Contrast Nicodemus and the women - Jhn 4:7-10

Jhn 4:7–10 (7) There cometh a woman of Samaria to draw water: Jesus saith unto her, Give me to drink.  (8) (For his disciples were gone away unto the city to buy meat.)  (9) Then saith the woman of Samaria unto him, how is it that thou, being a Jew, askest drink of me, which am a woman of Samaria? for the Jews have no dealings with the Samaritans.  (10) Jesus answered and said unto her, If thou knewest the gift of God, and who it is that saith to thee, Give me to drink; thou wouldest have asked of him, and he would have given thee living water.

What does the women’s response demonstrate?
When you look at John chapters 3 and 4 together we see a startling contrast between the two.
1. In John 3 we have a man of the Pharisees named Nicodemus; in John 4 we have an unknown unnamed women.
2. Nicodemus was a man of very high rank and position, "Master of Israel"; the woman was one of low rank forced to fetch water for herself.
3. Nicodemus was very well educated favored Jew; the woman was a rejected despised Samaritan.
4. In chapter 3 we see a man of strict morals who knew the ways of the law and kept to his knowledge all of them and had a high reputation for this; in chapter 4 we see a woman of dissolute habits who came to the well during the hottest time of the day most likely to avoid confrontation with others because of her reputation.
5. Nicodemus made it a point to seek out Christ as a teacher; the woman was looking for water and Christ sought out her to teach and bestow His gifts.
6. Nicodemus came in the darkness; the woman was greeted in the noon of the daylight.
7. In chapter 3, to the self-righteous Jew, Christ says you must be born again; in chapter 4, to the humbled Gentile, Christ speaks of the gifts of God.

Virtal Godliness

Ref Rom 9:16; Jhn 4:7-10

by   J.C. Philpot

How blessed a thing is vital godliness! That is the thing I always wish to contend for. Not for forms and ceremonies, or doctrines floating in the brain—but for the life of God in the soul. That is the only thing worth knowing—the only thing to live by—and the only thing to die by. How different is vital godliness received into the heart and conscience, by the operation of God the Spirit! How different is this fountain of living water from the 'stagnant, dead water' of lip service, formality, and hypocrisy! We cannot now be satisfied with lip religion, pharisaical religion, doctrinal religion, a name to live while dead, the form of godliness without the power. A living soul can no more satisfy his thirst with mere forms and ceremonies—than a man naturally thirsty can drink out of a pond of sand. He must have living water—something given by the Lord Himself, springing up in his soul.

Jesus the Man - Jhn 4:5-6

Jhn 4:5–6 (5) Then cometh he to a city of Samaria, which is called Sychar, near to the parcel of ground that Jacob gave to his son Joseph.   (6) Now Jacob's well was there. Jesus therefore, being wearied with his journey, sat thus on the well: and it was about the sixth hour.

When and how did Jacob give the ground to Joseph?
Jesus therefore being wearied. This brings out the reality of Christ humanity. He was just as much man as He was God. This mystery few if any can fathom, nor are we ask to (Mat 11:27). We just must believe that He was both the perfect God and perfect man if for no other reason than the bible says this is so. For if we were to begin to pick and choose what we desired to believe or to say we believe "but" then there is absolutely no foundation for our salvation. At no point does it ever say that Christ was separate from the Trinity while at other times it does distinguished Jesus with individual characteristics. In addition though at no point does it ever say that He was part man and part God (Heb 4:15-16). It is demonstrated again and again that He was completely 100% God and completely 100% man. He ate, drank, worked and slept, prayed, and wept. He also knew temptation, tribulation, and true pain. In contrast we will soon see His divine omniscience revealed in the verses to come. We will see His perfect knowledge of the women and her history at this well. This power of the heart and elements will be seen over and over throughout the gospel. As man he was born of a woman and is weary as He sat by the well. As the lord He was there by divine design to call one of His sheep to His fold.

God-man

Ref Jhn 4:5-6; Heb 13:8
by Don Fortner

The Son of God was made what we are, made to be our full nature, body and soul, a complete man. He who is God became man. He did not cease to be God; but he took our human nature into union with his divine nature, so that the Lord Jesus Christ is God and Man, the God-man, our Mediator. “The Word was made flesh,” as Augustine put it in the 4^th century, “Not by changing what he was, but by taking what he was not.” This union of God and Man in one person is indissolvable and forever. Jesus Christ our Savior, our God-man Mediator, is “the same yesterday, and today, and forever” (Hebrews 13:8).

To find His sheep - Jhn 4:1-4

Jhn 4:1-4  (1) When therefore the Lord knew how the Pharisees had heard that Jesus made and baptized more disciples than John, (2) (Though Jesus himself baptized not, but his disciples,) (3) He left Judaea, and departed again into Galilee.  (4) And he must needs go through Samaria.
Define the words "must needs" in verse 4?
In going from Judaea to Galilee Jesus most direct route did lay through Samaria, but Jews (especially strict ones) were required to take a longer route around to avoid contact. So why did Jesus take this path. It was because in Samaria lay one of His sheep that was not in His fold, one He must bring in. Simply put, the providence and purpose of Jesus took Him through Samaria for some of His elect. "And other sheep I have, which are not of this fold: them also I must bring, and they shall hear my voice; and there shall be one fold, and one shepherd" John 10:16. To appreciate the gospel we must go back to the basic truth of predestination that puts God first and makes the choice His way before it is ours (John 15:16; II Thess 2:13). His journey took Him through Samaria because there were chosen sheep there, which had been given Him before the foundation of time and for all eternity (John 6:37-40).