Unexpected Encounter
Notes
Transcript
Handout
Introduction
Introduction
In our study of the Gospel of John thus far, we learned that Jesus is Lord of salvation. This morning, we are going to see that God’s salvation is going to be offered to more than just the Jews. In fact, today we are going to see that God’s salvation is going to be offered to the Samaritans.
If you have your Bibles, I want to encourage you to turn with me to John chapter 4, and we’ll begin reading with verse 1.
Now Jesus learned that the Pharisees had heard that he was gaining and baptizing more disciples than John—
although in fact it was not Jesus who baptized, but his disciples.
Jesus On the Move Again
Jesus learned that the Pharisees have heard about him (v. 1a).
Specifically that Jesus’ crowds are bigger than the crowds of John the Baptist (v. 1b).
And that Jesus was baptizing more people than John (v. 1c) (or that His disciples were baptizing more people v. 2).
So he left Judea and went back once more to Galilee.
So Jesus left Judea and headed back to Galilee.
Now he had to go through Samaria.
Jesus “had” to go through Samaria.
There were two ways to get from Jerusalem/Judea to Galilee.
Most Jews would go across the mountains and down to the Jordan River and follow it north to the region of Galilee.
The shorter and more direct way was to go straight through Samaria. But that meant that you would go through the region where the half-breeds lived.
So he came to a town in Samaria called Sychar, near the plot of ground Jacob had given to his son Joseph.
In Samaria and the City of Sychar
In Samaria and the City of Sychar
As Jesus and his disciples travel they come to the Samaritan city of Sychar (v. 5a)
The city was located near the place Jacob had given to Joseph (cf. Gen. 33:19; Josh. 24:32) (v. 5b).
Jacob’s well was there, and Jesus, tired as he was from the journey, sat down by the well. It was about noon.
Another feature of the area is that Jacob’s well was there (v. 6a).
We’re now told that Jesus was tired from his journey (v. 6b).
So He sat down by the well (v. 6c).
A final piece of information is the time marker. It was about 12 noon--midday (v. 6d).
When a Samaritan woman came to draw water, Jesus said to her, “Will you give me a drink?”
(His disciples had gone into the town to buy food.)
An Unlikely Encounter with Jesus
An Unlikely Encounter with Jesus
We are introduced to a Samaritan woman, but we are not given her name.
She came to the well at a strange time.
Culturally, the women would go to the well to draw water early in the morning and late in the afternoon, but not during the heat of the day.
Most women in that culture would not have gone to the well alone.
These two anomalies have prompted some scholars to believe the woman’s immoral lifestyle was shunned by the other women of the town. They postulate that she came alone, at a time when she knew no one would be there to escape the whispers, ridicule, and mockery of others in the town. It could be--this idea seems to fit well in the story.
SIDE NOTE: Samaritans and Jews did not get along. Samaritans believed that they were the keepers of the Torah (the Law of God). And they believed they were better than the Jews.
The Jews considered the Samaritans to be half-breeds, because they had intermarried with the Assyrians when they inhabited the region during the exile (around B.C. 720-680). Jews believed Samaritans’ worship was all wrong!
We are told in verse 8, that the disciples (presumably ALL of them) had gone into town to buy food. It seems strange that they would all go and that Jesus would be completely alone. Nevertheless that seems to be the case.
Jesus begins the conversation by asking the woman to give him a drink. Once again, Jesus brakes a cultural taboo.
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.)
The Woman’s Response
The Woman’s Response
You are a Jew!
I am a Samaritan.
Not only that, but I am a woman!
This woman sees Jesus braking two taboo’s of the day:
A Jew is asking something from a Samaritan. The Jews made a “law” that “that the daughters of Samaritans. . .were perpetually unclean.”
A man is talking to a woman--alone!
In her response she is actually insulting Jesus. Her statement is almost “How dare you ask me for anything!”
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.”
Jesus’ Response
Jesus’ Response
He ignores her insulting jab completely!
First, Jesus lets her know that she is unaware of God’s potential gift—a gift in which even the Samaritans could participate.
Next, Jesus tells her that she has no idea to whom she is speaking.
If she did know she would have asked Jesus for a drink of “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?”
The Woman’s Response
The Woman’s Response
She still doesn’t get it--she asks, three questions:
How are you going to get a drink of “living water” because the well is deep and you have nothing to draw with (v. 11a)?
Where are you going to get this “living water (v. 11b)?”
Are you greater than their sacred ancestor, Jacob (v. 12)?
Jacob dug this well
Jacob drank from this well
And Jacob and his sons watered their livestock from this well!
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.”
Jesus’ Response
Jesus’ Response
In regards to Jacob’s well, everyone who drinks of this water will thirst again (v. 13).
Whoever drinks the water that I give will NEVER thirst again (v. 14a).
The water that I give becomes a spring of water.
And this water wells up inside of them and produces eternal life (v. 14b).
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.”
I Want this Water
I Want this Water
First, she calls Him “Sir” (Gk. “sir” also could be translated Lord, Master) (v. 15a).
Give me this water (v. 15b):
So I won’t ever be thirsty.
So I won’t have to come to this well every day!
She still is trying to solve her earthly problem, and doesn’t realize that Jesus is speaking spiritually.
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 Surprise Encounter
The Surprise Encounter
Jesus tells her to go get her husband and come back (v. 16).
She says that she doesn’t have a husband (v. 17a).
Jesus confirms that He knows she “doesn’t have a husband” (v. 17b).
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.”
However, the man that she is living with is not her husband, and in fact, she has had five husbands (v. 18).
“Sir,” the woman said, “I can see that you are a prophet.
The Woman’s Spiritual Question
First, she says she perceives that Jesus is a prophet (v. 19).
Our ancestors worshiped on this mountain, but you Jews claim that the place where we must worship is in Jerusalem.”
So she has a question: The Samaritans say that the worship of God should be done on “this mountain (v. 20a).” She is referring to Mt Gerizim.
Verses the Jews who say that people must worship God in Jerusalem (v. 20b).
“Woman,” Jesus replied, “believe me, a time is coming when you will worship the Father neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem.
Defining Worship
Defining Worship
Jesus tells the woman that a time is coming when her question about where to worship will not matter (v. 21). They won’t worship on either mountain!
You Samaritans worship what you do not know; we worship what we do know, for salvation is from the Jews.
The problem that the Samaritans have is that they worship what they do not know (cf. 2 Kings 17:28-41) (v. 22a).
The Jews, on the other hand worship what they do know (cf. Isa. 2:3) (v. 22b).
What the Jews knew is that the salvation of the world comes from the Jews (v. 22c).
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.
The key is that there is a time coming—in fact it is now here through Jesus—that true worshipers will worship God the Father in Spirit and in truth (v. 23a).
Some have made the phrase “Spirit and in truth” two separate things. However, the Greek only has one preposition that is translated “in” . As such it is describing one characteristic and could be translated as truly spiritual. This truly spiritual idea would be spiritual in every respect: from a spiritual source; with a spiritual mediator; worshiping a spiritual subject (God), in a spiritual method. This kind of worship comes from a person who has a spiritual life through new birth in Jesus.
This truly spiritual worshiper is the kind of worshiper that God the Father seeks (v. 23b).
God is spirit, and his worshipers must worship in the Spirit and in truth.”
Because God is “spirit” so His worshipers must worship in a truly spiritual way (v. 24).
The woman said, “I know that Messiah” (called Christ) “is coming. When he comes, he will explain everything to us.”
She is beginning to understand!
She is beginning to understand!
The woman responded that she understands that the Messiah is coming (v. 25a).
And she knows that when the Messiah comes He will explain everything to them (v. 25b).
Jesus’ Declaration
Jesus’ Declaration
Then Jesus declared, “I, the one speaking to you—I am he.”
I—the person speaking to you--am the Messiah (v. 26).
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?”
The Disciples Return
The Disciples Return
As Jesus and the woman are finishing their discussion, the disciples arrive back at the well (v. 27a).
They are surprised (Gk. astonished, amazed, wondered) to find Jesus talking to a woman (v. 27b).
But no one asked Jesus anything! (v. 27c)
No one asked Jesus if he wanted anything.
No one asked him why he was talking with the woman.
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?”
The Samaritan woman left her water jar behind (v. 28a).
She rushed back into the city and began to talk to all the people (c. 28b).
Her message was “Come, see a man who told me everything I ever did” (v. 29a). Jesus didn’t tell her everything she ever did, but He did know more than she thought He knew.
She also asked the people if Jesus could really be the Messiah (v. 29b).
The People’s Response
The People’s Response
They came out of the town and made their way toward him.
The towns people made their way out to the well to see the man she was talking about. (v. 30).
Meanwhile his disciples urged him, “Rabbi, eat something.”
The disciples kept working to get Jesus to eat something (v. 31).
But he said to them, “I have food to eat that you know nothing about.”
But Jesus was focused on the spiritual rather than the physical. He told them that he had food that they knew nothing about (v. 32)!
Then his disciples said to each other, “Could someone have brought him food?”
They kept trying to figure out where Jesus got something to eat! Who gave Him something to eat?
Don’t you have a saying, ‘It’s still four months until harvest’? I tell you, open your eyes and look at the fields! They are ripe for harvest.
A Teaching Moment
Jesus is going to take the opportunity to get His disciples to see things from a spiritual point of view (v. 35a).
He begins by saying a proverbial saying, “It’s still four months until the harvest” (v. 35b). This was the amount of time between the last planting and the first harvesting.
Jesus says that all they have to do is to open their spiritual eyes and they will see the ripe fields ready for harvest (v. 35c).
Perhaps, as Jesus spoke the disciples could see the men of Sychar coming out to see them. They would have been wearing their traditional white clothing. Maybe as they walk they looked like a field blowing in the wind and ready to harvest.
Even now the one who reaps draws a wage and harvests a crop for eternal life, so that the sower and the reaper may be glad together.
The one who takes advantage of this “spiritual harvest” will receive a wage—a crop of eternal life (v. 36a).
Jesus’ conclusion is that both the one who sows and the one who reaps can rejoice together (v. 36b).
Thus the saying ‘One sows and another reaps’ is true.
Jesus refers to an old saying-- “One sows and another reaps. . .” and He says that it is a true saying (v. 37).
It seems as though Jesus is referring to the Old Testament prophets as those who sow, and the disciples as those who reap!
I sent you to reap what you have not worked for. Others have done the hard work, and you have reaped the benefits of their labor.”
To make this clear, Jesus says that He sent the disciples to reap what they never worked for (v. 38a).
Others did the hard work (v. 38b). These “others” could be referring to John the Baptist, or to the Old Testament prophets.
The disciples have reaped the benefits of the labor of those prophets (v. 38c).
Many of the Samaritans from that town believed in him because of the woman’s testimony, “He told me everything I ever did.”
Many Samaritans Believe
So the Samaritans came out of the town to see Jesus (v. 39a).
Many believed in Jesus because of the woman’s testimony (v. 39b).
So when the Samaritans came to him, they urged him to stay with them, and he stayed two days.
The town’s folks urged Jesus to stay with them (v. 40a).
So Jesus stayed with them for two days (v. 40b).
And because of his words many more became believers.
KEY--Because of Jesus’ words MANY more Samaritans believe in Jesus (v. 41).
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.”
In fact, they told the woman that she was no longer the only reason they believed (v. 42a).
Now they believed because they heard for themselves Jesus’ message (v. 42b).
They believed (they knew) Jesus is really the Savior of the world (v. 42c).
So What?
So What?
The truth is God brings divine encounters for you and me to share the Good News (or gospel) with someone every every day.
I don’t know if you are like me, but sometimes I don’t even notice the encounter. I’m going through my day, and I completely miss the encounter.
And then there are other times when I actually see the diving encounters but I’m afraid to take advantage of them.
Honestly, there are a number of reasons why I become afraid:
Sometimes I’m afraid because taking advantage of the encounter is not “Politically Correct.” And I could get “in trouble.”
Sometimes I’m afraid of how the person will receive the encounter. Will they reject me, make fun of me, or ridicule me?
If I’m completely honest, sometimes I’m too busy for the divine encounter. After all, I have other things that I “need to do.” Or so I think.
The truth is I can find all kinds of reasons why I should not share the gospel.
Most often it is because I’m afraid. And that fear comes straight from the enemy.
Honestly, I need to be like this Samaritan woman, and go and tell everyone “come see the man who told me all that I have ever done!”
In Matthew 28:19-20 Jesus gave His disciples, and us, marching orders.
Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit,
and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.”
For more than two-thousand years those orders have not change!
In fact, to make sure we don’t miss these orders are repeated in Acts 1:8.
But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.”
One more thing, I know some of you are thinking, “Okay, but that’s just not me! I can’t share my faith with someone.” And then we will give God (and anyone else) all of our excuses.
Well, let me share one more verse with you from the apostle Paul, In 1 Corinthians 9:16 we read:
For when I preach the gospel, I cannot boast, since I am compelled to preach. Woe to me if I do not preach the gospel!
You and I need to realize that we are compelled to share the gospel.
The Greek word translated “compelled” could also be translated pressured, forced, necessity of nature, or even tortured. It is actually a very strong word. It has the idea that to not share the gospel we would be in distress!
QUESTION: Do you feel spiritual distress when you don’t share the gospel of Jesus Christ?
If we don’t feel that level of compelling, then Paul would say, “Woe” to us! And that term woe in the Greek is an expression of horror. Paul is saying it is horrible if we do not share the good news of Jesus!
So, what will you do when you have an unexpected encounter?
