Hate The Sin, Love The Sinner

PROP. So this morning I want us to see Jesus His attitude toward sin, & then His attitude toward sinners. And in order to do that, let's look at 3 people & their encounters with Jesus.

I. THE SAMARITAN WOMAN AT JACOB'S WELL

A. The first is a Samaritan woman found in the 4th chapter of the Gospel of John. Jesus had broken Jewish custom by traveling thru the province of Samaria. For 600 years the Jews had despised the Samaritans as “half-breeds” & avoided any contact with them.

In return, the Samaritans hated the Jews, & didn’t welcome Jewish travelers into their villages & marketplaces. Often they would even refuse to sell them food or provide them a shelter for the night. And the few Samaritans who would do so raised their prices so high that it was obvious that their hatred was showing.

Therefore very few Jews would try to go through Samaria as they traveled back & forth between Galilee & Judea & Jerusalem. But this time Jesus deliberately decided to go through Samaria.

It was noontime when they approached the Samaritan town of Sychar. Jesus sat down near the well outside of Sychar while the apostles went into town to try to buy food.

As Jesus was sitting there, a woman came out of the town a woman who was tired of being the butt of gossip, tired of being an object of jokes by the respectable ladies of Sychar.

So to get away from that, she had come to the well at noon expecting no one else to be there. But to her surprise, someone was there, & he was a Jew. She looked at Him, but she didn't say a word.

Quickly, she went about her business lowering the bucket down into the deep well, & drawing up the cool, clear water. She filled her water pot took a drink herself & then started to leave.

But as she did, Jesus asked, “Will you give me a drink?" (John 4:7) Now, at first, the woman treated His request with obvious hostility. She turned to him & sarcastically, I think, said, “You are a Jew & I am a Samaritan woman. How can you ask me for a drink?" (John 4:9)

Knowing the animosity that existed between Jews & Samaritans, & the disdain with which most men treated women in that day, her taunting reply is certainly understandable.

Now, if we were to take time to go verse by verse through their conversation we would realize how skillfully Jesus tore down all the barriers between them. Gradually, He worked around to the real problem, & He said to her, “Go, get your husband & come back." (John 4:16) That was the real problem in her life.

When he said that, she replied, “I have no husband." And Jesus responded, “You are right when you say you have no husband. The fact is, you have had five husbands, & the man you are living with now is not your husband." (John 4:17-18)

There must have been something about the tone of His voice & the look in His eyes & His whole manner that caused her to realize that Jesus wasn't trying to tear her down. Here is Jesus, the Son of God, talking to a woman, the object of jokes, with a very poor reputation. But Jesus sees something in her worth saving.