Amen.
And first 26 verses again.
This story of the woman of Samaria.
Before we look at this, let's turn to the Lord in prayer again.
Let's pray.
Our Father in heaven, we thank you for this, your holy word.
And we ask you, trusting in Christ's merits and depending on your Holy Spirit's power,
that our reading and hearing of your word this morning would be effectual to save and keep saving us.
And so we ask for your help that we may listen diligently, readily and prayerfully.
Help us to receive your word with faith and love.
Lay it up in our hearts and practice it in our lives.
To the glory of your great name, Father, Son and Holy Spirit.
Amen.
Well, as we read this encounter of Jesus and this woman in Samaria,
we are in a sense at the end of the first act of the good news story as John presents it to us.
He has played the magnificent overture in the opening of chapter 1,
where he's introduced us to the main character, which he starts by calling the Word.
And he's also called it the light.
And this is the light that does two things in this book.
It's the light that is.
The light who is creator.
The light who is the light of all men.
The light who is the reason for which and the means by which all people are created.
The light for whom we all live.
The light that makes itself known to all who are alive,
however much they might try and deny it.
The light that is.
And he's the light that comes.
Ever since darkness entered into the world,
the light who is, as creator, has been coming as redeemer.
The light that has been coming has been rejected by the darkness.
Not received by his own, his own creation.
But this light has kept coming.
Until a great climactic day when this light came as the Word became flesh.
And lived among us.
Full of the glory of God.
Jesus Christ, full of God's glory, came to be the tabernacle for God's people.
The meeting point between God and man.
And John has introduced us to another John.
John the Baptist.
Who introduced and prophesied the coming of this light into the world as a lamb.
Who would take away the sins of the world and reconcile us to God.
And as he did so, we see some of his disciples,
those who understand what he's saying,
transferring their discipleship to Jesus.
At which point, John presents us the big event in this first act of the story,
at a wedding in Cana.
And Jesus gives the first of seven signs that we see in this book.
A sign that would explain what he has come to do.
And John has given a lot of teaching about what Jesus has come to do,
since that scene.
Mainly in conversations with various people along the way.
Until we come to this final scene in the act.
This is the final scene change.
Before the end of this act.
And what John gives us in this scene,
on the one hand,
summarises all that he's said about Jesus so far.
But it also brings a new dimension to it.
It helps us to see it in a new light.
He literally takes us to a new place
to get this new perspective.
We even go beyond the Jewish territory into Samaria.
We see the beginning of the chapter.
And so here is the light arriving in a new place,
which allows us to see
what it looks like for the light to arrive somewhere new.
What is it like when Jesus comes on the scene
for the first time in someone's life?
And to get us ready for this summary
and for this fresh perspective,
John rocks the boat a little bit.
He makes us do a double take,
which is what he's doing in verses 6 and 7.
Imagine you're going on a journey
with some friends
and you take a break on the long drive
and you stop in a pub or a restaurant.
There's hardly anyone else in there
except for one woman who's just sat at the bar.
And while you're waiting for your food to arrive,
one of your friends goes up to this woman at the bar
and says,
Do you come here often?
You might understandably ask at that point,
What on earth is he doing?
Is he trying to chat her up or something
while we're in the middle of a long drive?
What is he doing?
That is basically what some of the readers in John's day
must have thought when they got to verse 7.
You might not think that immediately,
but it is a classic line that would make you think that.
Here's a man who's gone to a well
and he talks to a woman at that well
and asks her for a drink.
That is a classic, almost cliché,
chat-up line in the ancient world.
And you'll see that in the Old Testament.
That is exactly how Abraham's servant
found a wife for Isaac.
Jacob too, who had actually given this well.
Maybe it was even at this well that they met.
He'd given this well to Samaria.
That's exactly how he met Rachel.
That's exactly how Moses met his wife.
That if you'd watched a rom-com in those days
where the man goes to talk to a woman at the well,
you'd have complained about how unoriginal this story was.
Could it possibly be that Jesus is doing the same thing here?
Given everything that John has said about Jesus so far,
it is a pretty surprising turn of events.
On the one hand, John has spoken of Jesus as a bridegroom.
That has been there.
John the Baptist has called him a bridegroom.
And he's even spoken about how he has no right to untie his sandal.
The way Boaz did have the right to take the sandal of an unworthy redeemer.
Jesus is the worthy bridegroom.
And John has no right to take his place.
He's the one who was the true master of the wedding feast at Cana.
But he made it very clear then that this was not his time.
This was not his hour.
But the way John has spoken about him,
even in calling him a bridegroom,
he has made it sound like it's about something much greater
than just finding him a woman to marry.
So when we read Jesus saying,
what is basically this classic Chesot line,
it catches us off guard.
You've got to wonder what on earth is going on.
Have I missed something so far?
Now you might be helped right in thinking about all the times
that water has come up in John's gospel,
and every time water has come up so far,
it's never just about the water.
So there might be something more going on.
But you're still bound to ask,
have I misunderstood what Jesus is looking for?
Would you take me through this again, John?
And that is exactly what he does.
And if we're surprised, we're not alone,
because the Samaritan woman was pretty surprised herself.
Our surprise is based on everything we've known about her,
about Jesus so far.
Her surprise too was based on what she knew about him.
Except all she knew about him was that he's a Jewish man.
That's all she knows about him.
And just as we're starting to ask ourselves questions,
it's the woman who actually gets to ask the questions to Jesus himself.
And so this woman is our guide, in a way,
as we look for some answers from Jesus.
And she's going to discover who Jesus is
in four steps as we go along this conversation.
The starting point for her, the first step,
as far as she knows,
is this man has nothing to do with me.
This man has nothing to do with me.
That's where she starts off.
That's what she thinks.
And she might understandably assume
that the feeling is mutual.
She would expect a Jewish man to think,
this woman has nothing to do with me.
A Samaritan woman.
But here he is asking for a drink.
And as she points out to him,
how weird it is for him to speak to her.
Verse 9,
How is it that you, a Jew, Jewish man,
ask for a drink from me, a woman of Samaria?
John points out how weird it is in verse 10.
She's not wrong.
Jews don't have dealings with Samaritans.
Not to mention how strange it is for a man
to be speaking to a woman out in public.
And yet Jesus' answer is basically,
it isn't weird in the slightest.
Because if you knew what I have to offer,
if you knew what the gift of God is
that I am proposing to the world,
you'd be asking me for what I have.
So why wouldn't I ask you for what you have to offer?
It's rather an intriguing answer, isn't it?
So she takes the bait.
As she does so, she discovers in verses 10 to 15,
this man has something I'm interested in.
That's the second step of her discovery.
This man has something I'm interested in.
The beginning, of course,
she doesn't get what he's talking about.
Have you got some bucket hidden away somewhere?
Do you have some secret special well
that I don't know of?
Can you somehow do better
than our great patriarch Jacob
who gave us this well
and drank at this well with his family?
And Jesus basically says in verses 13 to 14,
yes, I am greater than Jacob.
I've got a far better well than this one.
I've got a well that stops you from thirsting again.
With this well,
you'll have a well springing up inside of you
to eternal life.
And boy, is she interested.
And not just because she's fed up
of having to fetch water every day.
Because look at what's going on here.
She's fetching water at the sixth hour.
That's that midday.
That is not normal.
Evening is when the women
would usually come out to fetch water.
This woman has chosen the least likely,
least convenient time to fetch water.
She comes in the blazing midday sun.
Nobody else in their right mind
would come at this time of day.
And that's probably just the point.
It's probably just what she wanted.
She'd pick the time when she's least likely
to bump into anyone else.
This woman is alone.
This woman is sad.
And she's ashamed.
And so she answers,
Oh, sir, give me this water.
So I will not be thirsty
or have to come here to draw water.
And at this point,
when she's shown some of her colours,
Jesus' response is to show her
that he's a prophet.
And so she comes to a third step
in discovering
who he is.
She learns,
This man knows me well.
He knows all about me.
Just as she asks for this water
that would spare her from thirsting
and having to make this painful daily trip
to fetch water alone,
Jesus, seemingly out of nowhere,
says,
Go get your husband.
And she replies,
But she has no husband.
Now at this point,
Jesus could keep on
with the diagnostic questions,
couldn't he?
That's often what he does.
And in these days,
under the new covenant,
singleness is a normal way to live.
That's not a strange thing to say,
I have no husband.
End of conversation.
But in this period here,
to be a single woman
was a strange thing.
It meant you had no provision.
It meant you were completely destitute.
So for Jesus to ask her,
and then to assume that she was married,
would be a normal thing.
And it would be a normal thing
to ask,
Well, how come?
What's going on?
Why didn't he ask for questions then?
He doesn't do that.
He takes this opportunity
to show her
that he knows what's going on.
He reveals who he is
and what he knows.
Verse 17,
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.
Now we don't know
whether she's been widowed five times,
or divorced five times.
And if they're divorces,
we don't know whether
the fault was hers
or the husband's fault each time.
Whatever happened here,
we can see that she's been stigmatized.
She's ashamed.
There are bound to be
rumours going around
whether or not they were right.
And she's in so much need
that her best bet now
was to accept a situation
where she lives with a man
who won't marry her.
And in this painful situation here,
here comes a man
who reveals to her
that he knows.
He knows her.
He knows what's happened to her.
He knows what is happening to her.
He knows where she is.
Here is a prophet
who knows her well.
He knows all about her.
And so in verse 19,
she says,
Sir, I perceive that you're a prophet.
And you might think
that many seem to do
that what she says next
is a sort of a diversion tactic.
He's asking personal questions.
But he's a prophet.
He's into theology.
So I'm not asking
a theological question.
And that will distract him
for a while.
But if we think that,
and a lot of commentators do,
I think that reveals
more about us
than about her.
And it's especially
recent commentators
who do this.
I think that reveals
more about our attitudes
than it does about her.
because don't you think
if she was trying to distract him
with something irrelevant
he'd been able to tell?
Do you not think
that he'd be able to spot it
and bring it back
to the heart of the matter
if that is the heart
of the matter?
Of course he could.
But he doesn't do that.
This conversation
is going the way
Jesus wants it to go.
On the one hand,
yes,
she does have these
relational issues
that need to be addressed.
But what has Jesus done
in revealing
his prophetic knowledge
of her situation
rather than just
asking questions?
He hasn't just brought
her situation
into the conversation
but he's brought up
God
and his knowledge
of the situation
into the conversation.
When she says
I perceive you're a prophet
she's not saying
wow, that was impressive
or how do you know that?
She knows
at this point
that in this man
God has come
to speak into her life.
And so she shows
that she knows
deep down
what she needs
more than anything
is reconciliation
with God.
But she belongs
to a people in Samaria
that has developed
their own practices
and beliefs.
They only accept
the first five books
of the law
for example
not the rest
of the Old Testament.
They've set up
an alternative
centre of worship
in Samaria
a different mountain
to worship on.
They've always
defied themselves
by not belonging
to the Jews.
So that question
is bound to hang
over her head
now isn't it?
And would have done
all her life
who's right?
Who really knows God?
Can I be reconciled
with God
being a Samaritan
if they're right?
And here is one
who clearly speaks
as one sent
by God
who can speak
to her
even in the
darkness of her life
in her sin
and suffering
but it's a man
of God
speaking to her.
And so in this
fourth step
she learns
this man
can sort out
the most important
question in my life.
This man
can sort out
the most important
question
in my life.
And the way
she frames the issue
is as an issue
of mountains.
Because that is
the main question
that has been
hanging over
these two rival
societies for centuries.
And she's not
asking this question
of which mountain
should be used
for worship
as though it's
just a bit of
theological trivia.
Just a bit of
theory to just
distract ourselves
with.
No, no,
she's really
wondering
how can you
a Jew
ask me
a Samaritan
at the beginning
and by now
she's wondering
how can you
speak of God's
gift to me
as a Jewish
prophet
speaking on
God's behalf
as though
this difference
between Jew
and Samaritan
didn't matter.
Of course it
matters.
We've got to
get this question
sorted.
Maybe she's
starting to wonder
if God is
speaking to me
through a Jewish
prophet
have we been
wrong all this
time?
Do I need
to move?
Do I need
to leave
all my family
and all this
community?
Do I need
to convert
over there?
Do I need
to swallow
my national
prize and
cross over
to another
mountain?
Should all
of us be
over there?
And the
answer is
on the one
hand that
God's dealings
God's salvation
yes does
indeed come
from the Jews.
On the one
hand yes you
have been
wrong.
You've been
worshipping
what you don't
know.
But Jesus
tells her
that there's
not only
going to be
a change
in her
own life
story.
It's not
just about
going to
move to
another
mountain.
There's
going to be
a shift
in the
story of
the whole
world.
The idea
of a temple
on a
mountain
was only
ever meant
to be
symbolic.
It was
only there
as a
temporary
picture.
God
doesn't live
in particular
temples on
particular
mountains on
earth.
God is
spirit.
He doesn't
have a
body like
man.
He is
spirit.
And so
he's
worshipped in
spirit and
in truth.
The day
that the
temple
symbolized
has come.
It is
coming.
It has
come.
The
worship of
God can
now be a
global
phenomenon.
Worship
will no
longer be
in sketches
and copies
as this
temple in
Jerusalem is.
even a
bad
sketch or
copy in
Samaria.
The real
thing, real
living,
fellowship
with God
is now a
worldwide
reality.
As people
from every
tribe, every
tongue, every
nation come
to the
heavenly
Mount Zion,
the heavenly
temple that
he has
established.
Just as
we've done
today in
gathering.
That is
where we
have come.
It's a
reality that
he himself
has come
to bring
in.
Not just
tell us
about, but
he's come
to bring
it.
That's
not something
she grasped
straight away
and so
she says,
well, we'll
at least have
certainty when
Messiah comes.
And so we
come to this
great climax
of the
conversation in
verse 26.
I who speak
to you am
he.
The word
order in
English does
make it
obvious, but
this is the
first time in
John's
gospel that
he uses
that phrase
I am.
I myself
am.
There are
seven times
in this book
where he says
I am
something.
I am
the good
shepherd,
I am
the way,
the truth
and life,
I am
the bread
of life.
And there are
seven times
when he just
says I am
or I
myself am.
Echoing God's
language of I
am who I
am in the
Old Testament.
And here's the
first, I
myself am
the one
speaking to
you.
And so here
she fully
learns.
this man
doesn't just
answer the
biggest question
in her
life, but
fully resolves
it, fully
sorts it
out.
Because he
doesn't just
answer the
question, he
shows himself
to be God
himself, seeking
that reconciliation
with his
people.
And so it
turns out he
has come for
her after all.
Suddenly we
see a whole
new layer of
meaning to
verse 4.
He had to
go to
Samaria.
Now it's not
just geographical
detail.
It is
geographical
detail, he
did have to
pass through
Samaria.
But Jesus
had to go
to Samaria
for her.
And if you
use John's
writing, you
realise there
was a point
to his
telling us
the time.
Not just
telling us that
it's the middle
of the day,
it's the sixth
hour.
And he
came to
a woman who
had had
six men
in her
life.
And we've
seen the
number six
before in
John's
Gospel, and
it always
suggests something
is incomplete
here.
And here
is Jesus
Christ saying,
I have
come at
this sixth
hour to
be your
seventh and
last man.
The only
man that
you will
ever truly
deeply
need.
But more
than that,
this is the
time when
worship has
been focused
on a single
mountain,
whichever
mountain it
is, that
was the
incomplete
time.
I've
come in to
bring in
the completion,
the perfection
of worship.
The time when
God is
worshipped in
spirit and in
truth.
He was
seeking a
bride.
But it
wasn't just
about this
woman.
Although it
is through
her that we
learn about
his seeking
for a
bride.
Through her
we learn
that God
is seeking
worshippers to
glorify and
enjoy him
forever, all
over the
world.
This body
of worshippers
is his
son's bride
that he
has come
to seek.
So what do
we learn from
this encounter
with the
woman of
Samaria?
Well just
like this
Samaritan
woman, we
learn that
while we
may think
that Jesus
is someone
who has
nothing to
do with
us, or
mainly
someone who
has something
we're interested
in, Jesus
is the one
who knows
us better
than we
know
ourselves, and
has come to
sort out the
most important
question in
our lives, the
problem of
worship.
That's
essentially what
it means every
time you see
the mention of
the word
covenant in
the Bible,
the God who
made you has
stooped down
to you even
in your rebellion
against him, to
establish a
deep loving
friendship with
you forever.
This is what
the light coming
into the world
has all been
about.
From that
first day of
Adam's sin
in the garden,
he promised to
kill that serpent
and win at
our friendship,
from our
friendship with
evil to
friendship with
God, to
worshipping
God.
And as he
came to
Abraham and
to Isaac and
to Jacob and
he came to
Moses and
he came to
David and
to the
prophets, what's
he doing?
He's seeking
worshippers.
He's preparing
a bride for
his son.
And as
Jesus came,
became flesh,
went to the
cross to
save his
people, as
he rose up
and sent his
apostles to
make disciples
in all nations,
what was he
doing?
Seeking
worshippers
and preparing
his bride.
We can so
often think that
Jesus doesn't
really have
anything to
do with
me.
Unless I
ask him to,
that is.
So Jesus
might be for
you, but
he's not for
me.
I don't
need to
bring Jesus
into the
picture.
I'm doing
just fine,
thank you
very much.
Or maybe
he's got
something I'm
interested in,
sort of
useful, I
guess.
Maybe I
could give
it a go.
And yet
here he
comes as
one who
knows us
inside and
out,
saying he
has come to
sort us out,
sort out the
most important
question in
our life,
to provide
for the
biggest need
in our
lives.
Now when
he came
here this
morning,
you probably
expected to
hear something
about Jesus,
but maybe
you're thinking,
I didn't come
here to have
Jesus barge
into my
life like
this.
Who is
Jesus to
make demands
of me?
I didn't
sign up for
him to know
everything about
me like this.
Can I opt
out?
Who is he to
tell me what
I need?
I was
asked recently
back in
Paris,
does he
really know
everyone?
What about
people who
don't want
him in
their lives?
What about
people who
don't necessarily
believe in
God?
What will
happen to
them if
they don't
believe in
God,
but they've
never really
done anything
awful?
What if at
the end they
discovered God
was real all
along,
but they weren't
really that bad?
Is that enough
just to get
them in?
Well the
only answer
to that is
what if I
came to
your house
and settled
in and
squatted and
treated it
like my own
home and
used your
food and
water and
utilities and
completely ignored
you and
anyone else
who lived
there and
any rules or
practices you
might have
there?
Is it
enough for
me to
not do
anything
seriously
bad?
Or isn't
that just a
terrible thing
for me to
do in
itself?
And if you
simply see the
way I'm
behaving and
living in
your house,
is that
snooping or
is that just
you simply
observing what
I'm doing as
I go about
in your
house?
This is
God's world.
He made
it.
The very
fact that we're
alive screams
to every person
each day that
we owe
everything to
him.
The existence
of every human
life is a
light trying to
break through
this darkness
that we keep
creating to
try and smother
it.
And Jesus
is that
light, that
life, that
creating and
redeeming light,
the word of
God literally
in the flesh.
And he's
come seeking
his bride,
seeking
worshippers
for his
father,
seeking to
make us
to be what
he made
us to be
in the
first place.
If you
think I'm
only talking
at this
point to
people who
aren't
professing
Christians,
not, let's
be honest,
it is
frighteningly
easy for
all of us
to forget
about Jesus,
think that
there are
maybe at
least parts
of my life
where I can
decide how
much of a
say Jesus
gets to
have in
that part
of my
life.
It is
painfully
easy to be a
practical
atheist,
isn't it?
And how
easy it is
for us
just to
think of
him as
one who
has
something
I'm
interested
in.
Be that
inner peace
or friends,
clear conscience,
a bit of a
fire insurance
policy.
Even if I
just go to
him to get
forgiveness of
sin,
that's just
about ticking
a box and
getting me
into heaven,
but I'm not
really concerned
about him
being there.
it's just
about what
I want,
me and
my wants.
You must
realise that
here is a
man who
knows you
inside out.
Here is a
man who
knows your
needs much
better,
much more
deeply than
you think.
You must
realise that
he knows
your greatest
problem is
your relationship
with God.
Your greatest
need is
reconciliation
with God,
to be brought
back to
him.
He knows
to have
communion,
friendship with
God is
literally what
you were made
for,
and he should
know it's
what you were
made for,
because it
was his
reason for
making you.
Not only
does he know
that,
he has come
to make that
a reality
himself,
where we so
miserably have
failed.
He is the
one who came
to seek
worshippers
for his
father,
come to
seek his
dear bride.
He is the
one who came
to provide
this living
water that
never leaves
us thirsty.
He is the
one who came
to put living
springs inside
us to give
us eternal
life.
But of
course that
was at the
cost of
his own
thirst.
As he would
say,
hanging on
that cross,
I thirst.
It was at
the cost of
his life.
He came to
love his
bride and
lay his
life down
for her.
He came
to do
all that
was needed
to reconcile
us to
God.
When the
father raised
him to
life by
the spirit,
he gave
him the
holy spirit.
He is
now the
life-giving
spirit.
He is the
great well,
the source
of our
life.
Not just
in the sense
that everyone
is alive,
but the
source of
our spiritual,
eternal,
resurrection,
life.
friends,
if you're
still mainly
feeling miffed
at the idea
of Jesus
making all
these claims
on your
life,
and ignoring
the infinite
blessing he
has come to
be for you,
there will
be a day
when you
will regret
resisting him.
You'll
regret not
acknowledging him
as your
maker.
And sadly
that day
could be too
late.
But I
assure you,
I promise
you in
God's name,
acknowledging
Jesus Christ
as your
Lord and
Saviour,
will never
be something
you regret.
It doesn't
mean your
life will
be easy.
People all
around the
world suffer
for Jesus
every day,
but they
suffer an
even face
death knowing
that it's
completely
worth it.
Because he
has come to
sort out the
biggest problem
in their
lives.
And he's
come to do
the same
for you.
He has
come to
bring you
back to a
loving friendship
with God,
forever.
Let me
urge you
then,
in Christ's
name,
simply to
ask him
for that
living water.
Come to
him.
Come to
him not
as someone
you'd like
to let
in,
as though
it's for
you to
say,
but as
your God,
the one
who made
you.
Come to
him.
Come to
him not
as someone
whom you
can use,
but as
your God
and bridegroom
come to be
reconciled
with you.
Come to
enable you
to glorify
and enjoy
your God
forever.
Come to
him as
the one
who will
give you
eternal
life.
And what
is eternal
life according
to Jesus?
It's not just
living forever.
In John 17
he tells us
eternal life
is to
know God
and Jesus
Christ whom
he has
sent.
Have communion
with him.
Come to
him with
these brothers
and sisters
that you
see around
you.
And help
others to
come with
you to
him.
Come to
him no
matter what
your past
has been,
no matter
what your
future holds.
Come to
him each
day.
He will
not reject
you.
He won't
be like
this woman's
six man
who can
live here
but I'm
not going
to marry
you.
He has
come for
you.
Come to
him.
You might
be asking
what do
you mean
come to
him?
Where?
As man
he is in
that heavenly
temple
where we
have come
by faith
together this
morning.
As God
he is
spirit he
is everywhere.
Coming to
him simply
means to
believe in
him, to
trust in
him fully.
Ask him
in prayer
for what
he is
offering you.
It means
stop resisting
him.
Stop
rejecting
him.
Maybe
you are
thinking
well
rejecting
him,
disobeying
him,
even
just in
this one
part of
my life
has sort
of become
my thing
now.
I'm
sort of a
bit in
too deep.
It's
sort of
stuck in
a pattern
now.
And this
woman may
have felt
the same
thing,
especially
if all
her failed
marriages
were her
fault.
Jesus
is saying
no you
haven't,
it's not
too late,
come on,
come and
drink.
I want
to give
you a
new life
of love
and worship,
come to
me.
So let's
go to him
now in
prayer,
let's pray.
Amen.