Transformation of a Scarlet Woman
Fortifying the Foundations # 9
John 4:1-30
5-25-03
Intro:
Read John 4:1-30 (For text in NIV go to end of this manuscript).
Sang “Fill My Cup” with verse taken from this text.
In text we see a Radical Change occurring in this woman’s life as she encounters the Lord. She arrives burden by guilt and shame. She leaves full of joy proclaiming the good news of Christ.
Jesus has taken long journey from Jerusalem to Samaria on his way to Galilee.[1]
He is tired and thirsty. He plops down at this old well relishing a moment of rest. And that is when his opportunity to witness occurs. Have you noticed that ministry does not always come our way at a convenient time?
This is a Defining Moment in this woman’s life. It looks like a chance encounter (a random intersection of two lives). But this event does not come into this woman’s life by chance. It has been planned by our loving, heavenly Father. This is a divine appointment.
Here we are this morning--not by chance but by divine providence. What will God say to you and me during the next thirty or forty minutes? What wonderful changes might He make in our lives?
There are three aspects of this woman’s encounter with the Lord that were crucial to her transformation. Three grace factors:
1. Acceptance
2. Conviction
3. Revelation
that are vital to every conversion. Consider with me how each of these factors worked in this woman’s encounter with Christ.
1st Love and ACCEPTANCE
As Jesus sat there, he looks up the dusty trail to see a woman approaching the well.
She has no spring in her step as she drags herself up the path. On her shoulder is a large, clay jar. Its heavy—but her weariness is not just because that load. Life has worn this woman out.
As she gets closer, Jesus looks into her eyes and sees the pain she carries in her heart--
painful memories of dashed hopes, failed relationship, and guilt ridden conscience. I would guess her to be about 40--old enough to have experienced five troubled marriages. She looks older than that—but isn’t that one of the things sin does to a person? It steals away his or her spark for life. It robs the energizing hope for tomorrow.
It was high noon[2]—the sun’s heat was beating down mercilessly. Other women had gotten water during cool of morning. They had enjoyed a visit with one another in process as a part of their daily social activities. But, this Scarlet woman would rather endure the blistering heat of sun than the judgmental stares of self-righteous town’s women.
She was not wearing a Scarlet Letter, but everybody in town knew what she was.
I wonder what kind of abuse this woman has gone through--five disastrous marriages –perhaps proceeded by abuse when she was a child. What were her first thoughts when this man, Jesus, first spoke to her? What does this man really want? She is street smart and has been approached by men before. But she will soon discover that this man is altogether different than those who have pillaged her life in the past.
When Jesus asked her to give him a drink, it was not what she was expecting. “You are a Jew speaking to me, a Samaritan—what’s wrong with this picture? You people have been turning up your noses at us for years. So what’s up?”
The parenthetical note in verse 9 could be understood to mean, “You Jews do not drink out of the same vessel as we Samaritans”[3] Since the Samaritans were mostly a mixed race of Jews (intermarried with other ethnic groups imported to the area by the Assyrians after their conquest of northern Israel in 722 BC), the Jews considered them half breeds.
The racial prejudice held by Jews against Samaritans was exasperated by religious and political factors as well. The Jews considered the Samaritans to be apostates because they did not come to the temple in Jerusalem to worship. The Samaritans even resisted Ezra and Nehemiah when they rebuilt Jerusalem and the temple.[4]
So, this woman was surprised that Jesus, a Jew, would even speak to her. Jewish men normally would not speak to women in public, let alone a Samaritan woman—and think of it in their culture a Rabbi talking to this kind of woman. No wonder in verse 27 the disciples marveled that this was going on.[5]
Jesus asked her to give him a drink of water. Let me share with you a little secret about Jesus. If he asks you to give him something, what he really has in mind is to give you something better. Some of you know by experience what I’m talking about. He asks this woman to give him natural water so he can engage a conversation with her out of which he will ultimately give her “living water.”
There are all kinds of lessons on evangelism in this text and I am tempted to teach them but the thing we want to see right now is Jesus acceptance of this person, the common ground he finds, the time he invests in her, the genuine interest he has in her eternal well being. In a number of ways Jesus communicates to her his love and acceptance.
I believe that was foundational to this woman’s conversion. It is impossible to reach a person for Christ and reject that person at the same time. They must feel love and acceptance before they can risk dealing with their sin—before they can really hear the truth we bring to them. As John Maxwell says, “People don’t care how much you know until they know how much you care.”
In her book entitled, “The Whisper Test,” Mary Ann Bird writes: I grew up knowing I was different, and I hated it. I was born with a cleft palate, and when I started school, my classmates made it clear to me how I looked to others: a little girl with a misshapen lip, crooked nose, lopsided teeth, and garbled speech.
When schoolmates asked, “What happened to your lip?” I’d tell them I’d fallen and cut it on a piece of glass. Somehow it seemed more acceptable to have suffered an accident than to have been born different. I was convinced that no one outside my family could love me.
There was, however, a teacher in the second grade whom we all adored—Mrs. Leonard by name. She was short, round, happy—a sparkling lady.
Annually we had a hearing test…Mrs. Leonard gave the test to everyone in the class, and finally it was my turn. I knew from past years that as we stood against the door and covered one ear, the teacher sitting at her desk would whisper something, and we would have to repeat it back—things like “The sky is blue” or “Do you have new shoes?” I waited there for those words that God must have put into her mouth, those seven words that changed my life. Mrs. Leonard said, in her whisper, “I wish you were my little girl.”[6]
I think this woman at the well heard something like that from the Heavenly Father that day—“I wish you were my little girl.”
Perhaps God is whispering those words into someone’s ear this morning and it would change your life forever.
In that atmosphere of love and acceptance, Jesus empowered this woman to take an honest look at herself and her life.
2. Conviction is a precious gift from God—the ability to look honestly at what is going on in my life.
In verse 10 Jesus surprises this woman with an offer of something she desperately needs and is unconsciously seeking—living water, spiritual life and fulfillment. She is a relationship junkie. What has caused her to go from one failed relationship to another?
What drove her to shameful promiscuity? She was looking for somebody to really, sincerely love her.
Some here know the pain of divorce. Can you imagine the emotional pain this woman has suffered having experienced five divorces in that culture? She now exists in a desperate mode of emotional survival. Acting out her pain through inappropriate behavior that gives slight, temporary relief but ultimately leaves greater desolation of soul behind. She is medicating with the wrong medication.
In verse 16 Jesus brings up her sin of adultery.[7] It is not designed to shame her, belittle her or humiliate her. It designed to awaken a reality check in her soul. She is trapped in a bondage she can’t pull herself out of. It is a vicious cycle of sad defeat. One definition of insanity is to keep doing the same thing expecting a different result.[8] She must stop living in denial and face the truth. Her life (as it is) is not working. Something has got to change. By his question Jesus is stimulating her desire for change. She has tried to find the answer in romantic relationship, but the answer to her deepest need is not there. The true source of life and joy is from God alone. He alone can give “living water.”
When she is brought face to face with the facts, what does she do? She gets very religious. This woman has had some religious teaching. But it didn’t liberate her life.
She raises the issue of a religious debate. Verse 20, “Our fathers worshiped on this mountain, but you Jews claim that the place where we must worship is in Jerusalem."
I have watched this kind of reaction many times when witnessing. Jesus was bringing the conversation to a very personal level—her sin, her need for God and the living waters only He can supply. As a preacher I have found that people really don’t mind me talking about sin—sin in general, somebody else’s sin. It’s when I hit on their sin that the conscience is stirred. This conversation with Jesus is coming a little too close to home. She redirects it to a more general discussion of doctrine.
Jesus brings it right back to the personal level—worship in spirit and truth, from the heart toward God. The Father is seeking personal relationship, not mere ritual, ceremony and externals. “Lady, I’m talking about a spiritual reality in your life not just an intellectual change of dogma.”
As I meditated on our text I realized that Jesus’ conversation with this woman could have flowed quite sweetly if he had just skipped the conviction of sin issue. He could have kindly initiated a conversation with this woman, offered her living waters, and then talked about worshipping God in spirit and in truth. It would have seemed so kind. But if that had happened this scarlet woman would not have been transformed--because sin cannot be ignored. The conviction of sin is an essential part of conversion. Without conviction of sin there can be no true repentance. Without a sincere turning from evil to God there can be no real transformation of the heart.
The acceptance Christ granted this woman provided a safe atmosphere of love in which she could acknowledge her sin, receive forgiveness, and be healed. The conviction helped her change the direction of her life from a course leading to destruction to one leading to everlasting life.
May this church be a safe place for sinners to acknowledge sin and receive help. May anyone coming into this place first feel loved and accepted and then convicted of the changes God wants to bring in their lives.
The other ingredient of transformation in this encounter was
3. Revelation.
This was an eye-opening encounter for this woman. Not only did she get a revealing look at herself and her need for help. But woven throughout this conversation is a progressive revelation of who Jesus is.
As she approaches the well she sees Jesus like any other Jewish man.
When he initiates the conversation with her she begins to realize that the common prejudices are not there. His offer of living water stimulates her interest and by verse 11 she at least uses the term, “Sir”, in her response to Jesus.
After Jesus exposes her life with his comments about the five previous husbands and her current live-in boyfriend she is realizing that something supernatural is going on.
See the progress of her revelation of Jesus in verse 19 when she says to him, “I can see that you are a prophet.” There are many prophets but only one Messiah—only one Christ. In verse 25 we see the revelation progressing. “I know that Messiah (called Christ) is coming. When he comes, he will explain everything to us.”
The explanation Jesus had given about the Father’s desire for true worshippers was so anointed of the Spirit that she began to realize that Jesus is the Christ. Later when she tells the men in her town about Christ she communicates this truth to them in the form of a question. She does that not because she is unconvinced but because they would not receive it from her as a direct statement.
This woman’s transformation began with a genuine personal acceptance expressed to her by Jesus, then a conviction of the sin that is destroying her life, then a revelation of Jesus as the Christ who could give her new life. Her transformation is a wonderful example of God’s love and grace for sinners. And His ability to totally change their lives.
In verse 10 Jesus said to this woman, “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 waters.”
Isn’t that often why people don’t come to God (or church)-they just don’t know. Sometimes people think they know. They think they know what God like, what the church is like. But in reality they have very limited understanding. But if they knew (that’s talking about revelation)—if they knew God’s heart toward them—if they knew the gift God wants to give them—if they knew who Jesus is and what he has already done for them, then they would ask.
“Ask and you shall receive.”[9] Receiving is based on asking. Asking is based on knowing. That’s why revelation is so important. “If you only knew…”.
In the movie “The Color Purple” there is a character named “Sug Avery.” She grew up in preacher’s home; but fell into deep sin. She was the same kind of sinner as the woman in our text. Early in the movie we see her father rejecting her because that sin. He won’t even speak to her. Sug longs for his approval but she can’t pull herself out of the bondage. Her poor dad does not really know how to reach her. His legalistic approach has not worked. We see a lot of pain in Sug Avery and in her dad.
I’m going to close with a six-minute clip from that movie.[10]
The scene opens in a field of purple lilacs. Sug is telling Celie (played by Woppie Goldberg) what motivates people to do the things they do. Pay close attention to what Sug is saying at the beginning of the clip.
The scene changes to a bar where Sug is the entertainer. Its Sunday morning, the bar is only a couple hundred feet from church where Sug grew up. You will see her dad, the preacher, conclude his sermon.
Look for that moment when God grants Sug repentance like woman well. Let’s watch.[11]
Conclusion:
I cannot rest until I see the Sug Avery’s of this community healed and restored. I want to see the bars emptied into the churches.
Even as a man I can identify with the struggles of Sug Avery and the woman at the well. Maybe you too can identify with them. Are you hurting? Are you thirsty for God? Do you need His help today? God opens His arms to you this morning with the same offer of love and forgiveness. Will you receive the living waters of grace that only He can supply?
Text: John 4:1-30
4:1The Pharisees heard that Jesus was gaining and baptizing more disciples than John, 2although in fact it was not Jesus who baptized, but his disciples. 3When the Lord learned of this, he left Judea and went back once more to Galilee.
4Now he had to go through Samaria. 5So he came to a town in Samaria called Sychar, near the plot of ground Jacob had given to his son Joseph. 6Jacob’s well was there, and Jesus, tired as he was from the journey, sat down by the well. It was about the sixth hour.
7When 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.)
9The 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.)
10Jesus 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? 12Are you greater than our father Jacob, who gave us the well and drank from it himself, as did also his sons and his flocks and herds?"
13Jesus answered, "Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again, 14but whoever drinks the water I give him will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life."
15The 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."
16He 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. 18The 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. 20Our fathers worshiped on this mountain, but you Jews claim that the place where we must worship is in Jerusalem."
21Jesus declared, "Believe me, woman, a time is coming when you will worship the Father neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem. 22You Samaritans worship what you do not know; we worship what we do know, for salvation is from the Jews. 23Yet a time is coming and has now come when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for they are the kind of worshipers the Father seeks. 24God is spirit, and his worshipers must worship in spirit and in truth."
25The woman said, "I know that Messiah" (called Christ) "is coming. When he comes, he will explain everything to us."
26Then Jesus declared, "I who speak to you am he."
27Just then his disciples returned and were surprised to find him talking with a woman. But no one asked, "What do you want?" or "Why are you talking with her?"
28Then, leaving her water jar, the woman went back to the town and said to the people, 29"Come, see a man who told me everything I ever did. Could this be the Christ?" 30They came out of the town and made their way toward him.
NIV
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[1] I quickly traced the movement of Jesus on this map for the congregation. A copy of the map obtained at www.bible.ca
[2] See Adam Clark Commentary on John 1:33 for discussion of Jewish time reckoning.
[3] Leon Morris, Reflections on the Gospel of John, , (Peabody, Massachusetts, Hendrickson Publishers, 2000), p. 124-125. The literal meaning of the compound Greek word, NT:4798 sugchraomai is “use with” so that Morris suggests in the context it is the drinking cup she is referring to.
All this brings to my mind the separate drinking fountains for blacks and whites in the recent history of America driven by the same kind of prejudice. Wycliff Bible Commentary also discusses this approach.
[4] SAMARITANS (From The New Unger’s Bible Dictionary. Originally published by Moody Press of Chicago, Illinois. Copyright (c) 1988.)
[5] John 4:27 (from Adam Clarke’s Commentary, Electronic Database. Copyright (c) 1996 by Biblesoft)
[6] From a sermon preached by Keith Smith. Illustration can be found at http://www.christianglobe.com/Illustrations/theDetails.asp?whichOne=a&whichFile=affirmation
[7] The gifts of the Spirit can be an important part of effective evangelism. Notice the operation of a supernatural word of knowledge as Jesus tells her to call her husband then talks about the five husbands she has had and her current situation. Surly her conscience was stirred by that insight.
[8] I read this in one of John Maxwell’s books but don’t remember which one.
[9] See Matthew 7:7
[10] The clip begins toward end of the movie in the middle of Sug and Celie’s walk thru the purple field of flowers and ends right after Sug says to her father, “See, Daddy, even sinners have souls too.”
[11] The movie clip was shown at this point.
Richard Tow
Grace Chapel Foursquare Church
Springfield, MO
www.gracechapelchurch.org
