2014 WORLD DAY OF PRAYER - EGYPT
THEME: STREAMS IN THE DESERT
BIBLE STUDY
THE SAMARITAN WOMAN: John 4: 1-41
The encounter of the Samaritan Woman with the Lord Jesus reveals his breaking down of three barriers: racial, social and religious.
1. Historical Background
Palestine in the time of the Lord Jesus was divided into 3 provinces: Galilee in the North, Judea in the South, and Samaria between the two. The journey from Judea to Galilee could take 3 days (if the traveler went through Samaria), or 6 days if, avoiding Samaria, one crossed the River Jordan, traveled along its eastern bank, then crossed the River again north of Samaria, and came to Galilee. Because of the enmity between the Jews and the Samaritans, many Jews took the longer route to avoid passing through Samaria.
(a) Enmity between Jews and Samaritans
This goes back to the year 720 B.C. when the king of Assyria captured Samaria, deported the Israelites to Assyria (2 Kings 17:6), and brought people from Babylon and other pagan countries and settled them in the towns of Samaria to replace the Israelites, as noted in 2 Kings 17:24. Intermarriage among foreigners and Israelites who had escaped captivity contributed to tensions between Samaritans and Israelites.
Later, when under Ezra and Nehemiah, the Israelites returned from captivity, the Samaritans wanted to take part in the rebuilding of the temple at Jerusalem; but they were despised because of the reasons above, and their offer was stoutly rejected. This enmity increased when, in 450 B.C., Menassa, son of Eliashib the high priest, married the daughter of Sanballat the Horonite (Nehemiah 13:28), and, on refusing to divorce his foreign wife, was forbidden to approach the Lord’s temple in Jerusalem. He was further enticed by Sanballat to build a special temple for the Samaritans on top of Mount Gerizim. From that time, the Samaritans worshipped on their own mountain, and were further despised by the Jews. Samaritan religion closely resembled Judaism, but on key issues their followers had gone their own way. They accepted only the first five books of the Torah, and insisted that Mount Gerizim, not Jerusalem, was the proper place to worship God. They also maintained that God had asked Abraham to offer his son, Isaac, on Mount Gerizim and not on a mountain in the region of Moriah, as recorded in Genesis 22:2.
The Samaritans insisted that they could venerate the one God in Samaria; the Jews insisted that this could only be done at the temple in Jerusalem. Jesus as a Jew is therefore in a region that is in conflict with and separated from the Jews. And because of the laws around ritual purity and kosher food, Samaritans and Jews were not eating together. All this will play a role in the discussion between Jesus and the Samaritan woman.
(b) A woman comes to draw water.
Yes, this is a situation that can be found every day in a million places all over the world. Water is the element that is needed to survive in more than one way. Water is even more important than food. To rely on good, clean water is a question of being healthy and alive. Where water is polluted, illnesses and poverty go hand in hand. Good health is directly correlated to the importance of having clean quality water. Today, about 884 million people worldwide still fail to have easy access to clean water. Water carrying is hard work, time consuming and mostly done by women. UNICEF states: “Access to local water resources increases women’s opportunities and raises women’s rights in the developing world.” Where clean water is not provided by the community, women have to walk long distances to find clean water. This was also the case in the time of Jesus. The woman comes to draw water.
2. The Occasion
Jesus was traveling with his disciples from Judea in the South, to Galilee in the North. Instead of trying to avoid Samaria (as most Jews would have done), he chose the shorter route which leads through Samaria. They came to a town in Samaria called Sychar, situated near a desert in which Jacob’s well was (about 100 meters deep), close to the land which Jacob had given to his son, Joseph (John 4: 5-6; Gen. 48:22). Exhausted, Jesus sat at the well, while his Disciples went into the town to buy food. The well was the same as that where Isaac had met Rebekah, and Jacob had met Rachel (Gen. 24:11, 29:10). It was the sixth hour (noon), a time when the place was usually deserted because of the heat. The reference to the sixth hour is connected to Jesus – and only found one other time in the New Testament, on Calvary. At noon time, on the cross, blood and water came out of the side of Jesus (John 19). The hour could be a reference to how Jesus died and what he did for us, giving himself as the living water.
3. The Events
Ø Jesus, a thirsty man in a desert place on a very hot day, presents his own need to the Samaritan Woman, asking her for a drink.
Ø The woman, astounded, questions why he asks her: he is a Jew, while she is a Samaritan; he is a man, but she is a woman. Jesus initiates a conversation with a request and she continues with her own questions. A dialogue begins. She is knowledgeable about her tradition and can speak directly about the basis of the differences between Jews and Samaritans.
Ø However, Jesus – ignoring racial, religious, and social barriers answers: “If you knew the gift of God and who it is that asks you for a drink, you would have asked him, and he would have given you living water”.
Ø “Sir,” objects the woman, “you have nothing to draw with, and the well is deep. Where can you get this living water? Are you greater than our father Jacob who gave us the well and drank from it himself?!”
Ø Jesus, ignoring her question, tries to draw her attention to the spiritual meaning of his words: “Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again. But whoever drinks of the water I give, will never thirst.” Greatly excited, the woman retorts, “Sir, give me this water so that I won’t get thirsty and have to keep coming here to draw water”.
Ø Although the Samaritan Woman cannot yet understand the spiritual dimension, she is deeply touched by the respectful way Jesus has been addressing her.
Ø Jesus asks her to go and call her husband, and she truthfully answers that she has no husband.
Ø The Samaritan Woman is often portrayed as a lustful sinner. Yet this view needs to be examined. We know from several passages in the Old Testament, and from the story of Ruth, that when a married man died without children, it was the duty of his nearest relative to marry his widow. It is possible that the husbands of this woman were forced on her successively, upon the death of each one. The man, with whom she was currently living, could very possibly have been a near relative taking advantage of her, and refusing to legalize the relationship. She could have been “more sinned against, than sinning”.
Ø Upon realizing that Jesus is aware of her situation, she greets him as a man of God, “I can see that you are a Prophet”, she says.
Ø Having discovered that Jesus is not an ordinary man, she seeks his opinion about the Jewish/ Samaritan problem regarding worship: “Our fathers worshipped on this mountain” (at their own Temple, destroyed in 129 B.C.), “but you Jews claim that the place where we must worship is in Jerusalem”.
Ø Some commentaries contrast the story of Nicodemus, the Pharisee visiting Jesus at night with the Samaritan woman. Jesus begins his mission with the Jewish community, and is moving toward the mission to the gentiles by going through Samaria.
Ø When the woman confides to Jesus her belief in the expected Messiah, his answer is: “I (who speaks to you) AM he, calling himself by the same name God used of himself when speaking to Moses: I AM (Exodus 3: 14).
Ø On their return to the well, the Disciples are surprised to find Jesus talking with a Samaritan woman; but they say nothing.
Ø Having met the Messiah herself, and having drunk of the living water that He gives, the woman forgets all about her water jar, and rushes into the town to share the good news with her fellow Samaritans.
4. The Living Water Offered by Jesus
This “living water” is also mentioned in the Old Testament: “With joy you will draw
Water from the wells of salvation” (Isaiah 12:3); “My people have…forsaken me, the spring of living water” (Jeremiah 2:13).
The significance of this is that Jesus’ call to the Samaritan Woman was the same as God’s call to his people in the Old Testament. It is also the same as His call to us today:
“Forget the former things,
do not dwell on the past.
See, I am doing a new thing!
Now it springs up; do you not perceive it?
I am making a way in the desert
and streams in the wasteland.” (Isaiah 43:18-19)
After meeting Jesus, the Samaritan woman left her desert past and, partaking of his Living Water, became a missionary to others, and bore much fruit. Like her, we are called upon to drink of the Living Water, and to live a fruitful life in the present.
Consider a few of the questions below to have a group reflection:
5. Questions
(1) What changes are gradually taking place in the Samaritan Woman during her encounter with Jesus? Can you think of a time when you became convinced of your position, and then moved to a different understanding?
(2) How would you describe the Samaritan woman at the end of the narrative? Who do you know that is like a Samaritan Woman?
(3) The other Samaritans, drawn to the Lord Jesus because of the woman’s testimony, urge him to stay with them. Does Jesus accept their invitation? With what result? (John 4: 39-41). Share about the testimony of women that is bringing change to your community.
(4) The assertion that “this man really is the Savior of the World” (John 4:41) is also found in 1 John 4:14: “We have seen and testify that the Father has sent his Son to be the Savior of the World”. What is the implication of this assertion today?
WORLD DAY OF PRAYER - EGYPT
THEME: STREAMS IN THE DESERT
SUPPLEMENTARY MATERIAL: REFUGE IN EGYPT
Genesis 42: 1-7, 46: 1-7, Matthew 1: 18-21, 2:13-20
In recent years we have enjoyed worship with different cultural flavors—from Papua New Guinea, Cameroon, Malaysia, and France. But unlike all of these countries, Egypt had a role to play throughout the Bible, and boasts a history which dates back long before Bible times.
We want to offer here two Bible stories that connect with the history of Egypt. In the Old Testament, Egypt was a place of refuge from drought and famine for Jacob and his family during Joseph’s administration. In the New Testament it provided refuge from infanticide for the Lord Jesus and his family during the reign of Herod.
According to the United Nations Refugee Agency, Egypt is still a refugee receiving country. Today it offers refuge from war and violence for Sudanese, Somalis, and many others. The situation of the refugee population is very critical, as sometimes they lack social protection. Out of the Egyptian historical place in the Bible, we want to reflect on our Christian role of being a ‘stream in the desert’ to this population that truly experiences ‘drought’.
Christians (mostly Coptic Orthodox, but also including Roman Catholics and Protestants) comprise over twelve percent of Egypt’s population of around 80 million. We are proud to be Egyptian, but despite our country’s rich heritage or current openness, and our willingness to serve those in need, it is to the Lord our God that we look to for refuge and protection.
Part 1
Read Genesis 42: 1-7 and 46: 1-7
Joseph, who was sold by his brothers to merchants on their way to Egypt (Genesis 37:25-28), had matured from the hurt youth who wanted to lord it over his family, to the position of governor of Egypt—Pharaoh’s right-hand man. Now he was in a position to help his family just when they needed it most: a refuge for God’s people.
Discuss:
1. What part did God play in this journey? What were God’s plans for His people?
2. What is your country’s attitude towards asylum seekers? Do you know any refugees? What are they seeking refuge from: war, violence, religious persecution, abuse, domestic violence, bullying?
Part 2
Read Matthew 1: 18-21 and 2: 13-20
When jealous King Herod felt his regal glory was under threat from a baby, he took extreme measures. He ordered the murder of all boys aged two or under.
Discuss:
- How did God speak to Joseph? How does God speak to us today?
- The instructions to move on once the danger had passed were just as clear as God’s instructions to take refuge. Have you ever needed or sought refuge? Did you find it? Have you been able to move on after that?
- Is your church or fellowship a place of refuge? To whom can you offer refuge? What sort of refuge?
A Prayer
Lord God our refuge, we praise you because you are strong, unchanging, and trustworthy. Help us to look to you for protection in times of trouble, and to set our faces resolutely to the ultimate safety of eternal life with you. Keep us alert to see how we may offer refuge to those in need around us, to offer friendship and practical help, and to point them to you, their reliable Rock of protection. In Jesus’ name. Amen.
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