Sermon - John 4 - Where can I find Love, Acceptance, Safety?

John 4.1-42 – Jesus and the Samaritan woman

IMAGINE that the story of your past reads like the life story of this woman… a life of fruitless, hopeless searching for love, acceptance and safety. A life which has gone through one crisis after another, one failure after another, one abusive relationship after another. Deserted or dismissed by husband after husband, you have been called so many demeaning names for such a long time that you believe you really are worthless, useless and unlovable. IMAGINE that’s your life (some of you may not have to imagine too hard, but stay with us; I have good news for you).

IMAGINE that your daily life now is like the daily life of this woman… Living with a man you dare not marry because you are too afraid of being let down again; considered disreputable, notorious, shunned by the other women of the village you have to keep out of sight. You can’t even collect water from the well at the same time as the respectable people; you have to make that hard, heavy journey at the hottest time of day, while everyone else is indoors taking their siesta.

TODAY as you make your midday journey for water from the well of Jacob, you are surprised to encounter a Jewish man, a member of that despised neighbouring race who think they are better than you Samaritans. He even looks like one of their religious men – they are the worst kind! How do you expect to be treated by him..?

Well, a few minutes later this same woman is hurrying back to the village – in such a hurry that she forgets her water jar – but she has something better and more nourishing than water. Something is different about her. In fact she is utterly transformed from the unhappy, downtrodden, abused person who the villagers are used to mocking or avoiding. Now bursting with joy, confidence and freedom she clearly has something they all need – and they all come running to Jesus too!

HOW did this happen – let’s listen in…

Context

Jesus has left Judea to avoid a premature conflict with the Pharisees and as he heads back to Galilee we are told that “he had to go through Samaria”. This is strange because, although the route through Samaria was the most direct, if you had asked a Jew in Jesus’ day how to get from Judea to Galilee they would not have said “you have to go through Samaria” they’d have said “you have to avoid going through Samaria!” Because of all the bad history and prejudice between these neighbouring peoples, their “sat-nav” would show a route crossing the river Jordan and going around Samaria before crossing back over into Galilee. But Jesus had to go through Samaria because of his mission.

So Jesus was sitting at a well which his ancestor Jacob had dug and which had provided a supply of water for generations of ancestors of both Jews and Samaritans (and is still there today). Jacob, whom God gave the name Israel, had dug the well to supply water, to sustain life. Jesus, the new and perfect Israel, is seated at the same well, tired and thirsty. He needs a drink, but he has no bucket. What he does have within him is a gift greater than water, a gift which only he can give.

Perhaps Jesus is meditating on these things as he sits and waits at the well … and then he hears footsteps and sees this Samaritan woman approaching, carrying an empty water jar and a bucket. Her head is bowed, she looks anxious, uneasy. It is clear from her body language that she just wants to get her water quickly and go. But Jesus can see other things about this woman.

In fact Jesus can see everything about this woman, even her deepest secrets, fears, anxieties, wounds, needs and desires. He is tired and thirsty, but she is deeply tired and thirsty.

Opening moves – breaking down barriers

A conversation needs to take place between two people who society did not allow to have a conversation. Fortunately, one of them is also God and he is not about to be stopped by human social conventions! So Jesus immediately cuts through all the generations of prejudice by asking her for a drink.

This shocks and surprises her: “You are a Jew and I am a Samaritan woman. How can you ask me for a drink?” (4.9). Jews do not associate with Samaritans. They consider them inferiors. A Jew would certainly not drink from a cup which had been handled by a Samaritan which would make them “unclean”. (Maybe you have experienced that kind of prejudice from people of a different race?). Jesus unexpectedly humbles himself, putting himself in a position of equality and dependance on the woman. And he does this not only because he needs what she has got, but because she needs what he has got.

Having broken through the barrier of prejudice, Jesus now gets straight to the point: “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 you living water.” (4.10)

This interests the woman greatly. This man is treating her with unusual kindness and respect and is also offering to meet her need, to satisfy her thirst in a way that is a gift from God. Has she understood him correctly? She seeks clarification that Jesus is talking about more than water and he says this:

“Everyone who drinks this water,” the water from Jacob’s well, “will be thirsty again, but those who drink the water I give them will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give them will become in them a spring of water welling up to eternal life.” (4.13-14)

Before we move on you might want to pause here and think about your own life. Perhaps there have been times when you have experienced this deep thirst, not just for a drink, but for love, for acceptance, for safety? And perhaps you have found relationships or things or experiences which have quenched that thirst … for a short time … before leaving you thirsty again and possibly scarred, hurt, disappointed.

Have you had experiences like that? I know I have and we need to hear these words of Jesus which he addresses to us today just as he addressed them to that needy woman:

Everyone who drinks this water - the water of power or success or alcohol or drugs or sport fanaticism or sex or crime or whatever - will be thirsty again. But those who drink the water Jesus gives them will never thirst. Indeed, the water Jesus gives them will become in them a spring of healing and strength and hope and love, which will never fail.

Too good to be true?

Now you might be thinking this sounds beautiful but if Jesus really knew what I’ve done and what I’m like, he wouldn’t be making that offer to me – he’d be throwing me out, or punishing me!
Well that’s what the Samaritan woman was thinking – but Jesus showed that he already knew EVERYTHING about her – you have had five husbands and the man you now have is not your husband – and yet he still accepted her and freely offered her this amazing gift, this new life which would not only meet her deepest needs for love, acceptance and safety, but would overflow from her into the lives of others and would never, ever disappoint or run dry.

This is God’s plan for you and me and every single human being too. May you know and receive this gift afresh today. Go and have the necessary conversations that society tries to prevent - and overflow with hope and love as you travel through enemy territory. And may you be able to say with confidence the words of the Samaritans:

“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 SAVIOUR OF THE WORLD.” (4.42)