Folks, let me encourage you to do everything that you can, and I mean that, to have John chapter 4 open in front of you.
I don't think this is any exaggeration for me to say.
I think this, these verses, are some of my favourite in the whole Bible.
And I'd love for you to see what I've seen this week in them, how glorious they are.
So please get John chapter 4 open in front of you.
Anyone ever read Vanity Fair?
Talk about the magazine.
Hans, we've heard of Vanity Fair.
Right, we've heard of it.
Okay, so, good, good.
Madonna did an interview with Vanity Fair in 1991.
An interviewer asked her how she was coping with her newfound musical stardom in 1991, right?
What do you make of what she said?
Here's what she said.
My drive in life comes from this horrible fear of being mediocre.
I still have to prove that I'm somebody.
My struggle has never ended, and it probably never will.
So there's Madonna talking in 1991.
In her words, she longs to be somebody.
And I take it she's talking about that deep longing inside of her
that yearns to be fully known,
fully loved,
and fully satisfied,
and for that combination of those feelings to be in her life and to stay.
So every human being on this planet longs for, right?
To be fully known,
fully loved,
fully satisfied.
And the problem is that we as human beings go searching for this in all kinds of places in our lives.
Job promotions,
house extensions,
romantic relationships,
online purchases,
social media likes.
And is it not true, friends,
that like Madonna,
we find that these things can never quite give us the thing that we're grasping for,
to be a somebody.
I love what C.S. Lewis once said.
He said,
if I find in myself desires which nothing in this world can satisfy,
the only logical explanation for it is that I was made for another world.
And you see,
into this human satisfaction vacuum,
the astounding claim that Jesus makes in John chapter 4
is that only he can give us what we're searching for.
Right?
Only he can do this in our lives.
And the added wonder of what Jesus says is that he offers it in conversation with a woman who society has concluded is not a somebody.
Society has concluded that she is a nobody.
Now,
if Jesus had a PR manager,
and I've checked,
and I don't think he did,
someone helping him with his public image,
somebody with the job of trying to help him climb the opinion polls,
they would be freaking out at this encounter we read about in John chapter 4.
Because it defies the social etiquette and the social expectations of the day.
And what we're going to see here as we journey through this is that Jesus tears up and throws out the boundaries playbook
in just about every conceivable way as he lovingly goes all out in his pursuit of the heart of this woman.
Let's see these, will we?
Here's what he does.
First of all,
he defies the racial boundary.
Verse 4.
Do you see where he is?
Where's he going?
He's on his way with his disciples back up north to Galilee.
And he's going through this area called Samaria.
An area that as far as the Jews of this day are concerned is enemy territory.
You see,
this is historical tension all to do with the kind of people that are living in Samaria.
Who they are,
how they got there,
what they stand for.
And in the eyes of the Jews of this day,
the people just to the north in Samaria,
aren't thoroughbred.
Right?
They are sellout pick and mix Jews whose religious lives are kind of like looking at a knickerbocker glory ice cream.
Right?
If you can picture that in your head.
All sorts of different worldly colors and religious flavors going on in this one bowl.
One of which is Judaism.
It's all kind of mixed up.
And no one really kind of knows what's going on.
All sort of things going on.
And the Jews look at it and they say,
knickerbocker glory.
They are.
But we are pure vanilla.
Right?
We're thoroughbred.
We are the Jewish people.
These guys aren't.
Their very existence makes a mockery of who we are and what we stand for.
And if you look at verse nine,
it's not just my opinion on that.
John tells us at the day,
do you see?
These two groups of people don't mix.
They don't associate.
It goes both ways.
Jews hate Samaritans.
Samaritans hate Jews.
So what Jesus is doing here,
we've got to understand.
It's like a Russian man popping up in a cafe in Kiev and saying,
can I have a latte, please?
This is hot and this is tense,
what Jesus is doing here.
He's defying the racial playbook
and he's defying the gender playbook.
Here is a man talking with a woman.
Here is a rabbi,
a religious teacher,
who in this day to be talking with a woman
would be seen as a waste of his time.
That's why verse 27,
if you cast your eyes beyond our verses this morning in this chapter,
the disciples return to this scene
and they are surprised.
Do you see that word?
As they see Jesus talking to this woman,
they are surprised.
Our English word,
I don't think quite captures the strength of it here.
In Greek,
it's more like they were absolutely gobsmacked
that Jesus was talking with this woman.
He's ripping up the gender playbook
and he's ripping up the social one as well.
Verse 6,
when does Jesus stop for a drink?
And I love all these details that John gives us.
When did he stop for a drink?
Thirsty from the walk as he would have been
as a human being.
He stops at noon.
You see,
he stops at the hottest part of the day
in search for a drink.
Now, have you ever been in a hot country?
You know that feeling.
You plan your day around the morning
and the evening
because in the afternoon,
when it comes,
it's factor 50 on
and you're hunting for the shade.
You're staying inside.
It's what we did when we were in Louisville.
We planned our day around the morning
and Aircon was our friend in the afternoon.
And in this day,
women would go in groups to the well
to get water first thing.
Makes sense, doesn't it?
You wouldn't go at the height of the day.
You would go first thing.
And yet,
here is our woman
on her own,
do you see,
at the height of the day.
Which tells us,
what about her
in terms of how she's viewed
in her community?
It tells us
that she has been shunned.
And it tells us
that her life
is now about
not showing face
in public.
Lest anybody
see you.
Should we be around today?
This would be
baseball cap on,
hoodie up,
shades on,
doing her shopping
in the 24-7 Asda at midnight.
Desperate to get in and out
before anyone clocks
that I'm here.
What is it we would say
if she were around today?
This is somebody
who we wouldn't touch
with a barge pole.
Just don't want to go near her.
Don't associate with her.
Jesus is ripping up
the social playbook.
And,
he's ripping up
the moral one as well.
And this is maybe
where we'll slow down
just a little bit
and think about
what we're told
about this woman.
because as Jesus
meets her,
do you see
how he brings up
and deliberately so
the most painful
feature
of her life
to date?
That's why I never
think
Jesus would make
a good
Brit.
He doesn't do
small talk,
does he?
He goes straight
for the issue.
The Lamb of God
goes for the elephant
in the room.
The very reason
that this woman
is being shunned.
And he does it.
We need to understand
this as we think
about its application
to our own lives.
One of the ways
is that Jesus
does this not
to shame her.
He does it
not to
out her.
He does it
to win her.
This is the woman
that he's come
for.
And this is the
God who knows
her and sees
her as a good
physician,
desperate to treat
the wound
with his scalpel
of grace.
Here is the God
of the psalmist
who would bend
near and knows
the brokenhearted.
Here is the God
who is close to
those who call
on him.
And here he is,
verse 16,
and what does he say?
And this is it.
What does he say?
And it kind of
comes out of left field,
really.
Trying to get my
head around that
all week.
How did it go
from water to husband?
How did it get there?
What does he say?
He says,
go and get your husband.
And she replies,
verse 17,
I have no husband.
You're right,
says Jesus.
You have had
five husbands
and the man
that you're now with
is not your husband.
Jesus,
fully man,
fully knowing God.
Now listen,
we need to resist
the temptation
to think of this woman
like some kind of character
from Sex and the City
or Friends.
Like those sitcoms
that we used to watch
in the 90s.
She is this free
and modern,
independent woman
who's casually
slipping out seamlessly
from one relationship
to another.
Right?
No right,
no wrong,
no rules for me.
This is this woman.
No,
that is to read her
through 21st century
Western eyes.
But she's a first century
Middle Eastern woman.
She's had five husbands
who are no longer
her husband.
And the only way
that that can happen
in this day
as I understand it
is through one of two ways.
It's through death
or it's through divorce.
Friends,
personally,
I know that for many of us
that words will bring
to our minds
all sorts of painful memories.
And I'm so sorry.
But perhaps in particular
this morning,
you need to see
how Jesus loves this woman
for whom that has been
the heartbreaking reality
of her life.
for when it comes to divorce,
as I understand it
in this day culturally,
the expectation
is that the power
to initiate that
is not on her side.
It's on the man's side.
So could it be
that this woman
has been on the receiving
end of divorce
five times?
Could it be
that she's been used
and treated like trash
by men
for what must have felt
like her entire life?
Could it be
that divorce
has only got easier
for him
and more painful
for her
each time it happens
as each husband
comes and goes?
And could it be
that the guy
that she's with now
will not marry her
because he doesn't want
the baggage
that goes with her
and the baggage
that goes with that?
And you bring
all that together.
When she says,
I have no husband,
friends,
our hearts should break
for this woman.
And then our hearts
should be captivated
by how the God
of the universe
come down in human flesh
treats this woman.
As Jesus
and this woman
meet,
friends,
there are alarm bells
going off all over
the shop with this one.
Racial,
gender,
social,
moral.
She is the last person
conceivably
on planet earth
that you'd expect
and you'd be advising
Jesus to associate with
and yet,
friends,
he wonderfully does.
And I love
John chapter four.
Do you know why?
Because I think
there's a big banner
that says right above it,
welcome to the
dignity revolution.
welcome to the sexual
revolution.
As Jesus steps in,
maybe even the first man
in this woman's life
interested in her,
not because of what he thinks
he can get from her,
but steps in longing to know her
because of what he can
give to her.
As the one who knows
all things about this woman,
and rather than that knowledge
repelling him from her,
do you see how the knowledge
of that,
it almost as if it wonderfully
draws him to her.
Oh, I love that Nicodemus,
Israel's finest,
and we're trying to
see this in the context
of John,
Nicodemus,
Israel's finest
back at chapter three
came looking for Jesus
here in wonderful
and beautiful
and powerful contrast.
Jesus initiates
the loving pursuit
of Sumeria's worst.
As author Rebecca McLaughlin
so powerfully puts it
in her wonderful
little book,
Jesus Through the Eyes
of Woman,
we see Jesus
as a magnet
for those who feel
like scraps of human metal
on life's junk heap,
picking up the broken
and abused
and drawing them
into his kingdom
of love.
This is who Jesus
is.
And he's still
this Jesus today.
And friends,
what does he offer
her?
He offers her two things.
He offers her,
first of all,
to be the perfect
husband.
Her perfect husband.
And I'd never seen
this before
until probably
about six months ago
when we were planning
and thinking about
this series.
Come with me
and see this.
What number man
is Jesus
on the scene
of this woman's life?
You have a bit
of maths this morning.
What number man
is he
on the scene
in this woman's life?
She has had
five husbands
and the man
that she's with
is not her husband.
Which means
that Jesus
steps on the scene
of this woman's life
as the what number
of man?
The seventh man.
Seven,
that number
in the Bible
that represents
and symbolizes
God's perfection.
Jesus steps
on the scene
of this woman's life
as the seventh man.
Where all before
her previous husbands
had failed her.
Jesus has come.
He knows her.
He's come to win her
and to draw her in
to be part of his bride.
Not through cheap grace,
but through the thing
that every husband
was called to be
and at Jesus
as he personifies this
he calls every single husband
ever since
as we focus on him
to be.
He has come
to win her
through costly
sacrifice.
Jesus will own
her shame.
Jesus will pay
the price
for her mistakes.
Jesus will take
her sins
on himself.
Jesus will bear
the punishment
of the condemnation
that stands over her
if you flick back
to chapter 3
where the world
labels her
damaged goods.
Jesus goes
to the cross
to make her
pure and spotless.
As he dies
and he sheds
his precious blood
on the cross
for her.
The woman
that society
said
was not worth it.
Jesus says
yes she is.
And he says
to this woman
and get this
friends,
daughter
no longer
do your scars
define you.
Come to me
and let my scars
define you.
That's what he offers
us this morning.
life
in his
scars.
That's what she
gets in him
and in turn
by her faith
in him.
That's what Jesus
gives her.
She comes to share
in his perfect
righteousness
and life
and to have
Jesus'
father
as her
father.
Friends,
who's getting
the better deal
here?
Is not the
gospel wonderfully
magnificent?
This is what's
held out to us
this morning
in Christ
as Jesus
embodies the
words that we
hear the groom
vow at weddings.
It's always
one of my
favorite parts.
All that I am
I give to you
and all that I
have I share
with you.
And it's why
I always think
that it's so
profound in our
culture that
traditionally when
a man and a
woman get married
the woman takes
the man's
name as if
to say
everything about
her life is
now caught up
in his name
and who he
is.
And of course
our marriages
friends are
temporary.
They're pointing
to the great
marriage that
is the reality.
That's exactly
what it is to
be the bride
of Christ.
If you're a
Christian here
this morning
your life is
caught up in
his name.
Friends,
the gospel is
astonishingly
good news.
Lord,
to that hymn
that many of
us would have
grown up singing,
I love it,
blessed assurance
Jesus is mine.
Oh,
what a foretaste
of glory divine,
heir of salvation,
purchase of God's,
born of his spirit,
washed in his blood.
Those are things
that are true of you.
See,
Christ offers to be
to this nobody.
He offers to be
her perfect husband.
And he offers
to give her
life,
deep life
satisfaction.
Verse 10,
taking the language
here,
he offers to give
to this woman
living water.
Living water.
Verse 14,
what does he say?
The water I give
you will be like
a spring of water
that wells up
into eternal life.
Of course,
as she goes back
and forth
and back and forth
from her home
to this well
every day.
Jesus taps into
the reality
of her every day.
Home with a bucket,
water runs out,
thirsty again,
back you go,
caught up in this
endless Middle Eastern
cycle of always
being thirsty,
never quite
having enough.
Jesus taps into it
to get her
to understand
the nature
of the restless,
always searching
but never arriving
spirit that human
beings have
and he says,
I can give you
and I take it
by his spirit
in us,
drawing us
to him,
a spring in your
heart
whereby your thirst,
the thirst of your
soul can be quenched
and you need go
searching in life
no more.
No more.
Well friends,
that takes us
to the first
of the two questions
I think we need
to ask ourselves
as we take in
what Jesus is saying
here and it'll be
really quick,
okay?
As we think about
the claim that he
makes,
friends,
what's going
into our systems?
Just think about it,
just take the language
he's using,
are we drinking
from the fountain
of him
that he talks
about here?
What's going
into our systems?
In 1901,
it was an American
doctor called
John Harvey
Gerdner
who coined
the term
New Yorkitis
because he
watched the way
his fellow
New Yorkers
were living
their right
lives.
They were running
around from
thing to thing
and how he
perceived in so
many of them
because of the
way that they
were living,
they were producing
edginess and
impulsiveness
and that was
1901.
That's the world
that we're living
in, isn't it?
That's the
places, the
things that the
world offers
us.
Isn't it
not true that
our world
attaches significance
to a person's
life so often
around their
perceived busyness
and productivity?
Because important
people are busy
people and you're
not important,
you're not busy,
you're not
important.
It's why when
Facebook founder
Mark Zuckerberg
came out,
I can't remember
when it was,
and he talked
about how in
his wardrobe
he's only got
one outfit
because he
doesn't want to
waste time in
the morning
thinking about
what he's going
to wear so he's
got the same
outfit all the
way through.
We hear that,
we love it
because we think
yes, he's
important, he's
busy, that's
what we need
to do.
And yet into
our world that
says your
significance is
tied up with
what you do,
Jesus steps
in and he
saves us out
of it and
says come and
find rest,
little child
in who I
am today
and who
you are
because you're
in me.
Do you find
that in your
heart all the
time as we
live our lives
in this world
running about
from thing to
thing?
It's probably
the biggest
thing that I
was convicted
of in
sabbatical.
Just run
around doing
thing after
thing.
And I see
in my heart,
I see what
were the two
things he
said?
Impulsiveness
and edginess.
I see it all
the time.
And Jesus
calls us to
be fully
satisfied in
him.
Do not let
the world
define who
you are,
but to be
fully complete
in him.
Friends,
are we
drinking from
the water
he gives
us?
And that's
a big
challenge of
this passage,
isn't it,
to us?
Are we
drinking from
the water
he gives
us?
Are we
carving out
time to
listen to
his voice
as we
open our
Bibles and
finding rest
for our
souls in
the places
that Jesus
tells us
we'll find
rest?
And it's
why our
gatherings,
as we
gather together
on a
Sunday,
they are
soaked in
scripture.
Because these
are the
words of
eternal life.
These are
places where
we want to
drink as we
feast on
God's word,
get it into
our systems.
Friends,
are you
soaking your
soul and
drinking deep
from the
fountain that
Jesus calls
us to drink
from?
Getting these
things into
our system and
delighting ourselves
in his
promises.
You know,
I've got a
good friend
called Pete
who I see
every day on
the school
run.
And I
clocked a few
weeks ago that
he's got a
tattoo.
Right?
Strange place,
strange tattoo.
It's on his
inner left thigh
he's got a
tattoo.
And it's of a
bird.
And I said to him,
Pete, buddy,
if you don't mind
me asking,
why a bird?
Of all the
things that are
kind of trendy
just now,
bird ain't one
of them.
And do you
know what he
said?
He said,
this tattoo
I've got
here,
it's a
sparrow.
Because what
he does,
he cycles
everywhere in
town,
and I'm
not a
cyclist,
I don't
know,
but apparently
when he
goes to
cycle every
day,
and I
see him
do it,
he lifts
up the
bottom of
his
trousers.
I don't
know why
he does
it,
he just
does it,
he just
lifts up
his
trousers,
and he
sees the
sparrow
every
morning.
And he
says,
every morning
I remind
myself of
what Jesus
said about
the
sparrows.
What did
he say?
He says,
one of
them falls
to the
ground
without my
father
knowing
about it.
And because
that's true,
how much
more does
your father
know your
needs?
How much
more does
he care
for you?
And he
says,
I look
at it
every day
on my
calf as
a cycle,
and it
reminds me
what Jesus
has said
is true
of me
as his
child.
Friends,
every day
drinking from
the fountains
that Jesus
tells us to
drink from.
I'm not
encouraging you
to get a
tattoo,
it's your
call,
right?
But what
can we do
to be getting
Jesus'
life-giving
water into
our systems?
What's going
into our
systems?
And second
of all,
what's going
on in our
hearts?
In terms
of how we
view different
people in
our world.
I love,
and here's
what I love,
and I was
thinking about
it this week,
I love seeing
the young
John,
and I take
it he's
writing here
as an older
man,
let's just
assume that
as he writes
this gospel,
I love
seeing the
young
John in
action as
you read
him in
the other
gospels,
learning the
discipleship ropes
from Jesus.
Now you can
look at this
in your own
time,
in Luke
chapter 9,
if you look
that one
up later,
you see
Jesus passing
through Samaria
with his
disciples,
and you see
Jesus being
rejected by
the Samaritans.
And it's
John,
along with his
brother James,
who are
fuming that
the Samaritans
have the
brass neck,
to turn
down their
Messiah.
How dare
they?
What do they
say?
If you read
it up,
they say,
Jesus,
will we
call fire
down from
heaven on
them,
and we'll
watch as
the Samaritan
village gets
singed?
Genuine
question.
There's bitterness
raging in
John's heart as
he thinks about
this group of
people.
There's anger
as he thinks
about them.
It's ugly
as you see
John's heart
in Luke
chapter 9.
And yet,
here he is,
isn't it not
incredible,
writing as an
older man,
with the
spirit of God
having worked
away in him
as he mulls
deeply on who
the crucified
and the risen
Jesus is,
and Jesus'
love for him.
As John
writes his
gospel,
what conversation
that Jesus
has with
anybody
gets the
most air
time?
What is the
one that's
almost right
up top as
if to say
this is who
Jesus is?
It ain't a
conversation
with Nicodemus.
It's a
conversation
with this
Samaritan
woman.
Friends,
I love it.
It's almost
as if John
as he holds
her up,
is holding
his hands
up and
saying,
how wrong
was I?
I went
all anger
and bitterness,
but Jesus
chose compassion
on the cross
and his
way
wins.
And his
way always
wins as we
think about
people in
our world
and as we
take in the
dignity revolution
that Jesus
offers us
here.
Friends,
let me just
give you a
case in
point as
we close.
I'll tell you
about a woman
who most of
us in the
UK,
back in the
early 2000s,
used to
laugh at.
And her
name was
Jade.
Jade Goody,
if that
name means
anything to
you.
She became
famous in
our culture
as one of
the first
contestants ever
to appear
in the UK
version of
Big Brother.
And people
in our world
used to call
her the
blonde
South London
Chav.
That's what
she was
nicknamed
as.
It's always
good for a
funny,
silly line.
But she
made a big
mistake on
a celebrity
edition of
Big Brother.
In the
heat of the
moment,
she uttered
an unacceptable
racist word
to another
contestant,
and it was
caught on
camera.
And she
immediately
apologised to
the lady,
and they
made up.
But that
wasn't caught
on camera.
Damage was
done, and
all of a
sudden, she
becomes the
most hated
woman in
Britain,
spending her
days trying
to avoid the
cameras, avoid
the spotlight with
her young
family.
And Jade
developed
cerebral
cancer years
later after
this, and
the tragedy
was that she
spent a number
of years
believing the
lie that her
cancer condition
was punishment
for what she
said, in
her own
words.
And she
died in
March 2009
at the age
of 27.
By all
thinking it
was a tragic
case.
But here's
what I read
about Jade
only three or
four weeks
ago, and I
can send
you the
link if
you want
it.
Here's what
I didn't
know about
Jade.
Not so
long before
she died,
she became
a Christian.
And at her
funeral, this
is what the
minister of
the church
that she
went to,
who knew
her, talked
about.
He talked
about her
love for
Luke's
gospel.
And he
said this
at her
funeral,
Jade read
there how
Jesus welcomed
those who
weren't
particularly
religious,
and how
Jesus spent
time with
people like
her,
down-to-earth
people whose
lives, like
Jade's,
were at
times flawed
and difficult,
but whose
lives were
precious to
God.
Fully
known,
fully loved,
and I take
it fully
loved, fully
forgiven, and
fully satisfied
in who Jesus
is.
Friends, this is
what he offers
us this
morning.
life.
He offers
us life.
And maybe
just the
band guys
could come
back up if
you want.
There's been
three people
who've been in
my mind and
my heart as
I've been
thinking about
this week,
as we think
about responding
to this.
The first one
is if you
don't know the
life and love
that Jesus is
talking about
here.
Friends,
the invitation
to you today
is to respond
to what Jesus
has said and
to come and
drink from the
living waters
that he gives
us.
Second of all,
friends, if you
hear and you
feel the pain
of this woman
and in some
level you know
what it is to
be at your
lowest,
because I want
you to know
that Jesus
knows you,
he loves you,
he died for
you, and
the same
invitation he
makes to
that woman
is true for
you.
Do not let
your scars
define you.
Come and
let his
define you.
And the
third group
of people,
I love how
often the
psalmist would
talk about
recalling the
joy of our
salvation.
For others
of us here
today, we
need to
recall who
Jesus is,
rejoice in
who he is,
and just
lap up the
living waters
that he gives
us as we
take him in.
So in a
moment I'm
just going to
pray and
then we're
going to
sing two
songs just
to give us
the space and
time for these
truths to sink
in.
Two songs that
talk about who
Jesus is,
where he is
now, and the
fact that one
day he's coming
back.
So let's just be
silent, and I'm
going to pray, and
then we're going to
stand to sing.
Heavenly Father,
thank you that the
psalmist calls you
the father of the
fatherless.
Thank you that that
is who you are.
You are the God
who welcomes the
outsider.
You are the God
who sent your
son to die for
sinners.
And Father, just
pray this morning
for those three
categories that we've
thought about.
Father, for those
who don't know
you, Father, for
those this morning
for whom this is
really painful, life
right now is tough.
And for those of us
here today, Father,
that we would recall
the joy of our
salvation as we
think about who
Jesus is.
Father, be moving
amongst us by your
spirit, I ask and
pray.
Father, would you be
bringing by your
spirit in us healing
and assurance
and knowledge
and joy
and that sense
of peace
because of who
he is.
Father, help this
week our hearts to
be fully satisfied
in Jesus.
In his name we
pray.
Amen.