Chapter # 4 Paragraph # 2 Study # 3
February 25, 2024
Broadlands, Louisiana
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Thesis: The "need" required of Jesus that He do what the Father told Him to do (critical for His "life" to be a light to men), and that "need" generated by the Love of the Father took into account the condition of things in Sychar.
Introduction: In our study last week we considered that the "need" that was referred to regarding the choice of Jesus to go through Samaria was driven by several factors: the Father's search for true worshippers; Jesus' "food" as "doing the will of The Father; and the desperate plight of the Samaritans of Sychar.
This morning we are going to look a bit more closely to the plight of the Samaritans of Sychar.
- I. The Details Of The Plight Of The Samaritans.
- A. First, the name of the city got its origins from the reputation of the city as a place for drinking strong drink.
- B. Second, the issue of "the parcel of ground that Jacob gave to Joseph".
- 1. Jacob got that "parcel of ground" from Hamor, the father of Shechem by purchase (Genesis 33:19).
- 2. But, after that purchase, Shechem (the name was the son's as well as the city's) raped Dinah and her brothers, Simeon and Levi, revenged her by murdering "every male" of Shechem (Genesis 34).
- 3. Jacob refers to their actions in his description of his sons in Genesis 49:5-7 and placed a "curse" upon their anger.
- 4. Then, after some time, God told Jacob to move to Bethel.
- 5. According to Joshua 24:32, the Israelites buried the bones of Joseph in this piece of property and that would have made it an important place in Samaria.
- 6. The Samaritans ended up with that piece of ground and Sychar/Shechem was where Jesus went.
- C. The "pege" (bubbling well) of Jacob (4:6) had, over time, been turned into a "phrear" (cistern) (4:11).
- D. The "worship" of the Samaritans was a nice theological debate point for the woman but it didn't keep her from her significantly immoral lifestyle.
- II. Jesus' Response To This "Need".
- A. He "comes" (Present Tense in historical narrative): this "coming" is His response to the "need" and it is, itself, "necessary" if His "Life" is to be the "light of men" -- i.e., it is only when the Love of God is the foundation of behavior that "men" can grasp the truth(s) regarding "Life"; note how men "know" that believers are disciples of Jesus (John 13:35).
- B. He "comes" therefore into this city of The Samaria (or The Samaritans) where the inhabitants only have a shell of religion and no "Life".
- 1. "The Man of The Jews" (Jesus) is directed by The Father's Love to "an immoral woman of The Samaritans".
- a. This is different in respect to the "counter balance" established in 3:1 where it was "The Teacher of The Jews", a man, who came to Jesus (Jesus did not go to him).
- b. This is sharply distinct in terms of "moral character" because "The Teacher of The Jews" was considered by others as "The Example" of moral certitude (and he had adopted that view of himself, though he had no basis for it in that he was in love with the glory of men) and this "woman" was considered a disgrace to her identity as a "woman" (and she had adopted that view of herself).
- c. He "comes" to "Sychar" with a promise of a new "pege" to replace the time worn "phrear".
- 2. This promise is addressed to any/every person who "believes into Jesus".
