here Is Your Samaria? Grace Christian Fellowship Mikey Brannon February 16, 2024 The Haircut o Can you get me in? But barber wasn’t there because of an emergency. o Julie can do it though. Hair was sticking up in spike, it was all different colors. She had 100 piercings, shoes didn’t match. Polka dotted pants and a flannel shirt. She said I’m Julie are you Jack? o Thought I’ll just go to sleep. I hope she hurries. We have nothing in common. I don’t want to hear anything she has to say. o Where do you work? Down at the big church by the interstate. o She said Oh yeah I was there the other day. She said, my momma is cocaine addict. My uncle is cocaine addict. Somebody gave us a Christian video the other day, and we sat down and watched it. She said, I don’t know nothing about the Bible, but I knew when I finished watching it, I didn’t want to go to hell. o So I went down there to buy a Bible. I don’t know what to do. Already read a bunch, but I don’t know what I’m reading. o Tears are streaming down her face. By this point many of the other people in the barber shop are frozen, some are crying. o Got up out of that chair, broken by his own obstinance to the direction of the Holy Spirit, he said Julie I want to 1 apologize to you for not telling you about Jesus, but you stay right here because I’m going to get a bible study out of my car and I’m going to help you know all about Jesus. o Oh how many times do we try to decide where the Spirit gets to move and where the Spirit does not get to move ▪ That person doesn’t look like me ▪ That person is annoying ▪ He’s dirty, he’s on drugs, she is a lowlife sinner ▪ I’m an introvert. I’m just shy. I don’t even know that person. ▪ I don’t talk about religion at work, or school, or at the gym. Transition to Key Verse (John 3:8) o First talk about the hermeneutical principle of context (Contextual Interpretation). Why is this story here? o We have been looking the last few weeks at John 3, and the story of Nicodemus. o And today we have this abrupt shift where Jesus leaves Judea for an entirely new setting. So it is important to ask ourselves why is this passage placed here. o I think I know why. In fact, I want to give overwhelm you with reasons this morning so that hopefully you would agree with me. o Do you remember back in school when you would have a reading assignment, and you would get back to class and the teacher would say. Now that you all have read the book, I want you to write a paper where you compare and contrast a key character in the story? o I think that is exactly why John places this story of Jesus’ conversation with the woman at the well, next to the passage of Nicodemus. He (under inspiration of the HS) 2 wants us to see the similarities, but he also wants us to see the differences. And I really believe that both of these stories tie back to a key verse in John 3 and verse 8. ▪ [Jhn 3:8 ESV] 8 The wind blows where it wishes, and you hear its sound, but you do not know where it comes from or where it goes. So it is with everyone who is born of the Spirit." • The wind is abstract, you can’t see it • The wind is random or unpredictable • That is the way it is with everyone who is born of the Spirit • We don’t know where the Spirit is going to move. Baber shop, work, school, on an afternoon walk. • But many of us, if we are honest try to play assistant Holy Spirit all the time. o So we have both of these stories, and I content that both of them are linked to this passage. Where Jesus is showing us exactly how unexpected movements of the Spirit, Salvation, can be. The Comparison What do both of these stories have in common? ▪ They are beside each other in the Gospel of John (John 3 & John 4) ▪ Both are personal extended conversations with Jesus. ▪ Both conversations are about the nature of salvation. ▪ In both cases Jesus is well aware of who he is talking to. Even aware of personal details. ▪ Both Nicodemus and the woman start off by misunderstanding Jesus in an overly literal way. 3 4 ▪ Both conversations deal with the Holy Spirit The Contrast ▪ I believe these stories are meant to be compared ▪ I’m the 1,000,000th person also to make this comparison. Nicodemus, John 3 Woman at the Well, John 4 Nicodemus is a man, we know his name, he is prominent member of society well respected and powerful. She is a woman. We don’t know her name and she is an outcast from society. She had no social status and is without any power. He is a devout Jew. Even the teacher of the Jews. He is a member of the ruling council (the Sanhedrin). She is an immoral Samaritan. She is from a culture of misfits. Kings 17:24. Because of this influence from the Assyrians The region and its people were polluted with false idols religions, and as such were looked down on by Jewish people. He would have been viewed as righteous by his peers. She would have been viewed as unrighteous and scorned by her peers. He was educated. She was uneducated. Discussion is a night Discussion is in the day. Walks away confused, and is slow to come to Faith. His community remains unbelievers. Walks away with understanding, is quick to receive faith and her community is significantly impacted. Jesus doesn’t explicitly reveal the fullness of his identity. Jesus for the first time reveals himself as God the son incarnate. You expect the Spirit to move in the direction of Nicodemus The W@tW is the last place you expect the Spirit to move. 5 In your mind right now as we learn more about this Samaritan woman, I want you to be thinking back to Julie the hairdresser. You see the woman at the well was a picture of desperation. She was broken and wanted nothing more in her life than to have peace. [Luk 5:30-32 ESV] 30 And the Pharisees and their scribes grumbled at his disciples, saying, "Why do you eat and drink with tax collectors and sinners?" 31 And Jesus answered them, "Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick. 32 I have not come to call the righteous but sinners to repentance." I think when we read about the Pharisees there is (with me) a temptation to externalize them a little. To think wow those guys were horrible. But whenever you catch yourself doing that I want you to stop and ask yourself a question. In what ways am I just like that. Because I really believe there is a little Pharisee in each of us. [Jhn 4:1 ESV] 1 Now when Jesus learned that the Pharisees had heard that Jesus was making and baptizing more disciples than John • Pastor Darrien discussed this last week. JTB realized that he must decrease and Christ must increase. • John the Baptist is already in prison at this point. The Pharisees already suspicious of his growing popularity, and probably even have spies reporting on what Jesus is doing. • Talk about why Jesus was a threat to them, and why Jesus is a threat to the world today. 6 [Jhn 4:2 ESV] 2 (although Jesus himself did not baptize, but only his disciples), • Jesus didn’t baptize personally because of the division that might have caused. • People would have been tempted to think they were superior because they had been baptized by Jesus. See 1 Corinthians 1:12-15. • Talk here about Baptismal regeneration. Good proof text for knowing that baptism is not a requirement for salvation, but is done as a demonstration of salvation. [Jhn 4:3 ESV] 3 he left Judea and departed again for Galilee. • https://www.jesuswalk.com/john/maps/jerusalem-cana samaria-2148x3472x300.jpg • 70 mile walk • Talk about Messianic timing and his perfect connection with the Holy Spirit. • [Jhn 7:30 ESV] 30 So they were seeking to arrest him, but no one laid a hand on him, because his hour had not yet come. • JTB ministry had cleared the way for Jesus to go to Galilee. It was under Herod’s jurisdiction and the last known spot where we have John’s ministry before imprisonment. [Jhn 4:4 ESV] 4 And he had to pass through Samaria. • Look at map. • Because of the geographic location travelers were often making their way through this region. • However, the real reason is not geographic necessity it is because of a divine appointment. Talk about God’s sovereignty is all aspects of our life. How the lady was just going for water, but the appointment for her was set before the foundation of the world. • Jesus took the most direct path available. In that day most Jews would have opted for the longer route across the Jordan river because they had such a disdain for the Samaritan people. The believed that they would be defiled just by being near the people. • Parable of the good Samaritan (Luke 10) o Beaten, striped, thrown away for dead o Priest comes by, moved as far away as possible and kept walking o Levite does the same o Then we have Samaritan 7 • “had to” – verb John often uses to denote Jesus perfect obedience to the mission given to him by his Father. • Give an example of a person who is obedient, but we don’t do it perfectly [Jhn 4:5 ESV] 5 So he came to a town of Samaria called Sychar, near the field that Jacob had given to his son Joseph. • Sychar mountain village located on Mount Ebal. Recall back in the book of Joshua • [Jos 8:33-34 ESV] 33 And all Israel, sojourner as well as native born, with their elders and officers and their judges, stood on opposite sides of the ark before the Levitical priests who carried the ark of the covenant of the LORD, half of them in front of Mount Gerizim and half of them in front of Mount Ebal, just as Moses the servant of the LORD had commanded at the first, to bless the people of Israel. 34 And afterward he read all the words of the law, the blessing and the curse, according to all that is written in the Book of the Law. • The Talmud explains that as the priest would say the positive of the curse they would all face toward Mount Garizim and for the negative of the they would face Mount Ebal. • What is the Samaria in your life? What group of location have you made off limits to the gospel. (work, school, home, friend group). • Religion had become about living in a bubble. If we are honest with ourselves we too create for ourselves bubbles that we fit in. And then we justify why those bubbles exist. [Jhn 4:6 ESV] 6 Jacob's well was there; so Jesus, wearied as he was from his journey, was sitting beside the well. It was about the sixth hour. • https://images.app.goo.gl/JTNTtkGQ7XYqQBdb9 • Modern site that is claimed to be Jacob’s well. Location is pretty well established from tradition and writings. • Jacob -> Joseph shortly before he died (Gen 48) • 6th hour -> Noon. Jewish time starts counting at sunrise about 6 am. • Jesus has become weary. Gospel writers never tried to conceal Jesus’ humanity or Jesus’ divinity. We believe that Jesus is 100% man and 100% God. Bad math, but good theology. • Jesus humanity is required in order for him to be an appropriate sacrifice • [Heb 2:17 ESV] 17 Therefore he had to be made like his brothers in every respect, so that he might become a 8 merciful and faithful high priest in the service of God, to make propitiation for the sins of the people. [Jhn 4:7 ESV] 7 A woman from Samaria came to draw water. Jesus said to her, "Give me a drink." • It is unusually that this woman would come to the well at noon. Customarily this practice (Gen 24:11) would be done in the evening. • Another unusual detail is the distance this woman would have walked from the village to get to this particular well. • We will find out later in the story why. She is an outcast from the outcasts. Likely someone who regularly receives shame and scorn from others. • In fact she would rather come to the well in the heat of the day, than to have to endure the shame that she would otherwise receive. • To the discouraged, realize that God’s providence is in control, and he provides hope in the most mundane of things. Here is this woman just going to the well on any old day, and she is about to have the most life changing moment of her life. [Jhn 4:8 ESV] 8 (For his disciples had gone away into the city to buy food.) • Jesus is not being exclusive or pretentious by sending his disciples. This was customary. Because Jesus was the Rabbi, it was normal for the students of the teacher to gather the food. [Jhn 4:9 ESV] 9 The Samaritan woman said to him, "How is it that you, a Jew, ask for a drink from me, a woman of Samaria?" (For Jews have no • Jews had transactions buy things, but could not share drinks food utensils. They were considered dirty. • How thirsty was this woman? o She wasn’t seeking God o She was living in sin, running from God o She was seeking peace, guilt relief, but not God 9 dealings with Samaritans.) [Jhn 4:10 ESV] 10 Jesus answered her, "If you knew the gift of God, and who it is that is saying to you, 'Give me a drink,' you would have asked him, and he would have given you living water." • Jesus moves strait past her comment about the fued between the Samaritans and the Jews. He knows that this is a side bar and he gets right to the heart of the matter. • If you only knew who it is that asks you he says. o Can you imagine is she only knew? She sees a dirty, thirsty, tired traveler. o Jesus says if you only knew. If she only knew that the one who asks was: ▪ The word become flesh ▪ The one who hung the starts in the sky ▪ The one by whom all of creation came to be ▪ The one who was, the one is, and the one who is to come ▪ He is the I Am. As we close here, I want to ask the musicians and those serving the Lord’s supper this morning to be making their way. I want to leave you with two thoughts. As you pray this morning and as you remember what Jesus did for you on the Cross. How is blood was spilled, how his body was broken. I ask you to search your heart of sin this morning. There’s a couple of ways I want you to think about this sermon this morning. For some of you, I want you to think about where is Samaria for you. What is the place that you have marked off limits to God. If we are honest, we can admit that we have been trying to control which way the wind Where is the difficult place or the difficult thing that God is asking of you to go. This morning I want you to pray and take care of that. But I think there may be a second group of people here also. Because some of you may feel like you are not the Pharisees in the story, but maybe you feel like the Samaritan woman. You might say, this all sounds good Mikey, but I’m in a dirty dark spot. Down here where I am I just don’t think Jesus is willing to come. I’ve done things, I’ve burned bridges, I’ve broken relationships and I’m like that Samaritan woman. I think Jesus this morning is sitting on the well, and he’s waiting for you to walk up. And this morning he looks directly at you and says, I’m really thirsty would you mind getting me a drink? Don’t walk away from him. Let’s pray
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