The Samaritan Woman - Part 1

Daniel L. Arter

The Gospel according to John • Sermon • Submitted 3 years ago

John 4:1–45

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Announcements

February 7th—Super Bowl Sunday, join us as we hang out, watch the game and enjoy food and fellowship with one another. I’d imagine none of us really care about football enough to be totally invested in the game, so it’ll really just be a time to eat wings and pizza and just hang out.

For those interested in joining the church officially as a member, even if you aren’t sure, please don’t hesitate to come and talk to me. For some of you, you might be wondering what the point of church membership is and there’s really three main reasons for it: (1) it is a statement of commitment with the church and those that have joined the church—that you’re committed to the church, it’s doctrine, and the long-term growth of the church. It shows that you’ve committed to those that also attend the church, that you’re committed to helping them grow and sharing life with them. (2) It helps the church keep track of your spiritual growth—and what I mean by that is that when you’re just attending the church, anything that we teach or counsel you in is really just helpful advice because the moment that you walk out of the church building, you can do whatever you want. If you join in, it gives us the ability to help you as you continue in your spiritual journey. And (3) it gives you a voice in the decisions of the church. Church members vote multiple times a year—including the approval of an annual budget, the approval of deacons and other officers in the church, and of course, to welcome to members into the church. There are, of course, a number of other reasons for joining the church as well, but those are the main reasons for church membership and again, if you’re interested in joining, please don’t hesitate to talk with me after the service.

Just a reminder—we worship God through the giving of our tithes and offerings. We give cheerfully unto the Lord because the Lord loves a cheerful giver. In order to help you give, we have three different ways for you to give: (1) for check and cash giving, there is an offering box in the kitchen (checks written to Grace & Peace Bible Church; mark cash if you want an end-of-year giving receipt); (2) for debit, credit, and ACH transfer giving, you can text $[amount] to 84321 and follow the text prompts; or (3) give online at www.graceandpeacepa.com and select “Giving.” Everything you give goes towards the spread of the Gospel around Central Pennsylvania and the growth of this local church.

Before we do anything else this morning, we do need to take a moment to pray and focus our hearts on worshiping Jesus Christ. This prayer is specifically a prayer of repentance from sin and adoration of Jesus Christ.

Prayer of Repentance and Adoration

Call to Worship / Scripture Reading

Our Scripture reading for this morning is from Psalm 63, which is a Psalm of David from when he was hiding in the wilderness of Judah from his son Absolom. If you remember with me, Absolom was a child of David who determined to have the throne of Israel and in order to take the throne, usurped David’s authority and spoke evil of David to the people. He eventually gathered an army in Hebron and declared himself as the king; and when David, the rightful king heard of the extent of the betrayal even amongst those within the court, he and his followers fled Jerusalem and hid in the wilderness of Judah, which is actually a desert, which gives us some idea of what David was going through when he penned these words. In addition, the thirst for God that David describes is the same thirst that Jesus speaks of in John 4:1-26, which is our passage for today.

Let’s read Psalm 63:1-11.

Psalm 63 ESV

A Psalm of David, when he was in the wilderness of Judah. 1 O God, you are my God; earnestly I seek you; my soul thirsts for you; my flesh faints for you, as in a dry and weary land where there is no water. 2 So I have looked upon you in the sanctuary, beholding your power and glory. 3 Because your steadfast love is better than life, my lips will praise you. 4 So I will bless you as long as I live; in your name I will lift up my hands. 5 My soul will be satisfied as with fat and rich food, and my mouth will praise you with joyful lips, 6 when I remember you upon my bed, and meditate on you in the watches of the night; 7 for you have been my help, and in the shadow of your wings I will sing for joy. 8 My soul clings to you; your right hand upholds me. 9 But those who seek to destroy my life shall go down into the depths of the earth; 10 they shall be given over to the power of the sword; they shall be a portion for jackals. 11 But the king shall rejoice in God; all who swear by him shall exult, for the mouths of liars will be stopped.

Sermon

Introduction

This morning’s sermon is from John 4:1-26 and is the first part of a two-part message concerning the Samaritan woman that Jesus meets on his way from Judea to Galilee. This week, we’ll be looking specifically at the conversation that the Samaritan woman has with Jesus at the well and next week, we’ll be looking specifically at the conversation that Jesus has with his disciples about the Samaritan woman as well as the result of the Samaritan woman believing, which is found in John 4:27-45.

In many ways, what we’ll see today, is a simple evangelistic message from Jesus that results in the salvation of not only the Samaritan woman, but many others from her village that heard what Jesus had said to the Samaritan woman and believed. In addition, there’s a significant statement concerning true, God-honoring worship that we need to understand in order to properly worship God today. And then the conversation between Jesus and the disciples, which we’ll study next week essentially stresses the need to have an eternal mindset rather than a temporal, earthly mindset, which stems from this mornings event because while Jesus was busy teaching the Samaritan woman about salvation, the disciples were concerned primarily with food—while Jesus was concerned with the eternal; his disciples were concerned with the temporal.

This morning’s sermon focuses on a simple evangelistic message of salvation from Jesus himself, that we can learn many different things from (and hopefully, we will); with the second half of the sermon focused in on proper worship of God. We can essentially state then, that this sermon will show us where salvation comes from, how we obtain that salvation, and what exactly we should do after we obtain salvation.

Let’s read John 4:1-26.

John 4:1–26 ESV

1 Now when Jesus learned that the Pharisees had heard that Jesus was making and baptizing more disciples than John 2 (although Jesus himself did not baptize, but only his disciples), 3 he left Judea and departed again for Galilee. 4 And he had to pass through Samaria. 5 So he came to a town of Samaria called Sychar, near the field that Jacob had given to his son Joseph. 6 Jacob’s well was there; so Jesus, wearied as he was from his journey, was sitting beside the well. It was about the sixth hour. 7 A woman from Samaria came to draw water. Jesus said to her, “Give me a drink.” 8 (For his disciples had gone away into the city to buy food.) 9 The Samaritan woman said to him, “How is it that you, a Jew, ask for a drink from me, a woman of Samaria?” (For Jews have no dealings with Samaritans.) 10 Jesus answered her, “If you knew the gift of God, and who it is that is saying to you, ‘Give me a drink,’ you would have asked him, and he would have given you living water.” 11 The woman said to him, “Sir, you have nothing to draw water with, and the well is deep. Where do you get that living water? 12 Are you greater than our father Jacob? He gave us the well and drank from it himself, as did his sons and his livestock.” 13 Jesus said to her, “Everyone who drinks of this water will be thirsty again, 14 but whoever drinks of the water that I will give him will never be thirsty again. The water that I will give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life.” 15 The woman said to him, “Sir, give me this water, so that I will not be thirsty or have to come here to draw water.” 16 Jesus said to her, “Go, call your husband, and come here.” 17 The woman answered him, “I have no husband.” Jesus said to her, “You are right in saying, ‘I have no husband’; 18 for you have had five husbands, and the one you now have is not your husband. What you have said is true.” 19 The woman said to him, “Sir, I perceive that you are a prophet. 20 Our fathers worshiped on this mountain, but you say that in Jerusalem is the place where people ought to worship.” 21 Jesus said to her, “Woman, believe me, the hour is coming when neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem will you worship the Father. 22 You worship what you do not know; we worship what we know, for salvation is from the Jews. 23 But the hour is coming, and is now here, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for the Father is seeking such people to worship him. 24 God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth.” 25 The woman said to him, “I know that Messiah is coming (he who is called Christ). When he comes, he will tell us all things.” 26 Jesus said to her, “I who speak to you am he.”

We’re going to split this passage into three sections for study: (1) Vs. 1-9, gives us some insight on the background information of where and when exactly this event occurs, I’ve titled it The Setting; (2) Vs. 10-14, records the first half of the conversation between Jesus and the Samaritan woman, in particular Jesus tells the Samaritan woman that only he can provide water that truly satisfies thirst permanently—I’ve titled it The Living Water; and (3) Vs. 15-26, records the second half of the conversation between Jesus and the Samaritan woman, in which Jesus makes a statement about how worshiping Yahweh is to be done in spirit and in truth—I’ve titled it Responding to Jesus. From this passage, we’ll learn several important aspects of truth involving salvation through Jesus Christ alone and our manner of worshiping God.

Before we dig into the Scriptures, let’s pray for the illumination of the Word of God through the work of the Holy Spirit.

Prayer for Illumination

The Setting (1-9)

John starts this section of Scripture by giving us some background details that are important for us to understand as they make the passage itself deepen in meaning. Remember that John is written as primarily a historical narrative with the intent that whoever reads the book would come to understand that Jesus is truly the Messiah and have eternal life because of their belief. John is a historical story with the purpose of causing people to believe, which is why he emphasizes belief so much.

John writes in John 4:1-9:

John 4:1–9 ESV

Prior to this point, John the author mentions that John the Baptist’s disciples had expressed concern that Jesus and his disciples were essentially taking people from John the Baptist’s ministry.

And John the Baptist makes it clear that the point of his ministry was to point people towards Jesus who is the Christ and thus, for people to follow Jesus over him was the point—that Christ would have all the preeminence (Col. 1:18). John the Baptist in John 3:22-36 had recognized the significance of Jesus Christ and he wasn’t just happy that people were following Jesus, he was insistent that Jesus had to increase in significance, while John had to decrease in significance.

Now what John the author is starting this passage with is the fact that word had spread concerning Jesus making and baptizing more disciples than John. And just like John the Baptist’s disciples were originally concerned about Jesus having more followers than John, so are the Pharisees.

Remember that the Pharisees were part of the religious leadership during the First Century, which means that they would be the ones who would investigate when something or someone was making waves within what they considered normal Judaism—exactly what both John the Baptist did and Jesus did.

And so, when Jesus finds out that the Pharisees had learned that Jesus was making disciples, “he left Judea and departed for Galilee,”

If you’re unfamiliar with the geography of the Middle-East during the First Century, let me explain that Judea, Galilee, and Samaria were all regions within the middle-east, particularly within Israel.

Judea, the region that Jesus was leaving included the city of Jerusalem and was located at the southern portion of Israel. Galilee was a region in northern Israel and it happens to be the region of Israel that Jesus grew up in. And Jesus is traveling from Judea to Galilee and the quickest route between the two regions involved going through the region of Samaria, which was in-between Judea and Galilee.

The region of Samaria was the home of the Samaritan people, who were actually mentioned in 2 Kings 17.

And what occured in 2 Kings 17, was that the Assyrians, who had previously conquered the Northern Kingdom of Israel and sacked several towns and villages throughout the Northern Kingdom, had made the decision to repopulate the area that eventually became Samaria.

In order to repopulate that area, the Assyrians transported large groups of the conquered Jewish people and large groups of other conquered people groups and essentially planted them in Samaria—and then those people groups intermarried and since each people group had essentially lost their former national identities, they developed a new national identity which also involved a similar, but not identical belief system to Judaism.

Jesus and his disciples left Judea and went towards Galilee and they stop in a town in the region of Samaria called Sychar, which happened to be near the field that Jacob in Genesis 33 gave to Joseph after digging a well and

Vs. 6, “Jesus, wearied as he was from his journey, was sitting beside the well. It was about the sixth hour,” which is right about noon. Jesus and his disciples are making this journey back to Galilee when they stop at a well outside of a small town to rest, eat, and rehydrate themselves. And what we see in Vs. 7-9, is that “a woman from Samaria came to draw water. Jesus said to her, ‘Give me a drink.’ 8 (For his disciples had gone away into the city to buy food.) 9 The Samaritan woman said to him, ‘How is it that you, a Jew, ask for a drink from me, a woman of Samaria?’ (For Jews have no dealings with Samaritans).”

And this is where this conversation (this back-and-forth) between Jesus and the woman of Samaria starts—which Jesus starts by asking for water from the well at noon-time—and there’s already some oddities of note occuring here.

First off, it’s noon-time and this woman is at the well getting water. That's abnormal for one reason in particular, Samaria is in the Middle East. At noontime in the Middle East, it’s hot. While noon isn’t typically considered the hottest part of the day, anyone in a desert would recognize that noon is a hot part of the day and it’s unusual for people to get water from a well at noon.

Secondly, in Jewish and Samaritan culture, getting water from the well is typically done by women at the beginning and end of the day (1) because of the lower temperatures, but (2) because it was an opportunity for the women of the community to gather and talk with one another. Going to the well for water in many ways was a social gathering for the women of the community to catch up with one another.

And the fact that this woman is choosing to come to the well during the hot portion of the day by herself tells you that she’s purposefully avoiding the other women in the town.

Another oddity of note, is that Jesus, despite knowing the customs of the Jewish people and their general disregard for the Samaritan people, speaks to a Samaritan at the well. We know this is odd, because the woman herself points it out, Vs. 9, “How is it that you, a Jew, ask for a drink from me, a woman of Samaria?” And John clarifies this question by explaining that the “Jews have no dealings with Samaritans.”

And I’ve already explained a little bit about how the Samaritan people came into existence, but I haven’t really clarified where the biggest issues lie between the Jewish and Samaritan people. Remember that the Samaritans are a people group that is made of up people who are half-Jewish. Because of the Jewish desire to remain completely separated from the people groups around them, the fact that the Samaritans were of a mixed ethnicity was already a problem for them, but even beyond that: when the Samaritan people made up their own belief system, which was similar to Judaism, but not identical to Judaism, the Jewish people rejected them even more.

The primary differences in the Samaritan pseudo-jewish belief system, were that they only accepted the Pentateuch as authoritative Scripture and they didn’t believe that Jerusalem is where true worship of Yahweh was to occur—in fact, this disagreement about where the people were supposed to worship was the big key issue for the Jewish people concerning the Samaritans (which is of note later in this morning’s passage).

Because of this difference in worship and the intermarriage of different people groups, the Jewish people often viewed the Samaritan people as a despicable, mixed-race people group and they would often treat the Samaritan people with disdain and disregard because the Samaritans weren’t fully Jewish.

And because the Jewish people rejected the Samaritan people, the majority of Jewish people would have nothing to do with the Samaritans, and yet Jesus shows no socio-economic concern when he speaks to this woman.

This teaches us that Jesus and the Gospel supersede cultural regulations and socio-economic concerns—in fact, Romans 2 teaches that regardless of socio-economic backgrounds, all have sinned and will perish because of their sin, but the free gift of grace through faith in Jesus Christ is available to everyone regardless of their wealth, their ethnicity, their education, or their workplace.

Jesus speaking to a Samaritan woman, who not only is dejected by the Jews, but is also apparently rejected by her own people (as noted by her desire to seek water during noon instead of with the other women) shows us that it really doesn’t matter where you fit in the social ladder of society. Jesus and the Gospel is for everyone.

Now, we’ve seen how unusual it was for Jesus to speak to this person, but we actually haven’t dug into the conversation yet. The rest of this message, will focus in on the actual words that Jesus speaks to this woman in a way that hopefully will explain what he means, but also give you application from what he says. Let’s read Vs. 10-15.

The Living Water (10-14)

John 4:10–14 ESV

10 Jesus answered her, “If you knew the gift of God, and who it is that is saying to you, ‘Give me a drink,’ you would have asked him, and he would have given you living water.” 11 The woman said to him, “Sir, you have nothing to draw water with, and the well is deep. Where do you get that living water? 12 Are you greater than our father Jacob? He gave us the well and drank from it himself, as did his sons and his livestock.” 13 Jesus said to her, “Everyone who drinks of this water will be thirsty again, 14 but whoever drinks of the water that I will give him will never be thirsty again. The water that I will give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life.”

Jesus and the Samaritan woman start this conversation with Jesus asking for her to draw him some water and her immediate response is to question why a Jewish person is speaking to a Samaritan person and Jesus responds with this statement,

“If you knew the gift of God, and who it is that is saying to you, ‘Give me a drink,’ you would have asked him, and he would have given you living water.”

Jesus essentially, at least verbally ignores her question about a Jewish person speaking to a Samaritan woman (perhaps because he’s showing his lack of concern about the normative culture simply by speaking to her) and jumps straight to the heart of the matter. If she truly understood who he was and what he calls the “gift of God,” she would be asking him for living water.

And Jesus is speaking here in an enigmatic manner in order to get her to think. Three things would have caused her to stop and think (1) who is he? (2) What is the gift of God? and (3) What is living water? And he sort of answers these questions, but that really isn’t the point that he’s trying to get across.

Jesus specifically spoke like this in order to get her to think and she actually does think.

She states in Vs. 11, “Sir, you haven nothing to draw water with, and the well is deep. Where do you get that living water? 12 Are you greater than our father Jacob? He gave us the well and drank from it himself, as did his sons and his livestock.”

In her confusion, as she’s thinking through this one sentence that Jesus says, because she doesn’t understand who Jesus is, she automatically thinks of the temporal. She thinks of the literal well sitting in front of them and she thinks about the literal water at the bottom of the well; but as we know with hindsight, Jesus isn’t speaking of a temporal, earthly water. Jesus at this point is speaking about a spiritual water that can only come from him.

But because she doesn’t understand who he is, she poses two questions, “Where do you get living water?” and “Are you greater than Jacob?” And in her current state of unbelief, she doesn’t understand the spiritual message that Jesus is trying to get across utilizing temporal or earthly illustrations.

Instead, she focuses in on the temporal, earthly illustration and we can actually understand this confusion because, remember, the Bible teaches us that prior to our salvation, we’re just as confused as she is. We’re just as confused about spiritual things as all unbelievers are. In 1 Corinthians 6:1-11, Paul writes that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God. And he tells the Corinthians, “Do not be deceived” and he lists a series of people who live in unrighteousness and states again that they “will [not] inherit the kingdom of God,” but then in Vs. 11, he makes a profound statement, “And such were some of you.” You also, were deceived and practicing all manners of unrighteousness, “But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God.”

The Bible speaks of those who refuse to believe being unable to understand spiritual things and while this woman isn’t refusing to believe, at this very moment, she doesn’t believe and cannot understand the concept of living water coming from Jesus.

And yet, despite her confusion, Jesus persists and says this in Vs. 13, “Everyone who drinks of this water [speaking of the water from the well] will be thirsty again, 14 but whoever drinks of the water that I will give him will never be thirsty again. The water that I will give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life.”

Temporal satisfaction through the drinking of physical water only results in temporary satisfaction, but the water that Jesus can provide and does provide to all that believe in him is a water that satisfied permanently.

Whoever drinks of the water that Jesus provides will never be thirsty again—in his use of this concept of living water, Jesus connects himself to two passages in Jeremiah and by utilizing that connection, Jesus is making the claim to be God.

In Jeremiah 2:13, God is accusing the Israelites of committing two evils and the first evil that he mentions is this, “They have forsaken me, the fountain of living waters.”

In Jeremiah 17:12, when speaking of the sins of Judah, the prophet writes “O Lord, the hope of Israel, all who forsake you shall be put to shame; those who turn away from you shall be written in the earth, for they have forsaken the Lord, the fountain of living water.”

Both Jeremiah 2:13 and 17:12 speaks of God being a fountain of living water and by making the statement that living water is given by him, he’s ultimately making the statement that he provides access to living water because he is the fountain of living water. Jesus is God.

Permanent satisfaction from spiritual thirst is only found in God and by claiming to be God, Jesus is making the statement that permanent satisfaction from spiritual thirst is found only in him.

And that he alone provides this spiritual satisfaction. Vs. 14, “The water that I will give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life.”

What Jesus provides through the giving of living water, is illustrated as a spring of water welling up to eternal life.

What Jesus gives is a living water that satisfies every spiritual longing that someone can have and that spiritual longing is that of finding God.

Ecclesiastes 3:11 states that “[God] has put eternity into man’s heart” and part of putting eternity into man’s heart is the desire to know God.

Blaise Pascal wrote in his Pensees in 1966, “What else does this craving, and this helplessness, proclaim but that there was once in man a true happiness, of which all that now remains is the empty print and trace? This he tries in vain to fill with everything around him, seeking in things that are not there the help he cannot find in those that are, though none can help, since this infinite abyss can be filled only with an infinite and immutable object; in other words by God himself.”

The spiritual, living water that Jesus supplies satisfies the longing of man to find God, but as we see both in the statement that we need to “drink of the water that [Jesus] gives” and the response of the Samaritan woman, is that we actually do need to respond to the truth that Jesus is stating here. Regardless of our socio-economic background, regardless of our situation in life, we can know God and satisfy our spiritual longings for God, but we need to choose to drink the living water that Jesus supplies and we need to choose to respond in belief of Jesus Christ. In John 4, the Samaritan woman is still wrestling with the ideas that Jesus is presenting to her and in this last bit of Scripture, we see her response to the living water through which it’s clear that she at least wants this living water, but she’s still thinking of it in a physical way. John 4:15-26, says this:

Responding to Jesus (15-26)

John 4:15–26 ESV

15 The woman said to him, “Sir, give me this water, so that I will not be thirsty or have to come here to draw water.” 16 Jesus said to her, “Go, call your husband, and come here.” 17 The woman answered him, “I have no husband.” Jesus said to her, “You are right in saying, ‘I have no husband’; 18 for you have had five husbands, and the one you now have is not your husband. What you have said is true.” 19 The woman said to him, “Sir, I perceive that you are a prophet. 20 Our fathers worshiped on this mountain, but you say that in Jerusalem is the place where people ought to worship.” 21 Jesus said to her, “Woman, believe me, the hour is coming when neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem will you worship the Father. 22 You worship what you do not know; we worship what we know, for salvation is from the Jews. 23 But the hour is coming, and is now here, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for the Father is seeking such people to worship him. 24 God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth.” 25 The woman said to him, “I know that Messiah is coming (he who is called Christ). When he comes, he will tell us all things.” 26 Jesus said to her, “I who speak to you am he.”

Vs. 15, makes it clear that she does want this living water, but she’s still thinking of the living water in an earthly manner, “Give me this water, so that I will not be thirsty or have to come here to draw water.”

She still is looking at things in a temporal way, so Jesus shifts her thinking in Vs. 16, “Jesus said to her, ‘Go, call your husband, and come here.’” And you might be wondering how exactly Jesus is shifting her thinking. It isn’t the fact that she’s married that shifts the conversation, it’s the ethical and moral dilemma that she’s in.

Jesus tells her to call for her husband and she responds in Vs. 17, with “I have no husband.” and Jesus responds with “You are right in saying, ‘I have no husband’; for you have had five husbands, and the one you now have is not your husband. What you have said is true.”

And let me be clear, Jesus isn’t making a statement about divorce itself. We know from other passages of Scripture and from Jesus’ own communication that God has given reasons for divorce. It is implied here in John 4, that the reasons for her divorces aren’t biblical reasons for divorce.

In other words, the ethical or moral dilemma isn’t that she’s been divorced, it’s that she’s been divorced for what the Bible considers unjust reasons with multiple men and that the man that she’s currently with isn’t actually her husband. (Oh, and just a side-note, her multiple divorces and her being with a man that isn’t her husband is probably the reason why she decided to come at the well in the middle of the day, because she was attempting to avoid bumping into other people who knew about her lifestyle).

It is clear that because the divorces are implied to be due to unbiblical reasons and because of her current relationship, that there’s some amount of sin that is occuring.

And Jesus is shifting her thinking from purely earthly and temporal things, to spiritual concerns in that he’s pointing out her sin.

In an effort to get the woman to think in a spiritual sense, he attempts to get her to acknowledge her sin—and coming from an evangelistic mindset, part of reaching people for Jesus Christ is to get the person to acknowledge their sin.

There is a common misconception that if you’re loving towards a person, you shouldn’t call out their sins and you should just accept them for who they are; but the issue with that is that even Jesus calls this woman to acknowledge her sin as part of the evangelizing process. And the Bible makes it clear that mature believers are to help others acknowledge their sin in a loving way in order for them to repent and move closer to Jesus.

Before you can come to know Jesus Christ as your Savior, you have to recognize that you actually need him and you cannot recognize your need for Jesus Christ if you don’t recognize that you’re in sin.

Thus, the truly loving thing to do is to help people see when they’re in sin in order for them to acknowledge their sin, repent, and seek Jesus.

What Jesus is doing in John 4:16-18, is to get her to acknowledge that she had committed sin and thus, she needs Jesus to give her the spiritual, living water that he’s already discussed with her, but she isn’t ready to be confronted by her sin.

And after Jesus calls out her ethical and moral dilemma, she does what we all do when we’re confronted in our sins. She attempts to change the topic. Vs. 19, “The woman said to him, ‘Sir, I perceive that you are a prophet. 20 Our fathers worshiped on this mountain, but you say that in Jerusalem is the place where people ought to worship.”

Instead of acknowledging her sin, she changes the topic and she states that she realizes that Jesus is some sort of prophet and the reason she knows that is because Jesus knew of her sinful condition without asking. And she attempts to change the conversation concerning the location of worship—remember, one of the big differences between the Jewish people and the Samaritan people was the fact that the Samaritans believed that they could worship some place other than Jerusalem and that place was Mount Gerizim.

And essentially what the Samaritan woman was attempting to do was to direct Jesus to enter into an old argument about which temple was the right temple to worship in an attempt to avoid dealing with her sin.

But Jesus didn’t bother with the argument, rather he turned the conversation away from where people ought to worship, to how people ought to worship:

“Vs. 21, the hour is coming when neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem will your worship the Father. You worship what you do not know; we worship what we know, for salvation is from the Jews. 23 But the hour is coming, and is now here, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for the Father is seeking such people to worship him. Vs 24 God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth,”

The way that Jesus responds isn’t by falling into the trap of arguing about methods or locations of worship. Instead he points her to the truth of the matter. That soon, it won’t really matter if you worship God on Mount Moriah in Jerusalem or Mount Gerizim, because true worshipers will worship in spirit and in truth.

In fact, Jesus is pointing to something that is about to occur through his death, burial, resurrection, and the coming of the Holy Spirit to all who believe—and its this, that worship is no longer location-based, by based on truth and in spirit. So while, under the Old Testament Law, there were requirements for part of their worship to occur at the temple, what’s occuring through the New Covenant and the New Testament is that true worship can occur anywhere and true worship doesn’t stop at the front door of the temple or in our situation the church. True worship is done in spirit and truth and is not tied to the temple or to the church building itself. True worship involves our entire lives and not just the building to which we go to for church.

Colin Kruse, “Worship ‘in spirit and truth’ is easy to understand negatively: worship is no longer tied to sacred sites. It is hard to say what it means positively. Most likely it means worship through the Holy Spirit, whom Jesus would give to those who believed in him, and in accordance with the truth of God as it has been made known through the person and teaching of Jesus. The Father seeks people who will worship him in the spirit and in accordance with the teaching of Jesus. This is a reminder that worship is not restricted to what we do when we come together in church, but about the way we relate to God through the Spirit and in accordance with the teaching of Jesus, and that touches the whole life.”

And by making this distinction, that true worship is done in truth and in spirit, Jesus essentially turns the conversation around to force the woman to confront herself again. Because true worship of Yahweh does not depend on a location and is a matter of heart that encompasses all of life, Jesus is bringing the conversation back to whether or not the woman worships God throughout her life.

And she responds in Vs. 25, “The woman said to him, ‘I know that Messiah is coming (he who is called Christ). When he comes, he will tell us all things. 26 Jesus said to her, ‘I who speak to you am he.’”

And in this last bit of Scripture, it could be that she’s still trying to change the topic. As in, “well, you know, when the Messiah comes, he’ll tells us what this all means.” or it could be that she’s starting to comprehend what he’s saying, but she’s still wrestling with it.

I personally think that it’s both—that she’s still trying to change the conversation because she feels the guilt of her sin, but I also think that she’s starting to understand what Jesus is saying because it’s clear in next week’s passage that she seems to believe.

She states, I know that the Messiah (or the Anointed One is coming). When the Messiah comes, he’ll answer all these questions.

And Jesus closes off this section of Scripture with the statement “I who speak to you am he.”

And in English it seems like the wording is a little bit off, because it is. As I studied this passage, it became clear that in every English translation of this one phrase, the wording seems awkward. It is intentionally awkward because of the confession that Jesus is making.

Jesus is intentionally utilizing a phrase in Greek that is meant to equate Jesus with God. In Greek, he says Εγω ειμι, ο λαλον σαι. And a literal word-for-word translation here, is awkward and clunky. If we were really trying to stay word-for-word it states, “I am, the one who is speaking to you,” which doesn’t make clear sense.

But if you remember with me when Moses is speaking to God through the burning bush and he asks God who he should say sent him to the Israelites and sent him to Pharaoh, God responds with, tell them, “I AM” sent you.

So, if we keep that in mind. The woman says, “I know that the Messiah is coming” and Jesus responds with essentially, I the one who is speaking to you am I AM. I am I AM. I’m not just a prophet like you’ve claim that I am, I AM God and I AM the Messiah.

Gerald Borchert, “In John the use of ego eimi is an important theological theme that is used in the mouth of Jesus as a self-identifying vehicle for announcing some important theological idea concerning him. Normally, the expression is accompanied by some thematic description such as ‘bread of life’ (6:35), ‘light of the world’ (8:12), ‘door of the sheep’ (10:7), ‘good shepherd’ (10:14), or ‘resurrection and life’ (11:25). But in a few places like the present one ego eimi is used without such an accompanying description. In these texts the shocking reality of a confession of the divine-human presence is being highlighted, and there is no need for discussion with Jesus about who he is. Elsewhere the ego eimi statement by itself is used to emphasize that Jesus is the startling presence of the divine . . . the particular force of the statement here needs to be noted. The conversation is finished!.”

Jesus ends this conversation with the Samaritan woman with the simple statement that he is God and that he alone is the Messiah.

As we wrap this sermon up and close up for the morning, I want to focus our attention on application and I want us to view application in two different ways. I want us to look at this passage as if we fit in this passage in two different ways—first off, I want us to see ourselves in the position of the Samaritan woman herself and secondly, I want us to see ourselves in the evangelistic role that Jesus is filling in this passage—not that we are Jesus, but I want us to take into account how Jesus tells people about himself and apply that to how we tell people about Jesus.

Application

Coming from the perspective of the Samaritan woman who is being evangelized (or is being made a disciple)

Imagine with me that you are the Samaritan woman who because of her sin had multiple spouses and divorced them for unrighteous reasons. You’re currently living in sin and because of your sin, you come to the well close to the hottest part of the day just so you don’t have to put up with hearing people talk about you behind your back.

You just want to get your water and go home and usually, because you go to the well when no one else does, you don’t have an issue with bumping into people; but this time, there’s a Jewish man at the well.

Because you’re Samaritan, the Jewish people show disdain towards you because you aren’t purely Jewish and thus, when this Jewish man despite your socio-economic status starts talking to you, you’re skeptical at first.

And in this conversation with this Jewish man, he talks to you about living water and of course, you aren’t sure what he’s talking about. How can water be living? And what is the purpose of the living water, but as he speaks he explains that this living water bubbles up within those who drink it and provides eternal life.

So of course, you want this living water, but you still don’t quite understand what it means and you don’t really know why this Jewish man is offering you living water so you ask for that living water so that you don’t have to physically be thirsty anymore and keep coming to the well.

But this Jewish man, instead of giving you some sort of physical, living water, he starts talking about your life and the way that you live. You know that there are things in your life that are sinful, that’s the whole reason that you come to the well in the middle of the hot day, so that you don’t have to hear people talking about your lifestyle.

So, you try to change the topic. And since this man seems to be interested in spiritual things, you change the topic to a common controversial issue amongst the Jews and Samaritans.

But instead of falling into the trap of discussing this issue, he brings it back to you and he states that if you truly worshiped God, it wouldn’t really matter where you worshiped him at.

True worship of God encompasses your entire life and includes how you live.

And when you try to change the topic again by simply saying, “you know, the Messiah will answer all these questions.” this man not only claims to be the Messiah, he claims to be God.

And as you reflect on the conversation that you just had with this Jewish man, you’re left with three profound ideas that you have to wrestle with concerning your spiritual life and eternity and they’re the same three profound ideas that we have to wrestle with today.

If what John and Jesus says here is true:

There is a God who is Holy, righteous, and just. And this God loves you and has given you a desire or a longing for eternity and for him. There is a God.

Jesus can satisfy that longing within you for eternity and for God, but before he can satisfy that longing within you for eternity and for God. Jesus satisfied your search for God.

You need to acknowledge your sin. Prior to coming to Jesus, you are in sin.—it might not be the same sin that the Samaritan woman is in, but all are sinners. You need to recognize your sin, repent, and come to Jesus Christ.

This passage is calling you to repent of your sins, call on the name of Jesus, and follow him. Seek true spiritual satisfaction through Jesus Christ alone.

If you’ve already repented of your sins, called on the name of Jesus, and are currently following him, let me encourage you to look at this passage and consider the sins that you were once in prior to knowing Jesus. And see how far Jesus has taken you and praise him for releasing you from the chains of sin.

If you are already a believer, I want you to consider what your life would be now if it weren’t for Jesus Christ and thank him for providing you with living water that satisfies your soul.

Coming from the perspective of Jesus, the one who is evangelizing (or making disciples)

Matthew 28 states that we are to actively go and make disciples of every nation. For a lot of Christians that’s difficult because they’ve never really been taught how to do it. John 4:1-26 provides a brief case study on how to tell someone about Jesus Christ. And quite honestly, if you do what Jesus does here, it lessens a lot of the nerves that accompany telling someone about Jesus.

Jesus approaches this woman at the well

Jesus talks to the woman about eternity

Jesus confronts the woman’s sin

Jesus points to himself as the Messiah

As you seek to make new disciples, take a similar approach to what Jesus does here.

Approach people—as in, actually go and talk to someone.

Talk about spiritual things—don’t just approach someone and talk to them about the weather. Talk about eternity.

Confront sin lovingly—help them understand that all are in sin

Point them to Jesus as the Messiah—the one who saves them out of their sins.

Now, you might have some hesitations to just going up to someone and proclaiming the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

Let me ease that tension for you a little bit—remind yourself that you don’t have to worry about whether or not they actually repent and believe because of what you say. You are not commanded to make people believe, but you can’t make new disciples of Jesus if you never tell someone about Jesus Christ.

Ultimately, if they reject the message that you’re proclaiming about Jesus—they aren’t rejecting you, they’re rejecting Jesus. Let that calm some of your nerves.

In addition, you aren’t relegated to just cold-calling people. You don’t have to only proclaim Jesus to people you don’t know. Tell people you do know about Jesus as well.

Think of people in your life that you know don’t believe—start praying for them and start proclaiming Jesus to them.

The more you proclaim Jesus to others, the easier it becomes; but as a disciple of Jesus, you’ve been commanded to make more disciples of Jesus. So start proclaiming Jesus to those around you utilizing the model of evangelism that Jesus utilizes.

When it comes down to it, today’s application comes in three parts: (1) Repent, call on the name of Jesus, and believe, (2) if you’ve done that, give thanks for all that Jesus has done for you in releasing you from the chains of sin and calling you his own, and (3) proclaim Jesus.

Pastoral Prayer