Transforming Conversations

Introduction

Opening Story/Illustration: We are living a in a pivotal moment in history. The world is more polarized than ever before. It seems as though everyone is taking sides and putting themselves in a corner and yelling at the people in the other corner of the room. I don’t know about you, but I often find myself asking this question - As a believer, how am I to respond to the world around me? Which leads me to a deeper question - How would Jesus respond to the people and the culture around us? Or, to ask an even more probing question - How does Jesus respond to people who were his cultural opposite?

Transition to Text: In the book of John, we get a glimpse into what Jesus would do in such situations. In he engages with a man named Nicodemus. Nicodemus is a religious man who doesn’t get it and Jesus has to explain things to him. Then in , Jesus has a conversation with a women who is on the opposite spectrum. She is, by all accounts, His cultural opposite. Both of these individuals are confused. Both have a transforming conversation with Jesus. I call these “Transforming conversations with Jesus.” Let’s take a look at his conversation with this woman.

Text:

John 4:1–45 ESV

1 Now when Jesus learned that the Pharisees had heard that Jesus was making and baptizing more disciples than John 2 (although Jesus himself did not baptize, but only his disciples), 3 he left Judea and departed again for Galilee. 4 And he had to pass through Samaria. 5 So he came to a town of Samaria called Sychar, near the field that Jacob had given to his son Joseph. 6 Jacob’s well was there; so Jesus, wearied as he was from his journey, was sitting beside the well. It was about the sixth hour. 7 A woman from Samaria came to draw water. Jesus said to her, “Give me a drink.” 8 (For his disciples had gone away into the city to buy food.) 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.) 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.” 11 The woman said to him, “Sir, you have nothing to draw water with, and the well is deep. Where do you get that living water? 12 Are you greater than our father Jacob? He gave us the well and drank from it himself, as did his sons and his livestock.” 13 Jesus said to her, “Everyone who drinks of this water will be thirsty again, 14 but whoever drinks of the water that I will give him will never be thirsty again. The water that I will give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life.” 15 The woman said to him, “Sir, give me this water, so that I will not be thirsty or have to come here to draw water.” 16 Jesus said to her, “Go, call your husband, and come here.” 17 The woman answered him, “I have no husband.” Jesus said to her, “You are right in saying, ‘I have no husband’; 18 for you have had five husbands, and the one you now have is not your husband. What you have said is true.” 19 The woman said to him, “Sir, I perceive that you are a prophet. 20 Our fathers worshiped on this mountain, but you say that in Jerusalem is the place where people ought to worship.” 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.” 25 The woman said to him, “I know that Messiah is coming (he who is called Christ). When he comes, he will tell us all things.” 26 Jesus said to her, “I who speak to you am he.” 27 Just then his disciples came back. They marveled that he was talking with a woman, but no one said, “What do you seek?” or, “Why are you talking with her?” 28 So the woman left her water jar and went away into town and said to the people, 29 “Come, see a man who told me all that I ever did. Can this be the Christ?” 30 They went out of the town and were coming to him. 31 Meanwhile the disciples were urging him, saying, “Rabbi, eat.” 32 But he said to them, “I have food to eat that you do not know about.” 33 So the disciples said to one another, “Has anyone brought him something to eat?” 34 Jesus said to them, “My food is to do the will of him who sent me and to accomplish his work. 35 Do you not say, ‘There are yet four months, then comes the harvest’? Look, I tell you, lift up your eyes, and see that the fields are white for harvest. 36 Already the one who reaps is receiving wages and gathering fruit for eternal life, so that sower and reaper may rejoice together. 37 For here the saying holds true, ‘One sows and another reaps.’ 38 I sent you to reap that for which you did not labor. Others have labored, and you have entered into their labor.” 39 Many Samaritans from that town believed in him because of the woman’s testimony, “He told me all that I ever did.” 40 So when the Samaritans came to him, they asked him to stay with them, and he stayed there two days. 41 And many more believed because of his word. 42 They said to the woman, “It is no longer because of what you said that we believe, for we have heard for ourselves, and we know that this is indeed the Savior of the world.” 43 After the two days he departed for Galilee. 44 (For Jesus himself had testified that a prophet has no honor in his own hometown.) 45 So when he came to Galilee, the Galileans welcomed him, having seen all that he had done in Jerusalem at the feast. For they too had gone to the feast.

Transition to Points: Let’s look at this passage tonight and point out a few things.

Points

Jesus is led by the will of the Father

The idea here is not that he had to pass through Samaria, but that he HAD to pass through Samaria.

There were other options for travel, but something inside Jesus pushed him to go at this time and this route.

Some Jews would have, in fact, avoided this route. When travelling this particular trip, they had a few options - All options would have put them either in contact with Gentiles or Samaritans. Many Jews would rather have come in contact with Gentiles than with Samaritans.

Dictionary of New Testament Background Section 4: Jewish-Samaritan Conflicts and Polemics

Because of these hostilities, Jewish pilgrims from Galilee often crossed over to the East Bank of the Jordan River in order to detour around Samaria. Those who chose to pass through Samaritan territory did so at great risk. According to Josephus, “Hatred also arose between the Samaritans and the Jews for the following reason. It was the custom of the Galileans at the time of the festival to pass through the Samaritan territory on their way to the Holy City. On one occasion, while they were passing through, certain of the [Samaritan] inhabitants of a village … joined battle with the Galileans and slew a great number of them” (Ant. 20.6.1 §118; see also J.W. 2.12.3 §232).

This was about a 3 day journey from Jerusalem to Galilee. So Jesus is tired and he comes to a well. He stops to rest before continuing his journey.

A woman joins him at the well. She has come there, of course to draw water.

Jesus has a conversation with this woman

He reveals herself to

Jesus

This woman has come to the well alone, which means she was coming at

This woman is surprised that Jesus took time with her.

This woman is surprised that Jesus took time with her.

She was a Samaritan Woman

He was a Jewish male

Samaritans and Jews had nothing to do with each other

Jews and Samaritans differed on where to worship (As you see in our TXT)

Samaritans worshiped on mount Gerizim. There is some speculation that they may have even had a temple there.

Eerdmans Bible Dictionary SAMARITANS

The Samaritans’ canon contains only the Pentateuch. They regard Moses as the final prophet of God and a superhuman being. Mt. Gerizim they identify as the place where Abraham was prepared to sacrifice Isaac (Gen. 22) and where God intended that Israel’s one place of sacrificial worship be established (cf. Deut. 11:29–30; 12:5–14). The Samaritans’ alternative to the Jewish history of the relation between the two groups teaches that the Jewish departure from the truth began when Eli set up a shrine at Shiloh (cf. 1 Sam. 1–3), not Gerizim; Ezra compounded the falsehood by altering the Pentateuch and by rebuilding the temple at Jerusalem. Though they acknowledge that non-Israelites entered the region of Samaria under Assyrian auspices, the Samaritans regard themselves as descendants of exiled Israelites who returned to the land.

The Samaritans’ canon contains only the Pentateuch. They regard Moses as the final prophet of God and a superhuman being. Mt. Gerizim they identify as the place where Abraham was prepared to sacrifice Isaac () and where God intended that Israel’s one place of sacrificial worship be established (cf. ; ). The Samaritans’ alternative to the Jewish history of the relation between the two groups teaches that the Jewish departure from the truth began when Eli set up a shrine at Shiloh (cf. ), not Gerizim; Ezra compounded the falsehood by altering the Pentateuch and by rebuilding the temple at Jerusalem. Though they acknowledge that non-Israelites entered the region of Samaria under Assyrian auspices, the Samaritans regard themselves as descendants of exiled Israelites who returned to the land.

Jews worshiped in Jerusalem.

Samaritans were regarded as dogs by the Jews.

There is a lot of debate over just who the Samaritans were, but traditionally it’s believed that the northern kingdom of Israel was invaded by the Assyrians. They resettled the land and the people intermarried and began incorporating some of their religious practices.

Fast forward a few hundred years to the time of Jesus and you end up with a group of people who, in the eyes of the Jews, are mixed-up half-breeds.

There is literature where they don’t even look at one another as real people.

Dictionary of New Testament Background Section 4: Jewish-Samaritan Conflicts and Polemics

Some Jews regarded the Samaritans with contempt, considering them fools (Sir 50:25–26; T. Levi 7:2) and idolaters (Gen. Rab. 81:3 [on Gen 35:4]), who were killed with divine approval (Jub. 30:5–6, 23). Later traditions in rabbinic literature regard Samaritans as apostate, wholly unclean and destined for Gehenna. [C. A. Evans]

The route that Jesus has chosen to

The fact that Jesus was talking to this woman astounds her - and rightly so.

The fact that he asks for a drink from her - Her vessel would have been considered unclean because it belonged to a Samaritan woman.

Jesus, as a Jewish male, wasn’t supposed to be talking to a woman like this.

Jesus treats her like a real human being

The conversation was revealing

It revealed who Jesus was really was

Jesus reveals to her that he’s the one who can give living water.

She seems to be up on her “cultural” religion.

Jesus takes her where she is and uses the conversation to reveal himself to her.

She believes

By the end of the conversation, he tells this woman that he is the Messiah. - It’s interesting to note that Jesus is not this open and blunt about his identity with everyone. For some reason, he chooses to openly and directly reveal his identity to this woman.

There seems to be an emptiness in this woman, and Jesus reveals that he is the only one who can fill this.

It revealed who the woman really was.

She had been married 5 times and was living with a man who wasn’t her husband.

There was obviously some sin going on - BUT - there is more to her story

We don’t know anything about her previous marriages - Did her husbands die? Did she divorce them? Did they divorce her? Was it because she couldn’t give them kids? Was it because she was unfaithful? We don’t really know.

Most of the time the husband was the only one who could issue the divorce (there were exceptions to this). Did her husbands all divorce her because she was unfaithful? We don’t know.

Dictionary of New Testament Background Section 1: Divorce

But in most of Palestinian Judaism only the husband could initiate the divorce, except under extreme circumstances in which a court would require him to terminate the marriage at his wife’s demand. Since a divorced woman might bear some social stigmas in Palestinian Jewish society (Safrai, 791), women probably did not seek divorce frequently.

Dictionary of New Testament Background Section 1: Divorce

Palestinian Jewish husbands could divorce for virtually any reason (e.g., Josephus Ant. 4.8.23 §253, though this is not to imply that the average husband was looking for excuses to divorce his wife). They could divorce their wives for disobedience (Sir 25:26; Josephus Life 76 §426; m. Ketub. 7:6; ʾAbot R. Nat. 1A) or for burning the bread (m. Giṭ. 9:10; Sipre Deut. 269.1.1). The agreement of a variety of sources on this matter suggests that the school of Shammai, which accepted only unfaithfulness as valid grounds for divorce—a standard charge in the dissolution of marriages—held the minority opinion in Palestinian Jewish culture at this point, although they were generally the dominant Pharisaic school in Jesus’ day. Further, even Shammaites accepted as legally valid those divorces enacted for reasons with which they disagreed (see Keener, 39–40). The exception clause to Jesus’ divorce saying in Matthew 5:32 and 19:9 probably accepts but radicalizes the Shammaite position (Keener, 38–40; see DJG, Divorce).

Jesus doesn’t say this to bring her shame - He says it to get to the place of her deepest hurt and pain and begin to deal with it.

How do we know this? We can take our cue from Jesus’ other encounters with women in some sort of sexual sin. He’s always kind, gracious, and compassionate. He never lets people off the hook and never encourages them to stay in their sin, but he always never shames them or condemns them.

Jesus refuses to get into arguments with her - He deals with the heart of her issues.

She wants to drag Jesus into religious and political arguments.

He only uses them to the extent that they point to himself and point out the truth in who she is.

The conversation was transforming

It transformed the woman

This woman leaves her water jar and goes back to town and begins inviting others to Jesus!

Notice it doesn’t say she “forgets it.” She leaves it.

She had probably filled it with water earlier - and had been apprehensive about this stranger asking her for a drink. But after talking with him, she now leaves him a full water jar so that he can get the drink he has asked for.

There’s been a transformation in her life

It transformed the town

Jesus stayed with them two more days

His conversation with this woman, led to a conversation with the town, and the transformation of many lives.

We must be led by the father

Who might God be leading you to?

Perhaps it’s not the person you would choose.

There’s a misconception in church that we should “play it safe.”

Illustration: I remember sitting in a Sunday school class in high school one time and teacher began teaching that we shouldn’t have any friends or associate with anyone who wasn’t a Christian. I remember inside, asking the question - Then how are we supposed to reach people?

We are called to love our enemies, and to reach out to those who aren’t like us.

Illustration: In my own life, the times that God has stretched me has been when he has pushed me into places where I wouldn’t have gone on my own. Dominican Republic, Downtown Memphis, (God didn’t call us to be safe, he called us to follow Jesus!)

I have felt God presence most in my life when I engage with people not like me. Why? I think this is when we are most like Jesus!

You and I are most like Jesus when we engage with people who are the least like us.

If Jesus only leads you to people that look like you and sound like you, it may not be Jesus leading you.

We Must engage in transforming conversations

Take Time with People

Who is the co-worker you need to have lunch with?

Who is the kid as school you need to sit down and talk to?

Who is the relative that you need to engage?

Who would be surprised that you took time with them?

One of the best things you can do for someone - take them to lunch. Invite them over for dinner. Sit with them, be with them, take time with them.

Genuinely care

Listen - Don’t argue

Take a cue from Jesus, and find openings where you can point people to him!

Don’t get pulled into pointless and stupid arguments.

Very few people are convinced to follow Jesus simply because of an argument. More are won because someone genuinely listened and cared for them!

In the age of social media, it’s so easy to get dragged in to arguments. Don’t take the bait.

Sometimes, these conversations transform you as much as the other individual.

Reveal Jesus

Do people see Jesus because of the time they spend with you?

Does your conversation leave them thirsty for the living water?

Watch God transform lives

Conclusion

Restate the Main Idea: If we are going to transform the world, we must Be led by the father into revealing and transforming conversations.

So What? Who do you feel God wants you to have a conversation with this week?

Now What? Let’s pray for someone and pray for our conversations this week.