In John 3 Nicodemus, who is part of the Sanhedrin, asks Jesus questions and then defends him to the Sanhedrin in John 7. After the crucifixion Nicodemus brought myrrh and aloes to wrap Jesus' body. It shows us that God can change anyone and work through a man like Nicodemus. All are welcome to come to Christ. The lowly woman at the well could also come to Jesus.
John 4:1-3 (ESV) "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, but only his disciples), he left Judea and departed again for Galilee."
Jesus left Judea because of the Pharisees. He knew that it wasn't time for him to be arrested and he still had things to accomplish. He was trying to avoid conflict so he went to Galilee, his home region and of all of the Disciples except 1...Judas Iscariot who was from Kerioth south of Jerusalem.
John 4:4 (ESV) "And he had to pass through Samaria." Samaria was about 35 miles from Jerusalem. Most Jews would not walk through Samaria. There were several routes to Galilee, but Jesus chose to go through Samaria.
History of the Jews and Samaritans... after Solomon's death Israel divided into the 10 northern tribes, Samaria, and the 2 southern tribes, Judah. In 722 B.C. the Assyrians exiled most of the people from the northern tribes. The transplanted people intermarried with the pagan people and adopted their idolatry. They believed in only the pentateuch (the first 5 books of the Bible). They built their own temple at Gerizim and built a "golden calf" as a seat of God. In 108 B.C. the Samaritans backed the Greeks in the Maccabean revolt. The Jews destroyed the Samaritan temple. the Samaritans later spread dead bones in the Temple complex in Jerusalem. Both the Jews and the Samaritans believed that a Messiah was coming.
John 4:5-6 (ESV) "So he came to a town of Samaria called Sychar, near the field that Jacob had given to his son Joseph. Jacob's well was there; so Jesus, wearied as he was from his journey, was sitting beside the well. It was about the sixth hour."
Jesus was tired. The town was near where Josephs bones were buried after the exodus.
John 4:7-14 (ESV) "A woman from Samaria came to draw water. Jesus said to her, 'Give me a drink.' (For his disciples had gone away into the city to buy food.) The Samaritan woman said to him, 'How is it that you, a Jew, ask for a drink from me, a woman of Samaria?' (For Jews have no dealings with Samaritans.) Jesus answered her, 'If you knew the gift of God, and who it is that 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, you have nothing to draw water with, and the well is deep. Where do you get that living water? Are you greater than our father Jacob? He gave us the well and drank from it himself, as did his sons and his livestock.' Jesus said to her, 'Everyone who drinks of this water will be thirsty again, but whoever drinks of the water that I will give him will never be thirsty again. The water that I will give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life,' "
The woman came alone to Jacob's well. She was separated from her peers. Jesus broke with the norms. A man would never talk to a woman that was not his wife. Jesus uses physical things to talk about spiritual things
Our deepest needs are not physical - Our deepest need is to be made right with God.
Jerimiah 2:13 (ESV) "for my people have committed two evils: they have forsaken me, the fountain of living waters, and hewed out cisterns for themselves, broken cisterns that can hold no water."
Zechariah 14:8 (ESV) "On that day living waters shall flow out from Jerusalem, half of them to the eastern sea and half of them to the western sea. It shall continue in summer as in winter."
Ezekiel 47:9 (ESV) "And wherever the river goes, every living creature that swarms will live, and there will be very many fish. For this water goes there, that the waters of the sea may become fresh; so everything will live where the river goes."
Jesus draws from the scriptures to show us who He is... His messiahship and his divinity. He does this with Nicodemus when he asks about being born again. Do we pray like we believe this truth?
John 4:15-18 (ESV) "The woman said to him, 'Sir, give me this water, so that I will not be thirsty or have to come here to draw water.' Jesus said to her, 'Go, call your husband, and come here.' The woman answered him, 'I have no husband.' Jesus said to her, '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. What you have said is true.'"
God knows our deepest secrets.
Can you imagine someone telling you your deepest, darkest secret? God knows all of our secrets.
Psalms 139:1-4 (ESV) "O LORD, you have searched me and known me! You know when I sit down and when I rise up; you discern my thoughts from afar. You search out my path and my lying down and are acquainted with all my ways. Even before a word is on my tongue, behold, O LORD, you know it altogether."
There will be a life review, maybe like a movie.
Matthew 12:36 (ESV) "I tell you, on the day of judgment people will give account for every carless word they speak"
2 Corinthians 5:10 (ESV) "For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each one may receive what is due for what he has done in the body, whether good or evil."
Revelation 20:11-12 (ESV) "Then I saw a great white throne and him who was seated on it. From his presence earth and sky fled away, and no place was found for them. And I saw the dead, great and small, standing before the throne, and books were opened. Then another book was opened, which is the book of life. And the dead were judged by what was written in the books, according to what they had done."
Even though he knew everything she had done, he chose to engage with her...and us
And he still sent his Son for us
Romans 5L8 (ESV) "but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us."
John 4:19-24 (ESV) "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.' Jesus said to her, '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. But the hour is coming, and is now here, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for the Father seeking such people to worship him. God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth.'"
The woman recognizes that Jesus was special...a prophet. She asks a spiritual question and wants the truth. True worship is not going to happen in a place, but in a people.
God is seeking true worshipers
What is true worship? God aligning his spirit to ours. It is submission to God. The first time worship is mentioned in the bible is when Abraham was taking Isaac to sacrifice him. Spirit, Truth, Head, Heart
God is doing something special right now. We need truth, but also enthusiasm and passion. Theology and also action.
1 Timothy 4:16 "Keep a close watch on yourself and on the teaching. Persist in this, for by so doing you will save both yourself and you hearers."
Churches in Revelation, they tolerate lies or they lose their passion/1st love.
John 4:25-26 (ESV) "The woman said to him, 'I know that Messiah is coming (he who is called Christ). When he comes, he w.ill tell us all things.' Jesus said to her, 'I who speak to you am he.'"
Jesus clearly reveals who he is to her. He revealed plainly who he was to here, but not to Jewish leadership.
John 10:22-30 (ESV) "At that time the Feast of Dedication took place at Jerusalem. It was winter, and Jesus was walking in the temple, in the colonnade of Solomon. So the Jews gathered around him and said to him, 'How long will you keep us in suspense? If you are the Christ, tell us plainly.' Jesus answered them, 'I told you, and you do not believe. The works that I do in my Father's name bear witness about me, but you do not believe because you are not among my sheep. My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me. I give them eternal life, and they will never perish, and no one will snatch them out of my hand. My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all, and no one is able to snatch them out of the Father's hand. I and the Father are one.'"
Jesus doesn't deny, but also doesn't come right out and say that he is the Messiah.
One other interesting fact is that this conversation took place at a well. All the patriarchs met their wives at a well... Isaac and Rebekah, Jacob and Rachel, Moses and Zipporah. Ephesians 5 paints the picture.
Matthew 9:15 (ESV) "And Jesus said to them, 'Can the wedding guests mourn as long as the bridegroom is taken away from them, and they will fast.'"
The "Bridegroom" completely united to his people. Jesus is talking with his bride...the church. Jesus is completely united to his people...his bride. Grow in your submission and worship in spirit and truth.
We need to be both evangelist, reaching the lost and also refreshing to the saints.
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