Jesus' Longest Conversation
A Brief Overview of John 4:1–42
I had the Sunday off from preaching this week. In lieu of an expositional commentary, I will provide a brief overview of the passage and then share an excerpt from J. C. Ryle on John 4:1–42.
An Overview of John 4:1–42
“He Himself Knew What Was in Man”
We should read John 4 within the broader context of chapters 2–3. Back in John 2:25, we read that Jesus “knew what was in man.” This verse sets up two conversations: the first with Nicodemus (3:1–15) and the second with the Samaritan woman (4:1–42).
Though Nicodemus and the unnamed woman at the well couldn’t be any different in terms of their social statuses and backgrounds, their need was the same. They needed the Lord Jesus to expose their sin and grant eternal life.
These two encounters remind us that, regardless of our individual experiences, the human need is basically the same. Whether religious or rebellious, outwardly holy or inwardly empty, we need what Christ provides.
“Jews Have No Dealings with Samaritans”
John 4 records the longest conversation Jesus has with an individual in the four Gospels. This is especially striking in light of verse 9: “Jews have no dealings with Samaritans”—a group viewed as Jewish sellouts, having disobeyed God’s command to not intermarry with pagan nations (see Deut. 7:1–5).
The encounter Jesus has with the Samaritan woman shows that He is the Savior of all people. He came for the last, the least, and the lost. Indeed, it was God’s purpose from the very beginning to include not only Jews in His family, but Gentile sinners as well (Gen. 12:1–3). Here is Jesus breaking down the dividing wall of hostility between Jew and Greek; here is Jesus bringing living water to all people without distinction.
This passage teaches us that no one is beyond the redemptive reach of God in Christ.
J. C. Ryle’s Comments on the Passage
In his Expository Thoughts on John, Anglican bishop J. C. Ryle comments:
“We should mark … Christ’s readiness to give mercies to careless sinners. He tells the Samaritan woman that if she had asked, ‘He would have given her living water.’ He knew the character of the person before Him perfectly well. Yet He says, ‘If she had asked, He would have given’—He would have given the living water of grace, mercy, and peace.
“The infinite willingness of Christ to receive sinners is a golden truth, which ought to be treasured up in our hearts, and diligently impressed on others. The Lord Jesus is far more ready to hear than we are to pray, and far more ready to give favours than we are to ask them. All day long He stretches out His hands to the disobedient and gainsaying. He has thoughts of pity and compassion towards the vilest of sinners, even when they have no thoughts of Him. He stands waiting to bestow mercy and grace on the worst and most unworthy, if they will only cry to Him, He will never draw back from that well-known promise, ‘Ask and ye shall receive; seek and ye shall find.’ The lost will discover at the last day, that they had not because they asked not.”1
J. C. Ryle, Expository Thoughts on John, vol. 1 (Edinburgh: The Banner of Truth Trust, 2012), p. 143.