Have you ever experienced those moments when you feel all alone? To make matters worse, it seems as though that there is no one in your corner. When someone finally notices you with a passing glance, it seems as though it was more of a judgmental stare than a simple glance. In that moment you just knew, that the stare meant they had already passed sentence on you. The problem is you already wrestle daily with the pain of past mistakes, what gives anyone else the right to make you pay every day of your life. So to avoid feeling that pain and rejection, you simply withdraw into your own private prison, trying to avoid contact with others as much as possible. It’s not because you want to live a solitary life, it is just because you want to keep the pain from getting any worse. In our text we meet a woman who knows exactly what this feels like. Her past mistakes in the eyes of most keep her from being of any use to the Kingdom of God. Each morning she wakes up with a scarlet letter attached to her, but what hurts the most are those stares and comments made by those who may pass her on the street. Despite these issues she will play a significant role in leading many to accept Jesus Christ. With her story immediately following that of Nicodemus, we are given one of the most significant messages of the Gospel. That is, “no one’s pedigree or past mistakes are of any value in determining one’s worth in the Kingdom of God.” Today we are going to see that God loves us and we can still serve Him despite our past mistakes. In fact it was for mistakes just like ours that Jesus died.
I. A chance meeting with an unexpected person.
A. Jesus’ growing popularity put Him on the radar screen of the Jewish religious leaders.
1. The Pharisees have noticed Jesus’ growing popularity and any growing Messianic movement would be interpreted as a political threat.
2. The Pharisees information was faulty because they thought Jesus was baptizing but that was not the case, only His disciples were baptizing.
3. Jesus realizing that His time had not yet come, He chooses to avoid any conflict by leaving Judea and heading back to Galilee.
4. The most direct route from Judea to Galilee required that Jesus pass through Samaria.
5. The problem lies in the fact that strict Jews believed that they would be defiled if they stepped on Samaritan soil. To avoid defilement they would take a route around Samaria through Perea which was east of the Jordan River.
6. After a thirty mile journey on foot, Jesus arrives at Sychar in Samaria and sits down to rest at Jacob’s well and His disciples run into town to pick up some food.
7. This sets the stage for a much unexpected meeting.
B. Jesus has a conversation with a person who already has a couple of strikes against her.
1. Jesus and His disciples arrived about noon and as He rests, Jesus encounters a woman coming to draw water.
2. There are three things quite unusual about the woman coming to draw water.
a. There were wells that were located much closer to the town.
b. Women generally would go to the well to draw water in groups.
c. Noon was the hottest part of the day and women normally came to draw water later in the day to avoid the extreme heat.
3. This leaves us with the impression that the woman wanted to avoid running into any of the other women of the town.
4. Jesus definitely encounters a woman with two obvious strikes against her without considering her past.
a. Women were considered property and men would not normally strike up a conversation with them.
b. Samaritans were hated and avoided by the Jews.
5. This woman comes to this well at this time to avoid being reminded of the great shame she lives with, so this man at the well is more than just an inconvenience.
6. Jesus makes a surprising request of her because normally Jews would not share anything with Samaritans especially an eating or drinking utensil. This opens the door for her to be drawn into a conversation.
II. A conversation with an unexpected promise.
A. Jews and Samaritans both were eagerly awaiting the coming of the Messiah.
1. Jesus directs the conversation in a way that the woman would learn about two important things.
a. The gift of God which is life.
b. Who it was that was speaking to her.
2. Many Samaritans were just as zealous for the things of God as were the Jews, the fundamental disagreement was over where one should worship.
3. The Jews of course believed worship must happen in Jerusalem while the Samaritans believed that worship could happen on Mount Gerizim.
4. They both awaited the arrival of the Messiah that God had promised.
B. Jesus’ words to the Samaritan woman are filled with hope, love and grace.
1. Jesus speaks to her of living water but she does not fully understand the concept because much like Nicodemus the woman is thinking in physical terms while Jesus is speaking in spiritual terms.
2. During the conversation the woman’s worst fears are realized as the issue of her past mistakes begins to surface as Jesus turns the conversation so the woman will see her sin and her need for forgiveness.
3. Although Jesus confronts the woman’s sinful life He does not dwell on it, in fact He affirms her truthfulness about her situation.
4. Jesus’ intention was not to condemn the woman but to help her see the mess that she was living in and that there was hope for her to change her life.
C. Through Jesus Christ grace is made available to everyone including those who are viewed as unworthy by the rest of the world.
1. Jesus’ knowledge of her past and His ability to address her difficult question about worship leaves her thinking that He might be the Messiah.
2. As Jesus confirms that He is indeed the Messiah, He shows that worship is not dependent upon a place but upon a continual relationship with God.
3. Jesus in His conversation with the woman avoided two common mistakes we make by making rush judgments without all the facts.
a. We often accuse causing the individual to raise their defenses.
b. We excuse the sin and enable the person to continue to live in denial.
4. Jesus’ disciples return to find Him speaking with this Samaritan woman and are surprised. However, none of them confront Him about it.
5. The account shows us that grace is not inhibited by social or gender barriers and is not withheld because of one’s past.
III. A powerful but unexpected response.
A. The woman responded to Jesus’ message in a way that no one would have even imagined.
1. The woman leaves behind her water jar which was the very reason she had came to the well and heads back to the village to share her exciting discovery.
2. Many Samaritans come to Jesus because of the testimony of the woman but even more important is that their belief is confirmed as they each encounter Jesus on a personal basis.
3. As the woman entered the town no longer was she worried about hiding from her past, she was excited because she had been changed by an encounter with Jesus.
4. What made the woman’s message so attractive was the fact that she simply told everyone what Jesus had done for her.
B. The only correct response to God’s grace is a changed life that is fully committed to Him.
1. What was it about Jesus that could make a woman with every reason to hang her head in shame now speak publicly with great transparency about her experience?
2. God has the ability to use our past failures and experiences to share with others the wonder of grace. For this to happen we cannot dwell on the guilt and shame of our past.
3. When the Samaritan woman’s life was touched by Jesus, she made Him the priority leaving behind the tasks that were the priority before.
4. When we are truly thankful for what Jesus has done in our lives it will be reflected by our priorities and actions.
The depression took the fun out of 1932. It was no time to go into business. But Ted and Dorothy Husted bought the little drug store in their town. The little village of Wall, South Dakota was barely surviving. Grasshoppers had eaten all the crops in the region. It was a dust bowl because of a long drought and temperatures (often for ten days at a time) of over 100 degrees. Their little drugstore was not making it. They were about to quit.
One hot afternoon with no customers in sight Dorothy went home to rest but she couldn’t sleep because of the constant noise of traffic going by on the highway near their house. In that moment she realized that most of these travelers were hot and tired. She went back to the store and worked out a fantastic marketing strategy.
Ted went 25 miles in each direction and put up signs that read, FREE ICE WATER AT THE WALL DRUG STORE, Wall, S.D. They put up signs at 10 miles; and at 5 miles the sign read: HOLD ON! IT’S ONLY 5 MILES TO THE WALL DRUG STORE AND FREE ICE WATER.
Before he even got back to the store people were stopping for free water. Some bought ice cream and other things. They struggled to keep up with the constant flow of people.
Today, decades later, signs are all over the world telling you just how far it is to free ice water at the Wall, S.D. drugstore. On a hot summer day more than 20,000 people crowd the drugstore that covers most of a city block. This happened in a town that has never had more than 800 residents. It remains the most spectacularly, successful drugstore in the entire industry. Druggists had been handing out free water for generations. But Ted & Dorothy were the first people who ever thought of advertising it.
Jesus offers water that quenches the deep inner thirst every person has felt. He offered it to a woman in Samaria and it changed not only her life but also the life of everyone she knew in her village.
