Jesus, cause & effect

John 4:27 -42; Jesus , Cause & Effect of the Gospel
Cause and effect refers to the philosophical concept of causality, in which an action or event will produce a certain response to the action in the form of another event.

• And so it is true when it comes to Jesus & the gospel, they will always have an effect upon others, positive or negative, the response to Jesus & the gospel will never be inert, it cannot be neutral, Jesus & Gospel will cause an effect.

• Wherever Jesus travelled cause &effect whether it was Judea, Samaria, Galilee, Jerusalem his appearance in that location had an effect ( people gathered, received him , rejected him , saved, healed, provided ) & the same is still true today wherever this Gospel goes there will be a cause and effect.

• Whatever Jesus said, had a cause & effect upon those he came into contact with whether Nicodemus (religiously intrigued), the women at the well ( morally bankrupt, yet converted) , the disciple Peter ( who denied the Lord yet restored) , the rich young man ( who refused to follow) and still today the teaching & words of Jesus still leave its effects upon individual lives.

• Whatever Jesus did had a cause and effect , whether it was up turning over the tables in the temple, whether it was calming the wind and the waves on the sea of Galilee, whether changing water into wine all these actions had effects as a result of the cause. The greatest act of course, his atoning death and resurrection, the greatest effect that whoever repents and believes is saved. But whoever fails to repent and believe will perish.
So Jesus & the gospel cause will always have an effect ; to one it’s a fragrance to life the other to death, but it is never inert or neutral the cause of the gospel will bring an effect, positive or negative.

1. The 1st Cause effect upon the disciples. v27, 31
• Jesus is talking to a women
The first cause & effect we see is upon the disciples themselves. They have just returned from their shopping trip and we see that they are surprised to find Jesus talking to firstly a women, a Samaritan women, and a complete stranger; Last week we delved into the cultural implications of all this, it was understood as a culturally no, no!
Of course this wasn’t the first time that Jesus causes surprises by the people he was hanging around with after the conversion of Levi a tax collector a party is held at his house in order to invite likeminded sinners and the Pharisees ask his disciples Luke 5: 30 “What is your teacher doing eating with tax collectors and sinners? “

Also in Luke 7: 39 Jesus is at a Pharisees house by the name of Simon where a women enters & washes his feet out of thankfulness for receiving forgiveness & yet the Pharisee reclining with Jesus said to himself, “ if this man was a prophet he would know who and what sort of women this is who is touching him , for she is a sinner.
Then in the open air also Luke 15:2, As tax collectors & sinner draw near to him, the Pharisees & Scribes once again grumbled, “ this man receives sinners & eats with them.” And of course who can forget when he went