|
|
The Woman at the well John
4:1-42
Let’s start with a brief history lesson.
After King Solomon’s death, Jeroboam split the kingdom, North and South.
He introduced calf worship and set up idols on the hills. In the
Southern kingdom, Jezebel brought in Baal worship, and the people bowed
down to false gods all over the land.
That is really a ‘Reader’s Digest’ version of what was going on, but the
end result is that in 723 BC the Northern kingdom was taken into
captivity, and the Southern kingdom sometime later.
The people were carried away to Babylon, but many Assyrians were brought
in to establish themselves in the land and more or less hold it for
their allies the Babylonians.
There were many Jews in the outlying villages and in the Western part of
the land that were not uprooted, because they posed no threat to the
Babylonians, and over time, they intermarried with the occupying
Assyrians, thus creating a kind of half-breed Jew/Assyrian culture, the
Samaritans.
The Samaritans established their place of worship in Mt Gerizim. The
Samaritans also only accepted the first five books of the bible (The
books of Moses) as scripture; and rejected the poetical books and the
prophets. So you could say that there was a little prejudice between the
two groups.
We know a little about Prejudice don’t we?
Do you remember back in 1962 when George Wallace ran for governor of
Alabama on a platform that used the phrase, “I say segregation, now,
segregation tomorrow, segregation forever”?
George Wallace is the perfect model of how to build barriers and burn
bridges to those who we perceive as different from us.
The problems of stereotypes and prejudice are not new problems. These
were major problems in Jesus’ day. But what made Jesus so attractive to
so many people in his day was the way he shattered the commonly held
stereotypes of “us” and “them.”
The Jews had such animosity for the Samaritans that they refused to even
walk through Samaria. Look at the map of Israel on the overhead. In the
southern part of Israel you have Judea, where Jerusalem is. Then north
of Judea is Samaria. And north of Samaria is Galilee, where Jesus was
raised in a town called Nazareth. The Jordan River runs north and south
along the eastern borders of these territories. This posed a problem
then if you wished to travel from Judea to Galilee or vice versa because
Samaria was in between them. So devout Jews would go out of their way
and cross the Jordan River and then travel north were they would then
cross the Jordan River again to enter Galilee.
Clearly the Jews despised the Samaritans because of the deep-seated
prejudices that they held onto. But then Jesus comes along and in
today’s passage he begins to shatter the stereotypes the Jews had
against the Samaritans. As we look at today’s scripture I want to share
with you three steps that we need to take in order to be the body that
God desires for New Hope to be.
1. You Must Go Outside Your Comfort Zone.
John 4:1-3
It says that Jesus “left Judea and went back once more to Galilee.”
Remember how good Jews would cross the Jordan just to avoid traveling
through Samaria when they went from Judea to Galilee? Well, according to
verse 4 how did Jesus travel?
John 4:4
“he had to go.” Why does it say that he had to go? Surely he could have
crossed the Jordan and avoided Samaritan territory like all the other
devout Jews did.
I can only find one possible answer. It wasn’t that Jesus couldn’t cross
the river. If he “had to go through Samaria” it was only because those
were his marching orders from God.
Over nine times in the book of John Jesus emphasizes that he only did
what God told him to do. John 14:31 says “I do exactly what my Father
has commanded me”. So if he had to go through Samaria it was only
because that was exactly what his father had commanded him to do.
The same is true for us today. It might not be a barrier of Red, or
Yellow, Or Black, or White. You know we set up lots of barriers. We
decide in our own little minds who is on a even playing field with us,
and who is beneath us.
But when we play that game what we are doing is discounting God’s gift
of His son. It is this mentality that leads us to think that God had to
somehow sacrifice less for me that He did for you. But your Bible
teaches that Jesus gave it all.
2. You Must Go Beyond Your Social Circle.
If it wasn’t bad enough going through Samaria, we see that Jesus
interacted with the Samaritans on his way through. You would think that
if he thought he had to cut through Samaria in order to get to Galilee
quickly at least he could have avoided the people. Look straight ahead
and don’t make eye contact and whatever you do don’t speak to them. Not
Jesus. Let continue
verse 5 - 9
The Jews did not associate with the Samaritans is probably a little
understated. They didn’t hang out together. They didn’t talk to each
other. They didn’t get along. They traveled out of the way not to even
see one another. It was two completely different social circles. So not
only does Jesus go outside his comfort zone (Samaria), but he also goes
beyond his social circle (the Samaritans).
And it just gets worse. He doesn’t just interact with any old Samaritan,
but with a Samaritan woman. The Jewish rabbis of Jesus’ day would not
even teach women. And yet here is Jesus reaching out to a Samaritan
woman.
And worse. Not only was this person a Samaritan and a woman, but she was
also an immoral woman. She had been married five times and she wasn’t
married to the man she was now living with.
So this is the picture: Jesus is hanging out at a well all alone with an
adulterous Samaritan woman. She’s got three strikes against her, so to
speak, and she should be called out. These were three very good reasons
from the perspective of the Jews why Jesus shouldn’t even acknowledge
her existence. And yet he does. In fact, he was the one who initiated
the conversation.
Not only should a good Jew not associate with this woman, but we also
have good reason to believe that even the Samaritans themselves shunned
this woman. Verse six tells us that “it was about the sixth hour” when
Jesus met this woman at the well.
The sixth hour was noon. It would have been unusual for a woman to go to
the well to draw water in the heat of the day. Usually they went to the
well in the evening when it had cooled off. That she was there at noon
indicates that she was probably trying to avoid the other women because
they did not accept her because of her immorality. Are you starting to
get the picture? This woman was an outcast among outcasts! If there was
anyone on the face of planet earth that Jesus should not have associated
with, it was this woman. But His love for us compelled Him to break
barriers and build bridges.
Ok, what is your favorite excuse? What excuse do you use to sooth your
soul when you see someone who needs to know about Christ and you just
fluff it off? For all too many of us in the church anyone who doesn’t go
to our church is outside our social circle. I believe that it’s long
past time that we in the church starting breaking down the barriers that
divide us and start building bridges to a lost world by showing them the
unconditional love of Jesus Christ.
And what do you think will happen when you start to reach out to those
so-called “undesirables?” What do you think your family and friends will
say? How do you think people at church will respond?
3. You Might Have To Go It Alone.
Look at the disciples’ reaction to Jesus interaction with this woman.
Verse 8
Verse 27
The disciples were blown away by the fact that here was the man they
believed to be the Jewish Messiah talking with an adulterous, Samaritan
women all alone at a well. Did they join Jesus in his conversation with
this woman?
No way! If you read through the rest of the passage you will discover
that they didn’t even speak to Jesus until after the woman had left them
and gone back into town. And then when they did approach Jesus they
didn’t ever bring up the subject. Instead they asked him what he wanted
for lunch. It is apparent that they were just going to pretend that this
incident had never happened.
Jesus’ disciples were as prejudiced as we are.
Remember in Luke 9 when Jesus was traveling through Samaria on his way
to Jerusalem. He wanted to go to a particular village in Samaria and
sent some of his disciples on ahead to prepare for his arrival, but the
Samaritans in that town refused to welcome him. In verse 54 we read And
when His disciples James and John saw this, they said, "Lord, do You
want us to command fire to come down from heaven and consume them?"
They were ready to wipe out all of those dirty, rotten, good-for-nothing
Samaritans without a second thought. Clearly Jesus wasn’t going to have
the support of his disciples?
Jesus was going to have to go it alone and he was going to pay the price
for it as well. It wasn’t long after this that in John chapter 8 the
Jewish leaders confronted him and said in verse 48 “The Jews answered
and said to Him, "Do we not say rightly that You are a Samaritan and
have a demon?"
Now I am not sure why they had been calling him a Samaritan all along,
but it possibly could have been because of his interaction with this
Samaritan woman among others. So Jesus was being labeled a
“Samaritan-lover” and that’s still not a compliment.
Jesus had to go it alone. He didn’t have the support of the religious
leaders of the day. And he didn’t even have the support of his disciples
who hadn’t yet gotten past their own biases. On this issue Jesus would
stand-alone.
If following Jesus example of breaking barriers and building bridges
means that no one will go with you, are you prepared to go it alone?
Jesus was.
There’s a song we sing here called “I Have Decided to Follow Jesus.”
Everyone of you have sung the words: “Though none go with me, still I
will follow.”
I wonder if you really mean it?
Here is a man who went outside his comfort zone, who went beyond his
social circle and who had to go it alone. The result:
verse 39 “Many of the Samaritans from that town believed in him because
of the woman’s testimony.”
Jesus was able to reach the people of that town because he was willing
to go outside his comfort zone, beyond his social circle, and go it
alone. He never could have reached that town otherwise.
During his earthly ministry Jesus shattered the stereotypes of “us” and
“them.” During his day he had to go it alone. But what about today? Does
he still have to go it alone? Or will you go with him?
Two weeks from now we begin our Gospel meeting. That means you have 14
days to decide what are you going to do. Are you happy in our holy
little huddle, here in Scuffelgrit or are you willing to go outside your
comfort zone and reach out to someone?
At the foot of the cross we are all equal. Red, and Yellow, Black, and
White we aer all precious in His sight.
|
