Local Woman - Jacob’s Well Leaving God at the Surface of our Lives Local Woman - Jacob’s Well John 4 By Pastor Dan Kennedy © October 30, 2011 www.pastorkennedy.com (On the website above, click the link to “recent message notes” to view this message online.) An Adapted Story, based on a True Story… Jane was just like most of the girls that grew up in her tightly knit community. She lived in the same house and went to same grade school and high school where everyone else did, and knew almost all the kids in her class very well…except for the few new kids that regularly came and went, in and out of town. She went to parties; she drank just enough so as not to be an “outsider”, though her parents forbade it, and she even took drugs – just to fit in. She only stole money from her folks a couple of times for parties or drugs, when she thought they really wouldn’t find out. She didn’t think she was hooked on drugs or alcohol – and she was glad her participation made her part of the accepted group of friends around her. She got pregnant in high school and had a back-alley abortion without her parents finding out. Yea, she watched R-rated movies pretty regularly, and chatted profusely with her friends on face book about everything imaginable. She slept around if she felt like it. Jane had pretty good excuses, if she was confronted by her parents, and could lie effectively to keep her from getting in too much trouble. She thought she was just a normal teen. Everybody did what she did. Oh, did I forget to tell you that she went to church too and acted like she took it real seriously. She was part of the youth group in Jr. High and High School and took part in community events when they had them. Most adults liked her and thought she was a pretty good girl as she was growing up. Jane got married young, but that first guy was a real jerk and left town after a few years, so her parents paid for a divorce. She had several more flings and tries at marriage, until she finally met “Mr. Right” and they decided to just move in together to see if their personalities might match before they got married. Then came “just living”. Not too long after hooking up with “Mr. Right”, Jane needed a gallon of milk and a pack of cigarettes at the community store, so dropped by to just run in and out – and then maybe stop by a friend’s house for a quick chat before going home again. Things changed quickly at the store. There was an ordinary looking new guy walking up and down the isles as if he didn’t know exactly what he wanted. Jane had seen this before – men never know what they really want, so she dropped a nicely wrapped little “womanly” bomb as she walked past him. “What’s ‘ya looking for?” She asked good-naturedly, just to get a kick out of his response. “Oh, nothing in particular…just passing time until my friends get back,” the man said unconvincingly. “Well, on second thought,” he continued, “is there somewhere I can get a drink of water around here?” Jane unexpectantly felt pity for the man. She opened up the glass door on the refrigerated drink display and pulled out a cold bottle of water. “Here,” she nodded, “it’s on me,” Jane said as she tossed the water bottle toward him, feeling a twinge of goodwill suddenly seeping out. “Thanks,” the man said with a genuine smile, catching the surprise bottle. But what he said next stopped Jane in her tracks. “If you would have asked me for something to drink, I would have given you something so thirst quenching, you would never need to have another sip of anything…it would last you the rest of your life!” That made Jane whirl around and stare incredulously at the man. “Where would you get your water from and how come you wanted a drink yourself?” she shot back. A cynical smile played with the corner of her lips. She had a lot of practice tying men up in verbal knots and throwing them on the ground in front of her, pleading for mercy. She was a professional with men. Unfazed, knowing he had her attention, he followed up, “You go to church?” “I own church!” Jane declared matter-of-factly – loud enough so everyone in the store could hear. This conversation was starting to attract attention, so customers began meandering down their isles toward Jane to get closer to the action…without acting interested, of course. A dog stopped barking in the car outside and the temperature seemed to be rising. “Our church’s been around for a long time and I’ve gone to church for as long as I can remember. What do you want to know about church?” “And by the way,” she added curtly, “at your convenience, I’ll have a glass of your primo water so I’ll never have to stop by this store again!” Right about then most of the customers were startled by a sharp snap coming from the front of the store. “Got ‘em”, the clerk said smugly staring at the dead bee on the counter, holding the flyswatter triumphantly over his head. He hadn’t been listening to the conversation in the back of the store. The other customers looked at each other sheepishly and continued their stealth eavesdropping and pseudo shopping. Nothing fazed Jane or the man. Both were intently focused on their conversation. “Call your husband and I’ll share a glass of water with you both.” The man offered. “I don’t have a husband,” Jane responded defensively and opened up the milk display. “You’re right.” The man said somewhat sadly without blinking. “You’ve had five husbands and the one you have now is not your husband. You’ve been honest with me.” “You must be a prophet!” Jane said through clenched teeth, as she pulled out a gallon of milk and quickly flipped through five pathetic relationships in her mind, but she wasn’t going to let this stranger’s comments slow her down one bit, so she shot back, “Look, I’ve been going to church a long time and it’s been tough living in this town. Let’s not talk about the losers I lived with, what can you tell me about God that I don’t already know?” The man had compassion written all over his face. “Well, for starters, just going to church doesn’t give you a personal relationship with God. God wants those who worship Him to worship Him in spirit and in truth, not just by saying they worship Him by going to church. God is spirit, He knows exactly who you are and how you worship Him. Those who truly worship God must worship Him in spirit and in truth – He knows the thoughts of your heart – He knows what kind of life you are living! ____ Story Pause… I’m obviously adapting a story from the Bible…so who does Jane remind you of in the Bible? Where did she live? Where did the Samaritans come from? Turn in your Bibles to 2 Kings 17, beginning with verse 24. The background of this passage reveals the sin of God’s people and the discipline God brought into their lives by delivering them into the hand of their enemies, making them go into exile into the country of the Assyrians, pulling them out of the land He had given them. At the same time the king of Assyria transplanted instead other nations into the Jewish homeland of Samaria, bringing insecurity and personal turmoil into everyone’s lives who had been uprooted – while giving more security to the kingdom of the Assyrians. Unfortunately, this brought an immediate unusual disturbance to the new inhabitants of Samaria – lions…and a long-term continuing historical rejection of the non-Israeli or partial-Israeli Samaritans from the Jews in Jerusalem. As we read the passage we will see that the new residents of Samaria struggled in relating to the God of the Jews. They just added the Creator God to their ever growing “god shelf”, of the gods they were learning to worship and appease. 2 Kings 17:24–40 Converts of the Lion – Forced Faith Makes Few Disciples 24 And the king of Assyria brought people from Babylon, Cuthah, Avva, Hamath, and Sepharvaim, 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 whom 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 Adrammelech and Anammelech, the gods of 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 them 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 or the law or the commandment that the Lord commanded the children of Jacob, whom he named Israel. 35 The Lord made a covenant with them and commanded them, “You shall not fear other gods or bow yourselves to them or serve them or sacrifice to them, 36 but you shall fear the Lord, who brought you out of the land of Egypt with great power and with an outstretched arm. You shall bow yourselves to him, and to him you shall sacrifice. 37 And the statutes and the rules and the law and the commandment that he wrote for you, you shall always be careful to do. You shall not fear other gods, 38 and you shall not forget the covenant that I have made with you. You shall not fear other gods, 39 but you shall fear the Lord your God, and he will deliver you out of the hand of all your enemies.” 40 However, they would not listen, but they did according to their former manner. With instruction from the Priest, what did the Samaritans do when they heard his message about God? They merely added another god to their god-shelf; they didn’t change their hearts to worship God alone. Does this surface relation with God remind you of modern day Christianity? This is one of the major problems facing Christianity today! Call it Façade Faith. Today’s North American church might sometimes look spiritually alive when really it is really only there is a thin layer of façade covering up a mass grave filled with putrefying corpses. That is exactly what Jesus called the hypocritical pseudo-spiritual leaders of His day (Matt. 23:27-28). The Samaritans faced that big time before and after the displacement. • How do you know when one’s heart isn’t changed? …By how a person lives. The Bible tells us that, “By their fruits you will know them.” (Matt. 5:15-20) History Also Plays an Important Role in Relationships • What role does history have in your life in your relationship today, with others? • Facial features, • Names, • Unique characteristics of individuals, or • Places you have lived… People or places you have either liked or disliked along the road of life sometimes affect how you treat others with the same characteristics or background – which have nothing to do with the reality of who these new people or places are! Our life’s history might have a lot to do with how we treat others and how we respond to God. The history of the Samaritans affected their daily lives and their religious lives. Let’s briefly look at the history surrounding Jacob’s well. Abram’s Walk of Faith took him through Sychar/Shechem/cities of future Samaria Abram had passed through this area many years before, following the promises of God, in his initial trek, walking across the Promised Land. It might be somewhat ironic that this was one of the first places that God had met with Abram and gave him His blessing of promise was right where so much turmoil would occur in coming centuries with generations that followed him (Gen. 12:6,7). For Abram, there would be no turning back. I have decided to follow Jesus, I have decided to follow Jesus, I have decided to follow Jesus, No turning back, no turning back. Though none go with me still I will follow... No turning back, no turning back. You take this whole world, but give me Jesus... No turning back, no turning back. The Good Samaritan? Relationships are often built on history. The Jewish people may have struggled with the Samaritans because of this most recent displacement, intermarriage, and worship of false gods, but the Jewish people had far deeper resentments yet against that place called Shechem (and Sychar). After all the past “history”, and all “the water that had gone under the bridge”, between the Samaritans and Jewish people, no wonder the parable that Jesus told about “the Good Samaritan” had such poignant meaning! Let’s look at a brief outline of how Shechem/Sychar, in Samaria, affected the history of the Jews and their dealings with the Samaritans. • Jacob ran away…twice! Remember how Jacob left his family home running from Esau after having stolen his brother’s birthright and then deceptively his father’s blessing? His mother told him hurry up and to go see Uncle Laban or Esau was going to kill him. Jacob left and spent the next 20 years working for Laban, the first fourteen for his two daughters and then six years building his own flocks and herds. Then he chose to run away because of the change in attitude and growing animosity that Laban and his sons had toward Jacob. He ran away from his father-in-law Laban, with his wives and growing family, after faithfully serving Laban, with little gratitude and lots of jealousy against him (Gen. 31). Notwithstanding, God continued to bless Jacob. • Wrestling with an Angel. Jacob not only struggled for existence, then separation from his father-in-law Laban, as he left Laban and prepared to meet his resentful brother, he struggled with God when faced with his potential annihilation by Esau. He came face to Face with an Angel, the evening prior to seeing Esau, and physically struggled for God’s blessing in a match that left him hobbling but blessed with God’s promise (Gen. 32:22-32). • Meeting a Sibling-Enemy. The following morning was a gut-retching experiencing of being reconciled with his estranged and potentially enraged brother Esau who was coming to meet Jacob with 400 men riding with him to do his bidding (Gen. 32-33). Jacob sent waves of “peace offerings” ahead of him to slow Esau down and hopefully cause him to rethink any destructive thoughts. His first wave was a flock of 200 goats plus rams. This was followed by over 200 ewes and rams. Camels, cattle and donkeys all fallowed, in smaller waves of peace offerings along the road that Esau would be traveling toward his deceptive brother. Finally Jacob divided his family up. Leah first with her family, then Rachel and Joseph, and himself. Jacob survived the meeting with Esau and then headed a direction away from Esau…Jacob ended up going to Shechem. • The first place Jacob owned – his own land. There is some question with historians as to where the location of Sychar is today, but most scholars feel that the site for Jacob’s well, the setting for the “woman at the well”, is consistent with the plot of ground purchased at this time, by Jacob, from Hamor king of Shechem (Gen. 33:19). • Rape and “killing fields”. This plot of ground that Jacob purchased was near the town of Shechem. King Hamor’s son, aptly named Shechem, saw Jacob’s daughter Dinah visiting some of the women of the land and took advantage of her and raped her. Jacob’s sons conceived a plot to have revenge. After convincing the men of the town of Shechem to be circumcised, on promise of further intermarriage, Simeon and Levi took their swords and slaughtered the men of the town when they were least able to defend themselves – and the rest of the older brothers came and pillaged the town. After this fiasco Jacob took his family and left the area. Living near Sychar/Shechem was not a great time of remembrance for Jacob and his family. It was a place of horrible memory of Dinah’s rape and the “killing fields” that took place for revenge (Gen. 34). • Joseph’s Demise. After some time living away from Shechem, Jacob sent his sons to graze their flocks back on his land near Shechem and then sent Joseph out to look for them when the rest of the brothers took so long in coming home. It was on this journey to find his brothers that Joseph went to Shechem and then discovered them a few miles away in Dothan. When Joseph’s brothers saw him coming, they devised a jealous plan to kill him. Joseph was thrown into a pit to be killed – but was instead sold to the caravan traveling to Egypt (Gen. 37:12-36). The land later ironically became Joseph’s inheritance on which both Jacob, his father, and he was buried! (Joshua 24:32) So we see that this plot of ground that Jacob had purchased from Shechem had quite a history from many perspectives including war and relocation that we saw in 2 Kings 17. Jesus found Himself, by Jacob’s well, on the historical plot of land that Jacob had purchased, talking to an displaced, outcast Samaritan woman about “living water” – about her soul. Do you have a “history” with God? With a town? With the church? With people who are nice? With people who aren’t very nice? With good people and with hypocrites? With yourself? There are many “histories” that we might be able to identify with in this story of the “woman at the well”. • Have seriously negative things happened to you? • Have you found yourself running away from God? • Is God trying to get your attention? Do you sometimes feel like the woman at the well? • Is God letting you know that He wants you to be His Child and to fulfill His will for your life? • Have you come face to face with Jesus Christ on “a plot of ground” where you have been rejected before, or that has a sordid history? God does not want to be left on the surface or on the façade of our life. He wants to be intricately involved. He wants to be in charge of guiding us. There was a problem directly related to the Samaritans and the woman at the well. They kept serving the old gods of their flesh and the traditional gods that their parents had worshipped. They simply paid lip service to the Creator God of Heaven. That was pretty obvious from the discussion that Jesus had with the woman at the well. The thing that changed was that Jesus arrived at Sychar in Samaria. He spoke truth directly to the spiritual needs of the woman. She believed on Him and was changed. The change in her brought a change in many in the town. _____ Now, back to the story… …“Look, I’ve been going to church a long time and it’s been tough living in this town. Let’s not talk about the losers I lived with, what can you tell me about God that I don’t already know?” The man had compassion written all over his face. “Well, for starters, just going to church doesn’t give you a personal relationship with God. God wants those who worship Him to worship Him in spirit and in truth, not just by saying they worship Him by going to church. God is spirit, He knows exactly who you are and how you worship Him. Those who truly worship God must worship Him in spirit and in truth – He knows the thoughts of your heart – He knows what kind of life you are living!” Jane thought about his words and followed up with a slight change in her voice, “I know that the Messiah is coming (the one they call Christ). When he comes, he will tell us all things.” The man did not hesitate in his response, “I am the one who is the Messiah.” Just then the man’s friends came back to the store. They saw him talking to the woman but didn’t ask why he was talking to her. When Jane saw the man’s friends come in, she put the milk back in the cooler, left her cigarettes on the counter and ran out to the car, shut the door, and texted or called all her friends. “Come to the store, I’ve met someone who told me all that I ever did. Can this be the Christ?” Soon people from town began showing up in the parking lot. In the mean time the man’s friends brought a lunch bag to him with a carryout sandwich from the restaurant across the street. “We know you are hungry,” they said, “eat up, it’s good food!” But the man had a far away look in his eyes. “I’m not really hungry.” “What,” the friends said, “Did someone bring him something to eat?” Ignoring the discussion he continued, “My greatest satisfaction comes from doing what my Father has sent me to do and accomplishing it! Don’t say it’s too early to harvest the crops…that we should wait a little longer. I tell you, look around you – there are folks needing a sincere and life-changing relationship with God right now. Take advantage of all the opportunities that God gives you!” Realizing his friends still didn’t quite understand, he continued, “The one who reaps the harvest enjoys the wages he earns from reaping and gathering fruit for eternal life – and the sower and reaper rejoice over the harvest together. Some say, ‘One sows and another reaps.’ I sent you to reap that for which you did not labor. Others have tilled the soil, planted the seed and watered the ground before you got here; you have the privilege of harvesting and entering into their labor. Enjoy benefitting from the harvest!” Epilogue to the Story Many folks in town truly believed in Christ because of the woman’s testimony when she said, “He told me all that I ever did.” Upon the request of many folks, the man stayed in town for a couple more days, and many more believed in Christ because of what they learned directly from him. No longer was their belief based on the woman’s word – they believed because they heard about Christ themselves. They knew that Jesus Christ was indeed the Savior of the world. Conclusion Are we aware that God may have a harvest in our town? Look around, there are fields that are white, ready to harvest right now. There might be a huge “history” between people, or with past events, but in any case, there are folks all over who only have a surface relationship with God. Their parents might have taught them a little bit about God. They might have gone to Sunday School or church. They might have just drifted away, or had a bad experience in church, but we should be ready to speak the truth about Christ whenever He gives us the opportunity. God will help us to know what to say. The Holy Spirit is in you if you have trusted in Christ as your Savior. Let His Light shine! A harvest will not happen if we keep leaving God at the surface of our life. Addendum – the story of the woman at the well, directly from Scripture: John 4 Jesus and the Woman of Samaria 4 Now when Jesus learned that the Pharisees had heard that Jesus was making and baptizing more disciples than John 2(although Jesus himself did not baptize, but only his disciples), 3 he left Judea and departed again for Galilee. 4 And he had to pass through Samaria. 5 So he came to a town of Samaria called Sychar, near the field that Jacob had given to his son Joseph. 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. 7 A woman from Samaria came to draw water. Jesus said to her, “Give me a drink.” 8 (For his disciples had gone away into the city to buy food.) 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 dealings with Samaritans.) 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.” 11 The woman said to him, “Sir, you have nothing to draw water with, and the well is deep. Where do you get that living water? 12 Are you greater than our father Jacob? He gave us the well and drank from it himself, as did his sons and his livestock.” 13 Jesus said to her, “Everyone who drinks of this water will be thirsty again, 14 but whoever drinks of the water that I will give him will never be thirsty again. The water that I will give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life.” 15 The woman said to him, “Sir, give me this water, so that I will not be thirsty or have to come here to draw water.” 16 Jesus said to her, “Go, call your husband, and come here.” 17 The woman answered him, “I have no husband.” Jesus said to her, “You are right in saying, ‘I have no husband’; 18 for you have had five husbands, and the one you now have is not your husband. What you have said is true.” 19 The woman said to him, “Sir, I perceive that you are a prophet. 20 Our fathers worshiped on this mountain, but you say that in Jerusalem is the place where people ought to worship.” 21 Jesus said to her, “Woman, believe me, the hour is coming when neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem will you worship the Father. 22 You worship what you do not know; we worship what we know, for salvation is from the Jews. 23 But the hour is coming, and is now here, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for the Father is seeking such people to worship him. 24 God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth.” 25 The woman said to him, “I know that Messiah is coming (he who is called Christ). When he comes, he will tell us all things.” 26 Jesus said to her, “I who speak to you am he.” 27 Just then his disciples came back. They marveled that he was talking with a woman, but no one said, “What do you seek?” or, “Why are you talking with her?” 28 So the woman left her water jar and went away into town and said to the people, 29 “Come, see a man who told me all that I ever did. Can this be the Christ?” 30 They went out of the town and were coming to him. 31 Meanwhile the disciples were urging him, saying, “Rabbi, eat.” 32 But he said to them, “I have food to eat that you do not know about.” 33 So the disciples said to one another, “Has anyone brought him something to eat?” 34 Jesus said to them, “My food is to do the will of him who sent me and to accomplish his work. 35 Do you not say, ‘There are yet four months, then comes the harvest’? Look, I tell you, lift up your eyes, and see that the fields are white for harvest. 36 Already the one who reaps is receiving wages and gathering fruit for eternal life, so that sower and reaper may rejoice together. 37 For here the saying holds true, ‘One sows and another reaps.’ 38 I sent you to reap that for which you did not labor. Others have labored, and you have entered into their labor.” 39 Many Samaritans from that town believed in him because of the woman’s testimony, “He told me all that I ever did.” 40 So when the Samaritans came to him, they asked him to stay with them, and he stayed there two days. 41 And many more believed because of his word. 42 They said to the woman, “It is no longer because of what you said that we believe, for we have heard for ourselves, and we know that this is indeed the Savior of the world.”