“His name is Bill. He has wild hair, wears a T-shirt with holes in it, jeans and no shoes. This was literally his wardrobe for his entire four years of college. He is intelligent. Kind of esoteric and very, very bright.
He became a Christian while attending college. Across the street from the campus is a well-dressed, very conservative church. They want to develop a ministry to the students, but are not sure how to go about it. One day Bill decides to go there. He walks in with no shoes, jeans, his T-shirt, and wild hair.
The service has already started, so Bill starts down the aisle looking for a seat. The church is completely packed and he can’t find a seat. By now people are really looking a bit uncomfortable, but no one says anything. Bill gets closer to the pulpit, and when he realizes there are no seats, he just squats down right on the carpet. (Although perfectly acceptable behavior at a college fellowship, this had never happened in this church before!) By now the people are really uptight, and the tension in the air is thick.
About this time, the minister realizes that from way at the back of the church, a deacon is slowly making his way toward Bill. Now the deacon is in his eighties, has silver-gray hair, and a three-piece suit. A godly man, very elegant, very dignified, very courtly. He walks with a cane and, as he starts walking toward this young man, everyone is saying to themselves that you can’t blame him for what he’s going to do. How can you expect a man of his age and of his background to understand some college kid on the floor?
It takes a long time for the deacon to reach the young man . The church is utterly silent, except for the clicking of the man’s cane. All eyes are focused on him. The minister can’t even preach the sermon until the deacon does what he has to do. And now they see this elderly man drop his cane on the floor. With great difficulty he lowers himself and sits down next to Bill and worships with him so he won’t feel alone.
Everyone chokes up with emotion. When the minister gains control, he says, "What I’m about to preach, you will never remember. What you have just seen, you will never forget.”
Were you surprised by the outcome of the story? Most of us would be. We have the tendency to jump to certain conclusions about people. And with modern technology, like face book and text messaging, we can jump quickly. Thus, we see conversations like these.
Jack: “Guess who came to church today?”
Jill: “Who?”
Jack: “Flo Gooseheart.”
Jill: “OMG. Hasn’t she had like 5 husbands?”
Jack: “Yeah! And she’s living with a man now.”
Jill: “OMG.”
Jack: “Oh, there’s more. Guess who I saw her talking with.”
Jill: “Who?”
Jack: “The pastor. I wanted to go ask him ‘What do you want with her?’ or ‘Why are you talking to her?’ but I didn’t have the nerve.”
Jill: “Thanks for filling me in. I haven’t been to church in several weeks but I certainly will not be going back.”
Jack: “Me too. I am glad I picked this week to return myself.”
Today we will meet the fifth character in our list of the Dirty Dozen. John 4:1-8 “Jesus knew the Pharisees had heard that he was baptizing and making more disciples than John (though Jesus himself didn’t baptize them—his disciples did). So he left Judea and returned to Galilee.
He had to go through Samaria on the way. Eventually he came to the Samaritan village of Sychar, near the field that Jacob gave to his son Joseph. Jacob’s well was there; and Jesus, tired from the long walk, sat wearily beside the well about noontime. Soon a Samaritan woman came to draw water, and Jesus said to her, ‘Please give me a drink.’ He was alone at the time because his disciples had gone into the village to buy some food.”
Here is the picture. Jesus is on his way to Galilee and decides to take the short route through Samaria rather than taking a longer route around it. He makes it to Jacob’s well around noon and sends his disciples into town to buy some groceries. Soon a woman arrives to get water from the well. This is a strange situation.
The routine would have been for her to get water in the morning for the daytime chores and in the evening for the night time chores. By noon, it would have been extremely hot and too late for the water needed for the morning chores. So why was she there at that time of day? That is where the gossip begins. The other women must have rejected her. Most of us know the story. She has had five husbands and is now living with a man to whom she is not married.
To make matters worse there is a stranger at the well and a Jew no less. This would have stopped her in her tracks. She would have waited for him to draw water first and pray that he meant her no harm. Instead, he asks her to give him a drink.
John 4:9 “The woman was surprised, for Jews refuse to have anything to do with Samaritans. She said to Jesus, ‘You are a Jew, and I am a Samaritan woman. Why are you asking me for a drink?’”
Notice she is surprised. Everything is wrong with this picture. First, she was stunned that a Jew would even speak to her. Remember Jews considered themselves the children of Abraham and the Samaritans were dogs. Secondly, he is a man and she a woman and they just didn’t have conversations. Women were considered as low class citizens unworthy to be acknowledged. Thirdly, he asked and not demanded. Such kindness would have thrown her.
John 4:10 “Jesus replied, ‘If you only knew the gift God has for you and who you are speaking to, you would ask me, and I would give you living water.’”
Remember Nicodemus from last week? Remember how Jesus answered his question before he asked? This week He addresses her need before she knows she has one. Jesus knows her need and tells her “If you could just comprehend what I have to offer. If you could just comprehend who I am. If you knew these things, you would drop to your knees in worship. And I would respond by giving you the gift of eternal life.” That message has never changed. He still makes that offer to all of us. Now, what He says to her causes a bit of a debate.
John 4:11-15 “‘But sir, you don’t have a rope or a bucket,’ she said, ‘and this well is very deep. Where would you get this living water? And besides, do you think you’re greater than our ancestor Jacob, who gave us this well? How can you offer better water than he and his sons and his animals enjoyed?’
Jesus replied, ‘Anyone who drinks this water will soon become thirsty again. But those who drink the water I give will never be thirsty again. It becomes a fresh, bubbling spring within them, giving them eternal life.’
‘Please, sir,’ the woman said, ‘give me this water! Then I’ll never be thirsty again, and I won’t have to come here to get water.’”
Her first reaction is to point out the obvious. The well is deep. Jesus doesn’t have a rope or a bucket to get to the water. Isn’t that why He asked her for a drink? In addition, she’s a bit offended by him elevating himself above Jacob, the builder of the well. Notice she refers to Jacob as “our ancestor” reminding him that she is as Jewish as He is.
Jesus doesn’t argue the point. He gives her a promise. “Drink the water I offer and never thirst again. In fact, you will never die of thirst again.”
Listen to her hope. If He gives her this water never again will she have to come here in the heat of the day and be reminded of her heartbreaks and rejections by others. She wants that bad enough to humble herself and ask.
John 4:16-18 “Go and get your husband,” Jesus told her.
“I don’t have a husband,” the woman replied.
Jesus said, “You’re right! You don’t have a husband— for you have had five husbands, and you aren’t even married to the man you’re living with now. You certainly spoke the truth!”
Wow, what a loose woman. She has been divorced five times and now is living with a man out of the bonds of marriage. At least that is what we have been taught for 2000 years by most scholars. And I do not know why. Perhaps it makes for a better story.
But what do we really know about her affairs? She has had five husbands. What if all five had just died? What if they were kinsmen redeemers? The Samaritans considered themselves the lost Northern tribe of Israel. They considered themselves to be as Jewish as what they saw as the Southern tribe of Israel. They would have followed the principle of the kinsman redeemer.
Jesus covers this matter in Luke 20:28-31 “They posed this question: ‘Teacher, Moses gave us a law that if a man dies, leaving a wife but no children, his brother should marry the widow and have a child who will carry on the brother’s name. Well, suppose there were seven brothers. The oldest one married and then died without children. So the second brother married the widow, but he also died. Then the third brother married her. This continued with all seven of them, who died without children.’”
This was the kinsmen redeemer law in action. Perhaps this had been her fate and now she had no more kinsmen redeemers left. Perhaps a neighbor seeing her plight allowed her to stay in his household for her safety. Perhaps her shame came from the accusations that surely she had sinned and brought these curses upon herself.
But what if she had been divorced five times? A woman in this era would not have any legal rights. She would not be the one seeking a divorce. A man could divorce his wife for burning a meal or for simply for aging. Perhaps after five husbands, she was beyond the age for child bearing and cast aside. Perhaps a neighbor had compassion and allowed her to stay in his household. Perhaps her shame came from wagging tongues that condemned her for not being able to keep a man. Perhaps we have been guilty of gossiping about this Samaritan woman for 2000 years.
Thus begins a long discourse on spiritual matters. John 4:19-26 “Sir,” the woman said, “you must be a prophet. So tell me, why is it that you Jews insist that Jerusalem is the only place of worship, while we Samaritans claim it is here at Mount Gerizim, where our ancestors worshiped?”
Jesus replied, “Believe me, dear woman, the time is coming when it will no longer matter whether you worship the Father on this mountain or in Jerusalem. You Samaritans know very little about the one you worship, while we Jews know all about him, for salvation comes through the Jews. But the time is coming—indeed it’s here now—when true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and in truth. The Father is looking for those who will worship him that way. For God is Spirit, so those who worship him must worship in spirit and in truth.”
The woman said, “I know the Messiah is coming—the one who is called Christ. When he comes, he will explain everything to us.”
26 Then Jesus told her, “I Am the Messiah!”
This Samaritan woman who had five husbands and some man in her life was chosen. This Samaritan woman who knew very little about the one she worshipped was chosen. It was this Samaritan woman that Jesus first told anyone “I Am the Messiah.”
John 4:28-30 “The woman left her water jar beside the well and ran back to the village, telling everyone, “Come and see a man who told me everything I ever did! Could he possibly be the Messiah?” So the people came streaming from the village to see him.”
Some interesting points here. She left her water jar beside the well. Water jars were important to the household. You would not want to lose it or break it but she left it. Why? Because she had found the Living Water, the Messiah.
She ran. She told. And people responded. People normally do not respond to the tales of a loose woman. This is another argument that she was known in her village in a positive light.
John 4:39-42 “Many Samaritans from the village believed in Jesus because the woman had said, “He told me everything I ever did!” When they came out to see him, they begged him to stay in their village. So he stayed for two days, long enough for many more to hear his message and believe. Then they said to the woman, “Now we believe, not just because of what you told us, but because we have heard him ourselves. Now we know that he is indeed the Savior of the world.”
Jesus would leave this place and travel through Galilee and Cana on his way to Nazareth. In his own hometown, He would be rejected. However, in the little village of Sychar in Samaria people were celebrating for they had found the Messiah.
