Outcast to Acceptance
John 4:4-42
March 20, 2011
INTRODUCTION
Transformation Stories. People have been posting their transformation stories on line and some this week shared forward to me a transformation stories.
Each Friday night after work, Ole would fire up his outdoor grill on the shore of Lake Erie and cook a venison steak. But, all of Ole’s neighbors were Catholic. And since it was Lent, they were forbidden from eating meat on Friday.
The delicious aroma from the grilled venison steaks wafted over the neighborhood, and all the way from Huron to Vermillion, and it was causing such a problem for the Catholic faithful that they finally talked to their priest.
The Priest came to visit Ole, and suggested that he become a Catholic. So over the next week Ole attended and evening classes and met with the priest. Then on Sunday he went to mass. There the priest sprinkled holy water over him, he said, "You were born a Lutheran; raised a Lutheran; but now you are a Catholic."
Ole’s neighbors witnessed the event and were relieved.... until Friday night arrived. Again the wonderful aroma of grilled venison filled the neighborhood.
The Priest was called immediately by the neighbors, and, as he rushed into Ole’s yard, clutching a rosary and prepared to scold him, he stopped and watched in amazement.
There stood Ole, clutching a small bottle of holy water.... which he carefully sprinkled over the grilling meat and chanted: "You vuz born a deer; you vuz raised a deer; but now you is a walleye."
Unfortunately for some people transformation doesn’t amount to much more that what occurred in Ole’s life. Real transformation is much deeper.
Turn with me to John 4 and let’s examine what happens . . .
WHEN TRANSFORMATION MOVES US FROM OUTCASTS TO ACCEPTANCE.
Jesus Talks With a Samaritan Woman
4 Now he had to go through Samaria. 5 So he came to a town in Samaria called Sychar, near the plot of ground Jacob had given to his son Joseph. 6 Jacob’s well was there, and Jesus, tired as he was from the journey, sat down by the well. It was about noon.
7 When a Samaritan woman came to draw water, Jesus said to her, "Will you give me a drink?" 8 (His disciples had gone into the town to buy food.)
9 The Samaritan woman said to him, "You are a Jew and I am a Samaritan woman. How can you ask me for a drink?" (For Jews do not associate with Samaritans.)
10 Jesus answered her, "If you knew the gift of God and who it is that asks you for a drink, you would have asked him and he would have given you living water."
11 "Sir," the woman said, "you have nothing to draw with and the well is deep. Where can you get this living water? 12 Are you greater than our father Jacob, who gave us the well and drank from it himself, as did also his sons and his livestock?"
13 Jesus answered, "Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again, 14 but whoever drinks the water I give them will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give them will become in them a spring of water welling up to eternal life."
15 The woman said to him, "Sir, give me this water so that I won’t get thirsty and have to keep coming here to draw water."
16 He told her, "Go, call your husband and come back."
17 "I have no husband," she replied.
Jesus said to her, "You are right when you say you have no husband. 18 The fact is, you have had five husbands, and the man you now have is not your husband. What you have just said is quite true."
19 "Sir," the woman said, "I can see that you are a prophet. 20 Our ancestors worshiped on this mountain, but you Jews claim that the place where we must worship is in Jerusalem."
21 "Woman," Jesus replied, "believe me, a time is coming when you will worship the Father neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem. 22 You Samaritans worship what you do not know; we worship what we do know, for salvation is from the Jews. 23 Yet a time is coming and has now come when the true worshipers will worship the Father in the Spirit and in truth, for they are the kind of worshipers the Father seeks. 24 God is spirit, and his worshipers must worship in the Spirit and in truth."
25 The woman said, "I know that Messiah" (called Christ) "is coming. When he comes, he will explain everything to us."
26 Then Jesus declared, "I, the one speaking to you--I am he."
P. S. WHEN TRANSFORMATION MOVES US FROM OUTCASTS TO ACCEPTANCE.
I. There are common Stumbling blocks to avoid
A. Seeking to hide behind facades
13 Jesus answered, "Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again, 14 but whoever drinks the water I give them will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give them will become in them a spring of water welling up to eternal life."
15 The woman said to him, "Sir, give me this water so that I won’t get thirsty and have to keep coming here to draw water."
Her interest is piqued by what the forgiver says to her. Her first response is Yes I want it. But Jesus forces here to confront the first of the great stumbling blocks to transformation--the belief we can hide behind facades.
16 He told her, "Go, call your husband and come back."
17 "I have no husband," she replied.
Jesus said to her, "You are right when you say you have no husband. 18 The fact is, you have had five husbands, and the man you now have is not your husband. What you have just said is quite true."
It is a part of our fallen nature, we don’t’ like admitting revealing our short comings, our failures, our weaknesses, let alone our sins our vices, selfish habits. So we hide behind masks of uprightness.
Illustration: Moses did the same thing.
Moses wore a veil after he came down from talking with God on Mount Sinai because his face was glowing from having been so close to God’s glory. The people were disturbed by his glowing face and asked him to wear a veil until the glow faded. You can read about it in Exodus 34:29-35.
2 Corinthians 3:13 We are not like Moses, who would put a veil over his face to prevent the Israelites from seeing the end of what was passing away.
B. Trying to control the transformation agenda
Changing the subject is one of the common ways we try to take control of the conversation.
Most of us are guiltily of it. Whether it is the child who has just been caught with his hand in the cookie jars that says, "Mommy I love you." The husband who get’s asked if he’s playing golf this weekend, quickly makes a comment like, "Honey is that new blouse."
Most of us try to avoid those uncomfortable moments by taking control of the conversation.
That is exactly the Samaritan woman does. She seeks to change the agenda.
19 "Sir," the woman said, "I can see that you are a prophet. 20 Our ancestors worshiped on this mountain, but you Jews claim that the place where we must worship is in Jerusalem."
In our transformation journey there will always be the tendency to make it about everything else except ourselves.
C. Looking to trust in heritage or forms of Spirituality
20 Our ancestors worshiped on this mountain, but you Jews claim that the place where we must worship is in Jerusalem."
There is a temptation to define our experience by our families heritage or traditions rather than an genuine encounter with Jesus.
In my life that would have looked this way.
I’m Bruce Rzengota
* A Catholic,
* I don’t go church, I don’t pray, I don’t know God.
* Except Easter and Maybe Christmas.
* And to get married in.
* And to baptize my kids
* And to bury my family
* But other than that
* But I’m a catholic.
That was my "Ancestors experience"
True transformation leads us to the ongoing change of becoming a child of God. How do you define your spirituality? By a tradition, a denomination, a heritage. Or the transformation that Jesus is doing in you.
P. S. WHEN TRANSFORMATION MOVES US FROM OUTCASTS TO ACCEPTANCE.
II. There are Common Signposts along the way.
People who move form outcast to acceptance. . .
A. Have an encounter that goes deeper than a chance meeting
I love how her encounter begins. Give me a drink of water. Superficial stuff that Jesus enters through and then seeks to take her deeper and deeper.
7 When a Samaritan woman came to draw water, Jesus said to her, "Will you give me a drink?" 8 (His disciples had gone into the town to buy food.)
9 The Samaritan woman said to him, "You are a Jew and I am a Samaritan woman. How can you ask me for a drink?" (For Jews do not associate with Samaritans.)
10 Jesus answered her, "If you knew the gift of God and who it is that asks you for a drink, you would have asked him and he would have given you living water."
11 "Sir," the woman said, "you have nothing to draw with and the well is deep. Where can you get this living water? 12 Are you greater than our father Jacob, who gave us the well and drank from it himself, as did also his sons and his livestock?"
13 Jesus answered, "Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again, 14 but whoever drinks the water I give them will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give them will become in them a spring of water welling up to eternal life."
15 The woman said to him, "Sir, give me this water so that I won’t get thirsty and have to keep coming here to draw water."
However your journey began, trip to church, a Bible Study, a conversation have you accepted the reality that Jesus always wants to take it deeper.
B. Face the reality of whom and what they really are.
Jesus said to her, "You are right when you say you have no husband. 18 The fact is, you have had five husbands, and the man you now have is not your husband. What you have just said is quite true."
On the Animal planet is a show called, Confessions: Animal Hoarding, an unflinchingly honest look at a human condition that affects people and animals.
Animal hoarding involves keeping higher than usual numbers of animals as domestic pets without having the ability to properly house or care for them, while at the same time denying this inability. Compulsive hoarding can be characterized as a symptom of mental disorder rather than deliberate cruelty towards animals. Hoarders are deeply attached to their pets and find it extremely difficult to let the pets go. They typically cannot comprehend that they are harming their pets by failing to provide them with proper care. Hoarders tend to believe that they provide the right amount of care for their pets.
To an animal hoarder this seems normal.
Until we can accept that how we are living is not right, that something is wrong, something is broken, nothing changes.
This woman has deep inside stuff problems, she has given herself to 6 different men and she still can’t get the relationship thing right.
Until we reach the point of admitting we need fixing, nothing changes.
C. Accept truth as defined by Jesus
He is the living water new life is found only in him.
13 Jesus answered, "Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again, 14 but whoever drinks the water I give them will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give them will become in them a spring of water welling up to eternal life."
EVERYONE WHO IS TRULY TRTANSFORMED HAS REACHED A POINT WHERE THEY ACCPET THAT THE ANSWER WILL BE FOUND NO WHERE ELSE.
Standing alone in the night
Only You and me to my delight
You said to me you’re not alone
I needed to hear You Lord I cried
And I need You here right by my side
There’s no other to whom I belong
I give You my heart and my soul
My hope is growing cold
"I Need a Savior" Dean Wayburn
VI. Share their new reality with others.
The Disciples Rejoin Jesus
P.S. Many Samaritans Believe
39 Many of the Samaritans from that town believed in him because of the woman’s testimony, "He told me everything I ever did." 40 So when the Samaritans came to him, they urged him to stay with them, and he stayed two days. 41 And because of his words many more became believers.
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."
If you don’t share it, is it real?
Summary and Challenge
WHEN TRANSFORMATION MOVES US FROM OUTCASTS TO ACCEPTANCE
We share common Stumbling Blocks and Sign posts along the way. What have been some of your stumbling blocks you had to avoid? What have been the signposts along the way in your journey?
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