|
Return to 'Recent Sermons' | |
We are well into our Portraits of Jesus. We are using John’s gospel to help us understand Jesus better. What he does, what he says, how he reacts. The objective is to grow more like him.
We began with
Jesus’ baptism where water symbolizes Jesus identifying himself as ’one of us’.
The sign at Cana is about Jesus transforming the water of Jewish purification and creating the wine of the kingdom. In the water of Jacob’s well is contrasted with the living water given by Jesus.
As the wine of Cana symbolizes the gift of the kingdom of God, so the water from Jesus (vv 14–15) symbolizes life and salvation coming from Jesus.
The cleansing of the temple entails a contrast between the old temple and the new temple of Christ’s Body, here the contrast is between the old order of worship of Jerusalem and Gerizim and that of the new age initiated through the death and resurrection of Christ.
The interview with Nicodemus develops the transformation by making centre stage the new life of the Spirit. Nicodemus needs to be ‘born again’ not into some new ritual and life but into the eternal life of the Spirit of God
Today’s portrait declares that the worship of Jerusalem and Gerizim is to be superseded by the worship of the new age introduced by Christ and the Spirit he sends. So this episode brings together some of the elements of the previous portraits but set in a new dimension of mission to non-Israel.
Before we read the passage, can I draw your attention to number of individuals Jesus meets in different ways but each one he invited to follow, to have new life.
Andrew + another disciple of John the Baptist maybe John himself
Peter
Philip
Nathanael
Nicodemus
The woman at the well.
READ John 4
so in the midst of the crowds he is constantly stopping off to talk and invite individuals to follow him. Today’s portrait is a detailed story of one such meeting. Rather than go into detail of the theology of this passage we will examine what it says about how Jesus went about reaching out to one person. This is a master-class in how to share the Good News.
The good news is for everyone.
We must understand the stunning revelation of this. To the early disciples YHWH was the god of the Jews. The Samaritans were interlopers. They were foreigners who had migrated into Israel and adopted the religion of the land. They still exist in Israel and carry out animal sacrifice on Mount Gerizim.
Jesus stops off and sends the disciples away so that they do not interfere with his mission. His mission was to reveal grace and salvation and a new age of worship in the Spirit to a Samaritan of dubious background. Does that offend you? Then go into the village with the disciples and get your burger and chips. When you come back, you will find a new age has dawned. The good news of the kingdom has been received by an immigrant of a copycat religion. If that sounds familiar, it should. Jesus wants to reach out to immigrants whether they are refugees or just seeking wealth. He is seeking out Muslims because he has no boundaries to his love.
This key point here was lost on the disciples and had to be re-introduced in a dramatic way to Peter in Acts. The first Century church struggled to escape from the idea that the good News was a version of Judaism. It wasn’t and neither is it something essentially English. The biggest churches in town are Nigerian, Afro-Caribbean and Australian. We are the true internationalists with brothers and sisters from every country in the world. This morning we share worship with people from as many as 10 nations, maybe more.
(Korea, Albania, Uganda, Nigeria, Yemen, Iran, India, Irish, China, France,)
It all begins by a well in Sychar, Jesus crosses the boundary and says this Good News is for all nations, cultures and people.
So lets get back to Jesus sitting by a well. At noon. The hottest part of the day. Time to siesta. Have a sleep and wait for his disciples to bring back his Subway and Tango. But Jesus is not here for a rest. He is on the job of revealing his Father to a Samaritan. He is not selective. He does not wait for a respectable professional, he speaks to the person who comes. Even though he knows who she is, his passion is for those who God places in his path. And the choice could not have been more shocking. She was a woman of Samaria of ill repute. A Jew of Jesus day would not choose to speak to anyone of those let alone all three in one person! This is call to stop being selective, everyone who you meet is someone who God might well want you to tell the Good news to.
So how does Jesus go about getting round to telling the Good News? First he is by the well. The gossip stop of Sychar. The Costa Coffee, MacDonald’s of the day. Paul frequented the agora the market place to meet non-Christians and even went to the gym! So the question is “where are you meeting non-Christians?” At work, in your home, at the shops, at the gym, your local pub, coffee shop. Craft Club, Job Seekers’ Club, Teddy Bear Club, family fun events are examples of where we seek to meet non-Christians by inviting them to something they can enjoy. If are not meeting non-Christians then think through what God may want you to do to meet them, Sports club, evening class, social club or whatever. We have to follow Jesus where he went and he went to the well at Sychar so he could meet a Samaritan women.
Jesus does not start with the four points. Even though they are a summary of the Good News. God loves me, I’ve messed up, Jesus died for me, I can choose life! He starts with normal life. A man at the well needs a drink. She may have been suspicious that this was a Jewish chat-up line and she probably had heard them all, but at least it made sense. He was asking for basis hospitality. A drink! Offering someone a brew or cup of tea is where to start evangelism. Sharing in a social activity is another starting point. So @Parkrun.UK, Job Seekers’ Club is where I meet adults who are not Christians. Where do you meet non-christians? We are called to follow Jesus and that means you have to find your Sychar’s well and be there.
Jesus was in a special position. He had prophetic knowledge and was himself sinless. His confrontation is because he has prophetic knowledge not because he wants to make her feel inferior. So rather than simply wading into your friend with “you are a sinner and need to be saved” tell your story. That is why I couch the four points as my testimony. God loves me. I messed up. Jesus died for me. I made a choice. In a pluralistic confrontational society, get the message out there that Jesus has changed you! Then live in the Spirit and show that the living water is better than Jacob’s well water. But we must be thoughtful about confronting sin. Sensitive but firm. Fragile egos can quickly become resentful if the Holy Spirit is not convicting them of sin. So listen to what your friend understands about sin. Then you can talk about a Saviour!
In this case the woman poses the question about which religion is right. Jesus is not interested in the correct worship in Jerusalem or the imitation worship on Gerizim. He is seeking out people whose worship is both genuine and Spirit led.
Listen to this early commentary by, Ephraem
the Syrian: “Jesus came to the fountain
as a hunter.… He threw a grain before one pigeon that he might catch the whole
flock.… At the beginning of the conversation he did not make himself known to
her, but first she caught sight of a thirsty man, then a Jew, then a Rabbi,
afterwards a prophet, last of all the Messiah. She
tried to get the better of the thirsty man, she showed dislike of the Jew, she
heckled the Rabbi, she was swept off her feet by the prophet, and she adored
the Christ”
Jesus speaks to a lonely woman and she runs a mile! But an hour later a whole crowd turns up. You do not know what your sharing the Good News will lead to. But following the logic of mathematics, one tells one, they tell two, then they tell 4, they tell 8 who go on to tell 16, then 32 then 64 and this church has doubled in size! The woman by the well brought a whole crowd. May God so work in our lives that we live out the Good News, tell it and one by one crowds come to believe for themselves. That is my prayer.
“If you knew the gift
of God and who it is that asks you for a drink, you would have asked him and he
would have given you living water.”
I think we lack confidence in the Good News. We happily sing about it in church but we lack the courage to talk about it outside. Listen to the words of Jesus. “If you knew the gift of God and who it is that asks you for a drink,” Jesus had every confidence that his good news would appeal to this lady and the people in the village. He could put it on the line. What he was offering was better than Jacob’s well.
This well had sustained the local population for a thousand years. It was the reason the village existed. But what Jesus offered was better. He was offering eternal life. He was better than Jacob. That was some claim!
It is thought Jacob’s well is referred to in Genesis 33:18-22 although no well in mentioned.
After Jacob came from Paddan Aram, he arrived safely at the city of Shechem in Canaan and camped within sight of the city. For
a hundred pieces of silver, he bought from the sons of Hamor,
the father of Shechem, the plot of ground where he
pitched his tent. There he set up an altar and called it El Elohe
Israel.
The well was and still is one mile from Sychar
and 41m (135ft) deep but it was and is well known for its purity. Jesus was
confident that his water was better!
Are you confident in the Good News? Do you really believe
Jesus is the way, the truth and the life? Jesus shared his confidence in his
message with the Samaritan woman and by the end of the story the whole town had
got the message: “we know that this man
really is the Saviour of the world.”
This message of new life in Jesus is what the world needs, its what the sick need to receive, the poor need to be given, the wicked need to turn to, the pervert needs to be transformed by, the prisoner needs to be released by. Do you believe it? Do you believe it is good news for the poor? Do you believe it is real wealth for the rich? Do you believe forgiveness is more important than healing? Do you believe Jesus both forgives sin and heals? Do you believe that no matter how evil a person id Jesus can transform them and give them eternal life? If Jesus is the elixir of life then offer it to this dying world. Always be ready to give an answer to the hope that is in you. Take steps to befriend as many people as God places your way and set out intentionally to meet them. You have Jesus, share him! Our Good News is life and health and peace in the words of the John Wesley’s hymn.
Return to top