The Woman At The Well And Jesus Series

The Woman at the Well and Jesus

(John 4:4-43)

Question: Why is it that some people can go through life without sensing a need for a personal relationship with God?

I. The Incident of Jesus and the Woman at the Well Gives Us Some Clues…

1. Jesus had to pass through Samaria…

(1) to avoid apprehension? John 4:1-3 might imply that…

(2) John had been arrested (Mark 6:17-20)

(3) Or was it because the Spirit so led Him? Vs. 35

2. He was tired so He rested at Jacob’s well while disciples went to buy food…

---Why was He more tired than they? Teaching/Preaching?

3. A Samaritan woman comes buy with jars and a bucket on a rope…..

(1) 2nd well away from town---not frequented by city dwellers…

(2) she was looked down upon socially…odd time, odd location

(3) Jesus requests she draw Him some water (he has no bucket)

4. The woman thinks it is odd that He would even talk to her…

(1) a Samaritan woman….. by Jews, considered constantly unclean…

(2) the Jews/Samaritans had been enemies for over 500 years….

5. The Samaritan story…

(1) No./So. Israel

(2) Assyrian conquest, mixing….

(3) When Jews returned from Babylon, Samaritans opposed rebuilding of the walls (Nehemiah)—about 500 BC

(4) Samaritans really wore Jews (and modern Jews recognize this); hated

(5) False fires…. The parable of the Good Samaritan…

(6) Jewish tradition: a Samaritan is always unclean….Jesus was obedient to the Torah, but not Jewish tradition…

6. Note the conversation of verses 9-13

(1) Living Water = running (stream, etc.)

(2) She requests this living water (perhaps sarcastically)—“yeah, right”

7. Then Jesus humbles her with His knowledge of her condition….”Go, call your husband…”

8. “I have no husband…” 5, now living with a man…

9. Her demeanor changes….prophet….

10. Our fathers worshipped in Mt. Gerizim, yours in Jerusalem… which is it?

11. Jesus: Not the main issue…..spiritually and in truth….God is Spirit

12. You Samaritans WORSHIP WHAT YOU KNOW NOT….

(1) did not believe entire OT

(2) had altered the Torah…..

(3) MODERN CHRISTIANITY IS IN THE SAME BOAT---IGNORANCE, UNBELIEF, OR BOTH

(4) For salvation is of the JEWS….

-----Christians need to realize this, too….OUR ROOT IS ISRAEL…

13. When Messiah comes, He’ll explain it all…

14. “I He speak to you am He.”

15. Meanwhile, the disciples return, surprised but quiet….woman leaves….Rabbi, eat something….My food…..Look---the fields are ripe unto harvest….

16. The Harvest was taking place…the woman returned to her village and told everyone about Christ….they urged Christ to stay 2 days, and many came to believe in Him…..

17. I wonder how this opened the eyes of the Disciples….despite their prejudices, they KNEW that the Samaritans were true Jews much like slaveowners knew BLACKS were fully human….

18. This woman’s life, and that of others in the village, was transformed…

19. What did she did with her live-in boyfriend?

20. The void within her was filled with the Lord now….

Question: Why is it that some people can go through life without sensing a need for a personal relationship with God?

II. Everyone Has A Spiritual Void Within Them: Some Sense It Acutely, Others Confuse It, and Yet Others are Insensitive to It---But It Is Always There….

1. A “good man” who got saved…

2. This woman confused her spiritual emptiness with the security men could bring….

(1) marriage does fill a certain void, imperfectly….but not enough

3. Others gravitate toward success, attention, money, beauty, education……confusing the void….

4. And those of us Who know the Lord try to fill that void with those same things…..

5. When you know the Lord, and when you walk with the Lord, you can enjoy the good things of life in their proper perspective….

6. A kid plastering big holes in the wall….plaster would fall through…

7. When we see modern versions of “the woman at the well,” it should break our hearts….; wouldn’t it be great if each one of us could win a man or woman to the Lord and deliver them from looking for the answers in the wrong places….

CONCLUSION

1. Let’s cultivate that personal walk with God. That void will never be entirely filled in this life; the partial emptiness we feel creates an ever-deepening longing for heaven….

2. But the Lord Jesus Christ wants to go a long ways toward filling it. Let Him change your life as He did that of the Woman at the Well.