20180816 – Friday – Women @ Well, sisters class, Hyde Park,

20180816 – Friday – Women @ Well, sisters class, Hyde Park, leader Maureen Hauser

Present: Janet C. Rosalie M., Fay B, Maureen H, Colleen R, Jane S, Janet J. and others.

Chairwoman: Lainie.

Today we have Maureen doing the “Woman of Samaria.”

Prayer: Lainie

We’ll give it over to Maureen H. now.

The title of this talk is “The woman at the well.”

The background to this passage involves the Lord Jesus Christ, leaving Judea and traveling through Samaria to Galilee. John records that Jesus “had” to pass through Samaria – (The KJV says “he must needs go through Samaria). It was to an accident that Jesus went through Samaria, nor was it necessarily a geographical need. The idea is that there was an inevitability bout it – a compelling desire. There were several roads leading from Judea to Galilee: one near the sea coast, another thorugh Perea, and one through Samaria. The road through Samaria was the least travelled, yet this was the road Jesus “had” to travel.

A couple of examples of Jesus “needing” to do something or be somewhere.

Luke 2v49.
“Why were you searching for me?” He asked, “Didn’t you know I had to be in my Father’s house?”

Luke 4v43.
But he did, “I must proclaim the good news of the kingdom of God to the other towns also, because that is why I was sent.”

John 10v16
I have other sheep that are not of this sheep pen. I must bring them also. They too will listen to my voice, and there shall be one flock and one shepherd.

Let’s just pause for a moment and take a quick look at who were the Samaritans, how did they come to be living amongst the Jews and why there was such hatred between Jews and Samaria?
2 Kings 17v1-6; 17v24-34.

Hoshea reigns in Israel
6. In the ninth year of Hoshea, the king of Assyria captured Samaria, and he carried the Israelites away to Assyria and placed them in Halah, and on the Harbor, the river of Gowan, and in the cities of the Medes.

Assyria re-settles Samaria
24 And the king of Assyria brought people from Babylon, Cuthah, Ave, Hamath, and Sepharvai, and placed them in the cities of Samaria instead of the people of Israel. And they took possession of Samaria and lived in its cities.

25 And at the beginning of their dwelling there, they did not fear the Lord. Therefore the Lord sent lions among them, which killed some of them.

26 So the King of Assyria was told, “The nations that you have carried away and placed in the cities of Samaria do not know the law of the God of the land. Therefore he has sent lions among them, and behold, they are killing them, because they do not know the law of the god of the land.”

27 Then the king of Assyria commanded, “Send there one of the priests whome you carried away from there, and let him go and dwell there and teach them the law of the god of the land”

28 So one of the priests whom they had carried away from Samaria came and lived in Bethel and taught them how they should fear the Lord.

29 But every nation still made gods of its own and put them in the shrines of the high places that the Samaritans had made, every nation in the cities in which they lived.

30 The men of Babylon made Succoth-benoth, the men of Cuth made Nergal, the men of Hamath made Ashima,

31 and the Avvites made Nibhaz and Tartak; and the Sepharvites burned their children in the fire to Drammelech and Anammelech, the gods of the Sepharvaim,

32 They also feared the Lord and appointed from among themselves all sorts of people as priests of the high places, who sacrificed for the in the shrines of the high places.

33 So they feared the Lord but also served their own gods, after the manner of the nations from among whom they had been carried away.

34 ‘to this day they do according to the former manner. They do not fear the Lord, and they do not follow the statutes or the rules of the law or the commandment that the Lord commanded the children of Jacob, whom he named Israel.

Jesus’ unconventional, divine appointment, John 4v4-26.

So, Jesus’ unusual journey through the hostile territory of Samaria goes beyond a surface explanation. Jesus’ mission was to make peace between God and people as well as between people and people. Jesus had come to keep a divine appointment with an individual who was searching for trut, How could Jesus not seek her out? He knew her heart and he had come especially to give her a divine message. This extremely unconventional encounter between Esau’s and the Samaritan was an example of God’s love for all mankind. Look at Jesus’ words to Nicodemus is the previous chapter.

John 3v16

“ For God so loved the world that he gave his only son that whoever believes in him should not perish but hve eternal life. For God did it send His So into the world to condemn the world but in order that the world might be saved thorugh him.’

Jesus came to the town in Samaria called Sychar (or Shechem), near the plot of ground Jacob had given to his son Joseph. Jacob’s well was here. Tis place i still there today – it is about 280 metres from Shechem.

Jesus, tired as he was from the journey, sat down by the well. It was about noon. His disciples had gone into the nearby tow to buy food and he was alone. A Samaritan woman came to draw water – a common act done by women. But this time, unbeknown to her, she had an appointment with the Son of God.

There does, however, appear to be something unusual about this particular woman. She was aloe and usually “Women at the Well” time is a time for talk and laughter and connection. She came at noon, the hottest part of the day. Maybe she chose this time purposely so she did not have to interact with others because she was ashamed. Maybe this woman was shunned by other women because of her lifestyle.

Prejudice – Who can be saved? – Remember the Apostle Peter and Cornelius.

Acts 10

1 At Caesarea there was a man named Cornelius, a centurion ….3 About the 9th hour of the day he saw clearly in a vision an angel of God come in and say to him,”Cornelius” 4 And he said to him, Your prayers and your alms have ascended as a memorial before God. 5 And now send men to Joppa and bring one Simon who is called Peter.

And there came a voice to Peter: ‘Rise, Peter; kill and eat.” 14 But Peter said “By no means, Lord; for I have never eaten anything hat is common or unclean.” 15 And the voice came to him again a second time,”What God has made clean, do not call common.” 16 This happed three times, and the thing was taken up at once into heaven.

34 So Peter opened his mouth and said: “Truly I understand that God shows no partiality, 35 but in every nation anyone who fears him and does what is right is acceptable to him.

Jesus Teaches the Woman.

So Jesus, the master teacher, begins a conversion conversation! Let’s follow hrough the progression of thoughts that this conversation opens up.

One thing to keep in mind is the amount of time Jesus spent for this very private tuition. This text is the longest conversation Jesus has with any woman in all four gospels.

When the Samaritan woman came to draw water, Jesus said to her, “Will you give me a drink?” Jesus is alone with her as His disciples had gone into the town to buy food. Notice the deferential way Jesus first approaches her. Now aggression – He asks for help.

She said to him, “You are a Jew and I am a Samaritan woman. How can you ask me for a drink?” (For Jews doe no associate with Samaritans.)

Jesus answered her, “If you knew he 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.”

Jesus piques her attention by mentioning a free gift of God. And by asking if she realises “who it is that asks you for a drink.” He has in fact said – you may not realise this yet, but I am the only one who can give you the free gift of living water – which is the salvation of God.

Eph 2v8-9

8 For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith – and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God – 9 not by works, so that no one can boast.

Rom 6v23

23 For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.

But the woman is not ready to move out of the natural level – however, her reply shows she realises this conversation is not merely about pouring a cup of water because she now addresses Jesus as ‘Sir’ and she now asks if he is greater than our father Jacob.

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

Jesus gently nudges her thinking to a higher level – Jesus plainly says – I am greater than the one who provided this water and the water I am offering is greater too – because this water can satisfy the longings of the soul.

“Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again, bu whoever drinks the water I give them will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give hem will become in them a spring of water welling up to eternal life.”

Let’s just stop for a moment and consider a couple of instances where Jesus talks about the thirst for living water.

John 7v37-38

On the last and greatest day of the festival, Jesus stood and said in a loud voice, “Let anyone who is thirsty come to me and drink. 38 Whoever believes in me, as Scriptsure has said, rivers of living waterwill flow from within them.”

Matt 5v6

‘Blessed are those who hunger and thirst faster righteousness for the shall be filled.”

Rev 22v17

‘The Spirit and the bride say, “Come,” and let the one who hears say, “Come,” and let the one who is thirsty come, eat the one who wishes take the water of life without cost.”

Jesus was offering the woman living water – the true path to salvation as opposed to the dryness of the half truths of the Samaritan religion – he was offering her a living relationship,to be a part of the “Called.” She must either accept or reject the call.

Matt 7v7-8

“Ask,and it will be given to you; seek,andyou will find, knock, and it will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives, andhe who seeks finds,anddto him who knocks it will be opened.

15 The 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.”

Jesus gently exposes the woman’s domestic situation.

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

What makes Jesus ask for her husband now after she asks to receive the living water? This is something she would rather not discuss – but as always with Jesus – all things must be opened and honestly discussed.Not one of us can hide our sins from the Son of God. We need to be accountable – and she needed to personally connect with what is being offered.

But she had not seen this coming – this strange twist in the discussion. She would have expected to be guided to the “living water” not confronted about her domestic situation. But the conversation had progressed now to a much more personal level. NoteJesus’ touch of gentleness with the sinner.

“I have no husband,” she replied – a confession perhaps? She,just like every human being needs salvation and she has been privileged to be visited by the only one who can provide forgiveness and salvation (living water).

Jesus said to her, “You are right when you say you have no husband. 18 The fact is, you have had 5 husbands, and the man you now have is not your husband. What you have just said is quite true.”

This would have startled her. This Jewish stranger had exposed details of her life he could not possibly have known naturally, Latershe will tell her villagers, “Comeand see a man who told me all things I ever did!” (Jn 4v29). This revealing by Jesus was so dramatic that she can only deduce he had divine knowledge.

19 “Sir,” the woman said, “I can see that you are a prophet.

This statement is the next growth stage in the conversion. Firstly she had seen Jesus only as a ‘Jew,’ then she respectfully called him ‘Sir’ and now she sees him as a prophet. The next stage is that Jesus must bring her finally to the realisation that he is ‘the Messiah.’

But before Jesus can do that, the woman herself brings in another odd turn in an already odd conversation. She brings up the core of what was really bothering her. She wants the full truth about “The Father” – where to worship him. – salvation – how to be a true believer – and what she must did to inherit eternal life – she wants to know “who can be saved?” So she says…

20 Our ancestors worshiped on this mountain, but you Jews claim that the place where we must worship is in Jerusalem.

Possibly turning and pointing to Mt Gerizim nearby, she says, “Our ancestors worshiped on this mountain, but you Jews claim that the place where we must worship is in Jerusalem.

There was along-standing debate between the Samaritans and the Jews about the correct place to worship.

21 “Woman,” Jesus replied, “believe me, a time is coming when you willsorship the Father neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem. 22 You Samaritans worship what you do not know, we worship what we do know, for salvation is from the Jews. 23 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 kid of worshipers the Father seeks. 24 God is spirit, and his worshipers must worship in the Spirit and in truth.”

Jesus is open and frank. He doesn’t hide that fact that salvation is of the Jews – that is an unchangeable fact. Tru worship must be based on truth and fact – not only on emotion. God has been working through the Jewish nation since Abraham’s time – but there is something more important that where worship takes place, it is in the quality of the heart of the worshipper – it is how worship takes place. God is looking for a class of true worshippers – people who worship him in spirit and in truth. This will be sincere, humble worship – not hypocritical, proud, ostentatious, self-seeking – and it will always conform to God’s given truths and aims. Both elements are necessary.

he woman finally realises who she is speaking to – her eyes are opened.

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

26 Then Jesus declared, “I, the one speaking to you—I am he.”

This woman was privileged to be told this directly by Jesus.

John 1v49

– (Nathanael) “Rabbi you are the Son of God; You are the king of Israel.”

John 11v27

-(Martha) “Yes, Lord, I believe that you are the Christ, the Son of God who comes into the world.”

Matt 16v15-17

-(Simon Peter) “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.” 17 And Jesus answered him,’You are blessed, Simon son of Jonah, because flesh and blood did not reveal this to you, but my Father in heaven!’

Mark 14v61-62

-(Caiaphas) “Agai the high priest asked him, and said unto him, Art thou the Christ, the Son of the Blessed? And Jesus said, ‘I am, and you will see the Son of Man seated at the right hand of Power, and coming with the clouds of heaven.”

Many Samaritans believed

Once she attained a deep level of understanding she runs to the villagers and shares with the her frith (vv 28-30). She leaves behind her water-jar (not needed for this type of water); se now knows, at the deepest level, that Jesus’ gift of living water is a gift of the heart. She has acknowledged both her thirst for truth and life, and Jesus as the giver of living water

28 Then, 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 Messiah?” 30 they came out of the town and made their way toward him.

As the woman ran to tell others, the living water which the woman received from Jesus had certainly become an overflowing fountain in her life, and others were coming to share the refreshment.

The disciples return – Jesus teaches another lesson

27 Just 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?”

31 Meanwhile his disciples urged him, “Rabbi, eat something.”

32 But he said to them, “I have food to eat that you know nothing about.”

33 Then his disciples said to each other, “Could someone have brought him food?”

3 4 “My food,“ said Jesus, “is to do the will of him who sent me and to finish his work. 35 Don’t you have a saying, “It’s still four months until harvest?” I tell you, open your eyes and look at the fields! They are ripe for harvest. 36 Even now the one who reaps draws. Wage and harvests a crop for eternal life, so that the sower and the reaper may be glad together. 37 Thus the saying “One sows Nd another reapts’ is true. 38 I sent you to reap what you have not worked for. Others have done the hard work, and you have reaped the benefits of their labour.”

Psa 40v7-9

Then I said, “Here I am, I have come—it is written about me in the scroll: I delight to do Your will, O my God; Your law is within my heart.” I proclaim righteousness in the great assembly; behold, I do not seal my lips, as You know, O Lord….

39 Many of he Samaritans from that town believed in him because of the woman’s testimony, “He told me everything I ever did.” 40 So when the Samaritans came to him, they urged him to stay with them, and he stayed two days. 41 And because of his words may more became believers.

42 They said tos the woman, “We no longer believe just because of what you said; now we have heard for us selves, and we know that this man really is the Saviour of the world.”

Summary

The Samaritan woman had 3 things going against her – she is a Samaritan, she is a woman, and she has questionable morals. So, her birth, her sex, and her lifestyle, all left her vulnerable to prejudice, but Jesus saw only the need of an individual who wanted to know the truth. Jesus had come simply to reach out to her, even if it violated custom.

Conversation with Jesus are often on multi-layered levels. For example, the Samaritan woman’s personal history at some level was a reflection of the religious history of Samaria. Remember in 1 Kings 17v24 – Samaria, once part of the northern kingdom of Israel, had broken off from the Davidic Kingdom. The King of Assyria brought pagans into. Sad Maria to settle there, and even though the Israelites remained in covenant to Yahweh, they intermarried with these foreigners and adopted thei worship and practices. Samaria, like the woman at the well, had many lovers and was estranged from her true husband.

Her reaction to Jesus’ teaching fulfills his huger to do God’s will “on earth as in heaven.” “I have food to eat that you don’t know about,” said a re-energised Jesus, rejoicing in the harvest for God.

When the disciples arrived, they wondered why He was talkin with a woman. Like the woman, the disciples had a need. She had a thirst, and they had a hunger. Her need was to drink the water of life, and their need was to reap the harvest of souls. Jesus’ lesson to His disciples was that the harvest is ripe, and those who labour in the fields reap an eternal reward.

The woman caught in Adultery John 10-12.

Then Jesus straightened up and asked her, “Woman, where are your accusers? Has no one condemned you?” “No one, Lord,” she answered. “Then neither do I condemn you”. Jesus declared. “No. Go and sin no more.” Once again, Jesus spoke to the people and said, “I am the light of the world. Whoever followed Me will never walk in the darkness,but will have the light of life.”…

Faith like Rahab

The Samaritan woman was seeking – she had a thirst for truth – she was what all believers must be – Questioning, willing to listen and willing to learn. She wanted to worship in spirit and in truth. She proclaimed,”I know that Messiah” (called Christ) “is coming. When he comes, he will explain everything to us.”

Rahab – And Joshua the son of Nun sent two men secretly from Shittim as spies, saying. “Go, view the land, especially Jericho.” Nd they went and came into the house of a prostitute whose name was ahah and lodged there. Before the men lay down, she ame up to them on the roof 9 and said to the men, “I know hat the Lord has given you the land, and that fear o you has fallen upon us, and that all the inhabitants of the land melt away before you…for the Lord your old, he is God int he heavens above and on the earth beneath.

Hebrews 11v31

31 By faith Rahab the prostitute did not perish wih those who wee disobediet, because she had given a friendly welcome to the spies.