What if “the woman at well” shows up at church today?
John 4: 4-42
Love this story…
4 He had to go through Samaria on the way. 5 Eventually he came to the Samaritan village of Sychar, near the parcel of ground that Jacob gave to his son Joseph. 6 Jacob’s well was there; and Jesus, tired from the long walk, sat wearily beside the well about noontime. 7 Soon a Samaritan woman came to draw water, and Jesus said to her, “Please give me a drink.” 8 He was alone at the time because his disciples had gone into the village to buy some food.
9 The woman was surprised, for Jews refuse to have anything to do with Samaritans. She said to Jesus, “You are a Jew, and I am a Samaritan woman. Why are you asking me for a drink?”
10 Jesus replied, “If you only knew the gift God has for you and who I am, you would ask me, and I would give you living water.”
11 “But sir, you don’t have a rope or a bucket,” she said, “and this is a very deep well. Where would you get this living water? 12 And besides, are you greater than our ancestor Jacob who gave us this well? How can you offer better water than he and his sons and his cattle enjoyed?”
13 Jesus replied, “People soon become thirsty again after drinking this water. 14 But the water I give them takes away thirst altogether. It becomes a perpetual spring within them, giving them eternal life.”
15 “Please, sir,” the woman said, “give me some of that water! Then I’ll never be thirsty again, and I won’t have to come here to haul water.”
16 “Go and get your husband,” Jesus told her.
17 “I don’t have a husband,” the woman replied.
Jesus said, “You’re right! You don’t have a husband—18 for you have had five husbands, and you aren’t even married to the man you’re living with now.”
19 “Sir,” the woman said, “you must be a prophet. 20 So tell me, why is it that you Jews insist that Jerusalem is the only place of worship, while we Samaritans claim it is here at Mount Gerizim, where our ancestors worshiped?”
21 Jesus replied, “Believe me, the time is coming when it will no longer matter whether you worship the Father here or in Jerusalem. 22 You Samaritans know so little about the one you worship, while we Jews know all about him, for salvation comes through the Jews. 23 But the time is coming and is already here when true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and in truth. The Father is looking for anyone who will worship him that way. 24 For God is Spirit, so those who worship him must worship in spirit and in truth.”
25 The woman said, “I know the Messiah will come—the one who is called Christ. When he comes, he will explain everything to us.”
26 Then Jesus told her, “I am the Messiah!”
27 Just then his disciples arrived. They were astonished to find him talking to a woman, but none of them asked him why he was doing it or what they had been discussing. 28 The woman left her water jar beside the well and went back to the village and told everyone, 29 “Come and meet a man who told me everything I ever did! Can this be the Messiah?” 30 So the people came streaming from the village to see him.
31 Meanwhile, the disciples were urging Jesus to eat. 32 “No,” he said, “I have food you don’t know about.”
33 “Who brought it to him?” the disciples asked each other.
34 Then Jesus explained: “My nourishment comes from doing the will of God, who sent me, and from finishing his work. 35 Do you think the work of harvesting will not begin until the summer ends four months from now? Look around you! Vast fields are ripening all around us and are ready now for the harvest. 36 The harvesters are paid good wages, and the fruit they harvest is people brought to eternal life. What joy awaits both the planter and the harvester alike! 37 You know the saying, ‘One person plants and someone else harvests.’ And it’s true. 38 I sent you to harvest where you didn’t plant; others had already done the work, and you will gather the harvest.”
39 Many Samaritans from the village believed in Jesus because the woman had said, “He told me everything I ever did!” 40 When they came out to see him, they begged him to stay at their village. So he stayed for two days, 41 long enough for many of them to hear his message and believe. 42 Then they said to the woman, “Now we believe because we have heard him ourselves, not just because of what you told us. He is indeed the Savior of the world.”
What an awesome inspiring story! We cheer, yeah God! Way to go! Woman at the well accepted, loved and forgiven, we sit here and we marveled at the grace of God! Wow! This a real God-thing, a thing of beauty, of grace! But wait… What if the woman at well shows up at church today, here at GIBC and of all things chooses to sit next to you? You know, The woman at the well – Samaritan – different race, culture, a pariah race, not the right upbringing and background, despised, second-class, “inferior gender”, (female –men don’t talk to women in public), different morals values, upbringing, obvious questionable past with five husbands and lived openly in sin. Think about it – there is someone like that today perhaps in your own family, perhaps it is you, could it be the homosexual? That’s hot, real hot given our political climate. The drug addict? Alcoholic? Cheat on their spouse? The one who divorced, a pornographer? Inconsistent Christian, the Christian who should know better? They are openly living in sin! How would you feel if they sit next to you right now here at GIBC?
They look different, dress different, talk loud or different with gutter language. They don’t smell right. If you are an usher, would you shake their hands? Or would you pretend he or she is not there, get busy with reading the powerpoint announcements or arranging the next lunch meeting? If they sit next to u would u smile and then move just a bit away? If they smile back at you, do you run and hide, pretending you did not see?
How would you feel? Let’s admit it. We will do the same double take the disciples of Jesus did in v. 27 “Just then his disciples arrived. They were astonished to find him talking to a woman, but none of them asked him why he was doing it or what they had been discussing.” We will be uncomfortable, astonished, we won’t know what to do, just as those disciples of Jesus did. We won’t know what to say. I bet deep in their hearts those disciples are saying… Jesus don’t you know the scandal of talking to a woman and a Samaritan to boot? Don’t u know that Jews and Samaritans have no dealings with each other? Don’t u know how that would look? What were u discussing? Sex for sale? If the tabloids get this, we’re in trouble! It sure looks like you are not at all concern about God’s holiness…It just looks bad, this is hot soup, this is not good, it won’t look good in your resume, those big wigs at church they will say some bad stuff because you’re crazy. What could u be thinking? The minute we leave you, you go looking for trouble? I suspect a number of us would stare in shock or disbelief. Maybe we will keep the teens away from them. Perhaps it brings out feelings of insecurity? Will I be assaulted verbally or physically? Do I dare get close?
Let’s admit it… Don’t we walk on the other side of the road when we see the drug addict shooting up? It just disturbs the comfort zone… and we don’t like it. Jesus, don’t change the social conventions, the status quo…
Observation of Brennan Manning:
Put bluntly: the American church today accepts grace in theory but denies it practice. We say we believe that the fundamental structure of reality is grace, not works – but our lives refute our faith. By and large, the gospel of grace is neither proclaimed, understood, nor lived. Too many Christians are living in the house of fear and not in the house of love.
Our culture has made the word grace impossible to understand. We resonate to slogans such as - “There’s no free lunch.” “You get what you deserve.” “You want money? Work for it.” “You want love. Earn it.” “You want mercy. Show you deserve it.
Heard of this classic one? “God help those who help themselves.”
Our spirituality, I fear, is practice many times this way, Terminator style. Shoot first, and don’t even bother to ask questions later. We quote Hebrews 13:8 “Jesus Christ is the same, yesterday, today and forever.” But is He in our lives and in our practice? Is He the same Jesus of John 4 in our practice? I fear that much of how Christians are portrayed these days by the homosexual activists could actually be true. That we are judgmental, shooting first and don’t even bother to ask any questions. We say we don’t beat them on the heads with the Bible but as I read letters to editors in the newspapers so many are printed with smug self-righteousness that is really anti-Christian, not at all reflecting the Jesus I know in John 4.
Brennan Manning wrote: “If Jesus would appear at your dining table tonight with knowledge of everything you are and are not, total comprehension of your life story and every skeleton hidden in your closet; if he laid out the real state of your present discipleship with the hidden agenda, the mixed motives, and the dark desires buried in your psyche, you would feel his acceptance and forgiveness.” Somehow I believe Manning in right on the money. It is backed up in the Bible
Romans 8:31-39 (NLT)
If God is for us, who can ever be against us? 32 Since God did not spare even his own Son but gave him up for us all, won’t God, who gave us Christ, also give us everything else?
33 Who dares accuse us whom God has chosen for his own? Will God? No! He is the one who has given us right standing with himself. 34 Who then will condemn us? Will Christ Jesus? No, for he is the one who died for us and was raised to life for us and is sitting at the place of highest honor next to God, pleading for us.
Jesus is pleading for us, accuse us NO, condemn us NO, can you hear? pleading for us, died for us raised to life for us. FOR US!!!
35 Can anything ever separate us from Christ’s love? …
38 And I am convinced that nothing can ever separate us from his love. Death can’t, and life can’t. The angels can’t, and the demons can’t. Our fears for today, our worries about tomorrow, and even the powers of hell can’t keep God’s love away. 39 Whether we are high above the sky or in the deepest ocean, nothing in all creation will ever be able to separate us from the love of God that is revealed in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Are you convinced nothing can separate u form God’s love? Then why do we act as if something can separate us from God’s love? Your closet sins, your mixed up motives, the black sheep, things we are ashamed of, people we are ashamed of….
Shall we live lives that helps others to know that even when they look different, smell bad, talk bad, disappoint us, hurt us, divorced, homosexual, that God still gives them a second chance?
Shall we tell people “You need to know, I am for you not against you.”
What if your worst nightmare sits next to you? Will u truly honest in welcome the outcast, and bringing the good news. Story of guy who came in church with no shoes… church elder came and set next to him.
We may think we are pretty decent, don’t swear, don’t cheat, pay our tithes, but God’s word says bluntly in Romans 3:9-12 (NKJV)
Are WE BETTER THAN THEY? Not at all. For we have previously charged both Jews and Greeks that they are all under sin. 10As it is written:
“There is none righteous, no, not one;
11 There is none who understands;
There is none who seeks after God.
12 They have all turned aside;
They have together become unprofitable;
There is none who does good, no, not one.”
Church goer or not God’s verdict is we are all in the same boat! NO, NOT ONE IS RIGHT WITH GOD! We live in a world that is like the Titanic, it’s sinking into destruction and folks from Class A to Class C because…
“all our righteousnesses are like filthy rags” Is 64:6 (NKJV) before God!
But praise be to our gracious God…
18 “Come now, let us argue this out,” says the LORD. “No matter how deep the stain of your sins, I can remove it. I can make you as clean as freshly fallen snow. Even if you are stained as red as crimson, I can make you as white as wool. Isaiah 1:18 (NLT)
Let’s reason this out, let’s argue this out, let’s really debate this, shall we, the Bible says. This speaks of "Amazing grace, how sweet the sound that saved a wretch like me. I once was lost but now am found, was blind but now I see." Imagine a little child coloring a book for Dad. Colors the sun black, the trees purple, the grass pink, with a stick man that all bent and crooked. Will Dad say that’s lousy, you don’t color the sun black... or will Dad say what a great job! To Dad I believe, the child can do no wrong! That’s the way the Father views us, when we come to the Father as a believer in His grace, we are covered by love... we will be clean.
Will we let grace rule or our own comfort zones rule? Will we let Jesus direct us or our fears and nightmares and man-centered taboos directs?
Action points
1. Admit our discomfort and fears. Get scared to approach immoral person, admit it to God.
2. Be Broken. Tell God how you really feel, ask for forgiveness for being self-righteous, creating a wall of safety rather than relying on God for safety. It’s OK to be broken… it is the broken and contrite heart that God can use. Brokenness open us up to anew to the flow of God’s grace. To be really alive is to be broken, to be broken is to stand in need of grace. A bruised reed He will not break, Is.42:3 (NKJV)
3. Accept the grace of Christ for yourself. Let the Spirit work it in, not you. It is a Gift of God! You’ll never get there if you work for it. It is when we receive this grace daily can we have any hope of ever becoming more like Christ.
4. Accept people in Christ-like fashion. How? With seeing the person, not just the sin, seeing that lost people matter to God, seeing the image of God resides even in “foulest” person like that Samaritan woman at the well. Begin to speak tenderly with compassion even when your needs are crying to be met. Remember Jesus was flat out tired after his long walking journey, it was inconvenient, hot noon day, yet He moved with compassion, love and offer eternal life to the woman at the well.
5. Know our mission, just as Jesus knew His…
“The Spirit of the LORD is upon Me,
Because He has anointed Me
To preach the gospel to the poor;
He has sent Me to heal the brokenhearted,
To proclaim liberty to the captives
And recovery of sight to the blind,
To set at liberty those who are oppressed;
19 To proclaim the acceptable year of the LORD.” Luke 4:18,19
Chosen, people, royal priesthood, holy nation, people belonging to God - declare that acceptable year of the Lord, God accepts people… liberty!!! Declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wondeful light!
If you don’t know your mission… you will falter, be flustered, be discouraged…
15Now it happened, as He was dining in Levi’s house, that many tax collectors and sinners also sat together with Jesus and His disciples; for there were many, and they followed Him. 16And when the scribes and Pharisees saw Him eating with the tax collectors and sinners, they said to His disciples, “How is it that He eats and drinks with tax collectors and sinners?” 17When Jesus heard it, He said to them, “Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick. I did not come to call the righteous, but sinners, to repentance.” Mark 2:15-17
This is what drives Jesus – he eats this up!
31 Meanwhile, the disciples were urging Jesus to eat. 32 “No,” he said, “I have food you don’t know about.”
33 “Who brought it to him?” the disciples asked each other.
34 Then Jesus explained: “My nourishment comes from doing the will of God, who sent me, and from finishing his work. 35 Do you think the work of harvesting will not begin until the summer ends four months from now? Look around you! Vast fields are ripening all around us and are ready now for the harvest. 36 The harvesters are paid good wages, and the fruit they harvest is people brought to eternal life. What joy awaits both the planter and the harvester alike! 37 You know the saying, ‘One person plants and someone else harvests.’ And it’s true. 38 I sent you to harvest where you didn’t plant; others had already done the work, and you will gather the harvest.”
39 Many Samaritans from the village believed in Jesus because the woman had said, “He told me everything I ever did!” 40 When they came out to see him, they begged him to stay at their village. So he stayed for two days, 41 long enough for many of them to hear his message and believe. 42 Then they said to the woman, “Now we believe because we have heard him ourselves, not just because of what you told us. He is indeed the Savior of the world.”
Can you see the harvest? Can you what drives Jesus? Grace met the woman at the well, and she became the evangelist the one through whom they encounter grace, Jesus!
So I ask what if the woman at the well would show up here today? How would you feel, what would you do? Will you be moved by mission or by revulsion?
Let us pray…
