Message

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In his creation God created man and woman. They are to know each other and develop love relationship in God. But it is not easy for men to know women. Most men do now know women, so women cry a lot, saying, “You don’t understand me.” But there is one who knows and understands women perfectly. He is Jesus. In today passage Jesus talks with a Samaritan woman, a sinful woman. Through talking with Jesus she was changed from a most unhappy woman into a happiest woman in the world. Who is this Jesus? First, Jesus is the heart-opening converser (1-7). Verse 1 says, “The Pharisees heard that Jesus was gaining and baptizing more disciples than John.” The Pharisees were sensitive to the power-change, “Now who wields the power over the people?”. While the Pharisees were consumed with the power struggle, Jesus withdrew from it. Jesus left Judea, where he could gain many disciples, and went back once more to Galilee. Now he had to go through Samaria. It was an unusual and untravelled route for Jews, though it took half the time of the usual road. There was a historical reason for this. Since Assyrians conquered the Northern Israel around 720 B.C., the people lost their racial pure blood as God’s chosen people and became the ten lost tribes. Then the people of the Southern Judah despised them. They did not pass through Samaria when they traveled to Galilee. This was an unbreakable historical barrier. But Jesus went through Samaria breaking the centuries-old wall of feud between the Jews and Samaritans. There is no barrier in Jesus, and Jesus does so to save one soul. Jesus came to a town in Samaria called Sychar (near Shechem). Jacob’s well was there and Jesus sat down by the well, being tired from the journey. It was the heat of the day, at noon. He had sent his disciples into the town to buy food. Jesus was tired, hungry and thirsty. He was fully human. All people need time of rest and refreshment. Private time to rest is important, especially to public figures like CEOs and presidents of nations. Then how much more to Jesus! Then what comes next? Look at verse 7. “When a Samaritan woman came to draw water, Jesus said to her, ‘Will you give me a drink?’” This Samaritan woman would be the last person for anyone to talk with because of who she was. She was full of wounds and scars in her heart because of her sins. At that time Samaritans were despised by the Jews, and Samaritan women were despised by Samaritan men. This woman was despised and disdained by the Samaritan women on account of her immoral life. No one wanted to associate with her. So she came alone to draw water in the heat of the day, while all other women in the village, in the cool evening of the day. And she herself was closed-hearted and wanted to talk with no one. She was completely closed in and out. Even if some people wanted to speak to her, what would they say? They would probably try to sympathize with her or try to give her life-changing advice. But Jesus said to her, “Will you give me a drink?” Wow! Unthinkable and unspeakable words from any one in the world! How could he ask a favor of her? The most holy and awesome person Jesus asked a favor of the most sinful and pitiful woman: “Will you give me a drink?” These are truly the words of life. She must have felt highly valued and honoured. Jesus truly respected her and spoke to her first with these words so that she might open her heart. Jesus is God Incarnate. He humbled himself and came to this world to speak to us, even asking a favour of us so that we might have a conversation with him. Jesus is the humble and perfect communicator, Wonderful Counselor. He waits for us to respond to his invitation to table talk. Revelation 3:20 says, “Here I am! I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in and eat with him, and he with me.” He is the one who can talk with us about all our life problems and situations. He is our converser for life; but still talks to us daily. May God help us to have intimate and rich conversation with him so that we may be drenched in his grace and we may also become good communicators. Second, Jesus is the spring of the living water. How did the woman respond to Jesus’ words, “Will you give me a drink?” She said, “You are a Jew and I am a Samaritan woman. How can you ask me for a drink?” She did not walk away from Jesus. She remained there, looking at Jesus. She opened her mouth and talked. That’s great. She spoke on her level, though her words were like a retort. To her understanding a Jew’s talking with a Samaritan woman in public was impossible; asking for a favour is totally impossible. But Jesus did an impossible thing. At such a retort it is not easy to keep conversation. But Jesus went on, because of his shepherd heart for her. Jesus answered her, “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.” Parents usually give a spank to their wayward children. But Jesus loved her truly that he wanted to give her a big gift, the gift of God, though she seemed to insult Jesus with her sharp talk. Then she called Jesus, “Sir,” and said, “You have nothing to draw with and the well is deep. Where can you get this living water?” This time she seemed to despise Jesus, because Jesus looked so poor with no bucket to draw water. And then she compared Jesus with Jacob, saying, “Are you greater than our father Jacob?” She was an ambitious woman, looking for a great man. She did not know that man does not like to be compared with other men. Jesus tried to be nice to her, but she was not. Jesus wanted to have a spiritual talk but she remained materialistic and physical. Jesus could have finished the talk, saying, “You don’t understand what I am talking about. Why are you so unspiritual?” But to Jesus the fact that she responded itself is good enough. Jesus was happy to continue speaking with her. Look at verses 13,14. “Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again, but whoever drinks the water I give him will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life.” Here Jesus compared the water in Jacob’s well and the water Jesus gives. The water in Jacob’s well percolates up from the subsoil; it represents the water people can get from this world. The Samaritan woman searched for love and made a desperate effort to get man’s love. At the first marriage she was full of hope that her married life would go well with a right one. But her hope of a happy life in her husband’s love was broken into pieces and shattered. Her wound was as big as her hope. Yet, she could not give up her hope of a happy life through man’s love. She wanted to have just one more trial and that’s it. But her pursuit for man’s love led her to go through five marriages and five divorces. At each time of the M-D course her wounds and scars became bigger and now too big for recovery; so were her shame and guilt. Furthermore all her youth was gone with no returning. Her thirstiness was still there; in actuality she became thirstier. Jesus said, “Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again.” What a statement! Thirstiness is a universal problem for all people; they are thirsty not only for love but for money, power, or many other things of the world. The truth is that everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again. Those who do not know this truth continue their bloody battle in this deceptive world to the end of their lives. Then what is the alternative? Jesus said, “…but whoever drinks the water I give him will never thirst.” Wow! Never thirst? Who can say this? Jesus could say this, for he is the Creator God and the source of all human need. He can truly quench our thirstiness. The water Jesus gives is different from the water in Jacob’s well, for it percolates from a different fountain. It flows from the throne of God. (Rev 22:1) This water is not contaminated by the world, but ever pure and fresh. The water Jesus gives purifies our hearts and satisfies our souls. And the water is not like a can of “Canada dry” or “mountain dew” that quenches our thirstiness only once and no more. The water Jesus supplies becomes a spring of water in us. Jesus said, “Indeed the water I give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life.” It is truly great. That’s why Jesus’ water quenches our souls. Something temporal can never satisfy us but something eternal. The words of Jesus are the words of eternal life (Jn 6:68). The peace Jesus gives is different from the world gives (Jn 14:27). The hope Jesus gives is everlasting. He gives true rest for our souls (Mt 11:28,29). His love is unchanging and endures forever. He is the spring of living water (Jr 2:13). Praise Jesus. Thank him for his wonderful promise. Third, Jesus is the object of our worship (15-26). When the woman heard that Jesus’ water is different from Jacob’s water and the water Jesus gives would never make her thirst, her eyes were sparkled. She really liked this water, the ever-bubbling water, although she did not know what it was exactly. She said, “Sir, give me this water so that I won’t get thirsty and have to keep coming here to draw water.” It showed how tired and thirsty her life was. Still, her understanding was physical. Yet, when she asked for the water, Jesus told her, Go, call your husband and come back.” What a command! The word, “husband,” she never expected to hear; she did not want hear it. The “Husband” matter made her sick and tired. It had actually ruined her life. Her shame and guilt and disappointment and frustration were there in it. It was her very private matter, sore and painful. Then, why did Jesus tell her to go, call husband and come back? It was not to give her a hard time but to heal her deeply damaged soul. Jesus wanted to solve her sin problem so that she could have the living water welling up to eternal life. Jesus did not want a superficial conversation but a true, deep and personal one. At this she replied, “I have no husband.” She must have been greatly embarrassed. However she did not run away but endured the situation and confessed her shame. Then Jesus said to her, “You are right when you say you have no husband. The fact is, you have had five husbands, and the man you now have is not your husband. What you have just said is quite true.” Jesus has been known all about her. When she said, “I have no husband,” Jesus understood what it meant, and freed her from her sin by exposing it, not with a condemning way but with an embracing heart. She was not rebellious at all. She did not think that Jesus was hurting and insulting her. Rather it was certain that she was very thankful for Jesus’ spiritual help, which no one could do. Now she brings her deepest concern in her heart. The woman said, “Sir, I can see that you are a prophet. Our fathers worshiped on this mountain, but you Jews claim that the place where we must worship is in Jerusalem.” She seemed to be the last person who could talk about worship. It looked that she went too far away to worship God. That was not true. It was there in her deep heart. Worship is not just certain people’s interest, but all people’s. Worship is adoration with deep affection and heart devotion. Up until now she worshiped men, imperfect and sinful, to be loved and comforted, but only ended up unloved and totally disappointed and broken down. She worshiped the wrong one, giving her purity, devotion, love and woman’s faithfulness—all she had. No man was worthy of her worship. Now after talking with Jesus she deeply realized that she had to worship God. Then something bothered her. She had been taught that worship place was important. Then Jesus made a very important declaration about worship. Look at verses 21-24. “Jesus declared, ‘Believe me, woman a time is coming when you will worship 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 spirit and truth, for they are the kind of worshipers the Father seeks. God is spirit, and his worshipers must worship in spirit and in truth.’” Here Jesus teaches two things in regard to worship, the object of worship and the way to worship. Firstly, people must worship the Father, not anyone else. Human beings are to love each other with affection and responsibility. But no human being can be the object of other human being. Jesus said, “True worshipers will worship the Father.” True worshipers are those who have been seeking the true object of worship. Now they can find the very object in the Father, who is the Father of the Son Jesus. He has become the Father of all those who believe in the Son. What a revelation it is that the Creator of heaven and earth and the sovereign God is our Father. He is our perfect and loving Father, and we are to worship the Father. He loved us first to the point of sacrificing his one and only Son. In response we worship him with thanks and praise and heart adoration (Dt 6:5). And God has been seeking true worshipers. True worship is possible because both have been seeking. Now true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth. Again Jesus said, “God is spirit, and his worshipers must worship in spirit and in truth.” In the Bible God forbid any visible image of God. Visible things can make us habitual. A husband and a wife can see each other everyday. But seeing the love-partner day by day without a sincere heart makes the love relationship superficial and habitual. True love relationship requires respect and seeking attitude. Just seeing continually can make our hearts insensitive and corrupted. God is spirit, invisible. He is our loving and affectionate Father, but still he is the holy and most sincere God. Worshiping him requires our constant seeking and sincerity of our heart and the words of truth. We can truly worship him in spirit and truth. We can worship him in the Holy Spirit and in the Son, who is the truth. When the woman heard the revolutionary teaching about worship, she said, “I know that Messiah (called Christ) is coming. When he comes, he will explain everything to us.” Then Jesus declared, “I who speak to you am he.” Jesus is the Messiah whom the Jews and all people of the world have been waiting for. He is everything to everybody. He is the true object of our worship. He is our Everlasting Father. He is Wonderful Counsellor who has been speaking to the woman. He comes to us and speaks to us so that we may open our hearts to him. He does not want our false lovers to occupy our hearts and but to be laid down so that the spring of water in us may bubble and well up to eternal life. He is worthy of our worship. He wants us to be true worshipers, who can have a hearty communion with him in spirit and truth. May we become true worshipers and also grow as shepherds like Jesus who can have a compassionate, spiritual and truthful conversation with thirsty and lost souls.

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