At Jacob's Well, and at Sychar.

  24 God is a Spirit [These words contain one of the most simple, yet most profound, truths which ever fell upon mortal ear. Their truth is one of the great glories of revelation, and corrects the mistaken conclusion of human reason. They show that 1, God is absolutely free from all limitations of space and time, and is therefore not to be localized in temples ( Acts 7:48 ); 2, that God is not material, as idolaters contend; 3, that he is not an abstract force, as scientists think, but a Being; 4, that he is lifted above all need of temples, sacrifices, etc., which are a benefit to man, but not to God ( Acts 17:25 ). Spiritual excellence raises man above the beast, and spiritual excellence in turn raises God above man-- Isaiah 31:3 ]: and they that worship him must worship in spirit and truth. [That is, men must offer a worship corresponding with the nature and attributes of God.]

  25 The woman saith unto him, I know that Messiah cometh that is called Christ): when he is come, he will declare unto us all things. [The breadth and largeness of Jesus' teaching suggested to her the great Teacher who was to come, and caused her to yearn for him who could tell, as she thought, perhaps even larger things. The Samaritans justified their idea of a coming Benefactor by passages found in the Pentateuch, and got their name for him from the Jews. Relying on the prophecy found at Deuteronomy 18:18 , modern Samaritans regard the Messiah as a returning Moses, calling him El-Mudy--the Guide. They contend that his name will begin with M, and that he will live to be 120 years old. This woman's idea of the Messiah was probably also very crude, but it was in part an improvement on the general Jewish conception, for it regarded him as a teacher rather than a world-conquering, earthly prince.]

  26 Jesus saith unto her, I that speak to thee am he. [This is the first recorded declaration of his Messiahship made by Jesus. He was not confessed to be Messiah by Simon Peter ( Matthew 16:16 ) till the last year of his ministry. Jesus spoke more freely as to his office in Samaria than in Judæa or Galilee; for, 1, the Samaritans would make no effort to take him by force and make him a king ( John 6:15 ); 2, his short stay in Samaria justified an explicit and brief revelation.]

  27 And upon this came his disciples; and they marvelled that he was speaking with a woman. [The spirit of the Rabbis is shown by their later precept; viz.: "Let no one talk with a woman in the street, no, not with his own wife." The estate of woman was then, and had been for a long time previous, very low. Socrates thanked the gods daily that he was born neither a slave nor a woman. Roman law gave the husband absolute authority over the wife, even to put her to death; and Jewish contempt for women is made apparent by the readiness with which the Jews divorced them]; yet no man said, What seekest thou? or, Why speakest thou with her? [So deep was their reverence and respect that they did not question, though they did not understand.]

  28 So the woman left her waterpot [in the forgetfulness of great joy, and as the unconscious pledge of her return], and went away into the city [Sychar], and saith to the people,

  29 Come, see a man, who told me all things that ever I did

[To publish Christ is one of the first impulses of those who feel Christ's gracious power. Her invitation is like that given by Philip ( John 1:46 ). On second thought her statement is not so much of an exaggeration as it at first appears. Her five marriages and present state covered the whole period of her maturer life, and the way in which Jesus had disclosed it all convinced her that every detail of it was spread out before him]: can this be the Christ? [Her question does not imply that she herself had any doubts about the matter. She uses the interrogative form because she does not wish to be dogmatic, but prefers to let the people judge for themselves. Observe the woman's change of mind concerning Jesus. She first called him "Jew" ( then "Sir" ( then "prophet" ( and now she invites her city to come forth and see "the Christ."]

  29 Come, see a man, who told me all things that ever I did

  30 They went out of the city, and were coming to him.

  31 In the meanwhile

[the time between the departure of the woman and the arrival of her fellow-townsmen] the disciples prayed him, saying, Rabbi, eat.

  32 But he said unto them, I have meat to eat that ye know not of.

  33 The disciples therefore said one to another, Hath any man brought him aught to eat?

[They understood his words literally, as a declaration that he had dined.]

  31 In the meanwhile

  32 But he said unto them, I have meat to eat that ye know not of.

  33 The disciples therefore said one to another, Hath any man brought him aught to eat?

  34 Jesus saith unto them, My meat is to do the will of him that sent me, and to accomplish his work. [His delight at the woman's conversion, as a part of the work which his Father had given him to do, overcame for a time his desire for food. Food has several characteristics: 1. enjoyment; 2. satisfaction of desire; 3. refreshment and strength. God's work had these characteristics to Jesus, whose life fulfilled the principle that man shall not live by bread alone.]

  35 Say not ye, There are yet four months, and then cometh the harvest? behold, I say unto you, Lift up your eyes, and look already unto harvest. [Jacob's well overlooked the luxuriant grainfields of the plain of Moreh. As the disciples looked abroad over its patches of varying green, they would say that it would yet be four months before these patches could be harvested. The harvests in the natural world are slow. But turning their eyes toward Sychar, the disciples could see the citizens of the town in their white garments pouring forth to see Jesus, and to be gathered by him as a harvest of disciples which had sprung up and ripened from the seeds of truth sown by the woman but a few moments before. Spiritual sowing brings speedy harvests. Some commentators look upon the words of Jesus as proverbial, but there is no proverb extant which places only four months between sowing and reaping. In Palestine this period covers six months. We must, therefore, take the words of Jesus as a plain statement as to the length of time between the date of his speaking and the date of harvest. Harvest begins about the middle of April, and counting back four months from that date we find that this visit to Sychar occurred somewhere about the middle of December.]

  36 He that reapeth receiveth wages, and gathereth fruit unto life eternal: that he that soweth and he that reapeth may rejoice together. [Harvest times were seasons of great joy ( Deuteronomy 16:13-15 ; Psalms 126:6 ; Isaiah 9:3 ). But the joy of joys shall come when God gathers his redeemed into the heavenly garner. In this present the humble teacher sows and the evangelist, or more gifted brother, reaps; but in that glad hour it shall matter little whether we have been a sower or a reaper, for we shall all rejoice together. Sower and reaper alike shall receive wages, a part of which shall be the "fruit" gathered--the souls saved. Jesus regarded gaining a brother as a large compensation, a great gain-- Matthew 18:15 .]

  37 For herein is the saying true [see Isaiah 65:21 Isaiah 65:22 ; Leviticus 26:16 ; Job 31:8 ; Micah 6:15 ], One soweth, and another reapeth.

  38 I sent you to reap

[Christ, as Lord of the harvest, sent both sowers and reapers] that whereon ye have not labored: others have labored, and ye are their labor. [In earlier days many prophets and holy men had labored to prepare the people of Palestine, that they might be gathered of Christ as disciples. Later John the Baptist had wrought a mighty work toward this same end. Into a field thus sown and cultivated Jesus was now leading his apostles, that they might reap for him the ripened harvest. He bids them observe the speedy and easy reaping on this occasion as an encouraging example to them, that they may go forth with strong assurance and confidence. Even the minds of the Samaritans were prepared to receive him, and a quick harvest could be gathered among them.]

  38 I sent you to reap

  39 And from that city many of the Samaritans believed on him because of the word of the woman, who testified, He told me all things that ever I did. [The Jews rejected the testimony of the prophets and holy men of God as recorded in the Scripture ( John 5:46 John 5:47 ), but the Samaritans accepted the testimony of this woman, and she was a sinner.]

  40 So when the Samaritans came unto him, they besought him to abide with them: and he abode there two days. ["His own" received him not, but these "strangers" welcomed him. The stay was brief, but long enough to prepare the way for a future church among the Samaritans in the neighboring city of Samaria ( Acts 8:5-8 ). From the nearer town of Shechem came Justin Martyr, one of the greatest Christian writers of the second century.]

  41 And many more believed because of his word:

  42 and they said to the woman, Now we believe, not because of thy speaking: for we have heard for ourselves, and know that this is indeed the Saviour of the world.

[Only such ready hearers could arrive at so great a truth in so short a time. Wealth of revelation and blessing had made the Jews selfish, and their conception of the Messiah was so perverted by this selfishness that they could not conceive of him as being a world Saviour. Thus wealth often dwarfs where it should rather enlarge the heart. The incident comprised in this section presents the expansiveness of breaking down the walls of racial prejudice; 2, we observe it elevating woman, and certifying her fitness to receive the very highest spiritual instruction; 3, we behold it lifting up the degraded and sinful, and supplying them from the fountains of grace. Such is real Christianity--the Christianity of Christ.]

  42 and they said to the woman, Now we believe, not because of thy speaking: for we have heard for ourselves, and know that this is indeed the Saviour of the world.