John Chapter 4 is our passage for today, it begins with the account of “the woman at the well”. This is a powerful message showing Christ willingness to reach across the boundaries of prejudice in order to provide salvation to all people. In our culture, it is difficult to relate to the magnitude of Jesus speaking to this woman. But you need to understand that for the 950 years prior to that day at the well, the Jews had been completely down on the Samaritans and since the foundation of time they had been down on women. When Jesus said, “Will you give me a drink?” The woman responded, “How can you ask me for a drink?” To answer her question, Jesus immediately went to her spiritual need by asking if she wanted living water.
Jesus then goes on to share the gospel of God’s love with this broken and rejected woman, who was living under a generational curse. She becomes a believer and it is a great story. The thing about the Bible is that it is not a collection of stories. It is the written account of God being revealed to humanity. Each book in the Bible holds a theme and the theme for the Gospel of John is to prove conclusively that Jesus is the Son of God. So when we read the book of John, we look for this main theme.
Six times John weaves his main theme into this passage. John is on a mission to prove that Jesus is the Son of God.
I. Jesus knows things about people
II. Jesus is in charge of situational events
III. Jesus had a life changing impact on the woman
IV. Jesus understood God’s mission
V. Jesus exercised God’s authority over the disciples
VI. Jesus made an impression on the entire community
I. Jesus knows things about people
Jn 4:16 He told her, “Go, call your husband and come back.”
Jn 4:17 “I have no husband,” she replied.
Jesus said to her, “You are right when you say you have no husband.
Jn 4:18 The fact is, you have had five husbands, and the man you now have is not your husband.
This statement convinced the woman that Jesus was a prophet, but not the Son of God. I don’t believe we have the full conversation that took place between Jesus and the woman. I believe there is more to the conversation because when we reach verse 28 she leaves her water pot behind, returns to the city asking herself and others a very serious question,
Jn 4:29 “Come, see a man who told me everything I ever did. Could this be the Christ ?”
Point one: Jesus knows things about people and he knows things about us today.
II. Jesus is in charge of situational events
Jn 4:8 (His disciples had gone into the town to buy food.)
This may seem unimportant, but if the disciples had still been at the well, one of them would have gotten Him a drink and the conversation between Christ and the woman would have never taken place. I wonder why one of the disciples didn’t get Him a drink before they left. I believe they didn’t because Jesus is in charge of situational events.
There is more evidence that Jesus is in charge of situational events, check out verse 27, “Just then his disciples returned and were surprised to find him talking with a woman.” Note that it says “Just then,” just at the right moment the disciples walked up. What made it the right moment? Look up at verse 25, Jn 4:25 The woman said, “I know that Messiah” (called Christ) “is coming. When he comes, he will explain everything to us.”
Jn 4:26 Then Jesus declared, “I who speak to you am he”, that is the moment the disciples walked up. They had to have heard, because it says they, “were surprised to find him talking with a woman.” You know what happens next? The woman leaves. If the disciples would have shown up a minute sooner, they would have interfered in the conversation and they would not have heard Jesus’ proclamation that He was the Christ. This is the first time that Jesus is recorded in the Gospel of John saying that He is the Christ. In fact back in John 2:4 we find Jesus saying it’s not His time yet. So here in Chapter 4 it must be His time and the disciples are there just in time to hear it. Had they been a minute later, they would have missed it. Jesus was in charge of situational events then and He is still in charge today.
III. We know Jesus is the Son of God because He had a life changing impact on the woman.
Verse 28 again, “Then, leaving her water jar, the woman went back to the town and said to the people, Jn 4:29 “Come, see a man who told me everything I ever did. Could this be the Christ ?” In one afternoon the woman has become a believer and a preacher. And a convincing preacher because verse 30 says, “They came out of the town and made their way toward him.” Why did they go out to find Jesus, because she told them too. Then in verse 42 we find these people talking to the woman, Jn 4:42 They said to the woman, “We no longer believe just because of what you said; now we have heard for ourselves, and we know that this man really is the Savior of the world.”
Here are a few facts we know about this woman: she has been married five times, and she is currently living in an adulterous relationship. The Samaritan people did not follow all the Old Testament teachings like the Jews did, but they did follow Moses’ teachings. Moses’ teaching includes the Ten Commandments, one of which is: “Thou shalt not commit adultery.” So we know that even though she talks a good talk about Jacob’s well and her fathers worshiping on that mountain, she was not living a righteous life. Let me tell something else that brings her character into question: verse 6 says she was there about the sixth hour, that’s about noon. Traditionally women went to the well in the evening; it was a little cooler in the evening, it was a woman’s activity and by going in the evening they had water for the next morning. So why was this woman there at noon? Perhaps it was because she didn’t collect enough water the day before, but most likely it is because she was an adulterous tramp in the eyes of the other women and not welcome in their circle.
So when this woman goes back and evangelizes the town it is a really big thing. Jesus had an impact on this woman that was so obvious the whole town could see it. And He continues to have an impact on people today.
IV. Jesus understood God’s mission
Jn 4:31 Meanwhile his disciples urged him, “Rabbi, eat something.”
Jn 4:32 But he said to them, “I have food to eat that you know nothing about.”
Jn 4:33 Then his disciples said to each other, “Could someone have brought him food?”
Jn 4:34 “My food,” said Jesus, “is to do the will of him who sent me and to finish his work.
God’s mission on earth is pretty simple; to undue what man did in the Garden of Eden. You remember the story, God made a perfect environment for man to live in, the man broke the rules and God cursed the man.
The disciples went to town to get some food, so they want to give Jesus some of their food. Sound a little familiar? In Genesis chapter 3 the serpent told the woman to eat the forbidden fruit, the woman said, we aren’t supposed to eat from that tree. Then the serpent, who we later learn is the devil, does the most treacherous thing that the devil can do, he tells the truth. Ge 3:5 “For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.” Adam and Eve ate the forbidden fruit then it says in Ge 3:7 “Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they realized they were naked.”
The disciples are there offering Jesus something to eat. There is nothing wrong with offering someone something to eat, but look where the minds of the disciples were, Jn 4:33 … “Could someone have brought him food?” I can you hear the disciples thinking? ‘Man, we blow it, He had to get water from a lowly Samaritan woman and now someone else is giving Him food. We are failing our Teacher.’ Jesus’ response is to say, ‘Come on guys, it’s not about your feeding me or doing the right thing, it’s that you should have your focus on God.—I have food that you know nothing about.” “My food, is to do the will of him who sent me and to finish his work.
Jesus understood God’s mission in those days and He understands it today. If you allow Him, He will reach you and heal you and give you purpose for your life. Remember Christianity is not something we do it is who we are.
V. Jesus exercised God’s authority over the disciples
Jn 4:38 I sent you to reap what you have not worked for. Others have done the hard work, and you have reaped the benefits of their labor.”
Even though much of God’s mission was done by others, there was still plenty for the disciples, so Jesus was sending them to be a part of God’s plan for the world. This is as true today as it was then. Jesus has commissioned the believers to continue the work. So we reach out in love, we share the Gospel, we teach the good news. We reap when we’re called to reap, we sow when we’re called to sow, we dig when we’re called to dig and we do it because Jesus has asked us to and we should be enthusiastic for Him to exercise God’s authority and leadership over us.
(VI.) The sixth way that this passage communicates that Jesus is the Son of God is: Jesus made an impression on the entire community
Jn 4:39 Many of the Samaritans from that town believed in him because of the woman’s testimony, “He told me everything I ever did.”
Jn 4:40 So when the Samaritans came to him, they urged him to stay with them, and he stayed two days.
Jn 4:41 And because of his words many more became believers.
Jn 4:42 They said to the woman, “We no longer believe just because of what you said; now we have heard for ourselves, and we know that this man really is the Savior of the world.”
Look around this room today. Jesus is still making an impression on an entire community. The change begins when someone shares his or her experience with coming to know Jesus as the Son of God. But, it really blossoms when we acknowledge Him as our personal Lord and Savior.
John Chapter 4 shows us six reasons to believe that Jesus is the Son of God, sent to redeem humanity, sent to fix what has been messed up, to make a way for us to move from the curse to the blessing and to receive eternal life. You might disagree with one or two or maybe even all of these points when see you them individually. But the evidence is mounting. In the Gospel of John, it grows page by page. If you have never prayed to receive Jesus as your Savior, it is time. Today is your day.
If you do know Christ, learn the lessons we are taught and that we should be living by:
1. Don’t be afraid to reach across the bonds of prejudice, Christ wants you too.
2. Be honest in your relationship with Christ, you might as well, He knows it all anyway.
3. When something happens in your life, stop and ask, did Christ make this happen for a reason. Let me insert a statement for you to ponder this week, ‘What if there are no coincidences, ever. What if God is really that much in control?
4. Christ has impacted your life; let Him continue to do so.
5. Be a student of the Bible. The Bible is where we learn Christ’s teaching and we learn our part in God’s Mission.
6. Jesus exercised God’s authority over the disciples; let Him exercise authority over you.
7. Some people will tell you that Christianity is fading, old fashioned and irrelevant for our time. Don’t believe them. The only time Jesus pulls back is when He’s winding up to make a big impact!
