Three Minute Bible

John 4: 27-29

‘“Just then his disciples returned and were surprised to find him talking with a woman. But no one asked, ‘What do you want?’ or ‘Why are you talking with her?’ Then, leaving her water jar, the woman went back to the town and said to the people, ‘Come, see a man who told me everything I ever did. Could this be the Messiah?’”

Once more, using the metaphor of a theater stage, the disciples enter the scene again. They register surprise, but no one asks any questions. Meanwhile the woman at the well exits stage right, and the scene changes.  Continue reading “Conversation”

John 4: 25-26

‘“The woman said, ‘I know that Messiah’ (called Christ) ‘is coming. When he comes, he will explain everything to us.’

Then Jesus declared, ‘I, the one speaking to you—I am he.’”

Getting Jesus to admit he was the Messiah was a full-time job for some of the Pharisees. Try as they might they could not pin him down because Jesus knew that any direct claim to be the Son of God would send them over the edge. Out here in the desert of Samaria, there are no Pharisees around. Continue reading “Unequivocally”

John 4:24

‘“God is spirit, and his worshipers must worship in the Spirit and in truth.”

With this verse, Jesus repeats himself. Usually, when God repeats himself, he is doing it for a reason. There is a saying in the sales industry that says a person has to hear something six times before it really sinks in. (Wives, take note: It’s normal for husbands to have to hear something at least twice before they get it! 🙂 ) Continue reading “Reality”

John 4:23

‘”Yet a time is coming and has now come when the true worshipers will worship the Father in the Spirit and in truth, for they are the kind of worshipers the Father seeks.”

Jesus draws a distinction between worshipping in the time to come and the kind of worship that had been going on. He also draws a distinction between “true worshippers” and other kinds of worshippers.

This distinction haunts us with a question: What kind of worshipper are we?  Continue reading “Distinctions”

John 4: 22

“You Samaritans worship what you do not know; we worship what we do know, for salvation is from the Jews.”

In Acts 17:16 – 34, Luke recounts that Paul visits Athens and notices the altar dedicated “TO AN UNKNOWN GOD.” He, a Jew, explains to the Athenians that salvation comes through Jesus Christ, another Jew.

In today’s verse, Jesus says that the Samaritans worship what they do not know. Even today there are people who worship what they do not know. How are we to know the truth?  Continue reading “Salvation”

John 4:20-21

“‘Our ancestors worshiped on this mountain, but you Jews claim that the place where we must worship is in Jerusalem.’ ‘Woman,’ Jesus replied, ‘believe me, a time is coming when you will worship the Father neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem. ‘”

As we work through our study of John we find the author pointing again and again to Jesus’ connection with the Father and His omniscient perspective. In this amazing moment of time, Jesus sits alone with a woman beside an ancient well. As we pan back from the scene we see a community of people near the well and the two mountains nearby that Moses caused the Israelites to read God’s blessings and curses from. (Deuteronomy 11:29) The landscape around is desolate looking until we pan farther back and take in the view of the Jordan River valley, the Sea of Galilee, the Dead Sea, and the Mediterranean Sea. The beauty of the landscape under the brilliant sunlight might just take our breath away, but Jesus sees even farther.  Continue reading “Worship”

John 4: 19

‘”‘Sir,’ the woman said, ‘I can see that you are a prophet.’”

What do you say to someone who you have never met before yet knows your darkest secrets?  When we stand before God at the final judgment we will have a similar experience. Everything we have said and done will be exposed before God. The difference between now and then is that like the woman at the well, now we think we can hide our flaws.  Continue reading “Prophet”

John 4: 17-18

“‘I have no husband,’ she replied.

Jesus said to her, ‘You are right when you say you have no husband. The fact is, you have had five husbands, and the man you now have is not your husband. What you have just said is quite true.’”

When Jesus tells the woman to “Go, call your husband and come back,” she is confronted with a conundrum: Make up a story to explain her lack of husband, or tell him she’s been married and divorced so many times that she had a serious rejection complex.

Continue reading “Confession”

John 4: 15-16

“The woman said to him, ‘Sir, give me this water so that I won’t get thirsty and have to keep coming here to draw water.’”

He told her, ‘Go, call your husband and come back.’”

Dealing with God is always a bit disconcerting. After all, He knows everything there is to know. Continue reading “Knowing”

John 4:14b

“Indeed, the water I give them will become in them a spring of water welling up to eternal life.”

There is a danger in reading a passage too closely: it is possible to lose sight of the larger context. There is also a reward in reading a passage under a microscope like we are doing here: There are hidden treasures in each passage that can be missed if one passes by too quickly. Continue reading “Danger!”