If You Knew – John 4: 5 - 26
Intro: The Grand Emir of an Arab nation was visiting the US for the first time. He was being wined and dined by the State Department. The Grand Emir was unused to the salty American foods. Consequently, he sent his manservant, Abdul to fetch him a glass of water. Often, Abdul would scamper off and return with a glass of water, but one time he returned empty-handed. “Abdul, you son of an ugly camel, where is my water?” demanded the Grand Emir. “A thousand pardons, O Illustrious One,” stammered the wretched Abdul, “But a man was sitting on the well.”
I The lesson to be learned here is this. It is always important to ascertain the source of the water to be consumed. This episode is only found in the gospel of John. It takes place in the most unexpected and unlikely place with an unheard-of relationship.
A The animosity between Jews and Samaritans goes back to 200 BCE over a dispute about the correct location of the center for the Jewish faith. The Jews worshiped at the temple in Jerusalem while the Samaritans built a shrine at Mt. Gerizim which was destroyed by Jewish troops in 128 BCE.
B VS. 7 When a Samaritan woman came to draw water, Jesus SAID to her, “will you give me a drink?” Jesus broke with Jewish tradition and religious laws twice here. First, Jesus would have become “unclean” by touching something that a Samaritan had touched. Second, it was against the religious law to address in public a woman you did not know.
C VS. 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?” Jesus knew the religious traditions of being a Jew. Yet, he spoke to a woman in public and asked for something from her. WHY?
II The conversation between Jesus and the unnamed Samaritan woman consists of 13 exchanges in a conversation about water.
A VS. 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.
B The two words that are most important are living water. In the GK. water has 2 possible meanings: 1) fresh, running water (spring water as opposed to water from a well or cistern) or 2) it can mean life-giving water.
C Both of these meanings are joined by John. However, the woman obviously hears only “running water” which she cannot get from a well. What Jesus is offering is water that gives life / eternal life / spiritual living. Such a “living water” can only come from God who has gives life to all living beings.
III What does Jesus offer this woman? VS. 13 Jesus answered, “everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again. 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.”
A Here, Jesus is speaking figuratively, I think. I believe here we could substitute “HOPE” for “WATER”. Think about it! Have you ever wanted something so bad that you literally “thirsted” for it?
B There was something missing in your life. You needed something; but, you just couldn’t put your finger on it. There was perhaps a feeling of emptiness, a huge hole inside of you and you keep trying to find whatever will fill up that gaping hole in you. You try all sort of things such as: a new wardrobe / a new hairstyle / a new car / a new house / a new job / a fresh start somewhere else.
C What do we learn from this scripture? When we have an encounter with the risen Christ, it not only changes us, but it also changes what God reveals to us. Jesus reveals himself to the Samaritan woman and to us as a source that satisfies the kind of spiritual thirst that nothing else can satisfy.
Concl: The words “living water” encourages us to be a canal rather than a reservoir. Water in a canal moves from one place to another, a reservoir only moves when it overflows. This story encourages us to move out beyond our cozy confines of our reservoir and flow out into our community and world with the love of Christ Jesus to people and places beyond our bounds.
The danger of being a reservoir is that the water we contain or hold back may become stagnant and worthless. Jesus encourages us to share “living water” with the world around us.
VS 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.”
