#john4

The sun shone high in the sky as its rays warmed the earth to an almost unbearable temperature. It was noon, about the time for her to gather her bucket and head to the well to draw water. Everyone in the town thought it odd for her to draw water at the well at such a time. The midday heat made the chore much harder so the women would go in the early hours of the day. But not her. She gathered herself and started the long trek to the well.

As she walked, she allowed her mind to wander. Perhaps that would distract her from the permeating heat. She wasn’t very well liked in this town. She could hear the whispers when she walked by, and she felt the stares that followed her everywhere she went. It used to bother her but now, she’d grown immune to the treatment she received from the people of the town. She chose to simply ignore them and avoided being with the towns people as much as possible. It’s not like she was welcomed anyway. But sometimes, when she just couldn’t block out the whispers, she’d hear phrases like, “What a shameful wrench,” “Does she have no honor or dignity,” or “She’s good for nothing.” And when those words reached her ears, she felt a sting of hurt pierce her heart. No matter how hard she tried to not let the words affect her, she still fell prey to the town’s degrading comments.

Was it so wrong for her to want to be happy? To yearn for a fulfilling love? That’s all she wanted, and if one man couldn’t give it to her, then she would move on to the next. It made sense in her mind. She knew there was an emptiness in her heart—her soul—that someone had to be able to fill. That’s why the hole was there in the first place, right?

Dear God, As we begin to study John 4 this evening, we invite you into our study and our lives. We ask that you meet us where we are, whether that is in thanksgiving, or in the midst of struggle. We ask that you reveal yourself to us and allow your word to be living and active. Allow John 4 to be life-changing and your Spirit to be life-giving. Amen

Context- The most important thing about this chapter to remember is how absolutely shocking and scandalous it is. First of all, Jesus goes into Samaria, which strict Jews would not have done. Second, he asks for a drink from a samaritan who he was not supposed to speak to, much less share a cup with (that would have made him “unclean” in Jewish standards). Finally, he’s a man talking to a woman, and he has a real conversation with her that is free of judgement and pride. The Samaritans were the descendants of Jews and Gentiles, and were considered “dirty” with their mixed blood, accepted by neither group. Jews did not interact with them, and the Messiah was not coming for them… yet he was. The Jews were wrong, the Messiah did come for them, and with them, the world. 

Part 1: The Physical Spiritual Water- When Jesus offers the Samaritan woman “living water,” she (like Nicodemus) takes it a little too literally. She wants actual water that would allow her to be hydrated forever (don’t we all), but Jesus is speaking spiritually, not physically.  When Jesus offers this woman the “living water,” he is offering her life, contentment, and joy. So that leads us to ask this question- what is the living water that gives us all these things? What is our deepest longing that needs to be satisfied? What brings true joy? I know that I usually don’t answer my own questions here, but there’s a specific thing that Jesus gave us that answers all of them. Jesus is talking about the Holy Spirit. Our deepest longing is to know God personally, so Jesus offers us the actual person of God living within us as “a spring of water welling up to eternal life.” We will only find life, contentment, and joy in God himself. He is the fulfillment of our spiritual thirst- the living water. 

In what ways do you see (or not see, that’s valid too) knowing God personally as your deepest longing? Do you feel the life, contentment, and joy of the Holy Spirit in your life? What does eternal life look like (not as in Heaven, as in how does it cause us to live)? What does true contentment look like? What does true joy look like? Are these things dependent on circumstances? 

Part 2: The Proclamation- When Jesus asks the Samaritan woman to call her husband, he already knew the answer to his unspoken question. She’s not married, but she has been married, and the person that she lives with currently isn’t married to her. Some say that this woman was some sort of prostitute, or just really immoral person, but other says differently. Women in that day didn’t always have a choice when it came to men. In order to survive in her context, she would have always needed to be married or at least being taken care of by a man. Her other husbands could have died (traumatic!) or divorced her and cast her to the side (hurtful). We don’t know exactly who this woman was or why she had the life that she had, but she was in need of a savior for sure. She had a less than perfect life, shunned by the Jewish community, and maybe by her own community. Yet Jesus reaches even her. He knows her and he sees her in the midst of her struggle. He gives the hopeless hope and the sorrowful joy. Then he goes further, he gives this woman life, and he proclaims himself to be Messiah to a woman that was supposed to have no value. He makes himself known to this woman in a way that he didn’t even do to his own people. He proclaims himself her savior. 

And it’s not over yet. He gives her great news- she doesn’t have to go to the Temple to worship anymore. He tells her that “true worshippers will worship the Father in spirit and truth.” What does this mean for us? Let’s think about the temple in context- the temple was where God dwelled on earth, the literal connection between the spiritual and the physical, heaven and earth, God and man. The temple was everything, it was the only connection to God. Then Jesus died, and the curtain between God and man was torn from top to bottom. We became the temple. We became the place that God met man. God literally dwells within us and we are the new place of worship on earth. We carry God within us. We are the new connection to God. 

In what ways are you still lost in your sin and in your situation? How does Jesus bring life and hope into those things? How can we do that for others now that we are in Christ? What does it mean that we are the temple? How do we live our lives? How do we worship God in our own beings? How are YOU going to worship God as the new temple (think reality, think now)? 

Part 3: How in the world do we respond to that? Jesus tells us in the following verses- “My food is to do the will of him who sent me and to accomplish his work.” “Already the one who reaps is receiving wages and gathering fruit for eternal life, so that sower and reaper may rejoice together.” Jesus calls us to respond with obedience and joy. I could say so much more, but you have to find what that means in your own life. 

What does it mean to truly live in obedience to God? Do you have a desire to do that (I didn’t for most of my life, even after I became a Christian, so that’s an acceptable answer)? How can you find a desire to serve God? What does the rest of John 4 reveal about our call to witness? What is your testimony (and no drama is required, God is satisfied with your TRUE story)? How do you find joy? What does it look like to live your whole life with joy? 

“Do you not say, There are yet four months, then comes the harvest? Look I tell you, life up your eyes, and see that the fields are white for harvest.” It’s happening now y’all. No need to wait for perfection or training. It’s time to start living in joy and obedience as the temple of the Lord today.