Pastor Dan Eddy

John 4:5-30

“Will you give Me a drink?”

11-11-10

 

THE GOSPEL READING………………………….………………….John 4:5-30 NIV

P:  The Holy Gospel according to the Apostle, St. John, the 4th Chapter.

C:  Glory to You, O Lord.

5So he (Jesus) came to a town in Samaria called Sychar, near the plot of ground Jacob had given to his son Joseph. 6Jacob's well was there, and Jesus, tired as he was from the journey, sat down by the well. It was about the sixth hour.

 7When a Samaritan woman came to draw water, Jesus said to her, "Will you give me a drink?" 8(His disciples had gone into the town to buy food.)

 9The Samaritan woman said to him, "You are a Jew and I am a Samaritan woman. How can you ask me for a drink?" (For Jews do not associate with Samaritans.)

 10Jesus 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."

 11"Sir," the woman said, "you have nothing to draw with and the well is deep. Where can you get this living water? 12Are you greater than our father Jacob, who gave us the well and drank from it himself, as did also his sons and his flocks and herds?"

 13Jesus answered, "Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again, 14but 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."

 15The woman said to him, "Sir, give me this water so that I won't get thirsty and have to keep coming here to draw water."

 16He told her, "Go, call your husband and come back."

 17"I have no husband," she replied.

   Jesus said to her, "You are right when you say you have no husband. 18The 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."

 19"Sir," the woman said, "I can see that you are a prophet. 20Our fathers worshiped on this mountain, but you Jews claim that the place where we must worship is in Jerusalem."

 21Jesus declared, "Believe me, woman, a time is coming when you will worship the Father neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem. 22You Samaritans worship what you do not know; we worship what we do know, for salvation is from the Jews. 23Yet 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. 24God is spirit, and his worshipers must worship in spirit and in truth."

 25The woman said, "I know that Messiah" (called Christ) "is coming. When he comes, he will explain everything to us."

 26Then Jesus declared, "I who speak to you am he."

 27Just then his disciples returned and were surprised to find him talking with a woman. But no one asked, "What do you want?" or "Why are you talking with her?"

 28Then, leaving her water jar, the woman went back to the town and said to the people, 29"Come, see a man who told me everything I ever did. Could this be the Christ?" 30They came out of the town and made their way toward him.

P: This is the Gospel of the Lord.

C: Praise to You, O Christ.

 

 

I.                   Introduction…asking the question, setting up the advocates

 

What an odd question for Jesus to ask. “Will you give Me a drink?” He’s God. Why would He ever need anything from you and me, let alone from an unbelieving Samaritan woman?

 

Well to help you answer this question for your life I need your help this morning. If you are on the woods side of the sanctuary…I want you to play “The Devil’s advocate.” I would have bought you little horns and pitchforks to wear but I ran out of time.

 

But when I raise this sign I want you to say “Why are you talking to them?” Go ahead and try it. Great!! Put the emphasis on THEM.

 

OR if I hold up this sign…I want you to say “Don’t help them.” Good job, Devil’s advocates.

 

Okay those of you on the 3A side of the sanctuary you are in the choice seats. You are “Jesus’ Advocates.” Sorry I didn’t have time to buy little halo hats. However, when I point to this sign I want you to say “Go Jesus, go!!” Let’s give it a try. Great OR if I point to this sign…I want you to say “Go children, go!!” Good job, Jesus’ advocates.

 

 

II.                 The Problem of Poverty (put up graphic: Problem: Poverty)

 

Okay the central problem in this text is poverty. You’re probably scratching your head thinking “Poverty? I didn’t hear anything about that in the text.” Yes, poverty.  We need air, water, and food to live, and when we don’t have enough of it…we are impoverished. Jesus showed that even though He is the Son of God, He was still a man who thirsts for H-2-O.  

 

Now we don’t know the woman’s economical status. But she definitely was impoverished…beyond needing some water for her home that probably didn’t have indoor plumbing.

 

Real poverty is an absence of God’s peace in one’s life. According to the book, When Helping Hurts: It is the absence of a real relationship with God. Poverty of self where people have god-complexes (huge egos) on one end to low self-esteem (worthlessness) on the other. It can be a poverty of spiritual intimacy from denying God’s existence and authority to worshipping false gods. It can be a poverty of community: from exploiting others to being exploited. Here’s where some of the economic issues may come in. Or it could be a poverty of stewardship, the way we treat the environment, God’s creation: a loss of sense of purpose in life from laziness to being a workaholic and addiction to materialism.

 

So using these definitions, even though the average household income in Plymouth County is $100,000, almost double the national average and in Scituate it’s around $125,000…poverty is ramped here. We are impoverished. Most people in our South Shore Communities don’t have a true relationship with God. How many of us got caught in traffic jams on the way to church this morning?

 

So, Jesus senses that this woman is in poverty, because she is gathering water at the hot Noon day sun, and is not collecting water with other women; something done in this culture. He figures she’s been shunned by society. He sees a woman who was broken.

 

Couple that with the fact that Jesus as a Jew and this woman as a Samaritan were mortal enemies even worse than Patriots and Jet fans, or Packers and Bear fans. It was more along the line of American citizens and members of the Taliban or Al Queda.

 

Jesus said, “Will you give Me a drink?” She had the water but was not going to give Him a drop.

 

So, it was easy for the Disciples when they saw Jesus talking to this woman to say: “Why are you talking to them?” “Don’t help them.”

 

Make sense. We don’t want to force our religion on people, do we? We need to mind our own business, right? Don’t get involved in others’ problems, okay? They won’t appreciate it.  (Pause) That sounds good but it’s what the Devil is advocating.

 

Is that what God want us to do? No, for those who believe in Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior we say, “Go Jesus, go.” Jesus was there to alleviate poverty. He is here to restore broken relationships with God, with yourselves, with others, and with His creation. Jesus is saying to you His believers, His children, “Go children, go.”

 

Jesus wants you to take your time and talents to alleviate poverty in our world today. All of us need air, water and food to live.

 

 

III.              Solution: Water and the Word (put up graphic)

 

Now that we know the problem…Jesus offers the solution. In this case, it was water. But not the liquid the woman pulled out from 75 to100 feet down in Jacob’s well. No, Jesus’ water was invisible but more powerful. The water He gave was His Word. He spoke the Good News to this woman. He was giving Himself.

 

And for that we say “Go Jesus, go.” He compared the Lord’s salvation to water welling up inside of us.  Here water is the faith He gives.

 

Jesus is simply relating her true poverty to something we need everyday…water…not just from a well, river, or lake, but from Jesus’ fountain. (Point to the Chancel Cross). The Cross.

 

Christ is emphatic that His water will quench thirst forever AND it will well up a fountain of water showing that eternal life. His witness is firm and clear. His water is spiritual not material; heavenly not earthly; permanent not temporary. He is establishing a relationship with this woman to alleviate her true poverty.

 

Jesus wants you and me to quench the thirst of others today through the Word of God and waters of baptism. He is saying to you today, “Go, children, go.” Jesus wants you to use your time, talents and treasures to alleviate poverty in all forms.

 

And it can be as simple as sharing “What Jesus means to you?” Just like our Confirmands did two weeks ago. It’s our Creed in Christ.

 

 

IV.              Relationships: Thinking more of others (Put up graphic)

 

Now at this point, Jesus could have presented His water analogy, asked for a small drink, and gone on His merry way. But the woman wanted more than a great analogy, a snappy slogan, and some wise words. She wanted this water Jesus spoke of. She wanted a relationship with God. She wanted more than to hear a creed. Her poverty was not yet alleviated.

 

Jesus continues to bring the Word of God to her by exposing her sin of repeated adultery.

 

And yet when it comes to talking to people about their sins, it might be tempting to think: “Why are you talking to them?” “Don’t help them.”

 

I mean isn’t Jesus being judgmental here? (Pause) No, Jesus wasn’t condemning this woman to Hell; He was saving her from it.  He brings the Word of God to expose her sins, but ties her salvation to the worship of God in Truth and in Spirit.

 

She confesses, Jesus confirms her sin…not to judge her but to love her.  He doesn’t condom, He forgives. She confesses faith when she said, “You are a prophet.”

 

“Go Jesus, Go.”

 

As quickly as Christ emphatically establishes His role as the Messiah…He also reiterates that the God to be worshipped is the God of all…and seeks all to worship Him…not just Jews in a temple or Samaritans on the mountain.

 

Also, the Holy Spirit and the Truth are needed for the right worship of God. Christ connected The Holy Spirit to The Truth. We see this today right now as His Spirit is present here as the Truth of His Word in Scripture is proclaimed in the sermon, and spoken in our liturgy, hymns, and prayers.

 

As Jesus said in John 14:6: “I am the Way, the Truth and the Life…no one comes to the Father but by Me.” In building His relationship with the Samaritan Woman Jesus keeps making things about God clearer and clearer…just like He does here in His Church, in this congregation.

 

“Go Jesus, go.”

 

And because He’s the Messiah that means in order for His water to quench thirst for eternity He would have to pay the ultimate penalty for our poverty.  We need air, water, and food to live. Well the air would literally be sucked out of Him as He gave up His Spirit, suffering and suffocating on the Cross. Water poured out His side as a soldier stabbed Him with a spear to make sure He was dead.

 

Jesus did it to restore our relationship with God, with yourselves, with each other and with His Creation, to save us from everlasting torment. His resurrection shows that restoration has occurred even if we will not fully realize that on this side of heaven.

 

We need air, water and food to live. We have Christ’s wind, air, Spirit in our hearts when we received the thirst quenching waters at our baptism, and now we need to be continually fed the food of God’s Word, and literally the spiritual food of His body and blood in the bread and wine, so that we can be Jesus’ hands, feet, and voice in this world to save others from Satan.

 

Who are the Samaritan women we know in our lives whom we need to develop a relationship? Janet Schmitz was telling me that at last weekend’s LWML convention in Connecticut they had the woman paint one of their finger nails. They were instructed not to remove the painted finger nail polish until they had shared Jesus with one other person.

 

Now when it comes to us sharing our faith with others the world says: “Why are you talking to them?” “Don’t help them.”

 

But Janet didn’t listen and shared her faith with Darcy.  Darcy knows there’s some god out there but did not express a faith in Christ. You see Darcy’s aunt is a nun who has cancer and she thinks it’s not right because she’s considers her aunt a good person. Darcy is impoverished. The best way for Janet minister to this person is to keep establishing a relationship and then Janet will gain permission to speak more and more about Jesus. The key here is to listen, to care, and to look for ways to alleviate poverty.

 

In building relationships we make things about God clearer and clearer. That’s why we keep coming to worship each week so we can have that stronger relationship with our Lord and Savior so we can pass that onto others. Jesus wants you to take your time and talents to alleviate poverty in our world today….to establish relationship as you think of others more.

 

 

V.                Good relationships = People draw more people

 

Finally, the Samaritan’s woman’s response was to leave her valuable water pot, go back into the city, talk to people that have probably shunned her as she said, “This is too good to be true. This can’t be the Christ, can it?” Her response to Christ’s Word, His love, His everlasting water, His salvation was to arouse more interest as crowds kept coming out to see Jesus. When poverty is alleviated for one, it spread like a waterfall to others. 

 

More broken people wanted a restored relationship with God, with themselves, with others, with His creation. These Samaritans wanted what this broken woman had.

 

Multiplication takes place. Investment of time and talents yields more saved for Christ and more people to use their times and talents to bring others in. Relationships continue within the community of believers. God’s stewardship is about raising people, not people raising money. 

 

That’s why we continue to work on our various outreach efforts here. And we have an opportunity as a congregation to financially support a Brazilian outreach and Boston area college campus ministries to reach out to two groups of people impoverished here in our South Shore area.

 

Don’t let Satan or the World say to you: “Why are you talking to them?” “Don’t help them.”

 

Instead we proclaim: “Go Jesus, go.” He’s the one doing the converting, not you. He’s the one doing the saving, not us.

 

Jesus’ Spirit in your heart, given through the thirst quenching waters of baptism, and the food of His Word joined with the bread and the wine of His body and blood are here to alleviate your poverty, restore your relationship with God, with yourselves, with others and with His creation.

 

Jesus is asking, “Will you give Me a drink?” meaning will you take your time, talents and treasures He gives you to alleviate other’s poverty in all ways. We, by faith say, “Yes, Here I am to be your hands, feet, and voice.”

 

And for that Jesus is saying to you: “Go children, go.” Amen.