John 4:1-9, Gospel Bridges (Woman at the Well, 1)

John the Baptist had no qualms about Jesus’ growing ministry.  But Jesus knew that the Pharisees would have many qualms (defined as a sudden, disturbing feeling).  Thus, He left Judea to return to Galilee.  Why?  Perhaps to protect His new and growing group of disciples.  Perhaps because He had a ministry of teaching and preaching to carry out before the time would come for the religious establishment to act on their hatred and fear of Him.

But that’s not all.  He left Judea because “He needed to go through Samaria” (v4).  He needed to!  Jesus needed to speak with a Samaritan woman, through whom many Samaritans would put their faith in Him.  You probably understand that there were all kinds of red flags in that last sentence.

ü Jews considered Samaritans as enemies and usually tried not to spend any more time in their territory than necessary.  Generally, trips between Judea and Galilee went around Samaria, going from Jerusalem to Jericho, then north along the Jordan River to the Beit Shean area, and finally to Galilee. 

ü In addition, men alone didn’t talk to women alone…

ü Jews didn’t talk to Samaritans…

ü And, in this case, a serious teacher of Judaism didn’t associate with women of “ill repute.” 

Yet, He needed to go through Samaria. 

Christ is again “building bridges” for the gospel.  Both Nicodemus and the woman at the well were on the wrong path to a relationship with the Creator. Jesus could be straightforward because Nicodemus built the bridge by seeking out Jesus to talk with Him. Jesus immediately challenged him and his dependency on works.  “You must be born again.”  But with the woman it was different.  She didn’t “come to Jesus” as Nicodemus did (3:2).  She ran into Jesus, so to speak.  He had her in mind, but she wasn’t thinking about Him as far as we know.  Therefore, Jesus built a bridge for the gospel (v1-9).  Then He went across to find her (v10-14), and brought her back to meet Him, her Messiah (v15-26).

·       Build gospel bridges by meeting basic needs, v1-9.  Here are four basic needs that must be met in order to have a gospel conversation with someone.

o   The need for a Christian presence, v4.  Jesus went through Samaria instead of avoiding “her and her kind of people.”  People need a preacher (someone to share the gospel, Rom. 10:14). 

o   The need to get a person’s attention, v7.  We may think that all we have to do is talk to someone and we have done our part.  Jesus did not think like this.  This woman would have just filled her water jug and started back to town.  We should understand that gospel conversations don’t happen by mere chance.  Jesus got her attention with a simple request: “Give Me a drink.”