John 4:1-4 1Then when Jesus learned that the Pharisees had heard that Jesus was making and baptizing more disciples than John– 2although Jesus himself was not baptizing but his disciples– 3he left Judea and departed again for Galilee. 4And he had to pass through Samaria.
The next story serves as an illustration of the points made in chapter 3. The story in chapter 4 develops through dialogues between Jesus and other characters. In each part, Jesus fulfills some aspect of Old Testament prophecy, which shows his link to God’s eternal plan that began to be revealed in the Hebrew Scriptures. This theme of fulfillment will appear in several places in the following chapters, both implicitly and explicitly.
The Pharisees heard a rumor about Jesus baptizing people, but John the author clarifies this in verse 2. Jesus’ baptism was special and spiritual and not the earthly baptism doneby John or Jesus’ disciples. It appears that Jesus was growing in popularity but for the wrong reasons as the rumors circulated about him. The Pharisees had criticized John’s ministry and then turned their criticism towards Jesus. They had missed the most essential elements of the message of both. Baptism was being redefined in John’s ministry as the preparation through repentance for the Messiah. Jesus did not baptize but apparently used his disciples as the agents, as implied in 3:22.
As part of the transition of ministry recorded in these verses, verse 4 makes an interesting statement about why Jesus moved through Samaria. Jesus had spent some time in Judea and was going to return to the primary place of his ministry around the Sea of Galilee. Samaria was between Judea and Galilee. Some Jews avoided Samaria and went around it, but the most convenient and quickest route was to pass through. That Jesus had to pass through Samaria could have been for convenience, but the use of this language (edei) prepares for the story that follows. There was someone in Samaria who needed to hear the word of new life that chapter 3 describes. In the larger context of John’s Gospel, chapter 4 illustrates chapter 3. The faith of the Samaritan woman can be compared to the questions of Nicodemus. Nicodemus was at the highest point of Jewish society, and he needed to be born again. The Samaritan woman was the lowest of society, and she experienced being born again.
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