John 4

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0:00 We're looking at story, we're going through the four core values for our little church here, story, peace, lineage and life. We're doing two weeks on each of them. So last week we talked about how the scriptures are a story and it has stuck with me that idea of how God in the scriptures is more interested in communicating a story in which he is made known as a character.

0:30 His character is revealed because it's more important that we are in relationship with the God than that we know the rules or the doctrines or the theologies. And the story that stuck with me is when he is going to get the two disciples on the road to Emmaus. So he's accomplished the crucifixion and the resurrection and now he's in his resurrected body popping in and out of space in time. And the first thing he does after that is go to get his two buddies who are walking,

1:05 leaving town and he wants them to come back and be with everybody else as they celebrate the resurrection and live kind of in that afterglow before the ascension. He wants his friends there and the story tells us that he goes to get them and appears to them on the road though they don't recognize him and he teaches them how all of the scriptures find their fulfillment in him. This is a several hour teaching as they're walking along the road to Emmaus and he says that the teaching was such that their hearts burned within him.

1:37 And then he appears and they recognize it's him and then he leaves and they go back to Jerusalem and then that story is over and nobody tells us what he taught them. Like it would be so cool if in addition to telling us I'm glad you got those two. You don't even mention their names like it's just these two that you want back but you don't tell us how you taught them the whole scriptures because what matters is that God is the type of God who goes to get his friends and wants his friends with him more than that

2:11 you know the nuance of the theology and they want. The story wants you to know that God is one who reaches and saves not one who gets you right or correct. And so we're thinking about the purpose of the story of scripture is to acquaint you with a God that saves. And then the second week I want us to think about part of the reason that story is a value for us is not only because we understand the scriptures as a story but we also value individual

2:42 stories and we know that at the intersection of the story of the cross and the story of your life is where the gospel really takes root. And so I want to think about that first in this in a passage from John chapter 4 if you want to follow along with me at the beginning of John chapter 4, Matthew Mark Luke John chapter 4.

3:12 It says this will give us context if we just read it. Now when Jesus learned that the Pharisees had heard that Jesus was making and baptizing more disciples than John although Jesus himself did not baptize he only only his disciples he left Judea and departed again for Galilee and he had to pass through Samaria so he came to a town of Samaria called Sicar near the field that Jacob had given to his son Joseph. Jacob's well was there as Jesus as so Jesus wearied as he was from the journey was sitting

3:50 beside the well and it was about the sixth hour. John is mentioning that Jesus is starting to gain some popularity in Jerusalem and the Pharisees are learning about this. Now remember that Herod beheaded John and they're kind of thinking maybe this thing would die down but then Jesus is teaching in Judea and the Pharisees are starting to notice that he's gained all these disciples and Jesus is not ready for them to kill him yet so he moves out of the region. And in order to get north into Galilee where there are still some Jews he goes through

4:24 this area called Samaria which is like the remnant of the northern kingdom. Remember David does this amazing thing where he extends the borders of Israel larger than they ever are and take the Ark of the Covenant up to Jerusalem and sets it there and moves the place from Shiloh to Jerusalem where now they'll worship then David wants to build the temple but doesn't God doesn't let him so his son Solomon builds the temple now the

4:57 Israel has its largest borders they've got the temple where they can meet with the manifest presence of God and then Solomon's two sons split the kingdom they both want it and they fight and the northern kingdom takes ten tribes and the southern kingdom of Judea takes two tribes the northern kingdom is conquered first by Assyria and then repopulated so whenever Assyria would conquer a nation they would take the best and the brightest to their capital city and then they would move people around so they would take people from other areas

5:28 they had conquered and moved them into other countries to try and decimate other nationalities and populations and you can still hear me okay good they try and decimate other nationalities and populations by intermarrying them together and that's what happened in northern kingdom then all these other nations had moved in with the ten northern tribes and if you've heard the phrase the ten lost tribes of Israel it's not that we can't find them it's that

6:00 they intermarried and the nationality of those ten northern tribes is gone and turns into Samaria they held to the Torah but not the rest of the prophets in the history because they developed a separate history right and they had to develop the different what they called like a Abrahamic religion and Jews in the first century understood the Samaritans as schismatic as a break off from the way of Israel and this was called the Samaritan way and they developed their own place of worship all the way at the very beginning because

6:33 those two sons of Solomon fought and Jerusalem was in the southern kingdom and they were not going to go down and say that they had to meet God in the southern kingdom they had their own place Mount Gerizim where they would meet with God and so then there's this debate theological debate where do we worship God who has the right way of worshiping all of these things and it permeates first century Judaism permeates it so Jesus is going up to Galilee through this group of people this is why it's like crazy when he says that the

7:07 good Samaritan is your neighbor that you would care about the Samaritans we don't like the Samaritans and Jesus is in Samaritan land next to Jacob's well and he's tired and that's where we are in the story verse seven oh it says it was about the sixth hour which is a weird way of saying it was the middle of the day like noon lunchtime and then there came a woman of Samaria to draw water and Jesus said to her give me a drink

7:40 for disciples his disciples had gone away to the city to buy food well that's one more sentence here the Samaritan woman said to him how is it that you a Jew asked for a drink from me a woman of Samaria the Jews have no dealings with the Samaritans it's conspicuous like a couple of things here just real quick if we were reading this in like first century

8:10 you know John probably wrote his last ninety the acrimony between the Jews and the Samaritans would still be common knowledge and so it would be conspicuous that Jesus is talking to a Samaritan woman men and women in public don't have a lot of interaction anyway and then the fact that they're crossed using Samaritans makes even more stark the last thing is that is in the middle of the day so normally you know women guys are doing whatever guys do women have to run everything in the house all day long and so they're normally the women

8:45 would go together in a group to the well to get the water that they need for the day at the beginning of the day and so the like scholars have written about this how conspicuous it is that this woman's going in the middle of the day to get her water instead of at the beginning of the day and you know the story we found out more later about her story maybe she's a woman who doesn't want to associate with a bunch of other women maybe they don't they give her a hard time maybe she doesn't want to be seen around them so it's she's going alone which is not a good move usually if you have to walk very far in the first century and in the middle of the day

9:19 conspicuously and then this Jewish guy is talking to her as soon as she gets to the well and so she gives him like kind of a quip like what why what why are you talking to me right why are you talking to me uh and then 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 the woman said to him sir look i've got nothing to draw water with and the well is deep

9:54 where do you get that living water are you greater than our father Jacob he gave us this well and drank from it himself as did his sons and his livestock and Jesus said to her everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again but whoever drinks of the water that I will give will never be thirsty uh forever the water that I give and will be coming him a spring of water welling up to eternal life and the woman said to him sir give me this water so that I

10:28 will not be thirsty or have to come to draw water um Jesus is trying to say that there's a gospel but it's like he's to me he's like really bungling it you know like he's using a metaphor that is like hard to see through like she's there at the well trying to get water and he's like I can give you water that never runs out and she's like great I'll take it right now please she's like I'll take it right now like I but this is absurd

11:06 like you better than Jacob he knew where to dig and he dug and his sons and this water well has been here forever and you're just going to manifest water that never runs out and so Jesus goes further right and Jesus said to her call your husband didn't come here which could have been a guess right because that that she didn't have a husband because she comes in the middle of the day could have been a guess and then the woman answered him I have no husband and Jesus said to her

11:43 you are right in saying I have no husband for you have had five husbands and the one you have now is not your husband what you have said is true now I looked it up because I thought maybe there was some cultural giveaway to this like maybe she's got a certain number of bracelets that communicate something like maybe there's something missing that didn't get recorded that if we knew the context we would catch it or assume it so I looked up how does Jesus know the woman at the well

12:16 all the answers are like dummy he's a prophet all the answers so the thing about go get your husband could have been a good guess because of the time and the fact that she's all by herself but the thing that she had five and the one she's with now is not her husband that's just Jesus being connected to the spirit in a way that he knows more deeply than context clues what's going on right

12:47 and she he says so the woman said to him Sir I perceive that you are a prophet our fathers worshiped on this mountain but you say that in Jerusalem is the place where people ought to worship and Jesus said woman before me the hour believe me said woman believe me the hour is coming when neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem will you worship the father you worship what you do not know we worship what we know for salvation is from the Jews

13:21 but the hour is coming is now here when true worshipers will worship the father in spirit and truth for the father is seeking such people to worship him God is spirit and those who are worshiping him must worship him in spirit and truth and the woman said to him I know the Messiah is coming who is called the Christ when he comes he will tell us all things and Jesus said to her I who speak to you and he this gets to this story gets to the reason I wanted to say this

13:53 about use this text to talk about how important your story is is because the conversation starts off in this metaphor that sounds lovely but almost doesn't mean anything like he's like the gospel I could give you water that never runs out lovely but then he makes it very specific you're like going through and trying to find what

14:27 would she be looking for relationship significance love affirmation support encouragement safety protection provision she could be looking for all of these things or one of these things but she's moving through and clearly not finding them and Jesus says the gospel is for that thing right there just for you it takes special awareness the holy spirit knows not only Anna

15:02 like in the story at the circumcision who's in the temple praying all the time God knows her but he also knows the Samaritan outside of the Jews who goes to the well in the middle of the day who's been with five guys and the one she's with now is not her husband her holiness her lineage her intellect nothing qualifies her to be known by God other than she is God she's human God the manor knows her and loves her specifically I'm saying

15:42 not in general I was thinking when I was thinking about the story I was thinking about that book we went through a couple of years ago by Thomas Keating remember that one human condition Thomas Keating is a trappist monkey passed away a couple years ago he gave delivered a series of lectures at Harvard on the human condition he's not talking about the Christian condition he's talking about the

16:13 condition in which all humans find themselves and he suggests that when you're a baby and you enter into the world you come with some specific needs I'm going to get them wrong but I'm going to try three categories affection and esteem security and safety love and affirmation affection and esteem security and safety love that's kind of like affection there's three

16:51 and he says the problem is when you're a kid you come into the world looking for those needs to be met your parents fail you you're not you don't feel 100% safe you're not swaddled all the time you're in this big crib your parents they come and see you and look at you and smile and love you and then they turn away and walk out the room you don't feel safe all the time so sometimes if you can just suck on your thumb it makes you feel a little bit safer babies develop coping mechanisms

17:22 from the time they're little to meet the specific needs that they are born with and those needs those specific schemes you develop to feel safe loved and valuable don't go away they just get more complex and Thomas Keating suggests that each of us are have developed schemes to meet those basic needs

17:54 and we'll continue to run around like little children until we find how they are met by the god this is what Jesus is saying to the woman the Samaritan woman at the well I've got the gospel don't don't worry about where you go to worship when you receive the gospel you'll worship in spirit and truth wherever you find yourself right now

18:25 she's like holy smokes look at what she does let's see and Jesus said to her I am the Christ the one you speak to I am he says it weirdly I don't know why okay verse 27 just then his disciples came back and they marveled that he was talking with a woman because he's not supposed to be but no one said what do you seek or what are you trying why are you talking to her no one

18:59 pressured them the disciples were so kind of struck that Jesus was having this conversation with the Samaritan woman and nobody tried to figure out anything else they were just kind of watching when it's awaiting to see what he did and what she did and so it said uh see no one said what do you seek or what do you why are you talking with her so the woman left her water jar just left it there and went away to the town and said to the people come see a man who told me all that I ever

19:36 did can this be the Christ and they went out of the town and were coming to him and meanwhile the disciples were urging him saying hey rabbi eat something they're like hey dude take a break here for a minute all these people are starting to come just take a break and eat something and uh but Jesus said to them I have food to eat that you do not know about so the disciples said to one another has he brought something to eat and Jesus said to them my food is to do the will of him

20:08 who sent me and to accomplish his work did you say that there uh did you not say there are yet four months and then he then the harvest look I tell you lift up your eyes and see that the fields are white for harvest already the one who reaps is receiving his wages and gathering fruit for eternal life so that the sower and the reaper uh together may rejoice for here the saying holds true one sows another reaps I sent you to reap for which you did not a labor others have labored

20:44 and do you hear do you catch what he's saying he's like bothered with the disciples they're like they're like jesus take a break man he's like take a break he's like now's the time man look I just told this woman she ran back to the town and look they're all coming and he said I brought you here to go and tell them the news that the gospel is specific and for them and you guys are wanting to sit around and eat some lunch he's like let's go take care of that we can eat later right and so he does then he's um he says many Samaritans from the town believed in him because

21:20 of the woman's testimony he told me all that I ever did she said and so when the Samaritans came to him they asked him to stay with them and he stayed with them two days and many more believed because of his word and they said to the woman it is no longer because of what you said that we believe or we have heard with ourselves and we know that this is indeed the savior of the world he stayed with the Samaritans whom you're not supposed to stay with on account of the fact that the woman who is not supposed to talk to he knew exactly what was going on with her delivered the gospel to her

21:52 specifically in such a way that she had to tell some folks and this is what I was starting to think about you and I have received the gospel specifically but I've started to move into a space I've just realized over the last several years where it's like who am I to tell anybody else how to think like who am I to suppose that I'm right and someone else might be wrong and this woman some people call her the first evangelist in the story of scripture

22:27 and it's interesting she got almost no theology correct like she said come and see this guy might he be the Christ question mark but she knew what the gospel did for her specifically it delivered something to her and so when I read her as the first evangelist she wasn't

23:01 explaining the way that all the scriptures find their culmination in Jesus to the point where their hearts burned off ours she just said look I was looking for a thing and it found me and changed and so I realized the part of me that got to a spot that said who am I to tell other people how to think was at best disconnected from the specific way that the gospel helps me in life and at worst had

23:34 forgotten it there's another story about Jesus with the specificity of the gospel remember the story of the rich young ruler who comes to him remember and and the rich young ruler has a very specific question he's like hey how do I get eternal life and Jesus seen where he's coming from and the context in which he's in it's like hey you know the you know the rules you know love the lord

24:06 you got with all your heart so much like love you neighbor yourself he's like hey I've done all these I've kept all the commandments right and then Jesus gives him one more remember and it's specific to this guy and we know because of the way that mark and loop tell the story Jesus says hey give all that you have to the poor and what happens the woman runs back to town excited might this be the Christ can you believe what he did for me the rich young ruler says it walks

24:39 away sad because he had developed a scheme he could not imagine leaving behind he wanted to feel important he was the best rulekeeper around he wanted to feel provided for he had lots of money all the money he could need he wanted to feel safe nobody could accuse him of anything because

25:10 he was the best rulekeeper around he had developed schemes from the time he was young to feel important significant safe and provided for and when the gospel offered something different he had no time for it and he walks away sad I think the gospel is something very specific to offer you I think it's much easier

25:45 for the scandalized to find it than the good which is bad news for this room y'all are good people you figured a lot of stuff out it's easy for the gospel to become a pretty metaphor disconnected from the specifics of your life in what way does God love you

26:22 in what way does God the gospel give you significance provision protection this is the last piece I thought about with story so I was like oh man the gospel is specific it's easier for the scandalized and the marginalized to grasp hold of it which is challenging for me Lord reconnect me with the scandal in myself with the need and the shortcoming within me that I could depend on you more

27:02 but then the last thing I thought about is part of the reason I would be slow to tell people about the story I don't want to presume that I should tell other people how to think or that I'm right and they might be wrong then when I remember that it's not about right or wrong and also that I don't get the end of either of these stories

27:36 so like a relationship to the gospel is not like a binary situation that you turn on and off that you make a decision and you're done the rich young ruler goes away sad at that time but maybe he figures it out later though the woman at the well it's like the first evangelist but it doesn't say what happened to her five guys I don't know she might have gone back to them

28:08 and so the point isn't that you develop the right relationship to the gospel land on it now and perpetuate in it forever and try and get other people to click the light on and stay with you this is not the point the point is that you exist in a world where you need to know that you are loved valuable significant

28:38 everything else will let you down the gospel will not it will animate a life worth living your life specifically let's pray that we could be people like the woman the spirits and woman who grasp the gospel for ourselves hey lord thank you for the gift of your son Jesus and his gospel teach us how to apply it to our lives specifically meaningfully powerfully as the Samaritan woman at the well did with you

29:15 in Jesus name we pray amen