Bible Talks - Sunday Night Church
Series: People Jesus Met · Talk No. 2
Samaritan Woman
Sunday, 06 January 2008
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I wonder if you have ever met someone that has changed your life forever. Maybe it was a meeting of chance. Maybe an organised meeting. It may have been your husband or wife. You had gone out and that night something special happened that would change your life forever. I think everybody at sometime or another has this kind of meeting. Sometimes it might even be a meeting where you met someone famous and you’ll never forget it.
I heard the story recently of an Australian girl who was living in London and one night went to a dinner party. Every one at the party was split up so that would sit with someone they didn’t know. This young girl was sitting next to a man and the conversation went something like this. She asked him, so what do you do? ‘I am a musician and singer. She then says, ‘yeah I’m trying to get a gig as a singer as well, maybe we can get together and sing sometime. He said, yeah maybe.
As the girl made her way home with her friends, her friends were very excited. ‘How was that’ they said. What was it like to sit and have dinner with Bono?
Unfortunately for this girl, she really had a great opportunity to have a meeting with one of the most influential men in the world and had no idea! To think she even asked him if he was interested in having a bit of a jam session together!
Today we have just seen and we will discuss an amazing meeting: A meeting that will change many people for eternity. It was just a meeting between a man and a woman, yet the theological implications are so far reaching that it is important and exciting that we are looking at this passage today. We will also be challenged about our meeting with Jesus and what impact it has on your life.
JEWS V SAMARITANS
On your outline, you will see that there are 4 points that I want to talk about a bit later but first I just want to briefly talk about some background to help us with this passage before we get to those 4 points.
The Samaritans and the Jews did not like each other. The Jews in particular did not like the Samaritans. It went back over 900 years ever since the original kingdom of Israel was divided into Israel in the north and Judah in the south. Samaria became the capital of Israel and Jerusalem the capital of Judah. The Jews from Judah made a big deal of the temple being in Jerusalem and then the king of Israel made places for his people to worship so they didn’t have to go to Jerusalem. Since then, the people of Samaria have been seen by the Jews as 2nd class and there was animosity between them. So much so that we see in v9 that Jews were not permitted to associate with Samaritans.
There are records of Jewish Rabbis saying that to even to eat the bread of Samaritans was like eating the flesh of swine. There was a serious rift between the two peoples. Yet one of the things we learn about Jesus is that he breaks all rules and conventions. He was seriously politically incorrect.
The first thing we see from this passage is that John tells us that Jesus had to go through Samaria to get to Galilee. Well this is not correct. There are other, shorter ways to get to Galilee so we can assume that when Jesus had to go to through Samaria, he had to go for much deeper reasons that as a necessity to get to where he was going. It was no mistake that he was going to meet this lady. It was no mistake that he was there at noon. It was no mistake that the disciples left him alone to go and get something to eat. This was a meeting that was planned before time began and when we think about it in this light, it should make us sit up and take some notice.
Secondly it is significant that they meet at a sight known as Jacobs well. Jacob, the father of the 12 sons who would become the 12 tribes of Israel. Really a strong symbol of God’s blessing to all the Israelites. This woman recognised that she was a descendant of Jacob as well in v12 (Are 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?”). As a Samaritan she certainly did not understand why she should be excluded of the promises to Abraham in the OT. In v20 we can see she has deep questions for Jesus in regards to worship. (Our fathers worshiped on this mountain, but you Jews claim that the place where we must worship is in Jerusalem."). Also later in v25, she says “I know that Messiah" (called Christ) "is coming. When he comes, he will explain everything to us”
This was no uneducated woman. She new what the Scriptures taught, yet we will see how her life did not reflect anything like what she knew to be true.
1. Jesus welcomes the outcasts
The first thing I want you to take away today is that Jesus welcomes outcasts. He doesn’t discriminate on who needs the gospel. Time and time again we see Jesus outreach to the marginalised, the outcasts, the poor, the diseased, the poor in spirit, those troubled by evil spirits or those who are crippled or blind. The very people that we often shun and not think twice about, Christ goes straight for them. You see for Jesus all the rest of the people have all the opportunity in the world. From the gospels we see Jesus spend very little time with the rich and famous. It is not a message for the middle and upper class. It’s not a message for the upwardly mobile. Well, it’s not so much not a message for them but rather they more often than not want very little to do with Jesus. They would much prefer mould their own gods
It’s obvious from the conversation that Jesus has with this woman that she wasn’t the shining example of a pure woman. By coming to the well at midday in the heat of the day, unlike all other woman who were ‘accepted’ in the community who came in the early morning to collect the daily water needs, this woman was an outcast so she had to come when nobody else would come.
Importantly as well, is that Jesus was prepared to talk to a woman in public, let alone a Samaritan woman. This was outrageous. In v 27 we see the disciples reaction (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?” )
But once again Jesus was not interested in stupid cultural discrimination for no reason other than to suppress. In fact if we were to look at Jesus life we would see that he attracts controversy wherever he goes.
2. Living Water
After asking for a drink of water, the conversation quickly progresses where Jesus actually says to her in v10 "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." So quickly this conversation has turned around and Jesus is forcing her to think about this living water. The woman in v11 & 12 says ‘Where can you get this living water? 12Are you greater than our father Jacob’, to which Jesus says in v13-14, ‘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."
You see water is good, it is essential to our lives. Water restrictions are placed on us so that we will not have to face that prospect. Without water we will quickly die. Now days, we are told that it is good to drink perhaps 8 glasses a day. Nice cold water is refreshing but this water that I drink now will soon pass through me (quicker the older I get) and I will need some more. But Jesus once again, was talking metaphorically as we heard with Nicodemus last week. Just as Nicodemus didn’t understand and wanted to know if it was possible for a man to reenter his mother’s womb to be born again so this woman doesn’t understand and wants this living water so she doesn’t have to come to the well everyday. She says in v 15, ‘Sir, give me this water so that I won't get thirsty and have to keep coming here to draw water."
The living water that Jesus is talking about is not something you drink but it is salvation itself found in him alone. He is saying it is far superior to that of Jacob and the Israelites. It will do away forever with the sacrificial system as a way of getting right with God. With this system, the people were required to sacrifice an animal time and time again for their sin. It was a never ending process. But now there is a new way. A sacrifice that Jesus himself will make on the cross. It will be a once for all sacrifice. No longer will people have to observe special days and traditions, no longer will they have to come to the temple to worship, no longer will they have to sacrifice in a certain way. Jesus will accomplish all that in one action on the cross.
He will now offer eternal life, just like spring of water that just keeps flowing, so wll be the forgiveness the only Jesus can give…it will just keep on flowing.
3. Sin must be dealt with.
He doesn't’ explain the gospel to her clearly. He goes straight to the heart of the matter. You see, Jesus understood this woman so well and he realised that it was the sin in her life that was the real problem. She actually stood so much about God. She understood about the prophets and Jacob. She understood that the Christ was to come. She knew all that yet, it hadn’t changed her life at all so we have this conversation. She says ‘give me this living water’ and Jesus in v16 says "Go, call your husband and come back."
Do you see how confronting this question is?
I wonder what Jesus would say to us this morning?
‘Go get your bank accounts so we can see what you have been doing with your money.’
‘Go get your neighbour who you deliberately haven’t talked to in 2 years.’
‘Bring you income tax return from last year’
‘Bring in your TV remote control so we can see what you’ve been watching.’
‘Bring in your diary so we can see what you actually do in a week.’
‘Bring in your brother or sister so we can talk about the anger in your heart towards them.’
‘Bring in your bible so we can see how often it has been opened lately.’
Whatever it is, you can bet that Jesus would drill right into the heart of the matter.
Jesus understands that this sin had to be dealt with before any progress can be made.
The woman replies in v 17-18:
I have no husband," she replied. Jesus said to her, "You are right when you say you have no husband. The 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."
The Samaritan woman is a clear example of a person whose life was a clear reflection of someone who was aware of God but had no idea of the implications of a relationship with him. Jesus expected this woman to change what she was doing as a reflection of what she now believed. Same goes for us.
Now we live this side of the cross and while we have forgiveness when we honestly repent, our lives must be a reflection of that forgiveness.
4. The consequence of meeting Jesus
What I find fascinating is how Jesus deals with this woman. The first thing he says to her in v7 ‘will you get me a drink ‘. This was so intentional because he knew where he wanted the conversation to go. He knew he wanted to talk about living water. This was a meeting that this woman would never forget. Notice this. When she firsts meets Jesus she just calls him a Jew in v9. In v11 she now calls him ‘Sir’. In v19 she recognises him as a prophet and by the time she goes back to her village in v29 she believes he may be the Christ, the Messiah.
I would like to suggest that this woman slowly recognised who Jesus was with the help of having her sin exposed. The consequence of this meeting is found from verse 28 - Then, leaving her water jar, the woman went back to the town and said to the people, "Come, see a man who told me everything I ever did. Could this be the Christ?"
Although she came to the well for water, she left it behind. All of a sudden the impact of Jesus on her is apparent. The water could now wait! There was a change of priority. Now she would have to come back for water later and continue every day but now she had living water inside her that would give the mundane chores purpose.
But there is something else that this signifies. The water and the well signified the past. This has now gone and been replaced by Jesus as we have already heard. It is a beautiful bit of symbolism.
The Samaritan woman had gone from a passive believer to a woman of action. The meeting with Jesus changed that. We find that she actually becomes the first missionary in John’s gospel. Read with me from v39
39Many of the Samaritans from that town believed in him because of the woman's testimony, "He told me everything I ever did." 40So when the Samaritans came to him, they urged him to stay with them, and he stayed two days. 41And because of his words many more became believers. 42They said to the woman, "We no longer believe just because of what you said; now we have heard for ourselves, and we know that this man really is the Savior of the world."
You know, the only meeting with Jesus that matters is the one when he was on the cross. It is on the cross where Jesus shows his ultimate power. It is on the cross, with the nails in his hands and feet. With the crown of thorns on his head and the whip marks on his back that we meet the real Jesus. Yeh, it’s good to see the baby: it’s good to see the miracle worker: it’s good to see the teacher; it’s good to see the risen Jesus, but unless we see the Jesus of the cross, our lives will not be impacted enough to be changed for ever, to have living water all day, every day.
I believe that Jesus is telling us here that we need to have our lives impacted by him in such a way as to rid ourselves of sin and be prepared to throw out traditional rules so that we can help play our part in the growth of the kingdom of God. Our lives are to be radically different as a consequence of meeting Jesus Christ the Saviour.
So, a couple of questions.
What impact has the Lord Jesus had on your life? Is it evident?
Have you met the Saviour and then walked away? Are you ready to have the Lord Jesus impact your life.
No matter what you answer is to those questions, you cannot meet the Saviour and be the same.
