Lent 2 John 4:5-26
ILCW A 2014
John’s Gospel is very different from the other gospels, which we call the “synoptic Gospels”. They cover Jesus’ life and teachings in a fairly general way but John’s Gospel contains several of Jesus’ in-depth, one-on-oneconversations with people. Such is the case here in chapter four, where Jesus meets aSamaritan woman at a well. The conversation recorded for us is a classic example of how to witness to an unbeliever about the Savior, a lesson taught by the Savior himself. But there’s more to it than a witnessing technique. Jesus shows us how to care for others spiritually. It mattered to him that this woman was lost in her sin. That is what he taught his disciples that day. That is what he teaches his disciples – disciples like you and me – today. From our Savior we learn to witness at the well.
- Others are thirsty for eternal life
Jesus had to go through Samaria. Actually, Jesus didn’t have to. He could have taken the long way around. Jews usually did. Entering Samaria was like trespassing on gang territory and you had to be careful.That’s why Jews passing through would walk in groups and not go alone. The history of this tension went back about 700 years. Samaria had once been part of the Northern Kingdom of Israel, but in 722 B.C. the mighty Assyrians conquered them, carried off all but a handful of Jews and resettled the area with foreigners. The Jews there accepted the first five books of Moses as a basis for their faith, but the new settlers brought in their own false religions and added them in. The resulting mix was a confused mess of beliefs that tried to mimic the temple worship in Jerusalem. The Jews despised their northern neighbors and the Samaritans resented them for it.
Yes, Jesus had other, better choices than to go through Samaria. But not today. Today he had to go that way, because today was the day of salvation.The Savior was on a search and rescue mission with the gospel. Right away you and I sit up and take notice. Jesus didn’t have to come your way or my way, either. The gospel message that brought us to faith could have gone somewhere. But Jesus considered it a must for us to hear and believe the good news. He had to come to us because by nature we couldn’t and wouldn’t come to him.
After sending his disciples on to buy groceries, he stopped to rest at the town well. John says it was the 6th hour. To the Jews, that would be time for lunch; but sometimes John uses Roman time, so the 6th hour might have been dinnertime. Either way, a lone woman came to draw water from the well. That was usually a group activity, when most of the women came together to socialize. This gives us a clue about her life – a different kind of thirst she had. And that’s the first lesson in witnessing: what’s going on in another person’s life?
It was unheard of for a Jew to sit down and have a conversation with a Samaritan. It was an even bigger no-no for a man totalk to a woman in public. Jesus only saw someone he loved so much that he would give his own life to save her. But she first needed to be thirsty for his salvation. He began by suggesting that maybe she’d feel more comfortable if her husband joined them. Jesus already knew about the trail of broken marriages that led up to her present situation of just living with a man. That was the one area of her life she didn’t want to discuss, but it was the area that showed the symptoms of her broken relationship with God so well. And she wanted so much to be rid of that guilt.
It’s easy for us to make assumptions about the people around us. We assume that if someone dresses, talks or acts like a rebel, hangs out with the wrong crowd, lives in obvious sin, uses drugs, abuses alcohol or is sitting in prison, they want nothing to do with God. In reality they are thirsty for meaning to life, thirsty for peace in their conscience, thirsty to be free from the fear of death, but they can’ find anything in this life to quench that thirst. They are doing what you and I would do if Jesus had not come to us with the good news of forgiveness and given us the faith to call God our Father.
Jesus did what he wants us to do: when she knew her thirst, he gave her a drink from springs of living water.
- Only one water quenches this thirst
One of the devil’s biggest deceptions and also agrees with our sinful nature is that it’s best for us to just stay out of it. After all, what business is it of ours what others do with their lives? If they seem happy, why rock the boat? Besides, who are we do judge?
Have you ever tasted salt water from the ocean? One swallow and you just know isn’t good to drink. In fact, if you are dying of thirst, the last thing you want to do is drink salt water. Even though your body is craving something to drink, salt water only makes you more thirsty, drives you mad with thirst, and eventually kills you. If you’re adrift on the ocean, the saying is true: “Water, water everywhere and not a drop to drink.” Can you imagine anyone having fresh water and not offering it to a person dying of thirst on the ocean?
The woman at Sychar had tasted the salt water of false religion long enough to know that it couldn’t quench her thirst, but it was all she knew. As long as she was somehow connected to a church she was satisfied to just coastalong with her fingers crossed and hope it would all turn out ok in the end. One day the Messiah, who was spoken of in the first 5 books of Moses, would come and make it clear. Until then she’d just keep drinking rancid water from a bad well and get more thirsty, moving farther from eternal life with each swallow of false doctrine.
That’s the story of everyone who doesn’t know Jesus. Only one water quenches the thirsty soul: the free, endless, refreshing gift of forgiveness of sins and peace with God that Jesus earned for us with is life, suffering, death, and resurrection. That’s the water Jesus put to that thirsty woman’s lips that day. It’s the water we’ve been drinking from, too. And now you and I are holding the glass as we…
- Look for opportunities to give others a drink
There are severalcourses that instruct Christians how to share their faith, but no matter which one you learn, it all comes down to knowing what you believe yourself, and that comes from reading and learning God’s Word. If you know what you believe and believe what you know, you are worshiping God in spirit and in truth, that is, with God-given faith based on his Truth. That means wherever you go you arecarrying in your hearts and minds the reason for the hope you have. That hopeis the basis for your life. It forms our thoughts, sets our priorities, guides our lives, fuels our prayers, and directs what we say. It is who we are.
God has prearranged many opportunities for us to share with others the water we enjoy, the drink they need, the living water of free forgiveness in Jesus. It may be someone we’ve been planning to talk to, or someone we’ve just met in the waiting room, or a parent whose children play with ours. It could be an unlikely man or woman in an unlikely place. Every time we meet someone, look for a door that God may be opening for you.
Of course, the devil would like nothing better than to have us think that someone else will do it, or that we should wait for another time, or maybe we should wait until we’ve mastered an evangelism training course.But if you are in Sunday School or have been confirmed or have been in Bible study or have come to worship services, you’ve already had training. You know many passages – if not word-for-word – at least the main thought that tell about our sin and our Savior. And if we want further training, we can learn from our preschoolers who tell the hope they have with unabashed joy and enthusiasm and conviction.
Christ’s love for us will move us to care for others who still don’t have the living water of forgiveness and eternal life. Regardless of who they are or where they’ve been, Jesus has the only water that can well up to eternal life within them.It’s what keeps you and me drinking, and now we are holding the glass for others. Jesus’ love for us and for othersmoves us to begin conversations or steer conversations to spiritual matters. It helps us see that some of the most unlikely prospects, whose lives advertise some of the messiest sins, may be the most ripe to see the need to be rescued from sin.
After all, isn’t that how we all look to Jesus?If I’ve learned anything from this lesson in witnessing at the well, it’s this: if Jesus can save that woman… if he can save me… he can save anyone! Amen.