Samarian Woman

Who are you?

not in the same sense that i ask you last week.

Who are you?

last week i ask as a question of your personal and internal self

this week we use the same words with a different intent

Externally --- interacting with another person.

when you meet someone that speaks with authority

But you don’t understand WHY they are there.

something seems odd.

I think this is what the Woman at the Well was thinking.

There was a show called UNDERCOVER BOSS

where the owner of the company would come down to the labor level of the organization and work along side the employees.

I only saw it a few times but it always amazed me.

at many points in the show you can see it on the faces of the employees

who is this person?

This person is brand new to my workplace, and they either don’t know or they appear to know deeper things about the cost of product or marketing or shipping issues

They simply cannot “put there finger” on what is wrong.

This Samaritan Woman has no idea at first who she is talking to.

She sees a man --- issue one

She is collecting her water after most have left

She sees a JEW — they don’t associate

The man talks to a women alone at a well

Honestly i think she is a little taken back — shocked.

This woman has no idea in the beginning of the conversation that she is talking to

the UNDERCOVER BOSS OF BOSS

the KING OF KINGS

to the MESSIAH — TO GOD ON EARTH.

Give me a Drink

as we open our verses this morning Ch 4 of the Gospel of John

Jesus is walking again

He is heading back to home base - GALILEE

But he needs to walk through Samaria

SAMARIA, one of the three divisions of the Holy Land, having Galilee on the north, Judea on the south, the river Jordan on the east, and the Mediterranean Sea on the west.

The Jews and the Samaritans are bitter to each other.

Jesus says GIVE ME A DRINK

is an amazing act of overriding traditions and prejudice

Jews disliked the Samaritans

Most things you read say that many or most Jews would cross the Jordan to avoid going through Samaria

But Jesus as we learned in John 3:16 loved and died for all

The biggest disagreement is the sanctity of Jerusalem.

The Samaritans do not recognize the sanctity of Jerusalem and do not recognize the Temple Mount,

claiming instead that Mount Gerizim was the place where the binding of Isaac took place.

sounds like a minor issue but it most certain was NOT

This will come up in our message a little later.

Jesus and the Disciples head into a town called Sychar

Where we know today and they new then that Jacobs well was from Genesis 33

where Jacob buys this area of land for 100 pieces of silver

and since he did not have water rights he digs a well of about 128 ft in depth.

This well is still there today inside of an Eastern orthodoxy church.

This field is bequeathed to Joseph from Jacob

and was being used as the source of water

for the ancient village that this woman is living in .

Jacobs well — existed by this time for over 1800 years

________

Jesus is tired — He sends all His disciples into town for some

Twinkies and Cokes — maybe some beef jerky but i am not sure they had beef jerky then

Jesus sees a woman coming to draw water....

This woman is likely very shocked and ask a normal question.....

Who are you?

Are you some Jew?

John 4:9 (ESV)

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.)

Just check this out....

A woman going about her daily chores…

not a high class well stationed woman in her community

I would suggest that with what we find out later she is somewhat the topic of gossip.

YET she walks to get water and sees a man sitting there

Her first reaction is by prejudice.

He looks like a Jew, is dressed as a Jew --- SO HE MUST BE A JEW.

Then Jesus ask her for a favor.

Can you get me a drink?

when she answers ---- it is with cultural bias

Jesus answers with TRUTH

I can almost see Christ’s smile.

If you REALLY knew who i was then you would be asking me for a drink

EXCEPT HE drops a JESUS Bomb in to the conversation

you know what i mean when you are reading the Gospels

and you know the reaction that Jesus should have made (meaning how you would have handled)

and then there is this CRAZY ODD statement that CHANGES every thing

Living Water

John 4:10 (ESV)

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.”

Living water --- hUH

what is that and there is the Jesus BOMB ---poof

but Jesus is not talking about water water is He?

October 2, 1965

some where deep in the labs of the University of Florida a household name was born.

you see it is hot in Florida… not like our hot

but HOT< STICKY< and SWEATY

it will drain the energy out of you HOT.

A football coach was noticing that his player were sweating like crazy and there energy levels would drop not matter what how much water they consumed.

the coach goes to the University labs with the problem seeking a solution

They produce a solution that we ALL know today.

The earliest version of the beverage consisted of a mixture of water, sodium, sugar, potassium, phosphate, and lemon juice.

Gatorade was created to help athletes by acting as a replacement for body fluids lost during physical exertion.

Water Water was not the solution to the problem

there needed to be something else

and Jesus has arrived to bring the Trinityade to the world

Disclaimer that i am required by God’s Law to read:

Trinityade is a HOLY owned copyright protected of the Living Water Product Company a subsiduary of

GREAT OVERALL DIETY company --- Referred herein as GOD.

it is the spiritual life giving ingredient brought by Jesus containing a mixture of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit.

consumption of Living Water will bring the side effects of a changed life, a different earthly perception and a guarantee of eternal life.

okay now that i got the legal stuff out of the way lets get back to the message.

Who are you?

Are you just a kind stranger who is willing to meet with me?

The woman is starting to understand

that this is not some random Jew sitting by a well seeking to have a drink.

She does then what we all do...

we go back to what we know --- History

in a way this is a story of one of our CORE Values at Horizon

to think ----

Biblically, Historically, and then Culturally

Just look at this exchange

the woman has them out of order but Jesus doesn’t

Woman:

Cultural ---you are a Jew

History --- Jacobs well

Biblically --- you must be a Prophet

Who are you?

She is thinking what she knows ----- WATER WATER

she is challenged by LIVING WATER

Then she is confronted with her way of life

the whole FIVE husbands

and the one you are with now is NOT your husband

you know my takeaway from that is simple

Jesus broke culture

Jesus broke tradition

Jesus knows “what is in the heart of man John 2:23-25 and still went to her”

Jesus went to a woman (culture issue)

Jesus went to a Samaritan (religious)

Jesus cared not for that

but

FOR THE PERSON

Sinner for sure

different for sure

broke traditions and bias-- FOR SURE

Who are you?

A Prophet ?

She suddenly learns that “this guy” may have got a little

Gatorade — some thing better than water water.

not a random Jew

more than just a kind random guy

and now you know things about me and we have never met?

Umm

Who are you?

she thinks again.

Maybe a Prophet

some one sent from God

a Prophet to save the Jews

YOU SEE SHE THOUGHT WELL YOU KNOW STUFF YOU ARE ABLE TO KNOW ME WITH OUT KNOWING ME

Her conclusion at this point:

a Jew, that was sent from God, and is walking through her town

stopping at a WELL for a Drink

She goes to history again — what she knows or has heard

you must be a Prophet

but that has NOTHING TO DO WITH ME

She doesn’t say it but she is thinking it

look at

John 4:20 (ESV)

20 Our fathers worshiped on this mountain, but YOU say that in Jerusalem is the place where people ought to worship.”

the You is not Jesus as individual, but Jesus as a JEW — a Prophet

Jesus is ready to answer her BIG QUESTION

Who are you?

The women is narrowing it down after Jesus says:

John 4:21–24 (ESV)

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.”

She moves deeper into understanding

Look at the change in her tone

She in the beginning of these verses

makes statements — you are a Jew

then a proposed guess — I perceive you are a Prophet

NOW she is seeing THE LIGHT --

she switches to a QUESTION

Are you the Messiah?

and Jesus says

John 4:26 (ESV)

26 Jesus said to her, “I who speak to you am he.”

WHO ARE YOU?

YOU are the CHRIST!

Conclusion:

We are all so many times like this woman

we are going about our life

then confronted with some thing and some one we don’t know or understand

we seek to solve the mystery with our understanding, history and bias

We use our national pride, our religious upbringing, or our moral ethics to understand.

YET TRUTH IS TRUTH

your truth, my truth, THE TRUTH

We have learned in this verses that a person will naturally seek to have a situation “tidied up in a box” so that we can understand

We would do the same as the woman

we would ask:

why are you in this place, your type doesn’t come here

Why do you think your better than the people that i have been taught to revere and admire

you know you need more than water water — earthly things in your life

YOU HAVE A BORN IN NEED ___ THE NEED FOR JESUS

we would seek to have understanding

and good chance that we would be confronted with our sins or false beliefs

We would feel the light of understanding arise, like in the UNDERCOVER BOSS Show

We would learn the TRUTH

So the BIG QUESTION FOR you today

Do you know WHO HE IS?

Are you going to GO TELL your VILLAGE that Jesus is alive today?

That you met the MESSIAH, that HE lives through the Holy Spirit in you?

no matter if they are from the SAMARIA in your heart.