He Had To Go To Samaria

Welcome to another Sunday conversation from Journey Church in Brentwood, Tennessee. We're a community of people with different backgrounds, experiences, and viewpoints. Together we're co-learners, curious to explore who Jesus really is and to help each other move closer to him in our understanding and in our lives. Everyone is welcome at our table, so we hope you'll enjoy this discussion. And if you're ever nearby, please join us in person.

Okay, so we are meandering our way uh through the Gospel of John. And and if you remember, one of the common themes that comes up over and over and over again. is that Jesus encounters some sort of symbol or some sort of festival in Judaism. And then he uses that as an occasion either to perform a miracle or to say something about himself. People misunderstand it. He clarifies. There's usually some big split.

In the people's reaction to him. So I just want to remind you: the first part of the book is called the Book of Signs. Jesus performs seven signs that are different. They're miraculous, yes, but they're intended to show his identity. Particularly in light of his crucifixion and resurrection. And so if you want, Jacob, go ahead and put up.

The institutions in Judaism encounters wedding we looked at, the temple we've looked at. Uh we're gonna look at the next two today, a rabbi in Jerusalem and a well in Samaria. And then um as the uh chapters five through ten unfold, he encounters Sabbath, Passover, Tabernacles, Hanukkah. Um, and so we're gonna encounter him encountering two of these institutions.

And then they're going to provoke some um some interesting conversation that John, remember, is not operating chronologically. He's operating theologically. And he will smash together different stories to make a point. It could be a point of comparison, a point of contrast. Um, so we're in John chapter three, verse one.

Now, there was a Pharisee, a man named Nicodemus, who was a member of the Jewish ruling council. How much information does that little sentence give us about who we're dealing with? Tons. So he's a man. He's obviously older if he's part of the Jewish ruling council. He's highly educated. So he's like a biblical scholar. He's devout. Because uh he's a Pharisee, which means he takes the tithing commands, the fasting commands, the dietary commands like more seriously than anybody else does.

He's also a member of the Jewelish Jewish Ruling Council, which means he speaks in some ways for the Jewish nation. And he's powerful. He's a person of influence and high status, right? Automatically we know that much just from that introductory.

Which is weird in verse two when it says he comes to Jesus at night. Now, in John, night and day, light and dark are these themes kind of woven throughout the narrative that just contrast the work of God in the world versus the work of the oppressive power.

And it's interesting that someone of this sort of influence and authority approaches Jesus, but he only does so at night. Because in John's account, what just happened was Jesus cleansing the temple and the temple authorities being totally offended by So you could, if you were thinking chronologically, say, well, it would be interesting that somebody would come to Jesus after this, but he comes at night because he does not want to be publicly associated with Jesus. Can you see that much?

He and he leads with kind of honor. Now in an honor shame culture. Not all compliments are sincere. And so he says, Rabbi, we know that you are a teacher who has come from God, for no one could perform the signs you were doing if God were not. Now, does that strike you as sincere? Could be. I don't know. It's interesting it could go either way. Jesus doesn't respond in any way, shape, or form with a thank you. That's very kind of him.

He responds with something very offensive to this man. Very truly, I tell you, no one can see the kingdom of God unless they are born again. Now many of your Bibles will have a textual note that also says a legitimate translation of this phrase is born from above. It's the Greek phrase anathen. And the primary meaning is again, but a secondary meaning is from above.

And so um this this secondary meaning is actually used later in John chapter three. Let me show you where it comes from. John three, verse thirty-one. The one who comes from above. is above it all. Now, Jesus will use in the book of John, he'll use spatial metaphors. So when he talks about from above, he means from the realm of God, from the heavens. When he talks about below, he means the realm of humans and the earth.

And so when Jesus looks at the Pharisee, go back to verse three if you would. Very truly I tell you, no one can see the kingdom of God unless they are born again. Now, what the the natural implication of that is, hey, uh Nicodemus, if you're gonna get into the kingdom of God. Your first birth wasn't sufficient. Now, what did Nicodemus' first birth give him? He's Jewish. He's a man.

Right, circumcision, the sign of the covenant uh God made with Israel. In fact, there's a there's a prayer that I don't know if Nicodemus prayed this, but we have that we have um Records that this prayer was uttered by Jewish men at the time of Jesus, so potentially Nicodemus did, but it w but it looked like this. I thank you, God, that I was not born a Gentile, I thank you, God, that I was not born a slave, I thank you, God, that I was not born a woman. So what did Nicodemus' birth give him?

Yeah, he was Jewish, he was free, and he was made. So imagine the insult. When this rabbi shows up at night with flowery language and says, You must be coming from God, and Jesus looks at the guy and says, You will not enter the kingdom of God because your first birth doesn't count for anything. Do you see how offensive that would be? Your first birth got you nothing. And it's like, what? His birth was everything to him. Back to John three.

Uh that verse three, I mean. So very truly I tell you, no one can see the kingdom of God unless they're born again. Now I so I think Jesus means that meaning for sure, the literal again meeting, but I also think he means from above. In other words, the problem with your first birth is that it's a human birth. There's nothing supernatural about it. It's not of the spirit. It's like sinful people give birth to sinful people.

The second birth is going to have to have an entirely new source. So imagine your Nicodemus. wealthy, influential, one of the most powerful men in Jerusalem, potentially praying a prayer that like thanked God for the way that you were born. And then Jesus leads instantly with Not enough. You need a whole new birth coming from a whole new source. Are you with me on how offensive that would sound to Nicodemus?

And it's interesting when we hear the phrase born again, that's come to have a really negative connotation in our world. Would you agree? Somebody says, yeah, they're a born-again Christian. Is that a compliment? No, it usually means somebody's come out of a like a crazy lifestyle and now they are locked in. Uh they're very devout, very religious.

Like so the born-againness turned them into very devout and very religious. But it's interesting. The person that's told to be born again is somebody who is already very devout and very religious. So whatever born again means, it can't mean be more devout and more religious. Would you agree?

So Nicodemus, he takes the first meeting, the again meeting. And he says, Well, how can somebody be born when they are old? And and this in an honor-shame culture, he he's not sincerely befuddled. He's actually, I think, trying to shame Jesus for this absurd statement. Surely they cannot enter a second time into their mother's womb to be born. Jesus answers, Very truly I tell you, no one can enter the kingdom of God unless they are born of

Water and spirit. Now, to be born again and to be born of water and spirit, it's the same thing twice. Jesus is actually trying to help Nicodemus by using a different image. So the water and spirit image is an Old Testament image where one of the signs of the Spirit or the work of the Spirit or the presence of the Spirit was the idea of water. So like in Isaiah forty four.

I will pour water on thirsty land and streams on the dry ground. I will pour out my spirit on your offspring and blessing on your descendants. He says very truly Nicodemus, you must be born again. And that could be like start over, new fresh, new fresh start, or it can mean uh from above. I think Jesus means both. He takes the again part and goes, come on. That's an absurd thing.

So Jesus rephrases, you cannot now see or enter the kingdom of God unless you're born from water and spirit. What's that? Well, it's the th same thing he just got done saying. It's another image from the Old Testament that maybe Nicodemus would be more familiar with that promises a new birth or transformation of the human heart because of what the Spirit does. And that image is the image of water. Are you with me? And there are loads of passages that we could have pulled from.

Jesus continues, flesh gives birth to flesh, but spirit gives birth to spirit. So he's being really clear. Human beings give birth to Human beings, right? And are human beings in Jesus' economy a slightly flawed? Yes. And so what can human beings produce? things of the spirit. And so he's just saying over and over again.

Nicodemus, your first birth isn't enough, you must be born by the Spirit. And he uses this image from the Old Testament of water and spirit and wraps this whole thing up by saying Your natural birth gave birth to a natural you. The kind of birth I'm talking about is something that only the Spirit does. Are you with me? Okay, thank you. One of us is together. You should not, Jesus continues, you should not be surprised by my saying you all must be born again.

The spirit, and remember, wind, spirit, and breath are all the same word. The wind or the spirit blows wherever it pleases. You hear its sound, but you cannot tell where it comes from or where it's going. So it is everyone born of the spirit. In other words, the transformation that Jesus is talking about, this new birth, is something the Spirit does, but it can't be engineered or calculated or predicted. It can't be measured and it can't be quantified.

You have to be open to whatever the spirit does, and what the spirit will do will not always look the same in everybody else.

Well, how can this be? Nicodemus asked. You are Israel's teacher, and you do not understand these things? You never want to hear that as a rabbi from Jesus. Very truly I tell you, we speak of what we know, and we testify to what we have seen, but still you people do not accept our testimony. Who's the we?

Yeah, that crushed it exactly. The we here is like me and the father. Me and the father share what we have seen. You all, even Israel's leadership, don't know what you're talking about. Again, incredibly insulting. I have spoken to you of earthly things and you do not believe. In other words, I'm right here, you're seeing my ministry, and you don't believe. Well, then how then will you believe if I speak of heavenly?

No one has gone into heaven except the one who came from heaven, the Son of Man. Again, a reference from Daniel 7. Just as Moses lifted up the snake in the wilderness, so the Son of Man must be lifted up, and everyone who believes in him may have eternal life. Now, this is why John is hard, because you get into these extended conversations that are full of language that is really difficult to kind of understand and make progress. Jesus here is referring to another Old Testament episode.

It's uh one of the weird ones, man. God sends snakes to Israel to punish them. They the the snakes bite people, people are dying, and then God says to Moses, Okay, make a bronze snake, hold it up on a pole, and everyone that looks at the snake and trusts That they'll be rescued will be delivered from the snakes. And you're like, that's about as weird as it gets in the Bible. I have no idea what it is.

But Jesus uses somehow that reference to say, listen, I'm gonna be lifted up too. Now, whenever he uses that language, what's he talking about? His cross, right? Lifted up on his cross. In the same way the Israelites trusted a bronze snake to save them from the snakes, you will trust a human to save you from the curse upon humans. And that happens when he's lifted up. So again, to Nicodemus, this would have all made sense. And I think it would have been pretty offensive to him.

So the rest of chapter three goes on. The next verse, of course, is, you know, uh John three sixteen, and then you have this extended, um, I'm gonna set that aside because we did a whole series on John 3.16 and all of that stuff. But I wanna look at the next story that Jesus juxtaposes to this one. And that one comes in John chapter four. So are you with me on Nicodemus? God bless him. All right, so let's meet somebody at the opposite end of the spectrum.

Jesus had left Judea and went back once more to Galilee. Now he had to go through Samaria. All right. Now, just like the Nicodemus first sentence, this tells you a whole bunch that as Americans, we're just not familiar with, and that's fine, but we need math. Yep, thank you. Maps, here we go. Boom. Jacob. Now, I don't know that you can see this.

But if you were to look on the left side between the two bodies of water, on the left side of those bodies of water, you would have Judea at the bottom, where Jesus is coming from. You would have Samaria in the middle, and then you would have Galilee up top. All right. Now, if Jesus is in Judea, what is the quickest way to go back north geographically? What's the quickest way? Through Samaria. Now, pious Jews never went that way, even though it was shorter. What they would do next live.

Is they would go north. Up through those mountains. And they would, there's a there's a ridge along the Jordan River that crosses over on the other side away from Samaria. And they would take that ridge line all the way and then dip left into Galilee. All right. And let me tell you why they did not go to Sim uh to Samaria. All right, this is very, very important context. First of all, who are the Samaritans? The Samaritans were the remnant.

Remember we we talked in Jeremiah about their the fact that Israel had a civil war split into a northern kingdom and a southern The Northern Kingdom went into exile about a hundred years or so before the Southern Kingdom. The northern kingdom went into exile in into Assyria. And what Assyria did is they took the best and the brightest of the northern part of Israel and left the not best and the not brightest.

They left the poor, they left those who were um lame or for whatever reason could not add to the Assyrian material. And then what they did is they brought in other peoples from around the Assyrian Empire who had been conquered to populate that area. And the Jewish people that were left and those Gentile pagan idolaters began to intermarry. And they produce the Samaritans.

And the Samaritans, because of that, when the pureblooded Jews came back from their exile, they hated those who had intermediate. Because remember, messianic bloodlines, bloodlines mattered from the tribe. So if you intermarry with a pagan, Messiah is not coming through you. So this was they ethnically so offensive. And then not only that, these Samaritans would boast that they were the true inheritors of Moses.

Because they were, in their words, descendants of Joseph. And Joseph, as we know, was Jacob's favorite. And so they claimed a different mountain than Jerusalem. It was called Mount Gerizim. They worshiped there. They had a temple there. They only claimed the first part of the Old Testament, the Pentateuch, the Torah. They ignored the rest and all the traditions of the Jews in southern Israel. The hostility among them was so great, I don't know, a hundred years or so before Jesus' birth.

The Druze in the South destroyed the temple, the Samaritan temple. And the Samaritans retaliated by taking the bones of dead people and animals and spreading them in the temple during Pastor. And again, if you're Jewish, there isn't, there's just not a bigger insult than that. So there was religious hatred, there was ethnic. So pious Jews, if they had to go north from Judea to Galilee, they went up the Jordan River valley. They did not go straight through Samaria. Are you with me?

So what's the text say? Jesus left Judea and went back once more to Galilee. Now he what? Now, original audience stuff, you're like, no, he doesn't. There's no had. But we're gonna see the had here in just a second. So he came to a town in Samaria called Sikar, near the plot of ground Jacob had given to his son Joseph. Jacob's well was there, and Jesus, tired as he was from the journey, sat down by the well. It was about noon.

Now noon is very significant here because it's the heat of the day, correct? They've walked a bunch. Uh Jesus's we disciples, we found out later, go to town to get food. Jesus is there by himself. When a Samaritan woman came to draw water. Okay, y'all. Y'all. Women drew water from the wells uh in groups and early in the morning or late in the afternoon. Never during the heat of the day. Ever. So what do we know about her automatically?

She didn't want to meet anybody there. She didn't she went at the time least likely to see anybody. Introverts, you know how this works. Like I will grocery shop at the oddest hours just to avoid human interaction. And understandable. I think in her case, there's a bit of a backstory as we find out.

So at noon, Jesus is sitting by himself. Now, we're going to find out in a second. The wells in those days didn't have their own buckets attached to them. So you had to bring your own bucket. So everybody would carry a bucket around to draw water from wells. Jesus didn't, his disciples took theirs and went into town. Jesus deliberately places himself in the heat of the day at a well with no buttons. And a Samaritan woman has come to draw water, and he says to her, Will you give me a water?

Now, brothers and sisters. The the number of taboos that are being broken right here, I don't have a great modern parallel, but let me give you some Jewish writing on women in general and Samaritan women in. Now, not all Jews believe this, and certainly God did not instruct this. And so, like any system, there are people in it who take and run and come up with things that are not even remotely aligned with God's purpose.

So I we don't need to denigrate Judaism. This was not this was not held by everybody, but there was a specific train of rabbinic thought that taught that you should not ever talk to women in public. And that Samaritans were perpetually unclean. And so for Jesus to ask a Samaritan woman to use her bucket and for him to drink from it. Here's some of the taboos. One of the oldest tractates of the Mishnah.

says this. And a tractate is just a section, and the Mishnah is the codification of oral tradition that came later. But this was around, we think, during the time of Jesus. Talk not much with womankind. They said this of a man's own wife, how much more for someone else's wife? Hence the sages have said, He that talks much with womankind brings evil upon himself and neglects the study of the law, and the at the last will inherit Gehenna.

It is forbidden, another track date, it is forbidden to give a woman any greeting. Another track tape, with two nations, my soul is vest. And the third is no nation, those who live on Mount Seir and the Philistines, and the foolish people that dwell in Shechem, which is Samaria. Another rabbi said, E he that eats the bread of the Samaritans is like one who eats the flesh of swine. And remember, pigs were among the most unclean of all.

And then just to put a nice little period on this, the daughters of Samaria, the women of Samaria, are deemed as unclean as menstruants from the cradle. So was there a stigma here? Yeah. So she's got three strikes, right? Woman, Samaritan, and it's noon, and she's by herself.

There are not stronger taboos against what Jesus does when he asks the woman, Would you give me a drink? The Samaritan woman said to him, You are a Jew, and I am a Samaritan woman. Like literally the translation is, why are you a Jewish male talking to a woman, a Samaritan woman? Like she's aghast too. And then and then the the narrator adds a parenthetical comment, for Jews do not share utensils with Samaritans. Jesus answered. Now is Jesus great at answering direct questions.

Yes, but not answering. Exactly. So here we go, Jesus doing the Jesus judo. 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 given you what? Living water. Now, what is water a sign of in the Old Testament? The spirit, right? We just saw that with Nicodemus. Living water is it literally means running water. So the way that you would collect rainwater back

Is you would build uh cisterns and you would d dig out a big hole or expand kind of a natural hole in the ground and you'd plaster it with clay, and then water would accumulate, and then you would drink that. The problem, that kind of stagnant water. Um it it would get it would get gross, it get um it would get cruddy and um silty and it just was it was a picture of like deadness.

But living water, like a stream, a river, a waterfall, a spring, that was a picture of God's refreshment to his people through his spirit. So Jesus looks at her and he says, Yeah, I just asked you for physical water. But guess what, Jesus Judo? I am offering the gift of the Spirit to you. Now, she didn't realize this because I mean they're talking about water, right? So living water is like running water. It's not well water. And so she says very naturally. Give me some of that water.

Let me show you in Jeremiah a couple places where living water is mentioned, just so you know there's a whole backstory here. Jeremiah 2, my people, if only we had done a series on Jeremiah earlier. We can fully appreciate these. Jeremiah 2: My people have committed two sins. They have forsaken me, the spring of living water, and have dug their own cistern. Broken cisterns that cannot hold water. So here, water, drinking bad water is a metaphor for choosing a manner of life.

Away from what God is doing. And living water is choosing a manner of life that God blesses and floods. With his spirit. Or Jeremiah seventeen. Lord, you are the hope of Israel, all who forsake you will be put to shame, those who turn away from you will be written in the dust, because they have forsaken the Lord the spring of living water.

So we're not sure if the woman understood the reference because she she she interprets water as physical water, right? Sir, now notice the her first word to him is you are a Jew. Now what's she calling him? Sir Sir, the woman said, You have nothing to draw water with. You don't even have a bucket. And the well is very deep. Where can you get living water from a well? Are you greater than our father Jacob, who gave us the well and drank from it himself, and also did his sons and livestock?

Jesus answered, Well, if we're just talking about this kind of water, everyone that drinks that kind of water will be thirsty again. But I'm talking about a different water, a water that satisfies far beyond the moment. Indeed, the water I give will spell up, will spring up and give eternal life. Now we're going to look at eternal life next week. It's a very, very pregnant phrase. It does not mean life in heaven, even remotely.

All right, no one would have thought, oh, that means I go to heaven when I die. Eternal life is a quality of life that you have now when you receive Jesus as He is. And that life continues. It has very little to do with what happens after you die. It has everything to do with what you receive now. So if you drink of the water I'm talking about. Living water will flow from within you and lead you into internal eternal life. And so she says, Sir.

Give me this water so that I won't ha get thirsty and have to come back to the well. She's still thinking about physical water, right? Like who wants to come in the middle of the day and draw water every day? So yes, I'll take living water that never runs out. And so Jesus, more Jesus Judo, doesn't, he doesn't correct her. He just says, go call your husband and come back.

Which is so out of left field. I have no husband, she says. You are right when you say that you have no husband. The fact is you've had five husbands, and the man you now have is not your husband. What you have just said is quite true. Now, we gotta be really clear about this. Women did not divorce men. So the have five husbands meant she either was very unlucky and they all died, or much more likely.

There was something about her that husbands would keep putting her away, which is what divorce was called. She had been put away five times. And because the stigma of immorality was now attached to her, who would marry her again? So the man that she is with is not her husband. It also could mean that she's had affairs with five married men. Either way. She is the victim of this. She says, Sir, I can see that you are a what? A prophet. So we've gone from you're a Jew to Sir to.

You're a prophet. And then she does what any of us would do, change the subject. And she says our ancestors worship. On this mountain. But you Jews claim that the place where we must worship is in Jerusalem. Remember the Jews and Samaritans, one of the reasons I hated each other is the Samaritans said, no, no, this mountain is the true mountain, the true temple. And the and the Jews in Jerusalem said, no, no, this mountain is the real mountain and the real temple.

And so she asks beautifully, well, which of us is right? Which is a phenomenal question when you've just been exposed. Woman. Now what's interesting here is Jesus takes her question seriously. He dignifies her with like the he this is like the most powerful teaching on worship in the New Testament. And he gives it to her because she asks sincerely.

woman. And remember that phrase he calls us mom that like this is a respectful phrase. Believe me, a time is coming when you will worship the Father, neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem. You Samaritans worship what you do not know.

We worship what we do know, for salvation is from the Jews. So Jerusalem is the real Jerusalem, in other words. Yet a time is coming and now has come when true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and in truth, for they're the kind of worshipers the Father seeks. So now mountains don't matter that Jesus. God is spirit, and his worshipers must worship him in spirit and in truth. And there is a whole teaching on just this little rift. But notice.

This poor, uneducated outcast asks a theological question and Jesus takes it seriously as a rabbi. And he answers. And he says both mountains are obsolete now that I'm here, which is this whole other thing. The woman then says, I know the Messiah called Christ is coming. And when he comes, he will explain everything to us. Now, just a bit of background on The Samaritans thought their Messiah would come and reveal that their mountain was the true mountain.

There was a pretender that showed up during the reign of Pontius Pilate who claimed he could show. The Samaritans were the sacred vessels that Moses used were buried. Now obviously that was a messianic pretender, but but the idea is that the the Jesus has just spoken on worship.

And the Messiah in the Samaritan vision would show them where true worship is and what true worship looks like. And so she naturally goes, I know that the Messiah is coming, and when he comes, he'll explain all this to us. And then Jesus drops the bomb. I, the one speaking to you, I am.

It's fascinating because the Greek word that Jesus uses is exactly the Greek word that the Old Testament, the Greek translation of the Hebrew Testament, uses when God says to Moses, What is your name? And God says, I am that Greek word is the word that Jesus uses. Come on now. Who is the first person in the Gospel of John to know that Jesus is the Messiah? A Samaritan woman. I mean you could you just there is no more powerful ancient image.

Of Jesus dignifying the most ostracized person than this. Just then his disciples returned and were surprised to find him talking with a woman, right? We understand why. But no one asked, What what do you want? Or why are you talking with her? Those are very Jewish ways of of saying, hey, do you want us to get rid of her? So they they show up and they're like, this is stinking odd and very inappropriate. But they kept their silence because you know Jesus has been doing some Jesus stuff.

And then this, this. Then leaving her water jar. What did she come to the well to get? And is she leaving with any? No and yes. The physical water is forgotten in that moment. She leaves her jar. She went back to the town that and said to the people, Come see a man who told me everything I ever did. Could this be the Messiah? He's gone from a Jew to a sir to a prophet to the Messiah. Many of the Samaritans from that town believed in him because of the woman's testimony.

And what was her testimony? What was the gospel she shared? What was the good news? He told me everything I ever did. Now, when would that ever be good news to any of us? He told me everything I ever did. When is that ever good news? Ever. Yes, we're gonna get there. Yeah. But my statement was rhetorical and I'm glad you it chimed in there. And I want to keep encouraging that So awesome. I love our I love our sweet church. Hi Seth, you don't have to text me anymore. I'm good.

So when the Samaritans came to Jesus, they urged him to stay with them, and he stayed two days, and because of his words, many more became believers. They said of the woman, We no longer believe just because of what you said. Now we have heard for ourselves, and we know that this man really is the Savior of the world. A Jew to Sir, to a prophet, to Messiah, to Savior of the world. That's the whole story of John right there.

And think about what Jesus has done. Why do you think John juxtaposed these two stories together? Well, a chart would help. So let's talk about Nicodemus. He's male, she's female. He's Jewish, she's Samaritan. He has high status, he's a ruler. She is as low status as you can get, a moral and an. He's educated and wealthy. She's uneducated and black. He came at night, they encountered themselves at midday. The Pharisee was incredibly religiously devout, and she was a sinner and a

He was familiar with Jesus already. She had no idea who this dude was sitting at the well. As far as we know, Nicodemus didn't say anything until after the crucifixion of Jesus. But this woman dropped everything and ran back to the village that had ostracized her. What's Jesus what's John saying when he puts these two people together? And who's the one that needs told they have to be born again? How does Jesus talk to the religious one in contrast to how he talks to the non religious one? Right.

I mean, this is what the gospel looks like. It looks like confronting the proud and comforting the humble. And this is what he does to those, I mean, Nicodemus was as self-assured as you could be of your own righteousness, correct? Pharisee, leader, male, Jewish, ruling, counselor, I mean everything about him, you must be born again. And she has to be born again too, but he didn't tell her that.

He just said, I see you. So, three observations, man, that wreck me about this. Observation number one: who gets it and who doesn't? All throughout the Gospels, the ones you think would get it don't. And the ones who get it are the least likely that you would get it. Correct? Why have we reverted 2,000 years later? We are so sure that we have the monopoly on Jesus. Yeah. I have to be reminded that I am in the worst position to really see him. Me.

Observation number two. Jesus ignores all social taboos that government. And if you're gonna follow Jesus, you have to go to Samaria with him. That's where Into the ugly, violent, gnarly, abusive, dark, lustful places in our culture, that's why Jesus will go. That's where he will go. I want a Jesus that just comforts me in my middle class lifestyle. I want a Jesus that blesses my work, that helps me save well for retirement, that gives me godly kids.

I want a Jesus that just allows me to be insulated from the awfulness of the world. And that's not where Jesus is doing his best work. And so if you're gonna follow him, this is where he's gonna lead us into the Samarias of our world, into the the taboos. into the places where it's just ugly and where it isn't so clear. There are times you'll have to make discernment with people because it isn't clear in the text what you should do.

And a lot of my Christianity is designed to keep me from those places.

And then lastly, and most importantly, Jesus sees thirst, not behavior. Imagine if that woman had come across a Pharisee. Who knew everything she did. Would that be good news? Imagine she came across the average Christian who knew everything she ever did, would that be good news? Or the average pastor, or the average seminary professor Is it good news when someone knows everything you've done?

Usually and almost always, no, it's not. You're judged, you're shamed, you're condemned, you're ostracized, exactly and precisely the location socially of this woman. And yet Jesus knows it all, acknowledges it all. He knew it before he gave the offer of living water and he reaffirmed it after. Not a hint of condemnation, because she didn't need any more. Just the invitation. He sees and saw her thirst, not her behavior.

He recognized that being immoral is the like the hardest place to hide from God. Being religious is the easiest place. And so he sees her thirst. He knew everything and didn't condemn her. It it just blows my mind. Because when I think about Jesus, he sees my behavior. He knows everything I've done, and that's never good news. The kind of God I believe in, He is angry, He is upset, He is disappointed, He's grieving over me. She met a different Jesus. And what's he asked her to do?

Go get your husband. Bring me that piece of your life that is the ugliest, least forgivable piece of your life, the most shamefilled, the awfulest piece of your life. And let me extend the offer of living water even in the face of that. Right? And so she ran. She dropped her jar of water and ran.

So I I just feel like I don't know if this is true. But I just feel like some of us are in Samaria right now. Like we don't identify with Jesus or the disciples, we identify with the woman. We live isolated, ostracized by others, or maybe just ourselves. We live filled with shame and the thought that Jesus knows it all isn't some good news. It's like literally terrifying. And so we have to perform and we have to get right or get religion or whatever.

And it's just really hard to believe that Jesus knows it all. And he loves me in spite of it. I know that's so religious cliche, but for her, she dropped everything. And I don't know, y'all. I'm tired of just doing church. I don't like if if the gathering is the point, then okay, who really cares? I mean, really. I I want this heart transplant. I want to be born again again. I want to like pray for living water and receive it.

And so I'm just going to ask you to risk something. I'm really convinced that there are few of us here who are really thirsty. And it's not about your behavior, but it's about the thirst that sits behind. And I'm gonna ask you to just stand up and we're gonna pray. And we're gonna ask that Jesus, hi Seth. We are gonna ask that Jesus. Does what he promised.

That those who look to him will receive this living water. And I don't know what that looks like. I don't know. I got nothing. I'm a rookie when it comes to all of this stuff. I just know I'm sick of not asking. That's what I want to ask.

So um before we before we sing or take the Lord's Supper, I just want to pray for some of you for whom this strikes. Deeply. Obviously, you don't have to share a thing. No judgments made. But if this, if you're sitting here and you're feeling like you're in Samaria, would you just stand up? And we're just gonna pray. Anyone else? Thanks for being honest. I don't know how better to do this stuff. I resist so much of my religious upbringing. But I just felt so heavy.

That Jesus wants to speak into some of the real, real awful stuff right now. Anybody else? If you're around somebody who is standing. Um and you know them. Go ahead and place uh if it's okay with you guys, place a hand on their shoulders. And then I'm gonna pray over us. All right. So if you see somebody who's standing and you know them. And if you don't know them, ask permission, but stand with people who are standing if you would.

feel kind of by themselves in this moment. So look around. Come on. Turn around. You looking at me, turn around. Bright eyes. Every now and then I fall apart. Back here. Come on. Gather around folks. I need more of you to do this. If you're thinking, should I do this? Yes. Would you please stand up and gather around somebody who's already standing? If you have a pulse, go ahead and do this.

You don't have to know them. I take that requirement out. Just go next to somebody, okay? Just go stand with somebody. In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Mighty God. You see the secrets and the cries and the desires of your sons and daughters. I pray by the authority of the name of Jesus of Nazareth. that you pour out your Holy Spirit in ways that bring relief and healing and

I pray against the powers who accuse and hold us captive. I pray, Lord Jesus, for all of this great theology to become reality. And I pray mostly that you would demolish any view of you that doesn't look like Jesus meeting this woman. God, I pray that we would taste this water. that would live into eternal life. and that we would be a community where we could know everything and still stand and love without condemnation of others.

Have mercy on us. Then I pray this in the name of Jesus. Amen. Amen. You may be seated. And we realize that Sometimes there's a feeling or a sense of something immediate, and then sometimes it only makes sense when you look back over the course of weeks or months.

As for me, I don't know about you. I want to become expectant again that God hears and does, even though the hearing and the doing might be outside of my Father, before we take the Lord's Supper, I pray that there will be a strong sense of you receiving us afresh this morning in the midst of our brokenness, in the midst of our sin. We come to the table again as people who are hungry and thirsty. And so we receive the meal and we receive you afresh. Amen and amen.