus for themselves? [41:24]
Interpretation questions- Jesus came to seek and save the lost. What does His conversation with a Samaritan woman show about the kinds of people He is willing to seek, especially the kinds of people others might avoid? [49:01]
- The woman’s water pot is left behind when she goes to tell others about Jesus. What does that detail seem to show about how meeting Christ can suddenly rearrange a person’s priorities? [52:10]
- Jesus says, “My food is to do the will of Him who sent Me.” What does that mean about the kind of satisfaction obedience gives that ordinary bread cannot give? [01:08:55]
- Jesus says the fields are already white for harvest. How does that challenge the habit of assuming certain people are not ready, not interested, or too far gone? [01:14:58]
Application questions- Jesus speaks to people others would rather avoid. Who might be a “Samaritan” in this season of life for the group member—someone uncomfortable to approach, easy to stereotype, or easy to step around? What would it look like to move toward that person instead of away from them? [49:24]
- The woman did not give a polished argument; she simply said, “Come see.” What simple part of one’s own story could be shared with someone this week without trying to sound impressive or have every answer? [57:04]
- Meeting Christ can change priorities suddenly. What “water pot” tends to dominate a person’s attention—routine, reputation, comfort, schedule, fear—and what might it look like to hold that more loosely for the sake of pointing someone to Jesus? [52:52]
- Soul satisfaction comes from doing the Father’s will. Where might someone be busy with work, school, or responsibilities and yet feel spiritually thin inside? How could that everyday place become a place of kingdom purpose instead of only a place to get things done? [01:08:20]
- The fields are ripe already, but the only way to find open doors is to try the knob. Is there a conversation someone has been postponing because they assumed the other person would not be open? What would a small first step look like this week? [01:13:11]
- Going to work for the Lord changes the reason for going there. How would this week look different if a person went into work, school, home life, or the neighborhood asking not only “What do I need to get done?” but also “Why has God sent me here?” [01:31:00]
- Borrowed faith must become personal. Has anyone in the group been leaning mostly on someone else’s faith—family, church background, a spouse, Christian friends—without really hearing Jesus for themselves? What would it look like to ask Him to stay, to spend real time with Him, and to know Him personally? [01:35:05]
