John 4.5-42
So he came to a Samaritan city called Sychar, near the plot of ground that Jacob had given to his son Joseph.Jacob’s well was there, and Jesus, tired out by his journey, was sitting by the well. It was about noon.
A Samaritan woman came to draw water, and Jesus said to her, ‘Give me a drink’. (His disciples had gone to the city to buy food.) The Samaritan woman said to him, ‘How is it that you, a Jew, ask a drink of me, a woman of Samaria?’ (Jews do not share things in common with Samaritans.) 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, you have no bucket, and the well is deep. Where do you get that living water? Are you greater than our ancestor Jacob, who gave us the well, and with his sons and his flocks drank from it?’ Jesus said to her, ‘Everyone who drinks of this water will be thirsty again, but those who drink of the water that I will give them will never be thirsty. The water that I will give will become in them a spring of water gushing up to eternal life.’ The woman said to him, ‘Sir, give me this water, so that I may never be thirsty or have to keep coming here to draw water.’
Jesus said to her, ‘Go, call your husband, and come back.’ 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 have now is not your husband. What you have said is true!’ The woman said to him, ‘Sir, I see that you are a prophet. Our ancestors worshipped on this mountain, but you say that the place where people must worship is in Jerusalem.’Jesus said to her, ‘Woman, believe me, the hour is coming when you will worship the Father neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem. 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 worshippers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for the Father seeks such as these to worship him.God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth.’ The woman said to him, ‘I know that Messiah is coming’ (who is called Christ). ‘When he comes, he will proclaim all things to us.’ Jesus said to her, ‘I am he, the one who is speaking to you.’
Just then his disciples came. They were astonished that he was speaking with a woman, but no one said, ‘What do you want?’ or, ‘Why are you speaking with her?’ Then the woman left her water-jar and went back to the city. She said to the people, ‘Come and see a man who told me everything I have ever done! He cannot be the Messiah, can he?’ They left the city and were on their way to him.
Meanwhile the disciples were urging him, ‘Rabbi, eat something.’ But he said to them, ‘I have food to eat that you do not know about.’ So the disciples said to one another, ‘Surely no one has brought him something to eat?’ Jesus said to them, ‘My food is to do the will of him who sent me and to complete his work. Do you not say, “Four months more, then comes the harvest”? But I tell you, look around you, and see how the fields are ripe for harvesting. The reaper is already receiving wages and is gathering fruit for eternal life, so that sower and reaper may rejoice together. For here the saying holds true, “One sows and another reaps.” I sent you to reap that for which you did not labour. Others have laboured, and you have entered into their labour.’
Many Samaritans from that city believed in him because of the woman’s testimony, ‘He told me everything I have ever done.’ So when the Samaritans came to him, they asked him to stay with them; and he stayed there for two days. And many more believed because of his word. They said to the woman, ‘It is no longer because of what you said that we believe, for we have heard for ourselves, and we know that this is truly the Saviour of the world.’
Romans 5.1-11
Therefore, since we are justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have obtained access to this grace in which we stand; and we boast in our hope of sharing the glory of God. And not only that, but we also boast in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, and hope does not disappoint us, because God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit that has been given to us.
For while we were still weak, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly. Indeed, rarely will anyone die for a righteous person—though perhaps for a good person someone might actually dare to die. But God proves his love for us in that while we still were sinners Christ died for us. Much more surely then, now that we have been justified by his blood, will we be saved through him from the wrath of God. For if while we were enemies, we were reconciled to God through the death of his Son, much more surely, having been reconciled, will we be saved by his life. But more than that, we even boast in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received reconciliation.
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Have you ever had a, life-changing encounter with somebody?
Can you bring to mind somebody who has had such an impact on your life, that your life has never been the same?
The people that we meet and interact with, have such an impact on our lives, both for good or ill.
There’s a reason why parents do not want their children to ‘hang out with those who are a bad influence,’ because they know that it will affect their child profoundly, and set them off on the wrong direction in life.
Sometimes we are influenced over time by those who are around us, sometimes it can just be a moment.
In other cases, it may have just been a chance encounter; a person at the end of their rope, whom everything is going wrong for, experiences the generosity of a kind person, which keeps their faith in humanity and that there is still some good in this world, and they are given the strength to ‘carry on.’
Jesus encounters a women and she is changed. She has seen the messiah, and from then everything is different, and it’s not just her who is impacted by him, it’s her whole community.
She sees an unassuming man, who seems to want a drink, converses with him for a time and she realises that he is a rabbi, after further conversation, she realises that he is a prophet, a little more is revealed, and it is revealed to her that he is the Christ, the messiah.
Samaritans and Jew did not hang out with each other., they are enemies, and yet Jesus meets her and offers her living water to drink, living water that says that means that she will never be thirsty again.
In today’s age, people are looking for an answer to a question, what is the meaning and the purpose of life. Some people indeed feel that the whole of life is utterly pointless, and all we can do is create meaning for ourselves to avoid despair. Some people are always searching for that one thing that will make things better, and it never works. I used to volunteer for the Samaritans and have spoken first hand to those who have lost all hope in life.
The Jewish view of life, the correct view of life, is that we are made in God’s image, and we are to image him in the world; to live lives of love, joy and peace and in communion with our heavenly Father.
‘Salvation is from the Jews,’ Jesus says.
Yet this salvation, is not to be kept amongst the Jews. For God’s desire is to share his salvation with the everybody, even the enemies of the Jews. (There is a similar story in the Old Testament of God doing exactly the same thing in the book of Jonah, which is only four chapters long; and if you have the opportunity, you should give it a read.)
Salvation is on offer to all It’s on offer to all, and particularly sinners, in this case the women appears to be a serial adulterer. But we can transpose that onto any of our sins, for as I’ve said last week quoting from 1 John ‘if we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is. It in us.”
But God is lavish in his mercy for all of us, he gives us all living water to drink. Not drink where we will be thirsty again, but drink that lasts. As I said before, so much of our lives are spent rushing after things that we think will bring us fulfilment, and they don’t. Perhaps it’s knowledge or relationships, or money or things; but these can’t quench the soul, only Jesus can do that. Only Jesus Christ, the living God can truly do that, bringing that lasting happiness and joy.
Saint Paul knew this; he met Jesus and knew that there was nothing else in the world that he needed. He was a pharisee, obedient to the law, obedient to all the rules, persecuted the faithful, watched on as the Stephen became the first martyr of the faith. But he drank of the living water of Jesus Christ, and his life changed, he was justified before God, his sins washed away,
This is why he speaks so movingly in our Romans passage:
‘Therefore, since we are justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have obtained access to this grace in which we stand; and we boast in our hope of sharing the glory of God.’
Jesus speaks in the gospel passage about how the people will one day worship God in spirit and truth, and not on the mountain where the Samaritans do, or in the Temple in Jerusalem as the Jews were doing; rather in true spirit and truth with the Holy Spirit living within them, bringing salvation to all who turn to him. As I’ve said; this isn’t about religion, this is about faith, a true inward change of heart. When this whole faith thing becomes nothing but religion, it’s nothing but human made ritual, and is utterly pointless. But if we remember that this is a living faith, a faith we can experience for ourselves, then everything changes; then, we hope to share, as Saint Paul says, in the glory of God.
One writer, bishop Ryle, whom I have quoted from at other times says this; ‘[t]here is no heart satisfaction in this world, until we believe on Christ. Jesus alone can fill up the empty places of our inward man. Jesus alone can give solid, lasting, enduring happiness. The peace that He imparts is a fountain, which once set flowing within the soul, flows on to all eternity. Its waters may have their ebbing seasons; but they are living waters, and they shall never be completely dried.’
Jesus encountered the Samaritan woman, but his impact didn’t stop there. She went out and told others. It was because of her testimony, that others came to faith. She spoke to them about this amazing person that she had met, who knew everything about her, warts and all. but still looked on her with compassion and mercy, she said to her friends, ‘Come and see a man who told me everything I have ever done!’ and they came, and were changed as well.
Did you know that one of the most effective ways of getting others to come to church is by inviting them? Not advertisements or posters, or facebook posts, not projects, nothing like that, but personal invitations.
Do we tell people that we go to church, do people know that we are Christians? Does our faith impact out lives in such a way that we will draw others into the fold? Do we invite others to church? These are good things to ponder on.
Jesus is desperate to go to people, to show them his mercy, he was then, and he is now. Let’s share this faith that we have with others. Pray for others, tell them that your praying for them, if there’s a church event, invite them to it so that they can begin to experience Christ’s grace for themselves.
I will end on the last part of the passage from the gospel again.
“Many Samaritans from that city believed in him because of the woman’s testimony, ‘He told me everything I have ever done.’ So when the Samaritans came to him, they asked him to stay with them; and he stayed there for two days. And many more believed because of his word.They said to the woman, ‘It is no longer because of what you said that we believe, for we have heard for ourselves, and we know that this is truly the Saviour of the world.’"
Amen.
