Scripture: John 4:1-42
The Pharisees
heard that Jesus was gaining and baptizing more disciples than John, although
in fact it was not Jesus who baptized, but his disciples. When the Lord learned
of this, he left Judea and went back once more to Galilee. Now he had to go
through Samaria. So he came to a town in Samaria called Sychar, near the plot
of ground Jacob had given to his son Joseph.
Jacob's well was there, and Jesus, tired as he was from the journey, sat
down by the well. It was about the sixth hour.
It was called Sychar;
probably the same as Shechem. Shechem yielded the first proselyte
that ever came into
the church of Israel (Gen 34:24) All the men who went out of the city
gate agreed with
Hamor and his son Shechem, and every male in the city was circumcised
When 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.) 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?"
(For Jews do not associate with Samaritans.) 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." 11 "Sir,"
the woman said, "you
have nothing to draw with and the well is deep. Where can you get this living
water? 12 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?" 13
Jesus answered, "Everyone who drinks this water
will be thirsty again, 14 but 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." 15 The
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." 16 He 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. 18 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."
19 "Sir," the woman said,
"I can see that you are
a prophet. 20 Our fathers worshiped on this
mountain, but you Jews claim that the place where we must worship is in Jerusalem."
21 Jesus declared, "Believe me, woman, a
time is coming when you will worship the Father neither on this mountain nor in
Jerusalem. 22 You Samaritans worship what you do not know; we worship what
we do know, for salvation is from the Jews. 23 Yet 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. 24 God is spirit, and his worshipers must worship
in spirit and in truth." 25
The woman said, "I know
that Messiah" (called Christ) "is coming. When he comes, he will explain everything to
us." 26 Then Jesus
declared, "I who speak to you am he."
27 Just 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?"
28 Then, 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?" 30 They came out of the town and made their
way toward him. 31 Meanwhile his
disciples urged him, "Rabbi, eat something."
32 But he said to them, "I have food to eat that you know nothing about." 33 Then his disciples said to each other,
"Could someone have brought him food?"
34 Jesus said, "My food, is to do the will of him who sent me and to finish
his work. Do you not say, 'Four months more and then the harvest'? I tell you,
open your eyes and look at the fields! They are ripe for harvest. Even now the reaper draws his wages, even now he harvests the
crop for eternal life, so that the sower and the reaper may be glad together.
Thus the saying 'One sows and another reaps' is true. I sent you to reap what
you have not worked for. Others have done the hard work, and you have reaped
the benefits of their labor."
39 Many of the
Samaritans from that town believed in him because of the woman's testimony,
"He told me everything
I ever did." So when the Samaritans came to him, they urged him to
stay with them, and he stayed two days. And because of his words many more
became believers. They 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."
It was a happy day for
Samaria that it lay in Christ's way.
It begins with a water cooler conversation with a
Samaritan woman, what about his conversation nearby on Mt. Tabor with Moses and
Elijah? What was that conversation? It is buried in silence. But this
conversation with an individual - SINNER is given much real estate in
scripture.
Jesus preached to the crowds, yet here he teaches a
single person, a woman, a poor woman, a stranger-NOT, a Samaritan; that is how
Christ is most effectively shared. With
someone who we know - as Jesus knew her.
With someone who we can call by name.
John 17:25-26
“Righteous Father, though the world does not know you, I know
you, and they know that you have sent me. I have made you known to them, and
will continue to make you known in order that the love you have for me
may be in them and that I myself may be in them."
Matt 10:29-33
Are not two
sparrows sold for a penny? Yet not one of them will fall to the ground apart
from the will of your Father. And even the very hairs of your head are all
numbered. So don't be afraid; you are worth more than many sparrows. "Whoever acknowledges me before men, I will also acknowledge
him before my Father in heaven. But whoever disowns me before men, I
will disown him before my Father in heaven.”
Ex 33:17
And the Lord
said to Moses, "I will do the very thing you
have asked, because I am pleased with you and I know you by name."
Matthew 25:1-13
THE 10 VIRGINS (“I don’t
know you”)
At that time
the kingdom of heaven will be like ten virgins who took their lamps and went
out to meet the bridegroom. Five of them
were foolish and five were wise. The
foolish ones took their lamps but did not take any oil with them. The wise, however, took oil in jars along
with their lamps. The bridegroom was a
long time in coming, and they all became drowsy and fell asleep. ‘At midnight the
cry rang out: 'Here's the bridegroom! Come out to meet him!' Then all the virgins woke up and trimmed their
lamps. The foolish ones said to the
wise, 'Give us some of your
oil; our lamps are going out.' 'No,' they replied, 'there may not be enough for both
us and you. Instead, go to those who sell oil and buy some for yourselves.'
But while they were on their way to buy the oil, the bridegroom arrived. The
virgins who were ready went in with him to the wedding banquet. And the door
was shut. Later the others also came. 'Sir! Sir!' they said. 'Open the door for us!' But he replied, 'I tell you the truth, I don't know you.'
Therefore keep watch, because you do not know the day or the hour.
The man who
enters by the gate is the shepherd of his sheep. The watchman opens the gate for him, and the
sheep listen to his voice. He calls his own sheep by name and leads them
out. When he has brought out all his
own, he goes on ahead of them, and his sheep follow him because they know
his voice.
By name Jesus calls Peter, James, John, Andrew,
Philip, Bartholomew, Matthew, Thomas, James the son of Alphaeus, Thaddaeus,
Simon the Zealot; and Judas Iscariot / and sends them out 2 x 2.
Jesus calls Martha by
name. He tells her that she is worried
and bothered by so many things.
Jesus calls Simon the
Pharisee by name. He asks, “Who loves
more?” The greater sinner.
Jesus calls Saul by
name ‘Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting Me?’
Jesus calls Mary
Magdalene by name at the empty tomb and asked who are you looking for?
Jesus calls Lazarus by
name; “Come forth” aka “Come back to life!”
He knew Nathaniel had
been sitting under a fig tree and that the woman at the well have been married
5 times.
What is He saying to
you as He calls your name? Is it that
you are worried and bothered by so many things.
Is He asking, “Who loves more?”
Is He wondering, “Why are you persecuting Me?” Is He sending you out to preach? Is He asking you to be a rock? Is He telling you that you are blessed? Is He telling you that you should put out
into deep water to find a catch? Is He
warning you that Satan has asked to sift you like wheat? Is He asking whether you love Him? Is He asking, “Why are you weeping?” or “Who
are you seeking?”
Zaccheus
In Jericho there was a man trying to see who Jesus was, and he was
unable because of the crowd, so he ran on ahead and climbed up a sycamore tree
in order to see Him. And when Jesus came to the place, He looked up and said, ‘Zaccheus, hurry and come down,
for today I must stay at your house.’
And he hurried and came down, and received Him gladly. And Zaccheus said to the Lord, ‘Lord, half of my possessions I will give to the poor, and
if I have defrauded anyone of anything, I will give back four times as much.’ And Jesus said to him, ‘Today salvation has come to this house, because he, too, is a
son of Abraham. For the Son of Man has
come to seek and to save that which was lost.’”
Jesus is
calling us by name. He is calling us to
be saved. He is calling us to drink from
the well of Living water.
NOTE:
My water cooler conversation with a dear friend:
Hope you don't mind me sharing our
friend’s daughter's post regarding her funeral arrangements. It's just so very
sad. She had such faith and felt God had cured her, which is what she told me
last year. I thought she had it licked too especially after looking at her
pictures on FB how pretty and healthy she looked. I hate seeing classmates pass
away. Just makes me feel that much closer to my own mortality. I wish I had
your faith and belief in life hereafter, but I don't. Maybe I should read some
books to help me believe. I like to think that I live my life with good morals
and values, but I'm just not a religious person...but I'm a person who is
trying to find the faith. Sorry to get so heavy with you, but after all you're
a pastor and should be use to this - right?? Take care my friend and thanks for
listening to my message here.
Julia, thank you for your beautiful note and
your heartfelt thoughts. Yes as a pastor, but more as your friend I am thrilled
that you would even bring up the subject of faith and talk so candidly about it
- you are awesome. I am not going to give you everything I know about faith and
eternal life but would love to share a few things that might be helpful.
1)
go here on you tube: http://youtu.be/Ymfh6RJezQ4
and after you watch it maybe more than once - tell me what you think about it.
2)
if you don't have a modern translation (I use the NIV New International
Version) of the bible laying around - I would be glad to get you one or you can
download a really cool one online that you can use on your pc or phone. Go to www.bible.com
and download this free bible app. It has awesome reading plans - you can add
your own notes as you read and it has a thing called live events that I provide
for my church every Sunday as aids to my sermon. I always suggest the first
part to read is the book of John (which I happen to be preaching on right now)
It tells all about Jesus and how how much God loves us. Then the book of
Ephesians really describes what a Christian is.
3) I am not religious either - never have been. I have a
personal relationship with God's son - Jesus. He forgave my sins (we all have
them) and guarantees me eternal life in heaven one day. Do you remember walking
into West on Monday Nov 4 of our sophomore year? You don't! I don't either, but
I remember the next day. Because on the evening of Nov 4 I went with Bryan Hitch,
Pat McClaskey and a couple others to Zanesville to a Christian Concert where
Christ became real to me. Heaven has NOTHING to do with us being good enough -
we can't be. It only has to do with trust in the only one who could be good
enough that died in our place for our sins - Jesus. That is it - sounds simple
- it is. There is a song that says it this way: Not because of who I am, But
because of what Jesus has done. Not because of what I've done but because of
who He is. Here is the song on you tube: http://youtu.be/mBcqria2wmg
OK that was maybe more than I thought I would write but I really
would be curious what you think after you consider some of this. So glad you connected
with our friend some - I did as well recently - glad I did. (…other conversations
about faith…)
Jeff,
You make some very interesting points
for me to ponder. I’ve not looked at faith and believing in the way that you
describe it. I realize there is no way to prove there is a God… that’s my
problem… my issue with always needing proof to believe in something. Maybe you
have to be raised from childhood to believe and that’s my problem. You know I
did try to find faith back in High School when I was in Young Life. I found
that experience to be a fun and easy way to understand the bible.
Again, I truly appreciate your efforts
in trying to help me find God. I may be a lost cause, but lately I’ve been
discovering I want to try and believe. Guess that’s what happens when we get
older and closer to death.
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