This week we are looking
at an event from history that is recorded in a section of an account of Jesus
life that is recorded for us in the Bible called the gospel of John. John explained that once Jesus knew that the Pharisee’s,
who were the self righteous religious people, became
aware that Jesus had become more popular than John the Baptizer, Jesus left
Judea and went to Galilee.
John stated that Jesus had to pass through Samaria. At
one time, Samaria was a part of the northern Kingdom of Israel. Then, in 722
B.C., the Assyrian Empire conquered the Northern Kingdom of Israel. Over time, the Jewish people began to intermarry and
adopt the religion and culture of the Assyrians. And over time a great deal of
animosity built between the Jewish people who lived in southern Israel and the
people who lived in Samaria.
The Jewish people came to view
the Samaritans as “half breeds” and wanted nothing to do with them. So if a
Jewish person had to make a trip from Judea to Galilee, they would often cross
the Jordan River in Judea, travel north until they reached Galilee, and then
cross back over the Jordan River to get into Galilee. Or they would travel west
to the edge of the Mediterranean Sea and walk up a coastal road to the north.
However, Jesus had to pass
through Samaria. John then tells us that Jesus arrived at the city of Sychar,
which is located here on the map. Upon arriving in the city, Jesus, tired from
the long trip, decided to rest at a well. John tells us that it was the sixth
hour, which was noon. So, Jesus, wearied from His trip, is sitting by a well in
the heat of the desert day. Now a natural question that arises here is “Why?”
You see, Jesus was very intentional when it came to how He lived His life here
on earth. Jesus was very intentional when it came to how he used His time and
where He traveled. Jesus intentionally went to Samaria because there was an
opportunity to invite someone to come to know and follow Him. Someone that John
introduces us to in John 4:7-9:
There came a woman of Samaria to draw water.
Jesus said to her, "Give Me a drink." For His disciples had gone away
into the city to buy food. Therefore the Samaritan woman said to Him, "How
is it that You, being a Jew, ask me for a drink since I am a Samaritan
woman?" (For Jews have no dealings with Samaritans.)
John tells us that as the
disciples headed to town to get lunch, as Jesus rested by the well, a Samaritan
woman approached the well to get some water. Now, this morning, here is a
question to consider: Why is the Samaritan woman getting water at the well at
noon? Would that be the time that you would choose to go get water from a well
if you lived in the middle of a dessert? Would you go get water at noon in the
summer here in Bullhead City?
No, you wouldn’t. Instead you
would do what most of us do, which is to go out to get water either early in
the morning, or late in the day, when the sun is not at its highest and hottest
point. You would only go to get water at noon if you did not want to see anyone
else. You would only get water at noon if you wanted to avoid people. So what
does that tell us about the Samaritan woman?
You see, the Samaritan woman
was ostracized and isolated from the community that she lived in. The Samaritan
woman was an outsider who was far from God and was far from others. Jesus,
however, responded to this ostracized outsider by asking her for a drink. Jesus
responded to this ostracized outsider by being vulnerable and exposing a need
that He had in His life. Jesus responded to this ostracized outsider in a way
that gave her dignity and by inviting her to step into His life to meet a need
that He had in His life.
John then gives us a glimpse
into the ethnic and religious animosity between the Jews and Samaritans by how
the Samaritan woman responded to Jesus: "How is it that You, being a Jew,
ask me for a drink since I am a Samaritan woman?" You see, the ethnic and
religious hatred between Jews and Samaritans was such that they did not even
speak to one another, let alone offer to drink from one another’s cups.
The Samaritan woman basically
says to Jesus “aren’t you Jewish people too good for us, so why are you even
talking to me”. I wonder how many people who are far from God feel the same way
about the Christians that they encounter in their day to day lives. Just
something to think about. John then reveals Jesus response to us in verse 10-12:
Jesus answered and said to her, "If you
knew the gift of God, and who it is who says to you, 'Give Me a drink,' you
would have asked Him, and He would have given you living water." She said
to Him, "Sir, You have nothing to draw with and the well is deep; where
then do You get that living water? "You are not greater than our father
Jacob, are You, who gave us the well, and drank of it himself and his sons and
his cattle”?
Instead of responding to the ethnic
and religious animosity of the Samaritan woman by ignoring her, Jesus chose to
engage her. Jesus intentionally chose to set aside the customs of the day and
the Jewish Law of the day by asking her for a drink of water that would have
come from a container that would have been viewed as “unclean”. Instead of
bowing to the prevailing ethnic and religious animosity and hatred, Jesus
treated the Samaritan woman as a social equal and with respect.
To understand the nature of
this engagement, we first need to understand something about water. In the
first century, there was two ways by which one obtained water. Either you
obtained water from a well or you obtained water from a river or stream. Now,
water that is in a well does not flow but is stagnant. However, water from a
flowing river or stream was viewed as being living or active. That water, as a
general rule, was also better water to drink.
Now, with that in mind, Jesus explained
to the Samaritan woman that if she knew about the free gift that God wanted to
offer her, and if she really knew who she was talking to that was asking her
for a drink, she would not be responding with animosity. Instead, if she really
knew who she was talking to, she would be the one taking the initiative to
engage him for the water that He would provide her. You see, while the water
from the well that the Samaritan woman was pursuing could maintain life, the
water from that well could not produce life. However, Jesus was offering the
Samaritan women water that was living and active and could produce the life
that she so desperately needed and was lacking.
The Samaritan woman however,
was not focused on receiving the water that would produce life. Instead, she
was solely focused on meeting her immediate personal needs to maintain life.
The Samaritan woman basically says to Jesus “well who do you think you are? Are
you saying that you are greater than our ancestor Jacob, because he gave us
this well? I do not see any water in your hands and I do not see a river
nearby. And anyways weren’t you just asking me for a drink a minute ago? So,
who do you think you are and where do you think you are going to get this great
water from, anyways?” We see Jesus
response in verse 13-15:
Jesus answered and said to her, "Everyone who drinks of this water
will thirst again; but whoever drinks of the water that I will give him shall
never thirst; but the water that I will give him will become in him a well of
water springing up to eternal life." The woman said to Him, "Sir,
give me this water, so I will not be thirsty nor come all the way here to draw."
Jesus basically says to the
Samaritan woman “everyone who comes to drink this water will have to come back
again later, because this water only maintains life. This water may temporarily
reduce thirst, but this water never removes the thirst. However, the water I
have, this water removes even the deepest thirst. The water that I have becomes
a source of water that produces life”.
And once again, we see the
Samaritan woman miss the point. Instead, the Samaritan woman responded by
focusing on her pressing immediate needs. The Samaritan woman was focused on
attempting to satisfy her deepest thirst from the wrong source.
Friday we will see Jesus reveal
this reality in the Samaritan woman’s life...
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