May 26, 2013 AD, by Pastor Ben Willis

I began preaching through the Gospel of John at New Years. Since then we’ve had many wonderful distractions from John with Lent and Holy Week and Easter. And then the Lord lead us to spend some time focusing on “honor” and growing more honoring and honorable. So here it is, the end of May, and we’re only beginning John, chapter 4! J

John 4:1-30 [NLTse]

Jesus knew the Pharisees had heard that He was baptizing and making more disciples than John 2 (though Jesus Himself didn’t baptize them—His disciples did). 3 So He left Judea and returned to Galilee.

4 He had to go through Samaria on the way. 5 Eventually He came to the Samaritan village of Sychar, near the field that Jacob gave to his son Joseph. 6 Jacob’s well was there; and Jesus, tired from the long walk, sat wearily beside the well about noontime. 7 Soon a Samaritan woman came to draw water, and Jesus said to her, “Please give Me a drink.” 8 He was alone at the time because His disciples had gone into the village to buy some food.

9 The woman was surprised, for Jews refuse to have anything to do with Samaritans. She said to Jesus, “You are a Jew, and I am a Samaritan woman. Why are You asking me for a drink?”

10 Jesus replied, “If you only knew the gift God has for you and Who you are speaking to, you would ask Me, and I would give you living water.”

11 “But sir, you don’t have a rope or a bucket,” she said, “and this well is very deep. Where would You get this living water? 12 And besides, do You think You’re greater than our ancestor Jacob, who gave us this well? How can You offer better water than he and his sons and his animals enjoyed?”

13 Jesus replied, “Anyone who drinks this water will soon become thirsty again. 14 But those who drink the water I give will never be thirsty again. It becomes a fresh, bubbling spring within them, giving them eternal life.”

15 “Please, sir,” the woman said, “give me this water! Then I’ll never be thirsty again, and I won’t have to come here to get water.”

16 “Go and get your husband,” Jesus told her.

17 “I don’t have a husband,” the woman replied.

Jesus said, “You’re right! You don’t have a husband— 18 for you have had five husbands, and you aren’t even married to the man you’re living with now. You certainly spoke the truth!”

19 “Sir,” the woman said, “You must be a prophet. 20 So tell me, why is it that You Jews insist that Jerusalem is the only place of worship, while we Samaritans claim it is here at Mount Gerizim, where our ancestors worshiped?”

21 Jesus replied, “Believe Me, dear woman, the time is coming when it will no longer matter whether you worship the Father on this mountain or in Jerusalem. 22 You Samaritans know very little about the One you worship, while We Jews know all about Him, for salvation comes through the Jews. 23 But the time is coming—indeed it’s here now—when true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and in truth. The Father is looking for those who will worship Him that way. 24 For God is Spirit, so those who worship Him must worship in spirit and in truth.”

25 The woman said, “I know the Messiah is coming—the one Who is called Christ. When He comes, He will explain everything to us.”

26 Then Jesus told her, “I Am the Messiah!”

27 Just then His disciples came back. They were shocked to find Him talking to a woman, but none of them had the nerve to ask, “What do You want with her?” or “Why are You talking to her?” 28 The woman left her water jar beside the well and ran back to the village, telling everyone, 29 “Come and see a man who told me everything I ever did! Could He possibly be the Messiah?” 30 So the people came streaming from the village to see Him…

39 Many Samaritans from the village believed in Jesus because the woman had said, “He told me everything I ever did!” 40 When they came out to see Him, they begged Him to stay in their village. So He stayed for two days, 41 long enough for many more to hear His message and believe. 42 Then they said to the woman, “Now we believe, not just because of what you told us, but because we have heard Him ourselves. Now we know that He is indeed the Savior of the world.”

The Lord is on the outskirts of the Samaritan village of Sychar, located at the base of Mt. Gerazim: Mt. Gerazim being where the Samaritans believed Moses was told to build God’s Temple, not Jerusalem. It’s about noontime – the sixth hour (most always counted from 6am in the morning or 6pm at night). And He’s waiting beside the well famously dug by the patriarch, Jacob: Waiting for His disciples to return with lunch.

While He waits a woman from Sychar comes for water, carrying her water jar the easiest way to carry a heavy, awkward item: On her head. And the Lord Jesus asks if she would draw Him some water.

Now, the rabbi’s said, “It is better that the words of the Law be burned than be delivered to a woman!” And they said, “He that eats the bread of the Samaritan is like the one that eats the flesh of swine.” But the Lord ignores such racial and gender barriers: He’s on a mission from God!

The woman, also, knows of the hatred between Jews and Samaritans (being a Samaritan she likely shared it!), so she’s amazed by His request and asks Him, “You are a Jew, and I am a Samaritan woman. Why are You asking me for a drink?” But Jesus doesn’t answer her. Instead He says, “If you knew how good God is and Who I am, you, dear lady, would be asking Me for water, and I would give you living water.”

His statement confuses her. You see, “living water” to her was simply running water: Fresh water, flowing water, like that from a river or stream; “living water” was in contrast with “dead water”, stagnant water, like that sitting in a well, basin, or pool. And she seems to hear in His words an insult against the patriarch, Jacob, who’d dug the well. But Jesus doesn’t let up, He says that the “living water” He’s talking about will be like a spring of water inside of her always gushing up to eternal life!

Now, the woman does ask the Lord Jesus to give her this water, but it seems clear that she’s only thinking they’re talking about water. Of course, we’ve read the whole account, so we know He’s truly talking about believing in Him, and all the gifts of the Holy Spirit that keep on springing up inside of us once we’ve come to believe!

So Jesus tells her to go and get her husband, because, although she seems fully engaged by their conversation, there can be no conversion without conviction: Talking about water and thirst and about living water and never being thirsty again had clearly aroused her mind and stirred her emotions, but the Lord knew He needed to touch her conscience, as well, and that meant bringing up her sin.

The woman responds the same way many do when the Lord addresses our sin: She tries to distract Him, in her case, with a question about religious practices. (It is much more comfortable to debate religion than to face our sins!)

The perfect evangelist, the Lord Jesus responds to her question, but in a way that draws her to begin seeing Him as the fulfillment of all her hopes and dreams and the desires of her heart. Basically He said, “No, not all religions are equally acceptable before God; yes, there are many zealous and well-meaning worshipers out there, but many are acting in ignorance and wrong-belief. The only faith that God accepts is that which He entrusted to the Jews: The Bible is Jewish in origin; the Savior God has provided is Jewish by birth; and, the very first to be a part of God’s Kingdom will be exclusively Jews! But true worship is far above the competing claims of Samaritans and Jews others.” Jesus says, “I have come to usher in a new age, the Kingdom of God! And only those with the Holy Spirit living within them, and only those who obey God’s truth, only those worship God acceptably.

I don’t know if you see it, but I find the woman’s response kind of comical, almost like she’s saying, “Yeah. Um, wow! That’s good… I’m not exactly sure what You’re talking about. But I do know that the Messiah – the Christ – is coming and that He’ll explain everything to us.” And then Jesus says, “I Am.” And know that in such a response that He is calling Himself by God’s Own name, “Yahweh; I am that I am”. Claiming to be that One: The Messiah; the Christ.

And (I love it) the Bible tells us that then, she just left: She just left Jesus sitting there by the well; she left her water jar behind; she just left and went to tell all her neighbors in Sychar what the Lord Jesus had done for her…

And it blows me away that the Bible tells us, “Many Samaritans from the village believed in Jesus because the woman had said, “He told me everything I ever did!” Not because she presented some well-thought out theological, but simply because she told them what He’d done for her.

So, I ask you, What has Jesus done for you? … Tell me, short and sweet, what has Jesus done for you? … [Ask several folks from around the congregation: What has Jesus done for you? What has Jesus done for you? What has Jesus done for you?]

Are you willing to tell others? Go tell others…