Not What You Imagined
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We’ve been taking a journey through the Gospel of John, and looking at the various encounters that Jesus had with people, and what they reveal to us about the person of Jesus, about humankind, and about ourselves.
Last week we were in Chapter 3, and we read of Jesus interaction with Nicodemus, a Pharisee (that is a teacher of the Law) and a ruler of the Jews. In other words he was a man of high stature among the Jews.
It is in his conversation with Nicodemus that Jesus shares perhaps the most famous verse in all of Scripture, John 3:16. This verse and the one that immediately follows is central to John’s Gospel. John’s Gospel was written to both Jews and Gentiles living in the larger Greco-Roman world in Ephesus and beyond toward the close of the first century.
“For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him.
Now as we study this passage what we discover is when Jesus says, “the world”, he means that. Everything in the created world. That would include the good people, the bad people, those that would be considered “righteous” and those that would not.
Last week we had a ruler of the Jews, a man. This week, in chapter 4, we have a woman, and not only a woman, but a Samaritan (they were hated by the Jews). This woman is not only a Samaritan, but she is one who’s life has been lived in ways less than acceptable by the religious people of the day.
So with that as our introduction, let’s pray and ask God to open to us His Word in John chapter 4.
PRAYER
1 Now when Jesus learned that the Pharisees had heard that Jesus was making and baptizing more disciples than John 2 (although Jesus himself did not baptize, but only his disciples), 3 he left Judea and departed again for Galilee. 4 And he had to pass through Samaria. 5 So he came to a town of Samaria called Sychar, near the field that Jacob had given to his son Joseph. 6 Jacob’s well was there; so Jesus, wearied as he was from his journey, was sitting beside the well. It was about the sixth hour.
7 A woman from Samaria came to draw water. Jesus said to her, “Give me a drink.” 8 (For his disciples had gone away into the city to buy food.) 9 The Samaritan woman said to him, “How is it that you, a Jew, ask for a drink from me, a woman of Samaria?” (For Jews have no dealings with Samaritans.) 10 Jesus answered her, “If you knew the gift of God, and who it is that is saying to you, ‘Give me a drink,’ you would have asked him, and he would have given you living water.” 11 The woman said to him, “Sir, you have nothing to draw water with, and the well is deep. Where do you get that living water? 12 Are you greater than our father Jacob? He gave us the well and drank from it himself, as did his sons and his livestock.” 13 Jesus said to her, “Everyone who drinks of this water will be thirsty again, 14 but whoever drinks of the water that I will give him will never be thirsty again. The water that I will give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life.” 15 The woman said to him, “Sir, give me this water, so that I will not be thirsty or have to come here to draw water.”
16 Jesus said to her, “Go, call your husband, and come here.” 17 The woman answered him, “I have no husband.” Jesus said to her, “You are right in saying, ‘I have no husband’; 18 for you have had five husbands, and the one you now have is not your husband. What you have said is true.” 19 The woman said to him, “Sir, I perceive that you are a prophet. 20 Our fathers worshiped on this mountain, but you say that in Jerusalem is the place where people ought to worship.” 21 Jesus said to her, “Woman, believe me, the hour is coming when neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem will you worship the Father. 22 You worship what you do not know; we worship what we know, for salvation is from the Jews. 23 But the hour is coming, and is now here, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for the Father is seeking such people to worship him. 24 God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth.” 25 The woman said to him, “I know that Messiah is coming (he who is called Christ). When he comes, he will tell us all things.” 26 Jesus said to her, “I who speak to you am he.”
27 Just then his disciples came back. They marveled that he was talking with a woman, but no one said, “What do you seek?” or, “Why are you talking with her?” 28 So the woman left her water jar and went away into town and said to the people, 29 “Come, see a man who told me all that I ever did. Can this be the Christ?” 30 They went out of the town and were coming to him.
31 Meanwhile the disciples were urging him, saying, “Rabbi, eat.” 32 But he said to them, “I have food to eat that you do not know about.” 33 So the disciples said to one another, “Has anyone brought him something to eat?” 34 Jesus said to them, “My food is to do the will of him who sent me and to accomplish his work. 35 Do you not say, ‘There are yet four months, then comes the harvest’? Look, I tell you, lift up your eyes, and see that the fields are white for harvest. 36 Already the one who reaps is receiving wages and gathering fruit for eternal life, so that sower and reaper may rejoice together. 37 For here the saying holds true, ‘One sows and another reaps.’ 38 I sent you to reap that for which you did not labor. Others have labored, and you have entered into their labor.”
39 Many Samaritans from that town believed in him because of the woman’s testimony, “He told me all that I ever did.” 40 So when the Samaritans came to him, they asked him to stay with them, and he stayed there two days. 41 And many more believed because of his word. 42 They said to the woman, “It is no longer because of what you said that we believe, for we have heard for ourselves, and we know that this is indeed the Savior of the world.”
So much we could discuss, so we’re going to hit some highlights this morning.
First of all we have that statement in vs. 4 “And he had to pass through Samaria”.
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This was the most direct route, but a strict Jew would take a longer route that involved crossing the Jordan and traveling on the east side to avoid defilement. So, was Jesus need to go through Jerusalem because it was shorter or was it a divine appointment. I think it was the latter, it was an example to his disciples, to the woman, and now to us.
The next statement that stands out to me is in verse 6
Jacob’s well was there; so Jesus, wearied as he was from his journey, was sitting beside the well. It was about the sixth hour.
I love the idea of knowing that Jesus can relate to when we get tired and weary.
Then we get into this conversation at the well.
Jesus asks a Samaritan woman for a drink - this doesn’t necessarily strike us as odd, but notice v. 9
The Samaritan woman said to him, “How is it that you, a Jew, ask for a drink from me, a woman of Samaria?” (For Jews have no dealings with Samaritans.)
The cultural boundaries that Jesus is violating by merely having this conversation are huge.
He’s talking to a woman - for a strict Jew you would not even talk to a woman other than your wife in public.
Jesus is a Jew and He’s talking to a Samaritan - do you remember the parable of the Good Samaritan? The reason that was so striking to Jesus’ audience was because the Samaritans were thought to be the lowest of the low. They were hated by the Jews.
She recognizes that this Jew asking her for water is not normal, and Jesus shifts the focus up a level.
Jesus answered her, “If you knew the gift of God, and who it is that is saying to you, ‘Give me a drink,’ you would have asked him, and he would have given you living water.”
She’s doesn’t get it yet. She is not yet comprehending what Jesus is talking about.
Jesus attempts to lift her focus again in vs. 13-14
Jesus said to her, “Everyone who drinks of this water will be thirsty again, but whoever drinks of the water that I will give him will never be thirsty again. The water that I will give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life.”
Again, the woman doesn’t rise up to Jesus level. She is still only seeing the here and now. She responds with “Give me this water, so that I will not have to come here to draw water.”
Jesus is about to go deep, and it’s going to hurt. Remember what Jesus said in John 3:20?
For everyone who does wicked things hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his works should be exposed.
She is about to be exposed.I love how John Piper phrases this when he titles a section on this chapter “To the Heart Through The Wound”.
Jesus said to her, “Go, call your husband, and come here.” The woman answered him, “I have no husband.” Jesus said to her, “You are right in saying, ‘I have no husband’;
for you have had five husbands, and the one you now have is not your husband. What you have said is true.”
Ouch!
Her sin is laid bare.
In our story here we see so much of ourselves in her very human response. When we get caught, what do we do? Change the subject.
And if it’s our own sin that we’re caught in and exposed for, well then let’s make it sound like a righteous theological conversation. That’s exactly what she does!
She raises the controversy about where is the right place to worship. It defies all logical sense: “As long as we are talking about my adultery, what is your stance on the issue of where people should worship?”
She knows that Jesus knows the truth about her, but she doesn’t initially want to face what that will mean for her.
Look at vs. 21-24
Jesus said to her, “Woman, believe me, the hour is coming when neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem will you worship the Father. You worship what you do not know; we worship what we know, for salvation is from the Jews. But the hour is coming, and is now here, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for the Father is seeking such people to worship him. God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth.”
The Samaritans rejected all the Old Testament except for their own version of the Torah - the first 5 books of the Bible. Their knowledge of God was incomplete, and so Jesus tells the woman just that. It’s about who you worship, not where you worship.
I believe it was Soren Kierkegaard who once quipped, “At the end of a worship service we should not ask, ‘How was it?’ but instead, ‘How did I do?’
In vs. 25-26 the woman reveals that she does understand that the Messiah is coming.
The woman said to him, “I know that Messiah is coming (he who is called Christ). When he comes, he will tell us all things.” Jesus said to her, “I who speak to you am he.”
And Jesus reveals that he is the Messiah. We don’t see the woman’s reaction until vs. 28
So the woman left her water jar and went away into town and said to the people, “Come, see a man who told me all that I ever did. Can this be the Christ?” They went out of the town and were coming to him.
Think about that statement. “Come, see a man who told me all that I ever did.” The town no doubt knew much of what she had done. She was coming to draw water in the middle of the day, for a reason (normally people would draw water in the cool of the morning). It is likely her reason for not doing so was because of her shame, and now she speaks openly about it!
Where’s your sin?
Be willing to bring it into the light instead of changing the subject
Confess it to a trusted Christian friend. Don’t minimize it or excuse it; turn away from it.
Pray
As the story goes on we discover that this woman with the reputation she had, and a Samaritan, is the first recorded missionary in John’s Gospel. From a ruler of the Jews to an adulterous woman from a hated race of the Jews, John demonstrates that Jesus brings salvation to whoever will believe in him.
For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him.
AMEN