What happens when Jesus crosses your path? Well anything can happen can’t it.
When Jesus crossed Peter’s path Peter went from an unschooled fisherman to a disciple.
When Jesus crossed Matthew’s path Matthew went from hated tax collector to well-loved Gospel writer.
When Jesus crossed the path of Lazarus, Lazarus went from a four day old corpse to eating dinner with his family.
Right throughout the Gosepels there is story after story of people whose lives were effected by Jesus in a very powerful way. One of those people was this unnamed Samaritan woman whose life was transformed.
For her the day started like any other day. Rising early she sent her defacto partner off to work. At about 7:00am the village women walk past her door, on their way to get water from the village well known as Jacob's Well.
They would walk past her house in groups of three or four.
Their joyful chatter and spirited laughter mocked her everyday.
Of course early morning was the perfect time to collect water – when the day was still cool. But it had been years since she had been to the well with them.
The condemning stares.
The hushed whispers.
The deliberate isolation.
It became too much to bear.
She would get water when no-one else did. The middle of the day when the sun was hottest. Why did she behave this way? This Samaritan woman was an outcast. In fact she was an outcast among outcasts.
In the eyes of a Jew she was an outcast because of her ethnic background.
The comment in verse 9 says it all, Jews do not associate with Samaritans. There was a lot of ethnic tension between Jews and Samaritans – tension which comes as a result of history.
When the king of Assyria conquered the Northern Tribes of Israel in 722BC he removed most of the inhabitants – and then replaced them with people from other countries. This strategy was known as deportation – spreading the inhabitants of a conquered land to other nations in order to discourage regrouping and retaliation.
As the new group of people from various nations began to work together they would often keep their old religion and mix it with the religion of their new country. In Israel these imported people became known as Samaritans – a mixed race of unfaithful Jews and outside pagans. The words of 2 Kings 17:41 summarises the situation well
Even while these people were worshipping the LORD, they were serving their idols. To this day their children and grandchildren continue to do as they fathers did.
In the eyes of a Jew the Samaritans were disloyal to the true God. This woman Samaritan was an outcast.
But that is not where it stops. In the eyes of her fellow villages her poor moral reputation makes her an outcast in the Samaritan society. This woman has a bad reputation. She’s been married five times and is currently living with a man to whom she is not married.
We are not told if the five marriages ended in death or divorce – but the odds of loosing five husbands to death is very small.
It could well be that she is unable to produce children which, in that culture, was enough of a reason to get a divorce.
We do know she is currently with a man who is not her husband – is he just taking advantage of a lonely woman who is crying out for attention?
She is an outcast among outcasts so it is normal for her to be ignored, judged, slandered and isolated. When we understand this fact it becomes clear that she is not expecting anything to happen when she meets Jesus.
When the Samaritan woman meets Jesus at the well she is not looking for companionship, nor is she expecting her life to become different – all she is doing is looking for water.
That might sound like an obvious thing to say but it is important to understand. Because, when Jesus crosses our path, it doesn’t always occur because we are seeking Him out. Rather it is Jesus who initiates the contact. That is what is happening in verse 7:- Will you give Me a drink? Asks Jesus.
Jews hate Samaritans.
Men shouldn’t address woman who are alone.
Rabbis don’t mix with sinners and promiscuous people.
Jesus knows the questionable lifestyle of this woman.
Yet here is Jesus conversing with her. He is even willing to share her cup. As Jesus does this we are being given a huge insight into the nature of His ministry.
Jesus does not judge us on the basis of what we were. Jesus realises that each one of us is an outcast and that we need Him as our Saviour. That is an insight into the mind of Jesus which should really get us thinking.
Have there been times when you have seen yourself as an outcast?
Could it be said, right at this very moment, that you feel like a spiritual outcast?
Have you had a sense of unworthiness?
Perhaps we have never gotten over difficult and hurting events during our childhood.
Maybe we found it hard to relate to our parents.
Maybe we were betrayed by a trusted friend.
We despise the way we have been treated.
Even now anger, which we still harbour, often gets the better of us. We find it difficult to unload. Now of course we don't want others to know how we really feel so we hide our true selves:- convinced the truth would be too shocking. Our life is a lie. We feel unacceptable and beyond help.
There may be others who have been captured by the seductiveness of this world in which we live.
We excessively enjoy worldly pleasures – it fills the time.
We love spending huge amounts of money on ourselves – it makes us feel good.
And the sensual temptations of life – well you know what I mean.
We do all these things to fill our life with meaning. Yet life can feel so empty.
And then we get to a point where we start asking that hard religious question, "How could God want such a person as this?". We feel beyond help and beyond hope. It could lead to terrible consequences, but it doesn’t. Jesus is willing to put Himself in our path no matter what sort of people we are. You see Jesus understand what it means to be an outcast after all He is one of them.
That is the reason He is in Samaria in the first place. Have a look at the first three verses of our text.
The Pharisees heard that Jesus was gaining and baptising more disciples than John, although in fact it was not Jesus who baptised, but His disciples. When the Lord learned of this, He left Judea and went back once more to Galilee. (John 4:1-3)
Jesus was unorthodox. Jesus stood on people’s toes. Jesus did not fit into the system. The leaders didn’t like that. So Jesus was made into an outcast, they kept on pushing Him away. That is how it was for His whole life.
Jesus healed in the name of God; they accused Him of being Satan.
Jesus preached that the hearts of people may be opened – but hearts just turned to stone.
Then after all that Jesus went to the cross and became the greatest outcast of all. In the end, at the cross, it was just Jesus. His disciples abandoned Him. He was so offensive at that point that even God the Father turned His back on Jesus. A complete outcast rejected by all.
Jesus knows what it is like to be an outcast ... and He is the Saviour for the outcasts
When we compare our life-style to the one described for us in the Scriptures we know there are areas where we are unworthy. If people knew the real us – well on some occasions they would be shocked.
… the actions we do.
… the doubts we have.
… the thoughts which plague us everyday
We might not be exactly like the Samaritan woman – but we could just as easily become outcasts.
And yet, the beautiful contrast in this whole story is the fact that Jesus isn't dictated by social conventions.
Everyone has written this woman off as not being worthy of having social interaction.
She is just too bad.
Everyone that is, except Jesus.
In the eyes of Jesus there are no outcasts, just people whose lives have spiritually stagnated.
If interaction with her means the rest of Jewish society will treat Him as more of an outcast ... well so be it. Jesus sees a more important reality.
If Jesus does not come and stir up this stagnate spiritual life it will die.
So Jesus comes and stirs life.
Let's read verses 13-14 again
Jesus answered, “Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again, but whoever drinks the water I give will never thirst. Indeed the water I give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life”.
What Jesus is doing here is offering an alternative, a fresh spiritual dynamic. "Your spirituality can be like a constant stream, never drying up, satisfying like a long cool drink on a hot day".
This woman has allowed herself to be convinced that she is not worthy.
Jesus comes to break those shackles.
To show her that God never pushes people away from Himself.
There is an inner peace which can break the turmoil a spring of water welling up into eternal life. Jesus has something the woman desperately needs – but the message was not coming through. So Jesus has to make the point even clearer.
How does Jesus make the point clearer? Jesus makes his point clear by pointing the woman to her sinful life. It might not seem like the politically correct thing to do – but it is the right thing to do.
While it is true that we are outcasts who can be drawn into God’s family, we also need to recognise our responsibility and admit our sinful actions as the cause of separation between us and God.
That is what Jesus is doing when says to her in verse 16 Go call your husband and come back.
Does Jesus ask this question because He wants to condemn her and treat her like everyone else has been?
No. Jesus asks this question in order to help this Samartian woman with her greatest needs.
In the opening chapter of John’s gospel Jesus is described as the Lamb of God who comes to take away the sin of this world. He will deal with sin in those who express some interest in knowing and following Him. He must deal with sin, so that He can save.
Everyone else shuns her.
No one gives her the chance to be accepted.
Everyone else talks about her behind her back – hushed and whispered criticism.
Everyone – except Jesus.
Which brings us to the key point of this passage. Jesus just accepts people as they are.
That is a great message for us, and all who need hope in this life.
Your doubts about God will never make you too unworthy.
The way you feel about your life does not bring you beyond hope.
Your rebellion cannot bring you too far from God.
Nothing can push you beyond the reaches of God's loving embrace.
It will never be said that people were not accepted by God because God didn't want them. Let me read Ezekiel 33:11:-
As surely as I live, declares the Sovereign LORD, I take no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but rather that they turn from their ways and live. Turn. Turn from your evil ways. Why will you die, O house of Israel?
The problem is not God’s lack of desire – God wants to see transformation. The problem is our refusal to see God’s hand extended to us. And God sent Jesus to make us see this extended hand so clearly.
God sent Jesus to be an outcast so that Jesus could help us when we feel like outcasts.
When the paths of two outcasts cross
Our path
And the path of Jesus
Then anything is possible.
If we feel like a spiritual outcast this morning we can come to Jesus in forgiveness and know He will accept us.
We don’t need to find Jesus … He’s not lost.
Jesus has found us. He is the One who has crossed our path.
And He is offering hope.
You don’t need to walk away from here feeling like an outcast anymore.
That is the first challenge. The second challenge is for us who have been outcasts … but who now know the love and grace and mercy of Jesus.
When we have known Jesus in this way we have a responsibility to help others who feel like outcasts come and know Jesus.
When we leave this church and go through those doors into the world we will met one person after another who is looking for hope.
People who feel that no-one cares.
People who are carrying the guilt and shame of past actions.
People who are on the edge of a social circle.
These people need to know about Jesus – and Jesus has made us cross their path so that we can be the ones to tell them.
This is the message that saves.
No matter what your past has been like, you can leave with the assurance of being the most treasured possession of God.
No matter who we met Jesus can be the answer to their difficulties because Jesus.
It all happens because Jesus has crossed our path.
