If You Only Knew
Jesus said to her, “I who speak to you am He.”
~John 4:26 (NKJV)
Read: John 4:1-30
The Gospel of John is hands down my favorite of the four gospels. Matthew, Mark, and Luke are called the synoptic gospels because they describe the life, ministry, and death of Christ in similar ways. They use similar stories and hold relatively similar points of view. However, John takes a different approach. His writing style is different, and the stories he records are rarely found in the other gospels. As far as similarities go, the only story, aside from the crucifixion and resurrection, that all four gospels relate is the feeding of the five thousand, which we will encounter in John 6.
The Apostle John captures my imagination from the beginning of his narrative, “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God” (1:1). Why mess with what isn’t broken? John uses the same start as the book of Genesis, and for good reason. The coming of Christ heralds the advent of a new creation: “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has passed away, and see, the new has come!” (2 Cor. 5:17). John knows that Christ on earth changes everything. He brings new life to that which was once dead.
John 1:1 also establishes a firm foundation for who Christ is and how He will be revealed throughout the rest of the gospel. In the beginning was Jesus, and Jesus was with God, and Jesus was God. John wants us to be very clear that Jesus was both man and God. There is no question in John’s mind of the duality of Christ’s humanity and divinity, and he’s making sure that we have no doubts in ours as well.
At the end of his gospel, John reveals the further purpose of his writing: “But these are written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name” (20:31). Thus, we are given a full picture of John’s gospel. He wants us to know that Jesus is the Messiah, Jesus is God, and Jesus has brought life to those who were perishing when they believe in His name.
We now come to John 4. This chapter narrates Jesus’ encounter with a Samaritan woman at a well of water. Before we can even begin to understand any other aspect of this chapter, we must first consider the Samaritans. This group formed after Assyria captured the northern tribes of Israel in 722 B.C., causing ethnic and religious mixing. Due to the corruption of their religious practices and intermarriage with other nationalities, the Samaritans were regarded as unclean dogs, basically, to the Jews. The Jews would go out of their way to avoid going through Samaria when traveling, even though it was the quickest and most direct route through parts of Israel. Interactions with the Samaritans were kept to a minimum.
Jesus opening a conversation with this woman would have been practically unheard of then. For one thing, women were held in very low esteem in general in this culture, and men would rarely address women in public, even if they were related. Additionally, Jesus was a rabbi, and rabbis would definitely not speak with single women who were not allowed to become disciples like the men. Add in the fact that Jesus is a Jew and the woman is a Samaritan, and you have a whole new can of worms. Jesus is breaking almost every cultural norm imaginable just by asking the woman for a drink of water. The Samaritans were considered ritually unclean, so for Jesus to ask for a drink of water from this woman, He is basically allowing Himself to become unclean (at least in the eyes of the religious leaders of the time). He is doing something completely unheard of.
What ensues is a fascinating dialogue between the two, as both know full well just how unusual this encounter is. At one point, Jesus tells the woman, “‘Everyone who drinks from this water will get thirsty again. But whoever drinks from the water that I will give him will never get thirsty again. In fact, the water I will give him will become a well of water springing up in him for eternal life’” (John 4:13-14). The woman takes Jesus’ words at face value and thinks He means actual, physical water. He does not. The water Jesus describes here is also mentioned in the book of Isaiah, which tells us:
“Come, everyone who is thirsty,
come to the water;
and you without silver,
come, buy, and eat!
Come, buy wine and milk
without silver and without cost!
Why do you spend silver on what is not food,
and your wages on what does not satisfy?
Listen carefully to me, and eat what is good,
and you will enjoy the choicest of foods.
Pay attention and come to me;
listen, so that you will live.” (Isa. 55:1-3a)
This water is the water of eternal life. Jesus is offering the woman a chance for redemption, a chance for a new life, a chance for abundant life.
Their conversation continues and morphs into a focus on worship. Jesus clearly points out that “salvation is from the Jews” (John 4:22), meaning that the means for salvation come from the Jews but will be offered for one and all, no matter race, ethnicity, nationality, gender, or any other designation. This promise echoes Genesis 12, where God initiates his covenant with Abram, saying, “…and all the peoples on earth will be blessed through you” (Gen. 12:3b). The promised Messiah would come from the Jews but would not be just for the Jews, rather He would be for all people. He would bring about a new order where those who believed in Him would have eternal life (John 3:16).
By this point, the woman finally gives up with her questions. She has recognized Jesus as a prophet, she has had her sins revealed (multiple husbands, currently living with a man who is not her husband), and she has tried to divert attention off of her onto matters of religion (almost a guaranteed contentious topic). She says, “‘I know that the Messiah is coming…When he comes, he will explain everything to us’” (John 4:25). Clearly, she does not know Jesus is the Messiah. Early on in the account, Jesus says to her, “‘If you knew the gift of God, and who is saying to you, ‘Give me a drink,’ you would ask him, and he would give you living water’” (4:10). She does not know.
The woman does not know that she is in the presence of her Messiah, let alone the incarnate God of the universe. She does not know that the living water He talks about is His offer of eternal life. She does not know that He is the Way, the Truth, and the Life and that by believing in Him, she would be choosing a whole new reality.
Jesus responds to her comment by saying, “‘I, the one speaking to you, am he” (John 4:26).
If you are hearing echoes of Exodus where God tells Moses His name – I AM WHO I AM – you are absolutely on point. At this moment, Jesus not only reveals Himself as Messiah to the woman, but He is also proclaiming His divinity. He is exactly the one for whom she has been waiting. Jesus is the answer to her every question and the ultimate source for all life.
As we close today, I find myself returning to the question – if you only knew? If you only knew who Jesus is? If you only knew how much you needed Him? If you only knew the life He has in store for you, now and in eternity? If you only knew, how would your life change?
