John 4:27-42 (Continuation of John 4:1-42)

John 4:47-42: In this session, we are exploring John 4:27-42.  Chapter 4 begins with a long discussion between Jesus and a Samaritan woman that leads her to the edge of faith.  Now, we consider some of the things Jesus said about evangelization – the process of telling people about the good news of believing in Jesus – before John takes us back to what happened next in the Samaritan woman’s town.

Re-read John 4:1-42 to recall what is happening in the Samaritan woman’s interaction with Jesus at the well.

Verses 27-34

When the disciples return from town, what is their reaction when they see Jesus talking to a Samaritan woman?

Why do you think the disciples don’t question Jesus about the fact that he is talking to a Samaritan woman?

Perhaps they don’t really want to hear his answer.  Perhaps he has shown his inclusiveness previously and they don’t want to appear to be questioning his values.  What might be some other reasons?

Jesus ignores the Jewish rules against talking with a Samaritan woman.  He clearly doesn’t think that these restrictions are important.  Are there any social restrictions in your culture that you think should be ignored if they get in the way of telling other people about Jesus or living out your faith?

What does the woman do now, in verse 28?

Why do you think she reacts to her conversation with Jesus in this way?

How would you describe the status of the woman’s spiritual growth at this point?  Look at what she says, and doesn’t say, in verse 29.  How much does she understand about Jesus and how much does she still need to figure out?

When the disciples want Jesus to eat (verses 31-34), what does Jesus say his food is?

He says his food is to do the Father’s will and finish his work.  This idea of finishing his work comes up again later in John’s Gospel.  Just before he dies, Jesus says, “It is finished” (John 19:30).

What is the importance of “finishing”?  Would it be good for us to focus more on “finishing” what God has sent us to do?

The disciples don’t understand what Jesus is saying, just as Nicodemus and the Samaritan woman didn’t understand him.  He is thinking on a different level than all of them.  Do we have similar difficulties “understanding” Jesus?  How are we like them?

What should we do about the fact that we never fully understand Jesus?

Perhaps this might call us to a bit of humility – not thinking we have everything figured out but being more open to listening to other people.  It also calls us to study the Bible and the core teachings of our faith, so that we can understand more; to pray, so that we can be more attuned to God’s teaching and guidance; and to trust God more, because there are some things we can’t understand until we trust.

Jesus says his “food” is to do God’s will.  How can we find sustenance (“food”) from doing God’s will?

How might it change your life if you fully embraced the idea that “the food for my soul is to do the will of God and complete the work he has given to me”?  How might that view of the Christian calling change your life?

Verses 35-38

In verse 35, Jesus turns to a bigger issue that builds on what is happening in this Samaritan woman’s town.  He uses two mini-parables: one about fields that are ripe for the harvest and one about sowers and reapers.  As with all parables, our task is to interpret what the various elements of the parable stand for or represent symbolically.  What does the field ready for harvest stand for?  Who do the sowers and reapers represent?

The field ready for harvest is any people who have heard the word of God – the good news about believing in Jesus – and are ready to take a step of faith.  The sowers are the people who have shared the good news – who have told people about Jesus and encouraged them to believe in him.  The reapers are the believers who are making the gospel real to those people now, when they are ready to take that step of faith.

What does the phrase, “One sows and another reaps,” mean?

Note: The sower is not better than the reaper, nor vice versa.  The difference is only in who happens to be there when a person is ready to put their faith and trust in Jesus.

In what ways are you a “sower”?  In what ways are you a “reaper”?

What are some ways that you might participate more in God’s harvest, where he is bringing people to faith in himself?

Verses 39-42

John now returns to the story of the Samaritan woman.  What happens in the end?

Why do the people begin to believe in verse 39, and why do they have a stronger faith in verse 42?

Notice the two stages of the people’s faith.  In verse 39, the people have a certain level of faith because the woman told them about Jesus, but they don’t ultimately believe because of her word – they believe because they have a direct experience of him (verse 42).  What does that suggest to us about our attempts to tell other people about Jesus?

What are some ways that we can help bring people into a direct experience of Jesus, and not just tell them our knowledge about him?

Sometimes, people are touched by God when they hear Christians praying, so it can be helpful to ask someone if they would like you to pray for them.  If they say yes, pray from your heart out loud so that they can hear your conversation with God.  Sometimes, people are ready to pray a prayer of their own and just need to be invited to do so.  Sometimes, people need to be invited to a service or event at your church where they can experience God at work in the people of God.

Some scholars think that later, a group of Samaritans who believed in Jesus moved out of Samaria (perhaps after being persecuted or ostracized by some of their fellow Samaritans in the same way that the early Jewish Christians were rejected by their fellow Jews) and joined John’s community in Ephesus before he wrote this Gospel.  These scholars see John’s positive treatment of Samaritans and the preservation of this story as possible clues that Samaritans were part of John’s community.

What this passage tells us about the process of evangelization

Because Jesus focuses on the harvest at the end of this passage, this passage is clearly meant to encourage us to tell people about Jesus.  So let’s explore the story further to see what it tells us about the evangelization process and our role in helping others come to know Jesus and put their faith and trust in him.

In verse 11, the woman calls Jesus “Sir,” a respectful word that means “master” or “lord,” but often in a purely human sense.  In verse 19, she calls him “a prophet.”  By verse 25, she is suggesting that he might be the Messiah (a Hebrew word that means the “Anointed One”; in Greek, the “Christ”).  And by the end of the story, the whole town is calling him “the savior of the world.”  What is the significance of this gradual shift in how they talk about Jesus?

How does this shift in how the people see Jesus gives us a model for understanding the shifts that people in our time go through as they move from skeptic to new believer to mature Christian?

Think about people in your world who are not believers, and how they talk about Jesus.  How are some people at the early stage of just seeing Jesus as an important human while others recognize him as more than that?  Are there some people who see Jesus as a prophet but just one prophet among many, while others are wrestling with the truth that he is God?  How can we help people at every stage find a fuller understanding of who Jesus is?

This Samaritan woman is the first person in John’s Gospel who becomes a missionary: a person who shares the Gospel with a whole group of people.  Individual disciples have told individual people about Jesus, but she evangelizes a whole group.  Verse 39 tells us that she “testifies” about Jesus.  How are we called to testify about Jesus?

What does this passage say to you about your own personal role in telling others the good news about God?

Go back through the story and look at how Jesus guides the woman to faith:

[If you are studying this passage in a group, break into smaller groups of 3 or 4 people to discuss the following questions and then report back to the larger group.]

Notice the rhythm of the conversation with the woman.  When does Jesus ask questions and when does he give answers?  How much of an answer does he give (a lot or a little), and why is that a good idea?  How and to what extent does he give her room to share her own beliefs?  What do your observations about Jesus suggest to you about how you can be effective in sharing your faith in Jesus with others?

Notice how the conversation shifts over time from focusing on everyday concerns, to religious facts, to spiritual insights.  How can we build relationships with people that will allow our conversations with them to move naturally to spiritual matters over time?

Notice how the woman leads the people of the town from her own testimony to a personal interaction with Jesus himself.  What aspects of your testimony – your story of how you came to believe in Jesus – might help others enter into a relationship with Jesus?  What is the good news you have found in Jesus that others might be interested in if you told them the story of your faith?

Notice how the woman is almost antagonistic at the start, responding to Jesus with challenges and putdowns.  Jesus sticks with her and gives her room to open up to his message.  What does that tell us?

What conclusions can you draw about the evangelization process?  What ideas does this passage give you for how to tell people about Jesus when they might be ready to hear it?

In chapter 2, John told us about what he called Jesus’s first “sign.”  In the passage we will look at next, he starts a new series of stories by telling us about the second sign.  That suggests that everything we have seen in chapters 2 through 4 might go together: Jesus turning water into wine, Jesus telling us that we need to be born again of water and the Spirit, Jesus telling us that he is the living water.  All these stories referred to water.  What conclusions can you draw from these stories, and how can you apply those conclusions to your everyday life?

Take a step back and consider this:

People are often afraid to talk about Jesus because they don’t want to appear pushy.  That fear leads us to say too little.  Jesus’s approach was not pushy.  With the Samaritan woman he mostly made brief and non-judgmental statements and then answered questions when he was asked.

Perhaps we need to get past our fears and just talk about Jesus like he is an everyday part of our lives, without making a big deal about it.

How does Jesus’s approach to evangelization differ from that of a pushy preacher?

How does Jesus’s approach differ from that of someone who thinks that good actions are enough and we don’t need to say anything?

How might we adopt the “Come and see” attitude we saw in John chapter 1 (1:39; 1:46) to help people meet Jesus face-to-face without being pushy?