Blessed to share this sermon Sunday: Jesus walking to where He needed to be – recalled by John chapter 4:5-14
So He came to a city of Samaria which is called Sychar, near the plot of ground that Jacob gave to his son Joseph. Now Jacob’s well was there. Jesus therefore, being wearied from His journey, sat thus by the well. It was about the sixth hour. A woman of Samaria came to draw water. Jesus said to her, “Give Me a drink.” (His disciples had gone away into the city to buy food.) Then the woman of Samaria said to Him, “How is it that You, being a Jew, ask a drink from me, a Samaritan woman?” (For Jews have no dealings with Samaritans.) Jesus answered and said to her, “If you knew the gift of God, and who it is who says 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 with, and the well is deep. Where then do You get that living water? Are You greater than our father Jacob, who gave us the well, and drank from it himself, as well as his sons and his livestock?”
Jesus answered and said to her, “Whoever drinks of this water will thirst again, but whoever drinks of the water that I shall give him will never thirst. But the water that I shall give him will become in him a fountain of water springing up into everlasting life.”… story continues in John 4
So there’s this story in the Bible of Jesus going to a well, a particular well at a particular time – as Jesus knows this particular woman will be at the well going to draw up yet ANOTHER bucket of water – again and again. And they start a very witty conversation (especially since she realizes He is VERY bold in asking something out of the norm – asking her for water as a Samaritan woman. (Jesus often talks to us and get us thinking too, doesn’t He?)… WELL, Jesus asks the woman questions and He is leading her to learn something (Jesus does that, lead us) – Jesus will explain to her that someday we all, the whole world, will worship in Spirit and in Truth. He is leading her in this conversation to learn that people will be blessed to drink in SPIRITUAL LIVING WATER. She, knowing history of Jacob – their great fore-father – and knowing prophecy, could recount that she was expecting a Messiah coming. She has her eyes opened in during this witty and all-knowing conversation, she is led to understand that He Himself is the Messiah – this Living Water is Jesus… and He is right in front of her! And He knows she will spread the Word.
Jesus says to her (and us): “a time is coming and has now come when the true worshipers will worship the Father in the Spirit and in truth, for they are the kind of worshipers the Father seeks. God is spirit, and his worshipers must worship in the Spirit and in truth.”
Have you even been thinking (internally) about “Why am I here?” – like in this circumstance, this moment I did not choose? I prayed for an answer, especially I thought I have been down this road before – Well, one of these times – I went directly to the Lord – with like: “can I have a scripture, a sparkle of hope or an answer of obviousness – anything like a CLUE!” And we can’t always get an easy clue, can we? – and often we get something that makes us ponder even more rather than the quick fix of a pat answer. So we have to realize that God DOUS have a good reason even if we can’t comprehend what’s good about it in human terms.
“Why am I here? What’s in it for me?” – or “why am I stuck here?” – well it’s not about you is it? That’s what God could say to us – the Spirit reminds us – but seriously Lord – either way Lord – please give me a clue… The vision I got was fuzzy, colors or static like a TV signal that needed to focus and like someone sharpening a camera lens – then I was finally getting a clearer picture – a well – the Samaritan woman’s well. Hmmmm… surely the well itself. But why?
Once out of the situation, I kept thinking about “Why the well?” (And yes I was happy to be out of the circumstance). WELL! Well, WELL – I went to read the scriptures in John 4 about the well – I was sure it was not just about the woman (although it could have been) – it was about the Samaritan’s well but it was Jacob’s Well – which drew lots of people – not just water. It was like I focused on that imagery of “drawing” – cranking – doing something to pull in the needed source – And the people who had to draw the water from the very deep – and the people had to KEEP drawing water over and over again – a daily chore – as Jesus pointed out – they will be thirsty again – and will keep coming to find some water from a well.
SO – it is not that I was thinking about being the Samaritan woman – although that’s volumes of lessons there – but I was thinking that when we draw from Jesus – we are replenished – and replenished enough that we can offer it to others – and that sometimes (even in the circumstance I was in, mentioned above) that others will come back to you – keep coming to you – keep trying to draw from your water source – not that they couldn’t draw it themselves but they may have not brought a ladle let alone a bucket or anything to keep hold onto that water. And do we have to keep giving them water – perhaps we can help teach them “WHO” is our source and hope they can start drawing from this strength too. Of course, there will be many in life that never make the connection – Jesus is waiting waiting waiting by their well – they never see Him.
SO, imagine they ask for some of your water – or at least look at you wondering “where do they get their water? their energy? their source of strength? (and sometimes they wonder – how can I source some of that? even if they don’t know that your source is not human water but living water). Let us hope they say – how can I draw on that kind of water too!?!
Now, you can’t pour from an empty cup – but are we ourselves getting our water from the right source? And handing out water (or other stuff which we will might run out of)… If we are getting Living Water from Jesus – then who are we to not keep it flowing it thru us? Maybe we simply need to appreciate that is why we are called to help – why God has us sitting in that situation – in that chair – can we focus on water flowing thru us that still hydrates us and alleviates thirst – and then pour from a full cup – from a fulfilling cup – a water that Jesus would say needs no ladle to get.
And that spring? – that becomes a fountain in us? Jesus put it there to be like a geyser of springing into everlasting life…
Let me get back to that woman at the well scene – and there is another older tale in Genesis about God’s angel coming to Hagar (servant of Sarah and Abram/Abraham, future mother of Ishmael (older brother to Isaac) and after the Hagar is comforted she calls the well :”The place where God has seen me” – God sees each of us – doesn’t He. He does!
I started thinking about a silly connection of Jesus picking her – that Samaritan woman or any person – but exactly her – the song – a Broadway hit – “One, singular sensation – every move that she makes…” it’s the lyric from a Chorus Line- where they are all auditioning for a part in a Broadway musical- all vying for the perfect moment to sparkle and connect and the director is looking for that special someone, exact for the part. (And this was something glamorous portrayed, but in reality, it took long work to get the ground work of skillset plus that spark…) Yet it was not that she had to work or any of us have to work to be chosen by Jesus = because He already chose each of us to be us, from before time.
It is NOT that the Samaritan woman at the well was at all-knowing or trying or anything. She encounters Jesus on an ordinary day that she doesn’t realize is NOT ordinary. She is picked out, probably from beginning of time, to be her normal self, then have this encounter with our Almighty Lord. She is at the middle of the hot day, when “normal” people don’t normally go, so MANY scholars and sermonists point that out, she alone at noon was avoiding a possible gossiping crowd in the morning, etc etc… yeah we get that… Yet Jesus judged her perfect for this moment and not just for who she was, but whom she would tell, what would happen next, and everything in between. One – ONE just like the Chorus Line – but also another song lyric: “A cog in something turning” as favorite singer Joni Mitchell would write as a lyric for “Woodstock” – this woman – and us – we are all cogs in something turning…
And Jesus told this woman of so much – it is said to be the longest conversation in the Bible – and Jesus was creating and drawing Living Water out of her stagnant life – so she was ‘drawn’ to say: “Sir,” the woman said, “I can see that you are a prophet. Our ancestors worshiped on this mountain, but you Jews claim that the place where we must worship is in Jerusalem.” – “Woman,” Jesus replied, “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. Yet a time is coming and has now come when the true worshipers will worship the Father in the Spirit and in truth, for they are the kind of worshipers the Father seeks. God is spirit, and his worshipers must worship in the Spirit and in truth.” The woman said, “I know that Messiah” (called Christ) “is coming. When he comes, he will explain everything to us.” Then Jesus declared, “I, the one speaking to you—I am he.”
Wow WOW – He says what she needed to hear – so that she believed Him. Jesus does say: “My sheep know My voice.”
Then she ran to tell the others – she said what they needed to hear – Her fountain of new life overflowed. Jesus also sends us our, TRUSTING in Him.
God has a Process – let us go to Him first… reach to Him as the first option…
So my neighbor’s wood stove chimney was on fire (they are OK and the house is OK). This was earlier in the week… I use it as an example that There is a process in firefighting, protocols and always communication – to the stations and fire fighters also lined up as backup…
SO that night, I saw fire trucks go by, maybe 930-10pm. My neighbors are about 7 doors down, great people, missionaries actually, it was their chimney from their woodstove, it was over doing it with heat.. too hot. I walked down to them, stood with them, watched the fire company be very methodical. Five in their uniforms with spike tools in hand waiting at the front door for instructions. No one moved without instructions. House was fine but the chimney became compromised. Yes, after a few holes in the garage wall and the upstairs bedroom wall, then it all seemed “done”, it all seemed OK and I went home. Now sitting in bed, now midnight and wide awake, I saw another few fire trucks come back, hmmm. The Fire Marshall had still been there doing paperwork and he saw the chimney flare up again, it had a blockage so severe that apparently it flared back up… So then more holes, a chain down the chimney when they could get the ladder truck up on the neighbor’s driveway… A process.
At this point, the neighbors were in the house with the fire marshall and invited me in as well to the back addition, because the new firefighters were just working on the chimney – well in another space. But looking into that room, it was a great image: 4 firefighters arm to shoulder backing up the situation. When the guy pulled the stove pipe out from the wall, which was cool by this time, he had back up as well as curious onlookers). They were there to back each other’s back. And there’s a protocol.
Later, the dreaded words, yeah they were going to have to pour down water… Fire boss said family should head out, so I brought the neighbors over to my house, 130pm, fed them pizza. Fire Marshall cleared house for them to return at 230am… all was ok, house too… except moderate water damage in the garage. Don’t worry, insurance will pay – there is a process.
What if the people tried water first? Well they say you could build up so much steam and pressure that the chimney to break open. And you would be on the ladder ON the chimney, not good… Best to call in the professionals. Well, let us switch this back to scene of the woman and the well – and for us living our lives – we DO want to go to Jesus first, Living Water! Well yes! He would call in the professionals and the angels, even might prevent our mental fires with mental reminders of us cleaning out our systems on a regular basis (chimneys and us) with His help. And so importantly, Jesus would want us to TRUST Him. And Jesus would also tell us there is a process. And if something were to go wrong, Jesus also has our back. Forgiveness comes for our forever. Jesus has a process – and Jesus has our back…
Please pray with me – Lord – Jesus, You are Lord – You are the process – the alpha and omega beginning and end and all the small steps in between. Teach us, show us, and even clear our fuzzy brains with your visions – if only we go to You Lord Jesus first and get our Living Water from you – worship You God – and depend upon You – You will lead us thru this life and to HOME. There is a process… Jesus You are the process and the processing and the answer too.
Amen
Debbie Upper 