Fountain Of Youth Found!

- not by dirt There were a lot of reasons that could have prevented Jesus from loving this woman. Perhaps the greatest reason was because of her history. She was dirty. There are times that kids get so dirty that only a mother could love them. But the dirt that covered this woman made her so dirty that not even a mother could love her. Everyone knew about her dirt. She was the most well-known person in town. Jesus knew about her dirt too. Look at vs. 17. [read it] She had had 5 different husbands. Each one took a part of her body, a part of her heart, and a part of her soul. When they were done with her, they found some excuse to get rid of her. They threw out the trash. She went from guy to guy to guy. The guy that she was with now wasn’t her husband. He wasn’t even willing to commit to her and give her the respect of a marriage. His plan was just to use her for a while and then throw her away. She was as dirty as they came. Her actions made her worthy of death by stoning 6 times over. Jesus was holy and pure, totally separate from sin. For Jesus to have any contact with her would be like throwing mud on a bride’s beautiful white wedding dress. Why was Jesus willing to contaminate Himself by getting near this dirty woman? Because He had “Jesus love”.

“Jesus love” is the kind of love that won’t be stopped by weariness, differences between you and the other person, or by any history that the other person might possess. Do you know that Jesus gives that kind of love toward you? No matter how fast you run from Jesus, His love is more powerful than the weariness He feels after chasing after you. No matter how much dirt you have accumulated in your life, Jesus is willing to take hold of you, carry you, and clean you.

Do you love people that kind of way? Before you answer that you do, let me remind you that love is something that is expressed through action. If there is no action, there is no love. “I’m too tired to send a note to that person who hasn’t been here in a while.” “The people in my neighborhood (or this neighborhood) are different than me. Many of them are rich. I don’t know how to relate to them. It scares me to much, so I won’t try.” “There’s just too much history between me and that other person. I know too much about them. They’ve hurt me and the people that I love too many times.” Those are statements made by people who don’t have “Jesus love”. They allow obstacles to stop them from expressing Jesus’ love for other people.

2. “Jesus love” meets people where they are. (vs. 10-16)

Did you notice the question that Jesus used to begin the conversation on that hot day? He didn’t ask her about her beliefs concerning a pre-tribulation rapture of the church. He didn’t ask her about the last time that she had been in church. He didn’t ask her about whether she believed in baptizing by immersion or sprinkling. He asked her for a drink of water from the well. That was something that she could understand. Water was something that she could identify with. [read the conversation] Jesus took something that she knew about and compared it to something that He wanted her to experience. He used her desire for water to create a thirst for spiritual things. Jesus was in a habit of doing this. He would talk about something in the physical world that people were familiar with and used it to communicate a truth about the spiritual world. He used a father’s love for his rebellious son to talk about God the Father’s love for you and me. He used the picture of a farmer sowing seed to speak of the power of God’s Word in our hearts to produce change, and growth and spiritual offspring. He used the grapes on a vine to speak of the fact that a Christian who is not connected to Jesus will shrivel up and die just like grapes lying on the ground in the hot sun. Jesus asked her for a drink of water, a request that she could understand, and then he offered her the fountain of youth. He told her that He was the source of true water, water that would not just meet her needs for one day but water that would give her a new life, make her truly young, and would last forever. Jesus met her at her own level of need and understanding.