John 4:9,10 - If you knew the gift of God

4:9

The woman is surprised that Jesus has spoken to her. This would be for two reasons, one she was a woman, but most importantly she was a Samaritan. For reasons explained earlier, the Jews did ot think well of the Samaritans and had no dealings with them if at all possible. Jews would fear becoming ritually defiled if they did have dealings with a Samaritan. The fact that this was a woman made matters even worse in their eyes! They were considered to be ceremonially unclean. True religion makes the unclean clean.

4:10

The woman’s assessment of the situation was incorrect, or at least incomplete. Jesus often answered questions with questions, but here He makes a statement. “If you knew the gift of God”. The animosity between the Jews and the Samaritans probably occupied a great deal of their time whenever the two came into contact. The first thought would be “there is a barrier between us”. Much the same as there is between some nationalists and unionists in Ireland, or Israelites and Palestinians, or any of the other regions in the world where two or more groups are in conflict. We need to be careful not to allow such issues to dominate our minds to such an extent that we miss what God is doing. E.g Brexit or remain, independence for Scotland, etc. God’s ways are higher than our ways, and these issues though they do not matter, are not more important than God! The woman was encountering something and someone very different from all that she had experienced before. The “gift of God” is probably the gift of eternal life. There is a possibility that the gift of God refers to the Torah, and Jesus is saying that if she really understood the Law she would understand the current situation. However, this seems unlikely. “And who it is ...” It is not just a matter of the message of the gospel (though that does really matter, hence the New Testament!) but also of the person of Jesus Christ. If the woman had appreciated the situation properly she would have asked Jesus for living water. Living water is a much used metaphor in regions where water is a very scarce resource. It is one that is used frequently in the Old Testament, especially by the prophets. As we will learn, this woman had a very troubled background and no doubt often felt weighed down by life. Jesus encourages her to ask for living water. He wants her to ask for living water. So there are two key messages here. One is that Jesus can give living water, and the other is that He wants us to ask for living water.