STUDY #5—JOHN 4

Read 4:1-18.
1. What do you learn about Jesus from these verses?
Note: It was rare for a rabbi to condescend to talk to a woman, let alone to a Samaritan woman.

2. What do you think Jesus meant by "living water" (4:10)? (See Isaiah 44:3-4,John 7:37-39.)

3. What claims did He make about the very special water?

4. How do you understand this "thirst" Jesus talks about? Note: The innate human dissatisfaction is strong.

5. How had the woman previously tried to quench her thirst? Note: She had been drinking at the wrong fountain—the fountain of promiscuity (4:17-18). (See also Isaiah 55:1-2.)

6. Why do you think the woman did not understand what Jesus meant by living water?
Note: She was thinking in the natural plane, whereas Jesus was speaking of the supernatural (John 3:4; 6:26,34).

Read 4:19-30.
7. As soon as the Samaritan woman perceived that the conversation was heading toward religion, she tried to keep it from becoming personal by employing a very common tactic. What was it (4:19-20)?
Note: She tried to draw Jesus into a general discussion on religion, but one that didn't focus on her.

8. How did Jesus handle her evasive tactic (4:21-24)?
Note: It's not the religious system, or the forms, or the creed that makes the difference. God's new temple is the individual, and that is where the worship is to take place (1 Corinthians 6:19)-

9. What do we learn about Jesus from His declaration in John 4:26?

10. What decision did the woman face?

11. What happened to her waterpot?

Read 4:31-42.
12. Why was Jesus no longer hungry (4:31-34)?

13. What is the harvest (4:35)? (See also Matthew 9:36-38.) Who are the harvesters (John 4:36-38)? (See also 2 Corinthians 5:18-20.)

14. What conclusion did the townspeople come to about Jesus? What was the basis of their thinking (John 4:39-42)?

Read 4:43-54.
15. How do you interpret Jesus' reaction to the royal official's request? Compare the official's attitude with that of the official in Matthew 8:8.