Questioning Jesus, Woman At The well
John 4:4-30, 39-42
February 24, 2008
Last week - Nicodemus
Nicodemus-was a religious professional
-who came at night
-curious/interested in Jesus
He wanted to get in on.
Participate
Become involved in a relationship with Jesus and leave religion behind.
His question of Jesus was how can I have the life you offer?
How can I be saved?
Jesus says - born again/born from above.
How?
Water and wind
(Surrender yourself in water) (Swept away by God)
At the close of that conversation, Jesus says these words - that to many of you are familiar
"For God so loved the world that He gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have everlasting life."
"For God so loved the ________ that He gave his one and only Son, that ________ believes in him shall not perish but have everlasting life." John 3:16
For God so loved the world
Cosmos
For God so loved every think and everyone that he had created that he gave his one and only Son, that
Whoever -you
Me
Your neighbor
Your child
Your boss
Your spouse
That whoever and it doesn’t matter who
That whoever - notice there is no parenthesis following the word whoever like
(Except Finish people)
(Except murderers)
(Except lobbyists)
That whoever - no matter who you are.
Where you’ve been
What you’ve been into
That whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.
We believe that Nicodemus hears these words and takes them to heart. The love of God touches him and he becomes a changed man.
In some sense, this story of Nicodemus isn’t too messy, I mean Nicodemus is a good man - a holy man - a righteous man - Jesus would find him much easier to love - especially compared to the woman in the text we just read.
In that text, it is quite the opposite. It’s a text about a woman who had made bad choices, had been in bad relationships, who was currently making poor relational decisions.
That was a woman that had a reputation. Her town knew about her.
Had you asked someone in her town about her, they wouldn’t have had too many respectable things to say about her. Most - including you and me had we been her neighbors saw her as in a cycle of mistakes.
A spiral of downward choices and consequently with her history stacked against her concluded
She’s a mess
She’d be a drain
She doesn’t contribute
She has little hope how could anyone love her?
When you and I read and recite John 3:16 together we say tat God loves the world.
He loves everyone in it.
When I close the service, I quite often will say, "He’s crazy about us."
And yet it is easier for us - is it not - to love the world - than to love certain ones in the world. -especially one like her.
It can be quite easy for us to believe that God loves the world but if we were honest we might say - "But how could God love someone like her?"
They’re a series of mistakes.
A perpetual wrong doer.
Sure God loves the world but how can he like certain individuals?
Are we tracking?
It is quite easy for me to say I love the Clear Lake community.
It may be quite easy for you and me to say we love our entire family.
I love my class.
My teammates.
My Co-workers.
My neighbors.
Those in my club.
And yet if we were honest, there are often a few that we say we love but in reality, we really don’t like them.
We love our community but there are certain individuals that we may really struggle with.
You like your classmates, but not all of them get invited to the party.
You/we love our extended family but when or if so and so come the dynamics change.
Is not this true?
And so when the Son of God was given to the world - sent to the world - we would affirm he was given in love but our human side would say - but surely, he won’t or can’t love her.
Surely, Jesus will see her life and bypass her.
She’s not good enough.
Her story to messy
Her past too heavy.
Her wrong decisions too numerous.
And yet the text says - in verse #4 - that Jesus had to go through Samaria.
The Greek literally says, "And it was necessary for him to pass through Samaria." The RSV, NEB, LB all say this.
Jesus had to go through Samaria. The KJV says, "And he must of necessity on need go through Samaria."
But here’s the deal. He didn’t have to. Jesus didn’t have to go through Samaria. We know from the text (v. 3) that Jesus was in Judea and that he was headed to Galilee. Judea was in the south and Galilee was in the North.
Between Judea and Galilee was Samaria. And in Samaria lived the Samaritans. And no good Jew - of which Jesus was one - would ever chose to get from Judea to Galilee by passing through Samaria.
Because a good Jew believed the Samaritans were less pure, less holy, less righteous than they. The Samaritans at one time were Jewish. But due to being in exile/captivity for years - turned back on the true faith to embrace other gods and as a result married non-Jewish people and therefore had children with mixed blood.
The wasn’t o.k.
This wasn’t acceptable to the Jewish people so if they were headed north to Galilee they would choose to bypass Samaria - they wanted nothing to do with it nor the people,
They would head east over the Jordan River, walk on the east side of it and then once above Samaria would then cross over into Galilee.
No Jewish person had to go through Samaria. In fact most Jewish people didn’t
Wouldn’t
And taught their children no to.
And yet our text says, Jesus had to.
It was of necessity.
Feel the tension? What’s John saying? What’s going on here?
I believe the writer wants his readers know the extent to which Jesus was committed to loving the world.
I believe writer John wants his readers to see that when Jesus had opportunity to bypass
Avoid
Take a detour around
Loving and caring for the messy
Dirty
Soiled
Impure Samaritans
He chose not to take it. He didn’t take an alternative
Chose the road to and through Samaria because he was and is committed to loving those most of us would and do find hard to love.
Friends, if you come here this morning believing in a Savior who is afraid to enter into the messy.
If you are here this morning with the notion, that God won’t have anything to do with the broken and despised.
If you question if God has a desire to bypass the muck that his precious ones create for themselves. Preferring to stroll and be with the healthy, holy and heads held high ones I don’t read that in my Bible.
Let me simply say -
"Jesus had to go through Samaria." This is just who he is.
Jesus - our God is willing to enter into the lives of those who are excluded by the world’s systems, forgotten about by the powerful hated because of past mistakes.
God is desiring to enter our broken - stained - sin filled lives - because he loves - not just the world - but everyone every you and me in it.
We have a God who breaks the boundaries.
We have a God who doesn’t practice social etiquette.
He goes to where people are in need of knowing his love for them.
Our God had to go through Samaria and he wants to enter yours.
At the garden of Eden - he came.
At the tower of Babel - he came.
After the 11 disciples denied knowing him and locked themselves in a room - he came.
He came because he longs to set people free from their past that imprisons them.
He longs to enter into the heart of the matter so that you live in his love and not according to the same, regret, pain that so often overwhelms.
In our text Jesus entered into this woman’s
-geography
-Religion
-Relational boundaries
Jesus crossed over and into these 3 areas and set her free.
Geographically - he entered her turf.
-her soil
-he came to her well
He a Jew entered her world.
Her country.
Jesus was sent to demonstrate and offer love to those imprisoned geographically. He entered Samaria that day and drug his disciples along. I believe giving them and all church people a lesson that we are to go
Enter
Engage
Immerse ourselves in geographic areas that most would avoid.
Jesus spent most of his time not in the temple and not at holy festivals but among sinners in their homes, on their roads, among them. He entered their space.
Do you want to be a follower of Jesus? It will mean you will be led into some places where you are not completely comfortable.
Jesus entered
Had to go through Samaria.
Perhaps you must go to that friends house.
That abusive home.
That homeless area.
That impoverished area.
Where is God leading you to go geographically.
What space must you enter?
Jesus also entered into this woman’s beliefs systems - her religious beliefs.
Jesus set this woman free from her ½ true religious beliefs. She could talk the talk religiously.
She knew some Jewish/Samaria religious history.
She knew about Mt Gerizim and Jerusalem.
She was even expecting and hoping for the Messiah.
She dabbled
Knew a bit - but she didn’t know the truth.
She knew some but not all of it.
She had some religious notions but not the Truth.
Jesus - in her conversation - loved her enough to tell her.
Explain to her.
Speak to her heart.
He reveals to her a scandalous sin filled woman that he is the Messiah.
He tells her the Truth about himself and it sets her free.
Friends - as Jesus followers there are times when your friends and co-workers know some ½ truths about God.
They combine what they remember from their Sunday School classes as a kid with some New Age ideas with a bit of Oprah and some self-help guru.
It all gets thrown in together.
There will be moments/times/occasions when we must say gently - That’s not how I see it. Or "I don’t believe that to be true about the God of the Bible."
Like Jesus when given opportunity we must set people free from their ½ true religious beliefs.
When Jesus entered this woman’s space geographically.
Her beliefs spiritually.
He set her free relationally.
Her towns people friends see her anew as someone new.
Her past is revealed - named and addressed.
"Come see a man who told me everything I ever did."
Her cover.
Her mask wearing life is over.
She is set free personally.
Jesus had to go through Samaria because he longed to set this woman free from the barriers and boundaries that were holding her captive.
And friends, he longs to do the same in you and me.
The love of God longs to enter into the past that you are doing your best to hide.
The love of God desires to be a light in those dark places exposing those dark deeds don long ago.
The love of God comes into the messes we’ve made.
The mistakes we’ve chosen and to give us hope both in the now and for the future.
