John 4:4-42

In this passage from John’s gospel we catch a rare glimpse of Jesus with only one other person….

How unexpected that this other person should be a Samaritan woman.

Samaritans were the mixed race of the Assyrians and the Jews of the former northern kingdom….

Jews hated Samaritans so much that they would travel around Samaria instead of through it. Thus, the crowds that followed Jesus left him and his disciples when they entered Samaria.

The 12 disciples had gone to find food and only Jesus remained at the well, until a Samaritan woman…

Jesus asked for a drink.

Her response (v.9) shows bitterness and distrust. “Why are you, a Jew, asking me for a drink?”

Jesus’ reply is a riddle, “If you knew the gift of God… he would have given you living water.” (v.10).

Living water. The author John continues a theme of “heavenly vs. earthly” begun in chapter 3. Living water is one of the heavenly things—unseen and yet real….

The woman is understandably unimpressed.

How can we speak of heavenly things in the language of earthly things…?

What is it to be thirsty for heavenly things-happiness, wholeness, forgiveness, vitality, knowing God…?

Jesus speaks of heavenly water gushing up in a person and leading to eternal life (v.14)….

I think that the woman’s response has a bit of sarcasm in it…. She needs convincing….

At the very least, she is still thinking in terms of earthly things, not heavenly things…. “Give me this water so I won’t ever thirst and won’t have to draw water again.”

Jesus tells her about her past—five divorces and working on her 6th relationship, unwed….

Notice there is no talk of sin by either one of them. This is just a statement of how it is. Why is it important to the story? Perhaps it is important to the story because this is what it looks like to thirst for heavenly things….

OK, she’s convinced that Jesus is a prophet. Now, she tests him—where should we worship, here or in Jerusalem?

The Samaritans worshipped on the mountain at Bethel. The Jews worshipped on the mountain at Jerusalem…. Both held that the other was entirely wrong and that their worship was not valid….

She tests Jesus with this, because after all, there is only one right way to worship. Right…?

Jesus’ reply is revolutionary for both Samaritans and Jews. There is one right way to worship, but it has nothing to do with which mountain you are on.

Jesus tells her that God will not be worshipped on a mountain—neither here nor in Jerusalem ….

God is Spirit! God is not confined within the “inner sanctum” of the temple…. Nor that of the church.

Worshippers must worship in spirit and in truth…! This is the right way to worship….

Worship in spirit!

Knowing God is really here. Knowing God is everywhere….

Our spirits uniting with God’s Spirit, on many different levels…. Not relying on a intermediary.

Worship in truth!

We really encounter God. We are not just going through the motions….

Nothing is concealed. We come as we are…and we meet God….

When we are not just going through the motions, when we know God is everywhere, then our entire lives become an act of worship—water gushing up to eternal life….

“The Messiah is coming,” she says. Could this man be the one…? Jesus says, “I am….”

The disciples show up and the woman leaves. She has the beginnings of faith, “Can he be the Messiah?”

The disciples try to get Jesus to eat, and Jesus tells them he has food they don’t know about.

Again, Jesus points to a difference between heavenly and earthly things…. Again people don’t understand. They question whether someone else brought him something to eat….

Unseen food—to do the work of God. Harvesting what God had planted….

Can we see with heavenly eyes, or are we still bound to earthly points of view?

From an earthly perspective this was a community of people that nobody cared about. The woman was no exception to the rule. These were the outcast people, the shunned, trying just to get by….

From the heavenly perspective, these were fields ripe for harvest (v.35).

The world, indeed our community, is full of people just like the woman at the well. Do you know someone who’s life is a picture of someone thirsty for heavenly things?

These are people who are suspicious of church and of churchgoers telling them they need Jesus.

They don’t bring a lot to church, and its easy for church to neglect them.

From an earthly perspective they are like the woman at the well. From a heavenly perspective they are fields ripe for harvest…..

Living water and unseen food--I wonder, did Jesus ever get his drink? The woman got hers (v.39-42).