The Water that Gives Life

John 4: 10 (NRSVUE)

Now when Jesus learned that the Pharisees had heard, “Jesus is making and baptizing more disciples than John” 2 (although it was not Jesus himself but his disciples who baptized), 3 he left Judea and started back to Galilee. 4 But he had to go through Samaria. 5 So he came to a Samaritan city called Sychar, near the plot of ground that Jacob had given to his son Joseph. 6 Jacob’s well was there, and Jesus, tired out by his journey, was sitting by the well. It was about noon. 7 A Samaritan woman came to draw water, and Jesus said to her, “Give me a drink.” 8 (His disciples had gone to the city to buy food.) 9 The Samaritan woman said to him, “How is it that you, a Jew, ask a drink of me, a woman of Samaria?” (Jews do not share things in common with Samaritans.) 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.”

Introduction: The 2016 movie Hidden Figures is about the incredible untold story of Katherine G. Johnson, Dorothy Vaughan and Mary Jackson - brilliant African-American women working at NASA, who served as the brains behind one of the greatest operations in history: the launch of astronaut John Glenn into orbit, a stunning achievement that restored the nation's confidence, turned around the Space Race, and galvanized the world. The visionary trio crossed all gender and race lines to inspire generations to dream big. The water that gives life can galvanize the world to overcome the intersectional boundaries of gender, ethnicity, race and class. Miriam Makeba or “Mama Africa,” was a South African singer and civil rights activist, who galvanize the world for denouncing apartheid on the world stage and campaigning abroad for the end of the oppressive policy. As a result of her activism, her South African passport was revoked in 1960 by the apartheid regime, and they banned her from returning to her country in 1963. However, the world galvanized came to Makeba’s aid and she received passports from six other countries in her lifetime and was granted honorary citizenship in ten countries. Despite the success that made her a star, she refused to wear makeup or curl her hair for performances, proudly wearing what came to be known internationally as the “Afro-look.” Her fourth marriage to civil rights activist, Black Panther, and Student Non-violent Coordinating Committee leader Stokely Carmichael in 1968 caused controversy in the United States, and her record deals and tours were canceled. How many untold stories there are about in the women who have shaped our nation and biblical history? Many we do not know them by name—only by marital status or nationality, i.e., the widow, the woman caught in adultery, the sinful or alabaster woman, the Samaritan woman.

Scriptural Text: Like the woman in our text, she had no husband. Jesus told her, the fact is, you have had five husbands, and the man you now have is not your husband. At this point, the woman realized He must be some kind of prophet. In John chapter 4, we see the love of our savior in action. We see a relevant portrait of a loving and caring savior. This text allows us to see the heart of Jesus for those living in the margins, the outcast. Jesus and his disciples are departing from Judaea for Galilee. John 4:4 says, “And he must needs go through Samaria.” No matter our age, life is made up of things we must do. For Jesus, Samaria was a must-stop on his way to Galilee. He sensed a divine appointment that awaited Him in Galilee. Judaea was the headquarters of the religious establishment of the day, and Galilee—where Jesus was heading—was much more Gentile territory. If you were to look at a map, the most direct route to travel from Judaea to Galilee was to travel through Samaria. In Jesus’ day, there was Galilee in the north, Samaria in the middle, and Judea in the south. The easiest and quickest way to get to Galilee from Judea was to go due north right through Samaria. However, because of the rift between the Jews and Samaritans, everyone traveling past one of these places would go a longer route. Jews would go all the way through Peria to get to Galilee to avoid Samaria. Instead of taking a three-day travel straight through Samaria to Galilee, it took most people six to seven days because they wanted to avoid Samaria. The Samaritans, being a mix of already spiritually corrupt Israelites and pagan foreigners, created a religion for themselves that the Jews considered heresy. Their geo-political stance and religious beliefs were different. They allowed what should have been uniting them to divide them. They were divided due to a 700-year-old issue that they refused to let go. Jesus, therefore, takes an unconventional path. He was not interested in the common way. His interest was to confront, not avoid. Not only that, but He also saw the urgency of the hour and the great need that existed. 1. Jesus was compelled to deal with what others ignored. He models for us what it means to have the courage to face people and issues that others avoid. While others were satisfied with the avoidance even across social and racial divides. 2. God’s love comes to us in our Samaria. Everywhere He went, Jesus interacted with the poor and outcast. Whether He was healing lepers, eating with tax collectors, or speaking to Samaritans, Jesus constantly demonstrated care for those the world had rejected and showed that He didn’t care what the “religious” people thought of Him.  3. God’s love requires we too go to Samaria 4. God’s love finds us exactly where we are and knows what we are longing for. He finds this woman beat up by life, used by men, seen as a thing or object. But her soul is thirsty. Jesus comes to here clear about who she is Jesus comes to her clear about what she does not need another man. Jesus comes to her clear that rules, customs, and traditions have her bound. Notice her answer about worship, but Jesus’ says you can worship right here. You can be free right here. You can lift up your head right here! And this morning somebody needs to be here. The Lord is saying to you, you are a candidate for a breakthrough right here! Yes, you have been ignored. Yes, you are in Samaria. Not invited for special events like the other women. You are in Samaria. They gossip about you at the nail salon and barber shops. In Samaria you are not appreciated for all you do and all you give, sometimes your kindness taken for granted and taken advantage of your caring heart. Jesus had to go to Samaria. He had to see about you. And it is right here that God has your fresh water. Right here! The Lord loves you right here. You do not have to be disrespected, disregarded, degraded, devalued, ignored, abused anymore. She thus asked Him about the true worship, whether it was of the Jews or the Samaritans. He gave an unexpected response: “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’ (John 4:23-26). Jesus was coming to establish something new. Jacob’s well was there, and Jesus, tired as he was from the journey, sat down by the well—right there about noon. When a Samaritan woman came to draw water, Jesus asked her, “Will you give me a drink?” But the Jews did not associate with Samaritans. She was very reluctant. Isn’t this the way we are when Jesus asks us to help Him? To help serve in the ministry. Jesus and the Samaritan woman were in dialogue with each other. Many of the women depicted in the gospel were conversational topics—not conversing with the women. He did not have a conversation with the woman with an issue of blood. He asked the disciples who touch me. When he realized it was her, Jesus simply said your faith has made you whole. The woman caught in adultery—Jesus simply her two questions Woman, where are they? Has no one condemned you?”1 “No one, sir,” she said. Jesus responded neither do I, go and sin no more. The sinful woman, they talked about her and Jesus said your sins are forgiven. Your faith has saved you; go in peace. Only here in the Gospel of John that this Samaritan woman had a full conversation with Jesus. When was the last time you have had a full conversation with the Lord, a little talk with Jesus rather than just submitting your prayer request? The Samaria woman’s conversation changed what she thought she knew and, where and how she had to worship. 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. The people’s prejudices were hindering this woman understanding of herself and her ability to serve. In her own context, she is powerless and vulnerable, a person on the margins. She engages Jesus in an extended conversation (the longest in the New Testament!) I am a Samaritan. How can this be? I am Black. How can this be? I am disabled. How can this be? I am poor. How can this be? Systems and prejudices that will limit you if you listen to this. How can this be that you are afforded the opportunity to go to college when nobody in my family graduates from high school? You are called to be a preacher how can this be? It is because Jesus takes away how can this be and changes it to “if you knewwhat the Lord wants to do for you.” with you … If you knew how God wants to bless. If you knew the goodness of God. If you knew, the plans He have for you, plans for your welfare and not for harm, to give you a future with hope. If you knew, when you call upon Him and come and pray to Him, he will hear you. If you knew when you search for God, you will find Him; if you seek Him with all your heart, He will let you find Him. If you knew, He will restore your fortunes. You would ask God to fill you up and quench your thirst in my soul. If you only knew what God wanted to do. If you do not know, let me tell you about this living water. The Greek phrase hydor zon can refer to what we might call “running water” — water from a spring rather than water sitting still in a vessel. Jesus reiterates “Let anyone who is thirsty come to me and let the one who believes in me drink (John 7:37-38). Jesus is the source for the water of life. Those who drink from the source will become springs of living water! John 7: 38 ‘Out of the believer’s heart shall flow rivers of living water.’ Isaiah 58:11: and you shall be like a watered garden, like a spring of water, whose waters never fail. If you knew, God wants to pour into you His glorious grace, shower you with His kindness, bless you with every spiritual gift, liberally give you wisdom, generously pour out His spirit upon you, as a merciful Father He  wraps you in His comfort, He is the giver of peace at all times, His love has been poured out within our hearts, with joy you will draw water from the wells of salvation, overflow with confident hope if you trust Him, but whatever I am now, (how can this be) it is all because God poured out His special favor on me. He filled her cup and made her whole. The woman then left her waterpot, went her way into the city, becoming the first evangelist in the bible filled with the living water. She said to the men, 29 “Come, see a Man who told me all things that I ever did. Could this be the Christ?” Many Samaritans from that city believed in him because of the woman’s testimony. You will leave your waterpots of injustices, oppressive and divisive systems when we come before God as an empty pitcher before a full fountain. He will exchange your problems for purpose, exchange your opposition for opportunity, exchange your troubles to a testimony. Come see a man—name Jesus, the savior of the world. Jesus and this woman have overcome the intersectional boundaries of gender, ethnicity, and religious affiliation as well as a history of violent conflict. What boundaries will you breach or repair after drinking the living water? Come see a man—name Jesus. Amen.