Women at the Well

One Matters

For the last number of weeks, We have been on this series simply called “one matters”

Why? because there is nothing closer to the father than when one of his kids returns home…And

There is no person that is off limits

No Distance Jesus wouldn’t go

The mission of Jesus is to redeem all of humanity

See every other religion in the world says there are things that you have to do in order to be made right before God.

You have to act a certain way, give a certain thing…Jump through whatever hoops

But Christianity says that there is nothing that you can do to be good on your own merit that you need to be rescued by a Holy God

The only one who can make your life right is the only one who himself is Good…It is God himself

So The utter difference between Christianity and any other religion

is that God comes to us.

God takes on flesh, he rescues us, it is not out of our own effort, it is not because of something good we did, it is out of pure and sheer grace…

I have heard people say that it is arrogant for christians to claim that Jesus is the only way to salvation.

And I will tell you there is no arrogance in taking what no one else offers.

So the story we are going to look at today is found in John 4. And what I could tell you about the book of John is that it is a great place to go if you love getting into the weeds of scripture. And I do love the weeds, but I promised myself that we would stay out of the weeds today otherwise we could be here a good long time.

so I am going to read this scripture to us through out this sermon, but The Chosen actually did this scene so I thought that we’d watch it first

The Chosen Video 7min

Now they have to take some creative license but isn’t this so good

Jesus meets us where we are at

as we look at what is in this text

Lets look at John 4:4

John 4:4 NIV

Now he had to go through Samaria.

This sentence is actually a bit of commentary from John.

Jesus had to go through Samaria. It’s not actually true, there was another, albeit a longer route

But there is actually a racial barrier here. You’ve probably heard it before but Samaritans and Jews didn’t get along. Samaritans only used the first 5 books of the Bible and insisted that the center of worship be where there were and Jews used the entire Old Testament and said no the center of worship is at the temple in Jerusalem.

They had exchanged attacks on one another in the past. The Jews leveled the Samaritans temple and the Samaritans attacked the temple in Jerusalem…

So there was bad blood here…

But Jesus had to go through Samaria which by the way was a very religious area

Why did Jesus have to go though Samaria? Well its very simple, there were lost people there…

Because Jesus had compassion on these people who were supposed to be enemies.

So what happens next?

John 4:5–7 NIV

So he came to a town in Samaria called Sychar, near the plot of ground Jacob had given to his son Joseph. Jacob’s well was there, and Jesus, tired as he was from the journey, sat down by the well. It was about noon. When a Samaritan woman came to draw water, Jesus said to her, “Will you give me a drink?”

Ok so he went to Jacob’s well. This is a weed..John wants the reader to remember this is the exact same historical land where Jacob met his wife…It’s wanting to point you back to the well stories in the book of Genesis 24 and Exodus 2…And say look, here is another well story…

So instead of doing all the theological work in front of you…The well stories were about finding brides for these men and what is one of the chief metaphors of Jesus and the church? He is the Bridegroom and the church is the bride of Christ…

So it’s hard for us to see it as 21’st century Americans but Jesus meets this woman at the well because it is a massive symbol…Jesus is going after his bride!

Jesus chases after us! He comes to where we are at

The first fill-in the blank answers a question that you should ask when you are reading the Bible. Where is God?

Jesus comes to us and meets us where we are at

This is both a simple point and an incredibly profound point

Its simple because when you look at this story and just ask, Where is God? He is sitting there at the well just waiting for this woman…

But its a complex point too because

The God of the universe comes to us! This is what we celebrate in Christmas, that God became human.

This is what no other religion offers…

Because Jesus comes to us it hi-lights that what he wants with us is relationship.

I think this takes the pressure off of Evangelism. See we are still called to share the good news but we have to have the faith that Jesus is just there waiting for the person…Our job is to point to what Jesus has done in our own life and let them know they can have the same thing…

See sharing the gospel is something that we are all called to do by virtue of the fact that there was a day where Jesus met us where we were at

Next week we are going to share Jesus’ evangelism strategy…And I promise you it is not high pressure sales!

But the point to remember is that God comes to us!

If you have been saved and redeemed by Jesus then you have truth to tell and the truth is your story of how you’ve been changed.

Have confidence and faith in the moment that Jesus is there and wants to meet this person right where she is at

There is another point here

John 4:7 NIV

When a Samaritan woman came to draw water, Jesus said to her, “Will you give me a drink?”

This is a famous story so if you have never heard it before..there is a key point to notice

It is noon and this woman is alone.

It would have been very unusual for a woman to come at noon to draw water…

It would have been indicative of the fact that she was a social outcast not accepted by her own society.

And Jesus asks her will you give me water to drink…

So first of all this is a 3 day journey and Jesus is probably thirsty…

But second of all, a Jewish man would never stoop as low as to ask a Samaritan woman for a drink…It just wasn’t proper…It would have been unclean.

But the beauty of Jesus is that he is God..

He doesn’t care about our little man made Arbitrary barriers of class or race or gender

Jesus breaks barriers because in him there are no barriers…

Let’s keep reading

John 4:8–18 NIV

(His disciples had gone into the town to buy food.) The Samaritan woman said to him, “You are a Jew and I am a Samaritan woman. How can you ask me for a drink?” (For Jews do not associate with Samaritans.) Jesus answered her, “If you knew the gift of God and who it is that asks you for a drink, you would have asked him and he would have given you living water.” “Sir,” the woman said, “you have nothing to draw with and the well is deep. Where can you get this living water? Are you greater than our father Jacob, who gave us the well and drank from it himself, as did also his sons and his livestock?” Jesus answered, “Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again, but whoever drinks the water I give them will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give them will become in them a spring of water welling up to eternal life.” The woman said to him, “Sir, give me this water so that I won’t get thirsty and have to keep coming here to draw water.” He told her, “Go, call your husband and come back.” “I have no husband,” she replied. Jesus said to her, “You are right when you say you have no husband. The fact is, you have had five husbands, and the man you now have is not your husband. What you have just said is quite true.”

If you have heard any sermon on the woman at the well then you have probably heard some pastor somewhere call this woman a person of loose moral character, someone who was sexually promiscuous…And that could be true

But there has been significant research done in just the last 50 years on the culture in of the first century when Jesus lived and I have to tell you that in the somewhat small world of Johnannine Scholarship the attitudes are changing toward this woman and some scholars have outright apologized to this woman for getting it wrong over the years

We as pastors have treated this woman as some kind of prostitute…sort of like a first century gold digger, living from man to man, bedroom to bedroom..

But the more we know about the samaritans, It is probably less likely that this woman was a woman of loose moral character…

See commentators have been saying this as a result of the idea that we have lived post - sexual revolution where women are sexually liberated

But there was probably no stricter society for women then 1st century Samaria. Especially sexually speaking

In this society, women had zero power in relationships and could be divorced for any reason. Some scholars doing modern work on this text say that she was more than likely a barren woman who was thrown out of each marriage after not producing a child for them

Now all we have here us cultural knowledge to draw this conclusion…We do know in a slightly less strict society in John 8, a woman caught in adultery is brought out to get stoned for her loose morals…

So instead of this woman being some kind of a prostitute, it is very likely that she was a discarded woman

One who was sent away from each marriage because her body wouldn't produce a child…Now that is not definitive but it is just as solid of a guess that she was a promiscuous woman

Now even if she was a victim there would have been considerable shame and stigma from her society

Even though it wasn’t all her fault she would have felt her society de-value her

Jesus meets the women at the well in her shame and in her misery

The question is as we go to tell others the story of God…Don’t we have the same story?

Jesus meets us where we are at.

Me goes with us to our shame and misery

But what does Jesus say to her? He tells her the truth…

The fact is, you’ve had 5 husbands and the man you live with is not your husband…

Not only does Jesus tell her the truth he relates

Here is what I think Jesus is saying to this woman…You are misunderstanding the kind of thirst you have…

What a great thing to notice by the way as you talk to your non christian friends…

We think all of these things in life will meet the need but we mis understand the real need in our life! the real need of relationship with the living God!

For the woman: You are coming to this well to quench your thirst but what will you do about your need for being loved? What will you do about your need for being cherished or accepted?

It’s no wonder that Jesus goes right to this woman’s biggest source of shame and sin and he exposes it…You might think it is rude but the reality is that if Jesus truly is the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world then he has to address it in our lives first..

he has to show us what he is saving us from

I love the next scene because its pastoral counseling in a nutshell

John 4:19–26 NIV

“Sir,” the woman said, “I can see that you are a prophet. Our ancestors worshiped on this mountain, but you Jews claim that the place where we must worship is in Jerusalem.” “Woman,” Jesus replied, “believe me, a time is coming when you will worship the Father neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem. You Samaritans worship what you do not know; we worship what we do know, for salvation is from the Jews. Yet a time is coming and has now come when the true worshipers will worship the Father in the Spirit and in truth, for they are the kind of worshipers the Father seeks. God is spirit, and his worshipers must worship in the Spirit and in truth.” The woman said, “I know that Messiah” (called Christ) “is coming. When he comes, he will explain everything to us.” Then Jesus declared, “I, the one speaking to you—I am he.”

It’s always easier to talk theology, to debate a theological point… then it is to deal with the truth of your life.

So Jesus goes with her on her theological question only to give her the biggest disclosure in the world.

“I am the Messiah”

And what Jesus is saying he is something all together amazing…He is saying…Look I know you think you are doing church right and the Jews think they are doing church right but for all of you your chief question is who is doing it right?

But true worshipers want relationship with the living God…the true worshipers worship the father in Spirit and truth

Then he said, those are the kind that God seeks

Don’t miss the point that Jesus came seeking out this woman.

and what he wants is her heart…

While Jesus knows our sin he also knows our potential

Jesus knew the potential of what would happen if this woman…The lowest of her whole society turner her heart over to Jesus

What would happen if your ONE person turned their heart over to Jesus?

What would happen if you turned your heart fully over to Jesus?

What is the potential?

She would be one of these worshipers

One who would worship in Spirit and Truth

Something that has always resonated with me is something that a Messianic Jew said about this encounter. He said..>What does sprit and truth mean?

He went on to explain that in the Garden of Eden when Man and Woman sinned they did so because they believed the falsehood to satisfy the flesh..>And from that point on Worship had been tainted by flesh and falsehood

So Spirit & Truth is a return to the garden like worship

And the amazing thing is that as this woman is convinced that she just met the messiah she begins to honor Jesus by talking Good about him…Not in Jerusalem or Mt. Gerazim but worshiping him in the town square…She literally out of the overflow of her heart begins to worship him in spirit ad truth

An encounter with Jesus changes everything

Lets keep reading:

John 4:27–29 NIV

Just then his disciples returned and were surprised to find him talking with a woman. But no one asked, “What do you want?” or “Why are you talking with her?” Then, leaving her water jar, the woman went back to the town and said to the people, “Come, see a man who told me everything I ever did. Could this be the Messiah?”

Do you see this immediately this woman becomes a missionary! Telling her whole town about Jesus

Do you see that basically she does John the Baptist job…

But what is so striking is that she leaves her water Jug. Thing about it…

The whole exchange in this story is over two types of water…Water in this well that will leave you thirsty of living water where if you have a taste of it you will never go thirsty!

She leaves behind the old and goes with the new

What jars do I need to leave behind to fully enjoy the living water of Jesus?

She came for water, she left with something better

Did you come seeking something today

Maybe its just this gnawing feeling of emptiness

Maybe its a sense that something isn't right

Maybe You just here today thinking if I could just fill up my jar and make it through the week…

But Jesus has something totally better for you than whatever you are looking for

Jesus has his life to offer you…

In fact you can leave all the old stuff behind

She is the forerunner preparing the way for Jesus to come into the town!

John 4:39–42 NIV

Many of the Samaritans from that town believed in him because of the woman’s testimony, “He told me everything I ever did.” So when the Samaritans came to him, they urged him to stay with them, and he stayed two days. And because of his words many more became believers. They said to the woman, “We no longer believe just because of what you said; now we have heard for ourselves, and we know that this man really is the Savior of the world.”

Jesus changes everything

Look at the impact of Jesus when he picks one person

Do you have truth to tell?

This woman told the truth and got an entire town to

Good’s Math…We have a limited imagination…With Us, 1x1 =1 but with Jesus when One person is changed and transformed then 1x1= a whole town When the one goes after one

Response

The God of the universe comes to us!

He gives us more than we ever think we need

He wants to transform our lives

Maybe youre here today just trying to fill up your jar…Look Jesus knows you! He knows what you really need! He wants to do an incredible work…would you meet him at the well?

Maybe you’re her and your filled with Shame about your past! Jesus is here just for you! He loves you and wants to make you new again!