Can This be the Christ?

A study of John 4:27–30

“Just then his disciples came back. They marveled that he was talking with a woman, but no one said, “What do you seek?” or, “Why are you talking with her?” So the woman left her water jar and went away into town and said to the people, “Come, see a man who told me all that I ever did. Can this be the Christ?” They went out of the town and were coming to him.”
‭‭John‬ ‭4‬:‭27‬-‭30‬ ‭ESV‬‬

Definitions of the original language in the context of this passage:

-Disciples: “μαθηταὶ”; “μαθητής”, “mathētēs; masculine noun — a learner, pupil, disciple; of Jesus — in a wide sense, in the Gospels, those among the Jews who favored him, joined his party, became his adherents; but especially of the 12 apostles.

-They Marveled (Were Amazed): “ἐθαύμαζον”; “θαυμάζω”, “thaumazō”; verb — to wonder, wonder at, marvel.

-Woman: “gynē”, “γυνή”; feminine noun — a woman of any age; as a form of address, may be used either in admiration (Matt. 15:28) or indignation (Luke 22:57), or in kindness or favor (John 4:21; Luke 13:12), or in respect (John 2:4).

What/Why: “τί”; “τίς}, “tis”; pronoun — who, which, what.

-Do You Seek: “ζητεῖς”; “ζητέω”, “zēteō”; verb — to seek in order to find: What do you seek? What do you wish?

-Do You Speak: “λαλεῖς”; “λαλέω”, “laleō”; verb — to speak, converse, with one.

-Left: “ἀφῆκεν”; “ἀφίημι”, “aphiēmi”; verb — to go away leaving something behind.

-Waterpot: “ὑδρίαν”; “ὑδρία”, “hydria”; feminine noun — a vessel for holding water; a water-jar, water-pot.

-Town (City): “πόλιν”; “πόλις”, “polis”; feminine noun — a city; in John 4:28,30: The city of Sychar in Samaria.

-People, (v.28): “ἀνθρώποις”; “ἄνθρωπος”, “anthrōpos”; masculine noun — in the plural: the people; i.e. men and women.

-Come: “δεῦτε”, “deute”; adverb — come hither, come here, come: followed by an imperative (“see” in v. 29).

-See: “ἴδετε”; “ὁράω”, “horaō”; verb — to see with the eyes; to see with the mind, to perceive, to know, i.e. become acquainted with by experience, to experience.

-A Man (v.29): “ἄνθρωπον”; “ἄνθρωπος”, “anthrōpos”; masculine noun — a human male.

-Christ: “Χριστός”, “Christos”; adjective — Christ = ‘anointed’; This is a title rather than a proper name. Christ was [and is] the Messiah, the Son of God.

-They Went: “ἐξῆλθον”; “ἐξέρχομαι”, “exerchomai”; verb — of those who leave a place of their own accord.

-Were Coming: “ἤρχοντο”; “ἔρχομαι”, “erchomai”; verb — of persons: to come from one place to another, ad used of both persons arriving and of those returning.

Observation/Summary (short explanation of what the passage says in your own words):

After telling the Samaritan woman He is the Christ, the promised Messiah, Jesus’ disciples returned to Him from their food buying errand in town. They were surprised to see Jesus speaking with a woman, let alone a Samaritan woman, but they did not question Him about it. The woman, having just been told by Jesus that He is the long awaited Messiah, left in such a hurry to tell everyone else in town about Him that she left her water jar behind. She went back into the town of Sychar and invited everyone to come see a Man who told her everything she had ever done, and posed the question, “Can this be the Christ?” After hearing this, the people from the Samarian town of Sychar came out to see for themselves.

Implication (what does this mean to us):

In the verses previous to this passage, Jesus told the Samaritan woman about the living water only He can provide. But when she asked Him for it, He confronted her on her sin, because sin is what we all use to try and quench the spiritual thirst only Jesus can satisfy. Jesus will always confront us on our sin, because we must choose either our sin, or Jesus. We must choose if we want to keep drinking the spiritual salt water of sin that is killing us, or the living water of Jesus that resurrects us. Even though this was likely a bit uncomfortable for the woman to hear, she did not storm off in offense. Instead she was amazed that Jesus knew these things about her past and in John 4:25 she asked Jesus if He was the long awaited Messiah who would come and “tell us all things.”

In response to her inquiry, Jesus told the Samaritan woman He is the Christ, the long awaited Messiah. Jesus did not come to condemn this sinful woman. He came to save her. And Jesus did not come in this first coming to condemn any of us for our sin either. He came to reveal Himself to us as the Messiah, the Son of God and Savior of all mankind, and to call us to repent for our sin and believe in Him as Lord. He will come again one day to judge those who have rejected Him, but because of His great love and mercy, He came first to die in our place and offer to us the free gift of eternal life.

This conversation took place at Jacob’s well just outside of the Samaritan city of Sychar. Jesus and His disciples had been traveling by foot from Jerusalem to Galilee and they arrived at Jacob’s well at about noon. Jesus was exhausted from the journey, so He sat by the well to rest while His disciples went into town to buy food. While waiting there, the Samaritan woman came to draw water, unusually in the heat of midday, likely to avoid the other women that drew water in the earlier part of the day who would have scorned her because she had multiple failed marriages and was currently living with a man she was not married to. This was beyond scandalous in their society, but Jesus is different. Jesus came to save people just like her. And for this reason we know Jesus also came to save people just like us.

At this point in the conversation, Jesus’ disciples returned from their food buying errand, and “they marveled that he was talking with a woman.” The historic animosity and hatred between Jews and Samaritans would have made this shocking in and of itself, but to converse with a woman in public was even more culturally shocking. Jesus was a Rabbi, a Jewish religious teacher, and Rabbis in this day never spoke to even their own female relatives in public, let alone strange women from Samaria. For this reason His disciples “marveled” or in other words, they were amazed, or shocked to see this happening. But they had spent a little time with Jesus by now, and they, like the Samaritan woman, had noticed He is different. He does not do or say what they would expect in most situations. The Messiah has come, but He is not quite what they thought He would be. So, in seeing this culturally shocking incident, they remained silent, although they were amazed by it.

As Jesus challenged their cultural worldview yet again, they remained silent, likely beginning to understand that what Jesus did was right, and therefore their own cultural and religious understandings must be wrong. Are we so willing to be silent and accept the parts of Jesus’ Word (the Bible) that challenge our own cultural and religious understandings? We need to have this same kind of humility and faithfulness in submitting to the parts of God’s Word that clash with our culture.

Now, having learned Jesus is the Messiah, the woman does what many of the other disciples did when they first came to know Jesus in John chapter 1. She ran to invite others to “come and see”. Just like Andrew invited Simon (Peter) and Philip invited Nathanael to “come and see”, so too did this lady. She left in a hurry to do so too, as she left her water jar behind. This may have been because she was so excited, she wanted to get to town to tell people as soon as possible, or maybe it was because she had every intention of coming back. I think it is reasonable to assume it was some combination of both a desire to tell people about Jesus as soon as possible, and because she had every intention of coming back to hear more from Him. Whatever the case, this information about the water jar is another one of the many, small details in John’s gospel account that give credibility to the fact that this is true, eyewitness testimony.

Admirably, she invited people to come and see a Man who told her everything she ever did, and posed the question, “Can this be the Christ?” Jesus had confronted her on her sin, but instead of getting angry and offended, she boldly proclaimed this fact as a reason why He is the Christ. We wonder if this lady came to the well in the heat of midday to avoid the other ladies because of her sin, and this seems to be a likely story given her past and the culture she lived in. But after meeting Jesus, this lady who came to draw in during the hottest part of the day to avoid other people, is running to tell them all about the Man who told her about all of the sin which isolated her from them. Jesus transforms people. Her shame and timidity were transformed into cheerful boldness. She cannot help but hurry to tell the people she previously avoided about Jesus.

I wonder, are we so eager to share about Jesus with the people in our lives, and speak of the great things He has done and the sin He has freed us from?

This woman was transformed by the love of Jesus. He confronted her on her sin, and He does the same with us. We must make a choice: Jesus or our sin. However He chooses to confront us, He always does so in love, with the desire that we would repent of our sin and choose Him instead. In these moments we have a choice. We can stiffen our necks, clench our jaws and walk away because of His perceived “intolerance,” or we can accept that what He says about us is true, and accept His freely offered gift of salvation unto eternal life. If we do accept His gift, it should in turn cause us to rush to tell others and invite them to “come and see” the Messiah, the Son of God.

Lastly for this passage, in verse 30 we read “they went out of the town and were coming to Him.” Jesus transformed this societal outcast into a beacon of light shining on Him, illuminating His glory. And He transformed her with His love, grace, and truth. Jesus loves to take the people the world looks down on and despises, and transform them into something glorious, through whom He does great things. Through this radically transformed woman, Jesus called the entire town of Sychar, the capital of Samaria, to come and see Him for themselves. No matter what we have done in our past, or how lowly we think we are, Jesus sees who He will transform us into. He sees the version of us that He always intended us to be. After their brief conversation, this woman believed and began to undergo this transformation, and because of this, the people she told wanted to come and see Jesus for themselves.

Application (How does this change how I think, act and pray?):

From this passage we learn when Jesus looks at us, He does see our sin and He will confront us on it. But He also sees the beautiful, transformed person He wants us to be. He will lovingly offer to cleanse us of our sin, satisfy our thirst for spiritual satisfaction, and transform us into someone new, beautiful and radiant that reflects His glory for all to see. This transformation should cause us to take action and seek out people to invite to “come and see” Jesus, as we pray for Him to save them too by the power of His Spirit working through us and in them.

We also learn that Jesus will likely challenge some of our cultural presuppositions and worldviews. But Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God who came to “tell us all things.” He has come down from heaven, and therefore is above all (John 3:31). Whenever He says or does something that conflicts with our cultures values, He is right, and we are wrong.

Self Reflection:

How do I respond to the parts of God’s Word that conflict with the values of the culture or religion I grew up with and live in?

What does the fact that Jesus loves me enough to die for me, even though He knows everything I have ever done (or will do), tell me about the nature of His love, and mercy?

How can I grow in praying for and inviting others to “come and see” Jesus?