The Samaritan Woman
Notes
Transcript
Let us read John 4:15-17.
Chair Bible - Page 712
Are you ready for the message God has for us?
Cool let’s us begin!
Two groups who have been enemies for so many years the Samaritans and the Jews.
The Romans controlled both groups, To the Romans they were on equal footing.
In society though the Jews hold much more social power and they look at the Samaritans with disdain and contempt!
That is what makes this conversation such so special.
Jesus is a Jew and they don’t talk to Samaritans. They even avoid walking through Samaria purposefully taking the long way around the country in their travels.
Not Jesus!
Not only is this a Samaritan, its a woman! Another no, no for a Jewish male!
And on top of that a woman in adultery! You don’t do any of this in Jewish society!
Yet in this conversation Jesus doesn’t elevate himself, he humbles himself to meet her where she is in her life!
The conversation completely transforms this woman’s life and the lives of those who hear her testimony!
A Purposeful Plan
A Purposeful Plan
As I stated Jews avoid this territory traveling from Judea to Galilee
The most straightforward path is through Samaria
Jews would walk around, taking the much longer route
As this narrative unfolds it is clear that Jesus was purposeful in taking the more direct route through Samaria
A purpose beyond shortening the travel time!
There were many laws in regard to Jewish men interacting with women
They are never to speak alone to women who were not a relative
Much less a Samaritan women lost n adultery!
Now imagine the scene when the disciples return
They are surprised to see Jesus talking to her
John makes a point to say that none of them asked the questions they all must have thinking
To the woman: what do you want?
To Jesus: Why are you talking to her?
A Transformed Life
A Transformed Life
The conversation is so interesting not just because it happened, but what is talked about
There is something interesting in Jesus asking her for water
The woman points out Jesus mistake in asking her and talking to her
She does this by pointing out that he is Jew!
I wonder if it was fear that motivated her to speak, she is alone at a well with a strange man who is part of an unkind community toward her people
Then a turn happens and they talk about living water
10 Jesus replied to her, “If you knew the gift of God, and who it is who is saying to you, ‘Give Me a drink,’ you would have asked Him, and He would have given you living water.”
11 She said to Him, “Sir, You have no bucket and the well is deep; where then do You get this living water?
12 You are not greater than our father Jacob, are You, who gave us the well and drank of it himself, and his sons and his cattle?”
13 Jesus answered and 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 shall never be thirsty; but the water that I will give him will become in him a fountain of water springing up to eternal life.”
What Jesus says to her compels the woman to want to drink from a well of living water that Jesus is offering to her
15 The woman said to Him, “Sir, give me this water so that I will not be thirsty, nor come all the way here to draw water.”
Another turn in the conversation takes place as Jesus talks to her about her life
We should not impose a 21 century lens on this text
Women in this culture did not have the power to choose or initiate divorce.
It’s possible she’s been widowed five times, it’s also possible that Levirate was place
Even if it is multiple divorces, we must remember that men have all the power in that context.
I think it is important to take note that by showing he knows her life, Jesus is not judging this woman, like other men would have
Jesus is showing to her that her life is seen by God and that he still loves her!
Now they have a discussion about where people can worship, and Jesus points out neither on the mountain in Samaria, nor in the temple of Jerusalem…John 4:23
23 But a time is coming, and even now has arrived, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth; for such people the Father seeks to be His worshipers.
Worship is not about the place it’s about the people!
At this point Jesus reveals to her who she is
25 The woman said to Him, “I know that Messiah is coming (He who is called Christ); when that One comes, He will declare all things to us.”
26 Jesus said to her, “I am He, the One speaking to you.”
What happens next has astonished me for years!
The First Evangelist!
The First Evangelist!
The response of the woman to what Jesus has just said is so awesome!
She immediately leaves Jesus and heads back to town!
28 So the woman left her waterpot and went into the city, and said to the people,
29 “Come, see a man who told me all the things that I have done; this is not the Christ, is He?”
The people respond not with disbelief, or thinking this woman is crazy
They go to Jesus with her, this part of Samaria was ripe for harvest and it was the testimony of a women that was the catalyst of the change!
So let’s notice what John tells us about what happens John 4:39-42
39 Now from that city many of the Samaritans believed in Him because of the word of the woman who testified, “He told me all the things that I have done.”
40 So when the Samaritans came to Jesus, they were asking Him to stay with them; and He stayed there two days.
41 Many more believed because of His word;
42 and they were saying to the woman, “It is no longer because of what you said that we believe, for we have heard for ourselves and know that this One truly is the Savior of the world.”
Ultimately it was hearing Jesus for themselves that led them to believe that Jesus is the savior of the world!
This harvest for the kingdom of God that springs up in Samaria is unexpected
to Jesus’s disciples.
Jesus is the expected Messiah, but he is not the Messiah they expected.
There are times where God will call us to step outside our boundaries and go to the people in our society who are marginalized.
This behavior of his communicates to us, his followers, that in order to have harvest conversations, we have to be willing to be humble, to lay down what we might view as our rights, to set aside our privileges, and to truly see people not with judgment but as the beloved creations of God that they are.
Conclusion
It is unfortunate that divisions have always been a part of human society
It’s unfortunate that it even happens in the church!
Jesus broke boundaries over and over again to illustrate just how vast the love of God is.
This is the season of Lent, and so like Christ, may we be humble.
May we confess and repent of when we have allowed human boundaries to divide us and avoided God’s ripe harvest.
May we truly see and hear those around us, that they might know they are also the beloved of God.
Where are you in your life?
Do you want to come the fountain of living water?
Have you been seeking forgiveness for the way you have lived your life?
God has seen it all, yet He still loves you, He is waiting for you to take His hand and receive forgiveness.
Come to the altar today!
