“BREAKING DOWN BARRIERS FOR THE KINGDOM OF GOD
(Sermon Nine in 2021 series on Gospel of John)
John 4:1-42
Greenmount and O’Leary Churches of Christ
March 15, 2021
Video Link: https://youtu.be/DCQKExvdu7U
INTRODUCTION:
1.) As the popularity of Jesus increased, the Pharisees heard Jesus was baptizing more disciples than John the Baptist, though it was his disciples doing the baptizing.
A.) Because of this, Jesus left Judea and headed back to Galilee.
B.) On this journey back to Galilee our text tells us that he headed back by way of Samaria.
C.) This would have been the quickest way but, most Jews travelled one and a half times the distance to avoid the hated Samaritan people.
2.) In John 4 Jesus is seated at Jacob’s well and a Samaritan woman comes along to draw water.
A.) Scripture tells us that Jesus was tired.
B.) His disciples had gone at noon for food, so we can also assume he was also hungry.
I.) A SAMARITAN WOMAN COMES TO DRAW WATER.
• It was not unnatural for a woman to draw water from the well.
o It was usually the women who carried the water in that day.
o Even today in those cultures it is usually the women who carry the water.
o What was unnatural was coming to the well at noon. The women usually came early in the morning or at dusk to avoid the heat of the day.
o In fact, the well could be a social gathering time for the woman to interact with the other women of the community.
o some have suggested the fact that this woman came at noon could indicate she was trying to avoid social interaction with other women of the community.
1.) Jesus approached the woman and asked: “Will you give me a drink?” (4:8)
A.) This question does not seem that odd to us but it kind of caught this woman off guard.
aa.) For nearly six centuries there had been hatred and antagonism between the Jews and Samaritans.
ab.) Not only that, but she was a woman, and the culture of the day dictated a man would not speak to a woman in public, even his own wife.
ac.) John 4:9
B.) Jesus turned the conversation to the spiritual, and to her need of salvation.
ba.) John 4:10
bb.) He had asked for physical water but now offers her living water.
bba.) Living water referred to water that was moving and not stagnant.
bbb.) At the same time, this living water may even have been a reference to Jeremiah 2:13: where God told them, they had forsaken God who was the Living Water.
.01) This woman would not have been familiar with that quote as they only accepted the first five books of the Bible.
3.) As the Living Water Jesus could bridge the gap between man and God as well as the gap between man and man or man and woman.
A.) This woman still only thought in physical terms, of physical water.
aa.) John 4:11
4.) For just a moment a light comes on and then disappears almost as quickly.
A.) John 4:12
“Are you greater than our father Jacob.?”
II. THE SAMARATIN WOMAN IS INTRODUCED TO THE LIVING WATER.
1.) At the best there is only temporary satisfaction in physical water but living water would give eternal satisfaction.
A.) John 4:13
aa.) “Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again.”
aaa.) We all know that truth. We can get a glass of water in the morning, and a few hours later our bodies will again crave water for our physical needs.
B.) Jesus was not speaking of merely physical water.
ba.) Jesus was in the process of turning the conversation from physical water to her need for spiritual water, or salvation.
bb.) Jesus was speaking of the Living water, which is also the Gift of God; Jesus was speaking of himself.
bc.) John 4:14
bd.) As we look at our text, we see this woman still misses it.
bda.) John 4:15
bdb.) At the time, the woman could only think in physical terms.
.01) It was a chore coming to the well every day for water.
.02) Life would be so much easier if Jesus could give her some of this “magic” water that would reproduce itself.
III. JESUS BROUGHT THE CONVERSATION TO AN EVEN HIGHER SPIRITUAL LEVEL FOR SALVATION.
1. Jesus brought her to see her spiritual need and shortcoming.
A.) “Go call your husband.” (4:16)
aa.) As we had said a few minutes ago it was socially unacceptable to be speaking to a woman alone like this.
ab.) Many would not even have met there at the well with this woman as Jesus had done.
B.) “I have no husband.” (4:17a.)
C.) “You are right when you say you have no husband for you have had five husbands and the man you now have is not your husband.” (4:17b-18)
ca.) Jesus shows he has knowledge of her life including the fact that she had been married five times, and now had just given up on marriage and was living with a man.
cb.) Jesus knew of her past, of her marriages, and divorces, and of whatever part she may have had that her marriages had come to an end.
cc.) Jesus did not cover up or deny the sin in this woman’s life including her present relation.
cca.) Jesus never covers sin, but always has the love and desire that he wants to bring a person beyond their sin into his love, forgiveness, mercy, and grace.
ccb.) As this point in the account the woman is quite uncomfortable with the words and presence of Jesus, but we will see later in this passage that the knowledge Jesus had would be the basis of evangelization to the people of that town.
ccc.) But for the immediate moment:
2. The Samaritan woman changed the subject after Jesus had confronted her in her sin.
A.) “I see that you are a prophet.” (4:19)
aa.) To have such knowledge of her life and her sin, Jesus had to at the very least be a prophet.
ab.) Just the same Jesus had made her feel uncomfortable, so she again attempts to change the subject.
B.) “Where is the proper place to worship?” (4:20)
ba.) I do not believe this woman was really looking for an answer to this question, but she knew any Jew would argue that Jerusalem was the proper place of worship.
bba.) If she could get Jesus on that subject the focus would not be on her and whatever sins she had committed.
3.) Jesus answers her question but brings the conversation back to a spiritual level.
A.) The day is coming when the emphasis of worship would not be the place where you worshipped but on the person to whom you gave worship to.
aa.) John 4:21-24
aaa.) There would no longer be need for the temple or either of these two mountains.
.01) Nearly a hundred years before this the Samaritan temple on Mt. Gerizim had been destroyed, and in another thirty plus years the temple in Jerusalem would also be destroyed.
B.) “Salvation is from the Jews.”
ba.) Jesus was not being mean to the woman but was pointing out that salvation and the Messiah were from the Jewish people.
bb.) There were many things, and many teachings the Samaritan people had not received and were not familiar with.
C.) “The time that is coming has now come when the true worshippers will worship in spirit and truth.” (4:23)
ca.) Even as the woman was questioning on worship the Messiah was in her midst.
cb.) The temple, and the worship in the temple, the sacrifices, the Paschal Lamb, all were to point to the Messiah and would find their fulfillment in Him.
E.) “When the Messiah comes, he will explain everything.” (4:25)
da.) Again, the woman tried to change the conversation to something which was a bit more comfortable than her own salvation.
db.) By saying the Messiah would give the answers when he came, she was again trying to evade the matter of her own salvation.
dba.) In many ways it was no different than today when people will say you have your beliefs, and I have mine, but it does not really matter what you believe, we are all going to the same place.
4.) Jesus puts the conversation back on the spiritual side with a surprising revelation:
A.) “I who speak to you am he.” (4:26)
B.) This woman was probably shocked at the answer Jesus gave.
ba.) You want to talk about dropping a bomb in the conversation.
bb.) I believe the woman brought in the Messiah to get out away from this spiritual talk on her spiritual need.
bba.) Instead of getting away from the spiritual talk.
bbb.) When Jesus declared that he was the Messiah he gave her the opportunity to ask all her spiritual questions and as the Messiah he could answer her questions.
bb.) This was not a usual occurrence. In the early period of Jesus’ ministry, it was not often that Jesus revealed who he was.
bba.) Even stranger was that Jesus had made this revelation to a Samaritan woman.
.01) Jesus knew that the Jews would not go to Samaritan territory if they could help it, and that this revelation would therefore not slow or hinder the work he had to carry out.
.02) They would not be like the Jews who would later try forcibly to make Jesus their king.
5.) As a side note to our text, John tells us that about this time the disciples of Jesus came back with the food.
A.) They were surprised to find him talking to a Samaritan woman. (4:27a.)
B.) No one asked him about it. (4:27b.)
IV. THE SAMARATIN WOMAN BECOMES AN EVANGELIST.
1.) She leaves Jesus and goes back to the town (4:28)
A.) Her new mission of telling others of Jesus is so important that she forgets her water jug behind.
2.) When she went back to the town her message was “Come see a man who told me everything I ever did.” (4:29a.)
A.) Earlier this woman had become uncomfortable because of Jesus’ knowledge of her sin.
aa.) It is this very knowledge that now is her testimony to the people of the town.
aaa.) When a person finds Christ, it is the sin which once enslaved a person that becomes the testimony of their new faith in Christ.
.01) I must admit the Bible does not tell us how far she had come in her spiritual journey, but at the very least now believed in and was proclaiming Jesus to others.
B.) “Could this be the Christ?” (4:29b.)
3.) Her testimony was compelling.
A.) John 4:30
4.) “Meanwhile” (4:31a.)
A.) “His disciples urged him to eat something.” (4:31b.)
B.) “I have food to eat that you know nothing about.” (4:32)
ba.) Like so many times in the Gospel of John Jesus was talking in spiritual terms and they were thinking physical.
ba.) “Could someone has brought him food?” (4:33)
bb.) “My food is to do the will of him who sent me and to finish his work.” (4:34)
bba.) At this point Jesus was probably as hungry as his disciples.
bbb.) But the disciples were thinking on the growling of their stomachs, while Jesus was thinking of an entire town who needed to hear about Jesus.
5.) Jesus challenged his disciple to also be evangelists.
A.) “Do not say four more months until the harvest. (4:35a.)
aa.) The plains of Moreh in this area were quite fertile; I expect that as Jesus said those words, he was probably pointing to a field of grain that was not yet ripe for the harvest.
aaa.) But after that Jesus said:
B.) “I tell you open your eyes and look at the fields! They are ripe for the harvest! (4:35b.)
ba.) I expect as Jesus said these words he may have been pointing to the Samaritan town, or perhaps to this woman, and the men of the town as they came back to see Jesus.
C.) “Even now the reaper draws his wages; he harvests the crop for eternal life so that the sower and the reaper may be glad together.” (4:36)
ca.) Jesus was saying, OK guys today is the day for a spiritual harvest.
D.) “One sows and another reaps” (4:37)
E.) “I sent you to reap what you have not worked for. Others have done the hard work, and you have reaped the benefits of their labour.” (4:38.)
ea.) This would be a day to harvest the souls of men for the kingdom of God, and these disciples would enjoy the harvest, though it was the woman, and those who earlier brought them the law who had planted the seed.
6.) Many of the Samaritans believed (4:39a.)
A.) Their initial faith was because of the testimony of the woman (4:39b.)
B.) The Samaritans wanted Jesus to stay (4:40a.)
ba.) “He stayed two days.” (4:40b.)
bb.) Many more believed because of Jesus (4:41)
C.) “This man really is the Saviour of the world.”
