2.5.8 9.3.2022 Saturday p.m. Getting beyond the Pain (A Thought for the, Thirsty, Alone, Afraid.) John 4.1-26

It must have been lonely...

Entice: One of these days, after the pandemic is long behind us, our descendants—children and grandchildren will listen to our stories. In the same way that people my age heard parents or grandparents speak about the great depression, polio, or WW 2 we will tell our stories about the great pandemic. They will listen with that curiosity that kids have and say something which has been uttered in similar circumstances for generations.

“You must have felt lonely.”

Certainly, some have, For different reasons. I think that when we reflect on this experience, after it is finally behind us, we will realize that the pandemic did not in itself, alienate people. It exposed an alienation already endemic. It exacerbated a latent, cultural loneliness. It expanded a deepening pool of social anxiety.

Engage: Covid continues. The pandemic followed nearly a decade of the expansion of social media. Social Media is certainly not social nor a traditional kind of media. Social Media requires a discipline that many lack. Long before COVID or Political polarization our own misunderstanding, misuse, and misapplication of social media set the stage for the last 3 years of unprecedented alienation. People cast out overnight. Trending trends tormenting tender hearts. Scarlet letters placed permanently and prominently to scar people forever. How can we find relief from this social hell we inhabit? How can we learn kindness, compassion, and goodness? To whom can we turn?

Expand: Once upon a time Jesus met a lady. She had a bad reputation. Social Media guaranteed that people knew her past. Her people were considered half-breeds and she was an outcast among them. She came weary and teary-eyed every day to do what needed to be done outside of the view of her pesky, nosy neighbors and their incessant assault upon her dignity. That day, Jesus saw her as she really was. He scrutinized her sins, He took note of the wounds, He spoke love and forgiveness to her scandal and shame. He changed her life. He changed that community. He showed love & compassion, toughness & tenderness, purity & perspective-he even used humor & humility.

John 4:7–26 ESV

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.”

Excite: His model does not require us to be hateful or rude. Jesus shows us how to be firm and kind at the same time prompting those who are foundering to find the answers to their lost condition. He did that by helping them ask the right questions. We live in a society full of people whose access to the Kingdom is barred less by their own sin than it is by social ostracism, personal estrangement, and unwarranted shame.

We need to be provoking and providing the promised answer to the persistent questions of our alienated culture, because...

Whatever The question, Jesus is the ultimate answer.

Explain: He provides answers to questions people don't even know how to articulate. questions like…

1 Why am I So Thirsty ?

1.1 Wrong bucket , wrong well .

We focus on the temporary, physical, and obvious

Rather than the eternal, spiritual, and elusive.

1.2 We don't need a sip …We need the Source .

2 Why am I so Lonely ?

2.1 Every group has ins and outs .

Even the Samaritans had "undesirables".

Mostly we humans form our assessments, attractions, attachments, and affections based upon difference rather than similarity…we are exclusive more than we are inclusive.

Once excluded it is nearly impossible to get included. Beyond the human factor the plain fact is that…

2.2 Sin cannot deliver what it Sells .

Big, impressive promises yield small, continual humiliations.

Guilt and shame are always the price of vice.

3 Why am I so Confused ?

Perhaps it's because you

3.1 Change the subject rather than address your own sin.

Conversation and inquisitiveness cannot bridge the gap created by sin.

God is not easily distracted nor is He surprised by our defense mechanisms.

Many people are confused because sadly...

3.2 Sometimes Godly People value conflict over consensus .

Ok, yes religious people, good people have real disagreements about the “details.”

This is a factor but not critical. If you want the truth, you can find the truth.

Yet we must own the fact that for many seekers our conflict is comforting and reinforces indecisiveness.

3.3 True faith focuses not on principles or processes but a person .

That person is

Jesus

The central issue is not

" what are you looking for?"

But

" Who ?"

Are you Thirsty ?

You don’t need a

better bucket …

You need to draw from the

right well

This is God’s word, spoken to us 3 September, 2022s