The Answer Is... Series

THE ANSWER IS…

John 4:1-42

S: Prejudice & Racism

Th: “Jesus Shatters the Stereotypes of ‘Us’ and ‘Them’”

Pr: The answer to the differences is Jesus.

?: What?

KW: issues

TS: In John 4, there are three issues that are addressed in which the answer is Jesus.

Inductive approach

ISSUES:

I. RACE

II. RELATIONSHIPS

III. RELIGION

Mt. Ararat 11/21/99 AM (2x)

RMBC 1/30/00 AM

INTRODUCTION:

ILL Drama: “Grocery Store Dilemma”

1. Have you ever noticed how we keep track of our differences?

The first thing we often do when we meet someone new is check out the differences.

If we find out we have a lot in common, we have a new friend.

But if we don’t have much in common, then we are not likely to place much value on the relationship.

When it comes down to it, we are all very different from one another.

2. We are full of personal labels that make us different from one another.

I am full of personal labels that make me different than you.

When I take the Myers-Briggs personality test, I come out: ENTJ.

When I take the DISC personality test, I come out a high I and D.

I carry the title of Senior Pastor.

I have earned to degrees: Bachelor of Arts in Religion and a Masters of Divinity.

I am a combination of Dutch, German, French, Irish, Scottish and English ancestry.

I am ordained under the auspices of the Conservative Baptist Association of America.

On my driver’s license, I am a male with brown hair and blue eyes (although gone and gray would be more accurate).

I am different than you.

I am shorter than most of you.

So we take these differences and we make categories.

3. We slot ourselves into categories and slot others as well.

And sometimes, we go as far as placing value on certain categories and worthlessness on others.

But we are not the first to struggle with this concept…

TRANSITION:

1. When we come to John 4, we find Jesus and his disciples have “hit the road.”

(1) The Pharisees heard that Jesus was gaining and baptizing more disciples than John, (2) although in fact it was not Jesus who baptized, but his disciples. (3) When the Lord learned of this, he left Judea and went back once more to Galilee.

It is time to leave Jerusalem.

The Pharisees are starting to brew a bit.

They do not yet know what to make of Jesus.

And Jesus, apparently, is of a mind to not stir the waters in Jerusalem any longer.

So they are heading back north.

They are going to Galilee.

They are going “home.”

But…

2. On the way to Galilee, they take an unorthodox route.

They were going the straight route.

The only problem with this straight route is that it is heading right through Samaria.

For the Jews and the Samaritans, there was a long-seated and abiding hatred.

To the Jews, the Samaritans were impure.

They were a mixed-blood race that had intermarried with Gentiles.

They were to be avoided at all costs.

So much so, that even though Samaria was the most direct route for a Jew going from the south in Judea to the north in Galilee, they would not go that way.

Most, though, would cross to the east side of the Jordan River so to avoid any contact with them.

So why did Jesus want to go this way?

Our text tells us:

(4) Now he had to go through Samaria.

Jesus needed to go through Galilee.

3. Jesus has an appointment He must keep.

He has someone he has to meet.

You know, this is the way Jesus is.

He would talk to just about anybody.

It did not matter if you were a Roman army officer, a little child, a Pharisee like Nicodemus who comes at night to have a clandestine rendezvous, a short little tax-collector named Zaccheus, or a rich prep-school kid who is simply called the rich young ruler, Jesus would talk to you.

Jesus would talk to just about anyone who would listen.

And now He is about to meet one of these people…

OUR STUDY:

I. RACE

(5) So he came to a town in Samaria called Sychar, near the plot of ground Jacob had given to his son Joseph. (6) Jacob’s well was there, and Jesus, tired as he was from the journey, sat down by the well. It was about the sixth hour. (7) When a Samaritan woman came to draw water, Jesus said to her, "Will you give me a drink?"

The well was communal place in town.

This is where, especially, early in the morning, women and children came to fetch water.

But not only that, it was a place to catch up on the latest news.