*4:1 I follow the best line of transmission in reading “Jesus”, rather than ‘the Lord’, albeit with only 21.7% of the Greek manuscripts.
†4:1 The ‘Judean’ in 3:25-26 was probably a Pharisee.
‡4:3 This was a tactical withdrawal. I take it that Matthew 4:12 refers to the same withdrawal. Between John 3:36 and 4:1 the Baptizer was imprisoned. If the Pharisees knew something it would not be long before Herod knew it. It was not part of the Plan for Jesus to have to deal with Herod at this juncture.
§4:4 He could have gone up the coast and avoided most of the mountains, but He “needed” to go through Samaria. Probably because the Father told Him to—it was harvest time in Sychar.
*4:5 See Joshua 24:32.
†4:6 Since John elsewhere always uses Roman time, I assume that he does so here as well. The Text has “the sixth hour”. Many versions put “noon”, which reflects Jewish time. But the Text says Jesus was worn out, which agrees better with a full day's walk than with a half day's walk. The distance between Salem and Sychar was probably about 35 miles, as the crow flies, but since the whole distance was over accidented terrain, the walking distance would be a good deal more. They had walked some 50 miles in twelve hours. Like the Text says, He was tired! And He was hot and thirsty. John emphasizes that as a human being He felt the full effects of the day.
‡4:14 Here again the Lord gives a double meaning to a word—in verse 13 He uses “thirst” in a physical sense, but in verse 14 the sense has to be spiritual, since Jesus Himself experienced physical thirst. In verse 15 the woman sees only the physical sense. I personally do not find the spiritual meaning to be transparent. I have been serving the Lord for many years, but still experience spiritual thirst. I have to keep drinking. However, the ‘water’ being the Holy Spirit, any thirst will not be for lack of ‘water’.
§4:14 That is what the Text says, “into eternal life”. Eternal life is a quality of life, more precisely a life in communion with the Father. The picture is not necessarily of a geyser, water spouting up, but there has to be a constant flow. As our capacity increases the flow should also increase. Of course the water must be shared with others, or we become stagnant.
*4:18 Dear me! Would you say that Jesus was making a special effort not to hurt her feelings? But He knew what He was doing, as verse 29 makes clear. So how about us? Are we prepared to hurt people's feelings?
†4:22 Quite so. The Lamb of God is a Jew, and the Old Testament canon came through the Jewish people (see Romans 3:2). For that matter, most (if not all—Luke [?]) of the New Testament was written by Jews as well.
‡4:23 The Father “is looking” for those who will worship Him in spirit and truth. It may be that we have here a window on the reason why God created a race such as ours—persons in His image with the capacity to choose. God “is looking” for something, which means He does not have it, at least not automatically, nor in sufficient quantity. I take it that He wants to be appreciated for who He is, but to have meaning such appreciation cannot come from robots—it has to be voluntary. So He created a type of being with that capacity, but He had to take the risk that such a being would choose not to appreciate Him. Unfortunately, most human beings make the negative choice, and with that negative choice come all sorts of negative consequences. Ever since Adam humans are born with an inclination toward sin, so for someone to choose to appreciate God is definitely not automatic, nor even easy. No one can reasonably accuse God of having ‘stacked the deck’ in His own favor, of ‘buying votes’—He seems to have done just the opposite. If a human being, against his natural inclination, chooses to appreciate God, then He receives what He is looking for. “In spirit and truth” presumably means that it cannot be faked, cannot be forced, cannot be merely physical, cannot be merely emotional (though both body and emotions can, and often will, be utilized).
§4:24 Again the lack of the definite article presents us with an ambiguity; the rendering ‘a spirit’ is possible. But as I indicate by the underlining, I understand that the quality inherent in the noun is being emphasized.
*4:26 As recorded in the four Gospels, this is the first time Jesus declares bluntly that He is the Messiah, and He does it to a woman, and a Samaritan one at that! That woman had had her ups and downs, but was no dummy; that the people of the town listened to her indicates that she had influence. Jesus knew what He was doing.
†4:27 A number of versions capitalize the ‘You’, as if the question would have been directed to Jesus, but it seems more likely to me that this first question would have been to the woman.
‡4:28 That was nice of her; they could get water while she was gone. (It was also a clear indication that she intended to return.)
§4:34 The Lord was totally committed to the Father's will and game plan; His daily life revolved around it (it was His ‘food’). In His excitement at seeing the plan for Sychar unfold He forgot His physical hunger.
*4:36 That is what the Text says, “into eternal life”. Surely, Jesus is talking about harvesting souls, gathering them into the Kingdom—when someone is born from Above everyone who participated in the process is glad.
†4:38 “I sent you to reap” must refer to activity in the past, so I take it that the Lord is stating a general principle.
‡4:42 As the italics indicate, “Him” is not in the Text; perhaps the addition confuses the picture. What do you suppose the disciples were doing during those two days? I bet the Samaritans were eager to hear all that they could about Jesus, what He had said and done—they kept the disciples busy!
§4:42 About 0.5% of the Greek manuscripts, of objectively inferior quality, omit “the Messiah” (as in NIV, NASB, LB, TEV, etc.).
*4:42 All right! They got the message!
†4:44 I believe that the episode recorded in Luke 4:16-30 took place between verses 43 and 45 here, and verse 44 is an echo of Luke 4:24. From Sychar Jesus went directly to Natsareth, was rejected there, and proceeded to Cana. Verse 45 is a summary statement, after the fact. [Of course He was born in Bethlehem, Judea, but I doubt that He is referring to it as ‘his own country’.]
‡4:46 I suspect that He had a brother-in-law living there.
§4:47 The man was asking Jesus to make an emergency hike of some 25 miles (unless he was mounted and had brought an extra horse for Jesus; but He probably wasn't used to riding). Evidently he figured that the healer had to be physically present.
*4:48 Again, Jesus is not exactly ‘polite’.
†4:52 It is virtually certain that the official and his slaves used Roman time, in which case the cure took place at 7 p.m. It could not be 7 a.m. because the man would have met his slaves before noon and they would have said ‘today’, not ‘yesterday’ (verse 52). It could not be Jewish time for a similar reason—if Jesus healed at 1 p.m. the man would have met his slaves before sundown and they would have said ‘today’. The man probably walked (unless he was mounted, but at night the horse would be held to a walk) during at least part of the night; the slaves would have started out at dawn; they probably met at a point much closer to Capernaum than to Cana.
‡4:54 That is, He healed at a distance, just by His thought. Curiously, He was in Cana for both of them.