Chapter # 4 Paragraph # 2 Study # 1
February 18, 2024
Broadlands, Louisiana
(Download Audio)
Thesis: The issue of "necessity" is raised to an extreme level by Author-John's declaration that Jesus go to Galilee by way of Samaria.
Introduction: We have come in our studies of John's record to chapter four. In our first study in this chapter (last week's study), we raised the question of why Author-John told us that Jesus deliberately went to "The Jews" (Judea) in order to compel the Pharisees to realize how Jesus' reputation in Judea was growing. We also asked why Jesus did not baptize people. And we asked why we are told that He was returning to Galilee when the majority of chapter four is about His dealings with "Samaria" and the "Samaritans". It was my claim last week that we were told these three things in order to return us to
2:23-25 and its record of Jesus' reluctance to commit Himself to those who had "believed into His name". That text tells us that "man" has so serious a problem within that Jesus often refuses to commit Himself to us: this problem being our "pride". In chapter four, the Pharisees are mentioned because they have been described in the previous chapters as enormously arrogant. Additionally, Jesus' refusal to baptize anyone was rooted in man's penchant to take the favors God bestows and then claim that those favors were "deserved" (
1 Corinthians 1:14-15). And, Jesus' return to Galilee was a pride-pricking behavior toward the arrogant "Jews" (
John 7:35).
This morning we are going to look into Author-John's statement that, though Jesus was going to Galilee, He "needed" to go through Samaria.
- I. The Details.
- A. 4:4-6.
- 1. Whence "the need"?
- a. The Greek word "dei" is used by John in 10 texts/contexts in this Gospel.
- 1) In each case, something "creates" a significant "necessity".
- 2) John's use in this text/context is the fourth time such "necessity" is mentioned.
- a) In 3:7, the "necessity" is driven by both the possibility of "seeing", and "entering into", the "Kingdom of God", and the enormity of the disaster of not being allowed to do either.
- b) In 3:14, the "necessity" of the Son being "lifted up" is driven by God's consideration of man's plight in being subject to "perishing" and His determination to make such "possession of eternal life" possible in the face of the Justice/Sin reality in its impact upon men in their plight.
- c) In 3:30, the "necessity" is driven by the reality that if Jesus does not "increase" and if Witness-John does not "decrease" (in the hearts and minds of men), the impact of Christ's being "lifted up" will be made more difficult because men, in the tangle of their "values" and "beliefs" will not know which "Rabbi" to embrace. The greatest tragedy of any man's existence is for there to be a remedy for "Sin" and that remedy to go begging.
- d) In our current text (4:4), the "necessity" is driven by The Father's "seeking" of true worshippers and His imposition of "hunger" upon Jesus to do His will and accomplish His work (4:34) so that His "search for worshippers" will be fulfilled.
- e) And the next text (4:20) continues the thesis of "necessity" by the woman's introduction into the conversation, of the Jews' claim that men "must" worship God in Jerusalem, or, at the very minimum, facing Jerusalem (1 Kings 8:30, 35, 38, 42, 44, 48).
- b. This "need" is described in terms of "a hunger for food" that cannot be met by finding something with which to feed the "body".
- 1) This is the application of a physical reality to the relational world of the soul; another use of "earthly things" being a mirror of "heavens realities".
- 2) In terms of "value" (i.e., "agape"), the "needs of the soul" are far greater than those of the body.
- a) In both Matthew 10:28 and Luke 12:4, the "soul" is elevated above the "body" so that "death to the body" is not nearly as bad as "death to the "soul".
- b) John 6:27 records Jesus emphasizing this very truth -- that the "food" for the body is not nearly as important as "food" for the "soul" because "food for the body" cannot enable to the "body to escape death/Death" but "food for the soul" "endures unto everlasting life".
- c. This "need", then, is for Jesus' "soul food" which nourished His ability to "Live" in the presence of men so that they might have "the Light of Life" (1:4).
- 1) At some point, if a man is to "Live", he must ("necessity") make a firm "faith-commitment" to the facts that surround The Father's willingness to provide "food for the soul" in contrast to man's diligent pursuit of "food for the body".
- 2. This "need" for Jesus to go into, and through, Samaria means that however The Father made His will known to Jesus, Jesus knew that The Father's "will" (4:34) was that He go through Samaria on His way back to Galilee.
- 2. What Jesus did to respond to "the need".
- a. He turned toward Samaria and walked to Jacob's well.
- b. He let the disciples take care of the "body-food" while He awaited the arrival of the person who was to crack open the door to Samaritan "worshippers".
- 3. The Point: the only way "disciples" can participate in Eternal Life is if the Author of that "Life" never fails, even one time, to accomplish what is "necessary", by reason of that "necessity" being an element in "the will of The Father", and the only way "disciples" can share in the work of Jesus' "Life" being the "Light of men" is if they also make "doing the will of The Father" their primary goal in this physical realm.
