When therefore the Lord knew that the Pharisees had heard that Jesus makes and baptises more disciples than John
The chapter opens with a report, not a miracle: the Pharisees had heard that Jesus was gaining more followers than John the Baptist. Why did the Son of God answer their jealousy by leaving Judaea, and why does John say that Jesus Himself did not baptize?
The verse names Him in two different ways. One writer notes who uses each name, and how the Lord came to know the report:
Notice "the Lord" used by the writer of the Gospel, and "Jesus" used by the Pharisees. For "the Lord," compare John 6:23, John 11:2, John 20:20. "Knew" — that is, supernaturally.
The same writer points out who actually did the baptizing, and what the Lord already knew was coming:
His disciples had little idea of the depth of the glory in Him, or of the blessing for man that came with it. They baptized eagerly, and so exposed their Master to the spite of those who could hardly bear His increase and honour. Notice that it was not He, but His disciples, who baptized. He knew the end from the beginning. They might baptize people to Him as Messiah. But He, the Son of God, knew from the first that He must suffer and die as the Son of Man. So the baptism He instituted came afterwards, and pointed to His death and resurrection. The Son of God knew what was in man, even when man wanted to honour Him for the signs He did. He knew just as well how His disciples' activity would affect the religious men of that day.
The word order in the verse settles a practical question about baptism:
Do I need to quote John 4:1 to prove how foolish it is to think that baptizing is the means of making disciples? "Jesus was making and baptizing more disciples than John." Baptizing, then, is the outward mark of someone who is already a disciple... We never hear of Peter, or anyone else, going first to baptize; they went to preach, and then those who received the word were baptized.
One writer names the group behind the report and the reasons for their hostility:
Very early, as we have seen, opposition arose (2:18). Now we learn of a group more bitterly opposed to Him than any other: the Pharisees. His teaching condemned their hypocritical practices. And it seems that the spread of the new movement stirred up their jealousy, since people saw Him as its head.
His answer to the whispering was to leave. One writer sees in that a kindness aimed at John as much as at Himself:
John gladly took the place of decreasing so that his Master might increase. The Master withdrew to Galilee so that no one might set up a rivalry, which would have hurt His servant so much. Such was His thoughtful care for John. What is more, treating Him that way would have belittled the Lord Himself. It would have placed Him alongside John as a kind of party leader.
Their jealousy did more than move Him a few miles. It emptied the land of the one thing that made it privileged:
It was the jealousy of the Pharisees that really drove the Lord out of Judaea. What was that land any longer? What was it without Him, above all, when it rejected Him and He abandoned it? They might boast of the law, but they had not kept it. They might claim the promises, but He — the promised One who fulfils them all — had been there, and they did not know Him or love Him. What use was the first covenant to them now? It could only secure their condemnation; it could bring no deliverance.
What closed in Judaea opened elsewhere, and the move was toward freedom, not retreat:
He had left the religious centre of men, so that nothing could hinder His display of grace... In the freedom of His own grace, He goes to the place where He can meet the most wretched heart on earth. He goes there to fill it by revealing Himself.
- Knew — He knew the report supernaturally, just as He knew from the first that He must die. Nothing caught Him off guard.
- Made — the word received makes a disciple; baptism then marks him out. The washing never manufactures one.
- Envied — the Pharisees resented the growing crowd, and His teaching condemned their hypocrisy.
- Withdrew — He refused the role of a rival party leader, sparing John and guarding His own honour.
- Overflowed — jealousy emptied Judaea of its Messiah and carried His grace out to the neediest heart He could find.
(however, Jesus himself did not baptise, but his disciples),
The Pharisees heard that Jesus was baptizing more disciples than John. The writer of the Gospel breaks in to correct them: the baptizing was real, but the hands were His disciples' hands, not His own.
Before asking why He held back, it helps to see what His followers were doing, and what their baptizing meant:
Here at the start we find Jesus with His disciples in Judea, and baptizing. Yet we are told at once that the Lord did not baptize Himself — only His disciples did (John 4:2)... In the New Testament, baptism is always to death. Christian baptism is to Christ's death (Rom. 6:3). To take your place in death is to profess repentance... Yet through His disciples He could confirm this truth, while taking care to keep His own place apart.
The reason lies in what He knew about His own mission:
Jesus did not Himself baptise, for He knew the whole extent of the counsels of God in grace, the true object of His coming. He could not bind souls by baptism to a living Christ. The disciples were right in so doing. They had so to receive Christ. It was faith on their part.
Another writer explains what that rite could reach, and what it could not:
Christ had before Him the counsels of God, to bring sinners into heavenly blessings. So He could not carry out a rite that only linked them with Himself on earth, even though it did separate souls from the guilty nation. For the disciples, at the moment it was right to baptize; for in the faith of their souls they knew Christ only on earth.
The disciples worked with zeal, but their view of Him was smaller than the truth:
The disciples had little idea of the depth of the glory in Him, or of the blessing that would follow for man. They baptized with zeal, and so exposed their Master to the spite of men who could barely stand His increase and honour. Notice that it was not He, but His disciples, who baptized. He knew the end from the beginning... They might baptize to Him as Messiah; but He, the Son of God, knew from the first that He must suffer and die as the Son of Man... So the baptism He set up came after His death and resurrection, and pointed to them.
One writer draws out what the disciples could do, and what only He could do:
The Lord now leaves Judea. He knew what the Pharisees were thinking about His baptizing more disciples than John. The Lord Himself did not do the baptizing. He left that to His disciples. They could bury the dead, but He is the giver of life.
The gift of the Spirit is itself called a baptism. One writer takes the Lord's own conduct here as the proof that the two baptisms must never be mixed:
Baptism with the Holy Spirit is a true initiation into a spiritual state. It must never be confused with any baptism of water. The Lord's own conduct draws that line: "Jesus Himself did not baptize, but only His disciples" (John 4:2).
The same pattern appears later with Peter and Paul, and it settles a question about who may baptize:
Notice in passing that baptizing is in no way a task only a minister may do. It can be quite right and fitting for someone preaching the gospel to baptize. But a case might well arise where the preacher would avoid doing it himself. Paul thanked God that this was so with himself at Corinth. Peter here did not baptize either. He simply "commanded them to be baptized." God is always wise.
- Correction. The rumour said Jesus was baptizing. The writer breaks in: the hands were His disciples'. He kept His own place apart, and through them confirmed the truth.
- Knowledge. He held back because He knew the whole plan of God. No rite could bind souls to a living Christ whose death and resurrection were still ahead.
- Timing. For the disciples it was right at that moment, because they knew Him only on earth. The baptism He set up came after His death, and pointed to it.
- Distinction. He did not baptize with water, and that draws a line no one should erase. Water baptism is one thing. Baptism with the Spirit is another.
- Delegation. What He left to others, others may do. Baptizing needs no special office. Giving life He kept to Himself.
he left Judaea and went away again unto Galilee.
This verse records a movement, not a miracle. The Son of God turns His back on Judea. That short travel note opens the whole chapter: it is how a Samaritan woman at a well came to meet the Messiah of Israel.
The Pharisees had heard that His disciples were baptizing crowds. Their jealousy is what moved Him. One writer asks what that land was worth once He left it:
It was the jealousy of the Pharisees, then, which in reality drove the Lord from Judaea. What was that land any longer? What was it without Him, above all, when it rejected Him and He abandoned it? They might boast of the law, but they had not kept it. They might claim the promises, but He had been there — the promised One, the One who fulfils all the promises. They did not know Him. They did not love Him. More and more they showed how estranged their hearts were from Him, their Messiah. What could the first covenant do for them now? It could only ensure their condemnation; it could work no deliverance. These proud religious men saw in Him only a man. They never suspected that He was the Word become flesh.
He was leaving no ordinary place:
After the introductory chapters, the Gospel of John begins by showing us Jesus leaving Judea. He leaves the Jewish capital, the centre of the throne of God on the earth. It was the ancient seat of Him who had now come down in grace, and who could not find where to lay His head in an unfriendly world.
Leaving that circle carries a lesson for us:
He had left the religious centre of men, so that nothing would hinder His display of grace. And you can depend on it: if you want to reach and enjoy the truth of God, you have to leave human religion in every shape behind.
He did not walk away coldly:
Men did not believe on Him because of the miracles He did. Instead the Pharisees grew jealous. So the Son of God in sorrow turns His back on that Judea to which He came from God. He felt it, as He always did. It could not be otherwise; it ought not to be otherwise. Love could not help feeling it. It was not just that they rejected Him. He felt for them as they threw away their own mercies, rejecting God Himself — rejecting Him, their Messiah. Yet this very rejection leads Him to display such grace as Judea had never heard of.
One writer traces what came of that withdrawal:
He knew they were aware that His disciples were making and baptizing many on His behalf. He knew this would draw out hostility, so He withdrew from among them. He went towards Galilee, and had to go through Samaria. There He met the woman and ministered blessing to her soul, which resulted in blessing for many others also. If some reject His grace, their unbelief does not dry up the channel, but diverts it: others get it.
His road to Galilee ran through Samaria:
He was weary, so He sits down outside the town at the edge of the well. He had to go that way. But this necessity gave occasion for the working of that divine grace which filled His Person. That grace overflowed the narrow limits of Judaism.
Another writer puts the same point about the route more directly: the way He took was not only about the map.
His route to Galilee lay through Samaria and He had to pass that way. This was not only because of where these two regions lie, but to accomplish a work in a woman and in others who belonged to the city of Sychar.
Where He went matters too:
Christ knew that, for the time, His earthly Kingdom was set aside. So He leaves Judaea to go into Galilee of the Gentiles (Matthew 4:15), to teach us truths that are for all the world.
- Cause — the jealousy of the Pharisees over His growing number of disciples drove the Lord out of Judea.
- Cost — He felt the rejection. He was leaving the Jewish capital, the centre of God's throne on earth, with nowhere to lay His head.
- Channel — unbelief in one place does not dry up grace. It diverts it, and others get what one group refused.
- Course — the road through Samaria looked like plain geography. In fact it was the occasion for grace to overflow the limits of Judaism and reach a woman at a well.
- Compass — He heads for Galilee of the Gentiles, and what He teaches from there is for all the world, not one nation.
And he must needs pass through Samaria.
Between Judea and Galilee, John records one word about the route — a "must." Was it simply the shortest road? Or was something else drawing Him to a well in Samaria?
The plain reading is a matter of maps: Samaria lay between Judea and Galilee. But the road also brought Him to one particular town. Commentators read a second reason behind the first.
The direct route to Galilee ran through the district of Samaria, so He "had to go" that way. That was a matter of geography. But there was also a necessity tied to the grace of God. It set Him on a road that brought Him to one particular city of Samaria, called Sychar.
Others push further. The shortest road was not the only road open to a Jewish traveller.
Why did He have to pass through Samaria? It is true that the direct route to Galilee ran through Samaria. But strict Jews took other routes, to avoid a people they despised. So the need was not a question of roads and countries. May we not say instead that the need was in the heart of God? Before the world was made, God had purposed blessing for a poor sinful woman in Samaria. To win that soul and gladden the heart of God, Jesus had to go through Samaria.
Commentators differ here. One writer takes the necessity as practical, while still allowing God's purpose behind it:
The "must" in chapter 4:4 is a practical one. The straight way was through Samaria, and the Jews usually went that way, though they did not stop in Samaria as they passed. I would not say He went on purpose to meet this woman — though it was God's purpose that He should.
He did not leave Judea by choice. The same writer who calls the necessity practical still sees the move as an opening for something larger.
Now, in John 4, Jesus is driven away by the jealousy of the Jews. He begins His ministry outside that people, while still recognising their true place in God's dealings. He goes away into Galilee, but His road led Him past Samaria... Being weary, He sits down outside the town at the edge of the well — for He had to go that way. But this necessity gave occasion for the working of that divine grace which was in the fullness of His Person, and which overflowed the narrow limits of Judaism.
Rejection in one place did not shut down His work; it redirected it.
He went towards Galilee, and had to go through Samaria. There He met the woman and brought blessing to her soul, and that brought blessing to many others too. If some reject His grace, their unbelief does not dry up the channel — it diverts it, and others get it.
Samaria was not neutral ground. Jews kept apart from Samaritans. One writer argues they were right to do so, which makes the Lord's place on that road all the more striking.
The Jews were acting in consistent righteousness when they refused all dealings with the Samaritans... They were to be God's witnesses against the world. They were the clean, kept separate from the unclean, as a testimony to the righteousness of God against a corrupted earth. But Jesus was now standing apart from Israel. He had left Judea, the place of righteousness, and stood in defiled Samaria as Son of God, the Saviour of sinners. He had already gone to Judea looking for righteousness, the proper fruit of that country, and had not found it. He is not going to look for it in Samaria either. Here He must act in another way altogether — in the way of grace only.
At the well two tired people meet. One writer sets their contrast side by side.
She too was weary, as her words soon show. She was alone, as He was alone — but that only makes the contrast greater. She was in the sin that leaves a person isolated, shamed and condemned; He was in the unique glory of His Person and of His search... They were at opposite extremes, on opposite paths, and yet they met. It was not by her will or her planning, and she did not know what lay ahead of her. On His side it was the love that carried its own necessity: "He had to pass through Samaria."
- Must (1). On the surface the word is geography: the straight road from Judea to Galilee ran through Samaria.
- Must (2). Writers see a second necessity too: grace steering Him to one town, one well, one woman. Commentators differ on how far to press this.
- Must, not merit. Samaria was the place Jews avoided. He came there not to look for righteousness, but "in the way of grace only."
- Must, redirected. Jealousy in Judea pushed Him out. Unbelief did not dry up the stream of blessing; it diverted it, and others received it.
- Must, and met. She came for water by her own will; He came by love's own necessity — and their opposite paths crossed at the well outside Sychar.