Going Where They Are

When World War I began there were many German born immigrants living in America. They were called Huns and suspected of being spies, even the president of the Woodrow Wilson said that they could not be assimilated into American culture. During one census over 9,000 German born Americans disappeared and reappeared under other designations in the census. Some states banned the German language from schools and removed German books from libraries.

During World War II Japanese born Americans were rounded up and put in prison camps. Over 125.000 people were rounded up and put in these camps where conditions were terrible and people came to jeer and throw things at them through the fences.

This is nothing new. The Jews had similar issues in their world. about 900 years before Christ Israel split in two and was ruled by different kings often fighting against each other all through the books of Kings and Chronicles. The southern tribes worshipped in Jerusalem and the northern kings set up altars in Samaria and in Dan so that they could keep their people separated.

About 700 years before Christ the Assyrians raided and captured much northern Israel. They carried away slaves and gave conquered land to their citizens. The people of Samaria were taken to a foreign land and intermarried and the ones who stayed intermarried with the people who took over their land forming a mixed race over hundreds of years.

Since they worshipped in different places and their culture blended with the people they married their ways began to change. The Traditional Jews saw them as mongrels and as betraying their religion and hated them and everything they stood for.

When Jews traveled from Galilee to Judea they either had to go through Samaria, or circle around the long way, they chose to go the long way because they hated Samaritans. (show map)

Jesus must have often followed this same practice because he spent so much time in Bethany (where Mary, Martha and Lazarus lived and Jesus was a frequent visitor) was in Perea and was a common stopping place for Jews traveling around Samaria between Galilee and Judea. But this time something was different.

John 4:3–6 NASB95

He left Judea and went away again into Galilee. And He had to pass through Samaria. So He came to a city of Samaria called Sychar, near the parcel of ground that Jacob gave to his son Joseph; and Jacob’s well was there. So Jesus, being wearied from His journey, was sitting thus by the well. It was about the sixth hour.

It is interesting that it says he had to pass through Samaria when the normal course was to travel around it and Jesus apparently did so several times.

In the Jewish world time was calculated from sunrise to sunrise for the day and sunset to sunset for the night so the 6th hour would be 6 hours after sunrise, about noon. This would explain why there was no one around since it was the hottest time of the day and most people were staying inside. Most of the women would have drawn water in the early morning when it was cooler and so they could have fresh water for cooking and drinking throughout the day. It is often speculated that this particular woman came out at this time of day precisely because no one was out. Due to her lifestyle she was a social pariah and so she chose times when she would not have to confront other people and endure their ridicule.

John 4:7–27 NASB95

There came a woman of Samaria to draw water. Jesus said to her, “Give Me a drink.” For His disciples had gone away into the city to buy food. Therefore the Samaritan woman said to Him, “How is it that You, being a Jew, ask me for a drink since I am a Samaritan woman?” (For Jews have no dealings with Samaritans.) Jesus answered and said to her, “If you knew the gift of God, and who it is who says to you, ‘Give Me a drink,’ you would have asked Him, and He would have given you living water.” She said to Him, “Sir, You have nothing to draw with and the well is deep; where then do You get that living water? “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?” Jesus answered and said to her, “Everyone who drinks of this water will thirst again; but whoever drinks of the water that I will give him shall never thirst; but the water that I will give him will become in him a well of water springing up to eternal life.” The woman said to Him, “Sir, give me this water, so I will not be thirsty nor come all the way here to draw.” He said to her, “Go, call your husband and come here.” The woman answered and said, “I have no husband.” Jesus said to her, “You have correctly said, ‘I have no husband’; for you have had five husbands, and the one whom you now have is not your husband; this you have said truly.” The woman said to Him, “Sir, I perceive that You are a prophet. “Our fathers worshiped in this mountain, and you people say that in Jerusalem is the place where men ought to worship.” Jesus said to her, “Woman, believe Me, an hour is coming when neither in 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 an hour is coming, and now is, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth; for such people the Father seeks to be His worshipers. “God is spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth.” 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.” Jesus said to her, “I who speak to you am He.” At this point His disciples came, and they were amazed that He had been speaking with a woman, yet no one said, “What do You seek?” or, “Why do You speak with her?”

At a time and a culture when men and women did not interact socially, when Jews did not talk to Samaritans, when a woman who had had several husbands was considered bad and a woman who lived with a man without being married was considered to be as bad or worse than a prostitute this Rabbi, this holy man, this man of God chose to seek out this woman and start a conversation with her. Why. Why did he seek her out rather than someone else, why engage her in conversation, why her.

If is obvious that she needs some moral guidance. Was that his reason, if it was why did he not correct her or rebuke her for living with a man she was not married to. If was obvious that she could have used some moral correction but as far as we know Jesus never rebuked her.

She was a Samaritan and she even defended the Samaritan's rights to worship at the high place set up in Samaria rather than at the temple. Jesus could have told her about all of the things the Samaritans were doing wrong in their worship of God, he could have corrected every error and laid out a perfect plan for how to worship and where to worship but he did something else. Jesus told her that a time was coming when real worshiper would worship in spirit and in truth and that this was what God wanted, Jesus told here that it was not where you worshipped that mattered but how you worshipped in your heart. The sincerity of worship is what is important not the place.

Did you notice how Jesus started the conversation. He asked for a drink of water. What could be more common and natural than asking for drink of water during the heat of the day. Not only that but it was something she obviously could do, it would not cost her anything but a few moments of her time, it was not difficult and did not require a lot from her but it allowed her to do something for him, it put him in the position of asking her for something and her in the position of doing something for him. By that simple act Jesus told her that she was important, that she was valuable, that she had something to contribute, by simply asking for a drink of water Jesus showed this social outcast, this person who felt left out and cast out that she had value, that she was worthwhile. How many times do we go out of our way to make someone feel like that?

Then Jesus used this simple act, drinking water into a spiritual lesson. Jesus had knack for turning everything toward God. To Jesus everything in creation, every act, every animal, every crated thing reminded him of God the father. There is nothing that cannot be used to turn your attention back toward God because there is nothing in all of creation that was not made by him or that is not under his control. Anything can be used to demonstrate that God exists and anything can be springboard for leading someone to the true worship of God. Because Jesus knew this he could meet people where they are and use whatever is in their lives to relate to God, to make a connection, to form a bond between them and their creator. Jesus was never limited by his circumstances, he used creativity and a masterful knowledge of both God and the world around him to bring people and God together. That was his intention all along.

What about us? There must be a thousand different ways that have been marketed as the best way to reach people for Jesus. Books and booklets to pass out, pictures and devices to use, stories to tell, methods and words that make it easier to “reach people”.

Would you like to know what Jesus did, how he reached people. He went to where they were, he observed their lives and he paid attention to their problems and how they lived, what they wanted and who they were, He knew them. Then he stepped into their lives wherever they were and talked to them about what was important to them, about what they wanted and what they needed. Jesus met people exactly where they were and gave them exactly what they needed. Jesus used whatever was handy and whatever was important to each person to show them how they could connect with the creator God of the universe. He made them feel worthwhile and important not so that he could sell them on his point but because he knew that they were worthwhile and important, both to God and to him. Jesus showed us how to love people and how to spread that love.

So how do we do that today. None of us are as smart as Jesus, none of us have his insight so we cannot just look at a person and know them the way Jesus did. For us it takes a little more effort. We have to spend some time, we have to do some thinking and some looking in order to find out who someone is, what their problems are, how they live, what is important to them. We have to look around us and around them to see the needs in their life, both the needs that they perceive and the ones that they cannot see. We have to invest some time and energy in them. We have to get involved. We have to do what Jesus did and go to them, make an effort, we have to learn to understand others at the same time we try to understand God. We have to take our knowledge of God and our knowledge of people and put them together. Make a connection. Find a way that makes sense to us and makes sense to them that we can connect them with God. That is what Jesus did and it is what he wants us to do.

When we witness to others it should be our goal to meet their needs, to make them feel important, to show them their worth. After all, God meets our needs, it is because of who we are in Jesus that we understand our real value and our real worth. I am important because I am a child of the king and he loves me. It is just as true for them as it is for me. It is my job, my task, my honor to show others what I have been shown, to love others the way I have been loved, to share with others the most important thing in my life. God uses us to go into the world, where there are people that he loves in the same way he loves us and share what we have been given with whoever we can find. Even if they are in Samaria.