Sermon Tone Analysis

Samaria?

What is about to happen is a “divine appointment”

Jesus did not “have” to go through Samaria, like it was the only way, it is more like when the Spirit led Him into the dessert…He was compelled to go through Samaria

Maybe Jesus knew what was coming, maybe He didn’t - we get too caught up in the deity/humanity of Jesus…what we can know is the the Holy Spirit led Him through Samaria to this little town called Sychar

A woman from Samaria

A. No Jewish man would talk to a woman in public unless she was his wife.

It was considered improper

B. No Jew would talk to a Samaritan

Quick History

Omri was one of the Kings of Israel and he acquired Samaria which became the capital of the Northern Kingdom ( the 10 tribes of Israel that were not Judah or Benjamin).

When Israel was exiled to Assyria, the king of Assyria brought in foreigners to settle in Samaria and intermarry with the Israelites left behind.

The brought their strange practices and their idol worship

Samaria became “polytheistic” worshipping everything, so no good upstanding Jew would have anything to do with them because they were “pagans”.

If you knew the gift of God - Jesus IS the gift of God

Her response: “wait a minute, who are you?”

This well has been here for almost 2000 years and is still giving water, why do I need you?

Jesus: “yup, you get water that nourishes the body but I am offering water that nourishes the soul” almost with a wink Jesus is saying, “You know we aren’t really talking about H2O here…we are talking about something deeper.

Woman: I think I would like that...

Here’s where the conversation starts to get deep

The tendency here is to think that Jesus is getting REALLY personal here…but don’t miss the caring and compassionate way He appeals to her..He is not calling her an adulteress, or a whore or anything else like that…He is saying, “Dear sister, you have been hurt.

There is a pattern here of men leaving…and you have the mistaken idea that a man is the solution to your problems...

The woman tries to deflect…the biggest issue between the Israelites and the Samaritans was, where is the proper place to worship…for the Israelites, the Temple in Jerusalem was the only place to worship.

For the Samaritans true worship could only take place on Mt.

Gezhim…so the woman uses this to deflect…where are we supposed to worship?

So Jesus patiently dealt with her deflection and got right back to the point: Will you be a true worshipper?

This is the first time that Jesus revealed Himself as Messiah…and HE called the woman to follow Him.

The rest of the story - the Disciples came back, the woman went to town and brought people to Jesus, and many believed ...

Here is what we need to take from this:

Jesus is the well of living water.

There are many other wells, relationships, money, success, jobs, education, all sorts of wells that we think will give us what we need…and the “water” we get from these wells may taste good for a little while.

It might even make us feel better for a little while…but in the end, those wells will go dry and that water will no longer satisfy.

Jesus offers living water.