John 4

Therefore when the Lord knew that the Pharisees had heard that Jesus was making and baptizing more disciples than John

(although Jesus himself didn’t baptize, but his disciples),

he left Judea and departed into Galilee.

He needed to pass through Samaria.

So he came to a city of Samaria called Sychar, near the parcel of ground that Jacob gave to his son Joseph.

Jacob’s well was there. Jesus therefore, being tired from his journey, sat down by the well. It was about the sixth hour.

A woman of 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 therefore said to him, “How is it that you, being a Jew, ask for a drink from me, a Samaritan woman?” (For Jews have no dealings with Samaritans.)

Jesus answered her, “If you knew the gift of God, and who it is who says to you, ‘Give me a drink,’ you would have asked him, and he would have given you living water.”

The woman said to him, “Sir, you have nothing to draw with, and the well is deep. So where do you get that living water?

Are you greater than our father Jacob, who gave us the well and drank from it himself, as did his children and his livestock?”

Jesus answered her, “Everyone who drinks of this water will thirst again,

but whoever drinks of the water that I will give him will never thirst again; but the water that I will give him will become in him a well of water springing up to eternal life.”

The woman said to him, “Sir, give me this water, so that I don’t get thirsty, neither come all the way here to draw.”

Jesus said to her, “Go, call your husband, and come here.”

The woman answered, “I have no husband.” Jesus said to her, “You said well, ‘I have no husband,’

for you have had five husbands; and he whom you now have is not your husband. This you have said truly.”

The woman said to him, “Sir, I perceive that you are a prophet.

Our fathers worshiped in this mountain, and you Jews say that in Jerusalem is the place where people ought to worship.”

Jesus said to her, “Woman, believe me, the hour is coming when neither in this mountain nor in Jerusalem will you worship the Father.

You worship that which you don’t know. We worship that which we know; for salvation is from the Jews.

But the hour comes, and now is, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for the Father seeks such to be his worshipers.

God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth.”

The woman said to him, “I know that Messiah is coming, he who is called Christ. When he has come, he will declare to us all things.”

Jesus said to her, “I am he, the one who speaks to you.”

Just then, his disciples came. They marveled that he was speaking with a woman; yet no one said, “What are you looking for?” or, “Why do you speak with her?”

So the woman left her water pot, went away into the city, and said to the people,

“Come, see a man who told me everything that I have done. Can this be the Christ?”

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

In the meanwhile, the disciples urged him, saying, “Rabbi, eat.”

But he said to them, “I have food to eat that you don’t know about.”

The disciples therefore said to one another, “Has anyone brought him something to eat?”

Jesus said to them, “My food is to do the will of him who sent me and to accomplish his work.

Don’t you say, ‘There are yet four months until the harvest’? Behold, I tell you, lift up your eyes and look at the fields, that they are white for harvest already.

He who reaps receives wages and gathers fruit to eternal life, that both he who sows and he who reaps may rejoice together.

For in this the saying is true, ‘One sows, and another reaps.’

I sent you to reap that for which you haven’t labored. Others have labored, and you have entered into their labor.”

From that city many of the Samaritans believed in him because of the word of the woman, who testified, “He told me everything that I have done.”

So when the Samaritans came to him, they begged him to stay with them. He stayed there two days.

Many more believed because of his word.

They said to the woman, “Now we believe, not because of your speaking; for we have heard for ourselves, and know that this is indeed the Christ, the Savior of the world.”

After the two days he went out from there and went into Galilee.

For Jesus himself testified that a prophet has no honor in his own country.

So when he came into Galilee, the Galileans received him, having seen all the things that he did in Jerusalem at the feast, for they also went to the feast.

Jesus came therefore again to Cana of Galilee, where he made the water into wine. There was a certain nobleman whose son was sick at Capernaum.

When he heard that Jesus had come out of Judea into Galilee, he went to him and begged him that he would come down and heal his son, for he was at the point of death.

Jesus therefore said to him, “Unless you see signs and wonders, you will in no way believe.”

The nobleman said to him, “Sir, come down before my child dies.”

Jesus said to him, “Go your way. Your son lives.” The man believed the word that Jesus spoke to him, and he went his way.

As he was going down, his servants met him and reported, saying “Your child lives!”

So he inquired of them the hour when he began to get better. They said therefore to him, “Yesterday at the seventh hour, the fever left him.”

So the father knew that it was at that hour in which Jesus said to him, “Your son lives.” He believed, as did his whole house.

This is again the second sign that Jesus did, having come out of Judea into Galilee.

Chapter overviewAI-generated

Overview.
This chapter records Jesus’ journey from Judea to Galilee, focusing on his encounter with a Samaritan woman at Jacob’s well and the subsequent faith of many in her city, followed by the healing of a nobleman’s son in Cana. It reveals Jesus as the source of living water and the Messiah who fulfills true worship, extending salvation beyond Jews to Samaritans, and highlighting belief grounded in his word.

Flow.

Jesus travels through Samaria, speaks with a Samaritan woman at Jacob’s well, and offers her living water that leads to eternal life.
He reveals his knowledge of her life, leading her to recognize him as a prophet, and then openly declares, “I am he,” the Messiah.
Many Samaritans believe in him because of her testimony, and their faith deepens through his own teaching, recognizing him as the Savior of the world.
Returning to Cana in Galilee, Jesus performs the second sign—restoring a dying boy to life by his spoken word—demonstrating that belief need not depend on physical signs.

Connections.
Following chapter 3, which presents Nicodemus’ nighttime inquiry about new birth and Jesus’ teaching on being born of water and the Spirit (WCF 9.1), chapter 4 expands the scope of regeneration and worship beyond Jewish boundaries, showing the Spirit’s work among Samaritans. The living water Jesus offers connects directly to the inward renewal discussed with Nicodemus. The focus on true worship in spirit and truth prepares for chapter 5, where Jesus’ divine authority over life and judgment is challenged by Jewish leaders, intensifying the theme of rejected yet authoritative revelation.

What it teaches.
Jesus is the Messiah who brings the fulfillment of God’s saving purposes, offering living water that quenches eternal thirst (WCF 8.6). True worship is neither confined to Jerusalem nor Mount Gerizim, but takes place in spirit and truth, because God is spirit and must be worshiped according to his self-revelation (HC LD 9, WCF 21.3). The Father seeks such worshipers, and Christ, as the sent One, accomplishes the Father’s work (WCF 8.1). Faith can arise through testimony (the woman’s) but reaches full assurance through Christ’s own word (LD 7). The nobleman’s belief in Jesus’ word alone, without visible proof, exemplifies growing trust in his authority (WCF 14.1).

Apply.
Trust that Jesus, the promised Messiah, gives life by his word alone, and worship him in truth as the Father seeks.

AI-generated. Not a substitute for Scripture, your pastor, or the confessions.