Proclaiming The Acceptable Year Of The Lord Series

THE UNEXPECTED JESUS

"Proclaim the Acceptable Year of the Lord"

John 4:1-26

INTRODUCTION: During the 1920’s and 30’s Al Simmons was one of professional baseball’s great

players. By the end of his major league career he had amassed almost 3000 hits, but that was

just it - almost 3000. When he first entered the Major Leagues he was lazy. He would make up

excuses to avoid being placed in the lineup, and because of that he missed many opportunities at

bat. You see, to have 3000 hits in your career places you in one of the sporting world’s elite

fraternities. It is a milestone that not many reach. As his time in pro baseball came to a

close, Mr. Simmons greatly regretted his laziness and missed opportunities. He said, "If only I

had known earlier in my career I would have been a different player." Failures and missed

opportunities, life is full of them. And, in John 4, Jesus met a woman who had had her share of

both. READ TEXT The power to proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord had been given to Jesus.

The time was right for the woman at the well to come back to her God, and Jesus would give her

the opportunity of a lifetime.

I. FAILURES OF LIFE

A. There are many ways a person’s life can become complicated. And it seems that once the

pathway becomes difficult a snowball effect is created. The woman at the well had a very

complicated life.

1. She was a Samaritan. A mix of Jew and Gentile, a half-breed which neither the Jews or the

Gentiles claimed. She was an outcast from both societies, caught in between the two with no

sympathy from either one.

2. She was also in a highly questionable marital situation. Jesus tells her that she had had 5

husbands, and she does not deny it. If anything she affirms it by calling Him a prophet for

saying such a thing. Now, keep in mind that we do not know how those marriages broke up, but

that many having broken up raises some serious suspicions.

3. To top that off she was living with a man to whom she was not married. Morally her life was in

a mess, in shambles and you know it had to affect her daily life in many, many ways.

4. One final thing about the woman at the well, she was involved in a manner of worship that was

unacceptable to God. Samaritans worshipped in the high places, in the mountains, that often

contained idols to bow down to. Besides, the Temple was the only God-commissioned site that

worship was to take place.

5. She had more serious complications and problems in her life than anyone

else listed in Scripture. Seems as though everything was going against her. She received no

breaks, no good fortune, nothing in life by trouble.

B. Not much has changed in 2000 years has it? Human life is still full of complications, problems

and trouble. And the more complications we have it seems that more come, until we reach the

point of throwing up our hands in defeat and hopelessness.

C. In Joshua 24, Joshua issued a challenge to the nation of Israel. They had been through their

share of problems and complications before and after they had entered Canaan. In response to all

of that, he said, "Choose this day whom you will serve." In essence Joshua tells them that now

is the time to come to God. Jesus would do the same for the woman at the well.

II. THE RIGHT TIME TO COME TO GOD

A. She did not begin her day expecting to meet anyone at the well, let alone the Messiah. But, by

the end of her encounter with Jesus she was glad that the unexpected had happened.

1. The text says that she went to the well at the sixth hour. That is high noon, the middle of

the day. No one went to draw water then. Everyone else went early or late to avoid the heat. She

went at this time for a purpose.

2. Her life was a mess - she knew it, most everyone else knew it, so the safest thing to do was

to avoid the crowd. That was how she lived, so the trip to the well at noon was a purposeful

trip. If she did not see anyone, she did not have to endure the stares, the glares and the

whisperings behind her back.

3. But this day there was someone at the well. Maybe she started to turn around and go back home.

But then that would mean another trip. I can see her thinking, "If I go quickly and quietly

maybe nothing will happen." Jesus didn’t give her a chance.