ALPHA MAAMA (A.M.)

Falaite Sepitema 3, 2021 

“Give me a drink.”  

“ ‘ē, mai si‘aku inu”

Sione 4 (John 4)

(v. 7-10) A woman from Samaria came to draw water. Jesus said to her, “Give me a drink.” (For his disciples had gone away into the city to buy food.) The Samaritan woman said to him, “How is it that you, a Jew, ask for a drink from me, a woman of Samaria?” (For Jews have no dealings with Samaritans.) Jesus answered her, “If you knew the gift of God, and who it is that is saying to you, ‘Give me a drink,’ you would have asked him, and he would have given you living water.”

(v. 7-10) ‘Iloange na‘e ha‘u ha fefine, ko e Samēlia, ke ‘utu vai: pea pehē ‘e Sīsū ki ai, ‘ē, mai si‘aku inu: (He ko ‘ene kau ako kuo ‘alu ange ki he kolo ke fakatau me‘akai.) Pea lea ai ‘a e fefine Samēlia kiate ia, Ko e toe tala inu hā e kiate au, ka ko e Siu koe, pea ko e fefine Samēlia kita? he tala‘ehai ‘oku ‘uhi ha Siu ki ha Samēlia.  Pea tali ‘e Sīsū ‘o ne me‘a ki ai, Ka ne ke ‘ilo ‘a e me‘a‘ofa ‘a e ‘Otua, pea ka ne ke ‘ilo pe ko hai ia ‘oku ne pehē atu, ‘Omi haku inu; pehē ko koe ne ke fai ‘a e kole kiate ia, pea kuo ne ‘atu ha vai mo‘ui.

 

David Guzik :: Study Guide for John 4

He needed to go through Samaria: Although the road through Samaria was the shortest route from Jerusalem to Galilee, pious Jews often avoided it. They did so because there was a deep distrust and dislike between many of the Jewish people and the Samaritans.

When the Babylonians conquered the southern kingdom of Judah, they took almost all the population captive, exiling them to the Babylonian Empire. All they left behind were the lowest classes of society, because they didn’t want these lowly regarded people in Babylonia. These ones left behind intermarried with other non-Jewish peoples who slowly came into the region, and the Samaritans emerged as an ethnic and religious group.

Because the Samaritans had a historical connection to the people of Israel, their faith was a combination of commands and rituals from the Law of Moses, put together with various superstitions. Most of the Jews in Jesus’ time despised the Samaritans, disliking them even more than Gentiles – because they were, religiously speaking, “half-breeds” who had an eclectic, mongrel faith. The Samaritans built their own temple to Yahweh on Mount Gerizim, but the Jews burned it around 128 b.c. This obviously made relations between the Jews and the Samaritans even worse.

“Their route from Jerusalem to Galilee lay through the region beyond the Jordan. This was considerably longer, but it avoided contact with the Samaritans. Those who were not so strict went through Samaria.” (Morris)

It says that Jesus needed to go through Samaria. The need wasn’t because of travel arrangements or practical necessities, but because there were people there who needed to hear Him.

(v.7-8)

Give Me a drink: Some people imagine that God is most glorified when human participation is most excluded. Yet Jesus did not diminish His glory one bit by asking the help and cooperation of the Samaritan woman. As it worked toward the accomplishment of the divine purpose, the Father and the Son were most glorified in this display of love and goodness to the woman.

“He is not unaware that the way to gain a soul is often to ask a service of it.” (Godet, cited in Morris)

In all this, we see many of the seeming paradoxes of Jesus’ work.

· He who gives rest is weary

· He who is Israel’s Messiah speaks to a Samaritan woman

· He who has living water asks for a drink from a well

“He felt that his miraculous power was to be used for others, and in his great work; but as for himself, his humanity must bear its own infirmity, it must support its own trials: so he keeps his hand back from relieving his own necessities.” (Spurgeon)

There is every reason to believe that she gave Jesus what He asked for, and she asked the question of John 4:9 as or after Jesus drank the water from the well.

How is it that You, being a Jew, ask a drink from me, a Samaritan woman? Immediately, the woman was impressed by the friendliness of Jesus. It was unusual for her to hear a kind greeting from a Jewish man, for generally speaking, Jews have no dealings with Samaritans.

John felt this was so well understood in his day that he needed no further explanation. “The deadly hatred that subsisted between these two nations is known to all. The Jews cursed them, and believed them to be accursed. Their most merciful wish to the Samaritans was, that they might have no part in the resurrection; or, in other words, that they might be annihilated.” (Clarke)

For many reasons, this woman would have been despised by most of the religious leaders in the days of Jesus. She was a woman, a Samaritan, and a woman of questionable reputation. Yet, in the interview with Nicodemus John showed us, Jesus has something to say to the religious establishment. In the meeting with the Samaritan woman at the well John showed us, Jesus has something to say to those despised by the religious establishment.