The Woman at the Well 1-3 Jesus realized that the Pharisees were keeping count of the baptisms that he and John performed (although his disciples, not Jesus, did the actual baptizing). They had posted the score that Jesus was ahead, turning him and John into rivals in the eyes of the people. So Jesus left the Judean countryside and went back to Galilee. 4-6 To get there, he had to pass through Samaria. He came into Sychar, a Samaritan village that bordered the field Jacob had given his son Joseph. Jacob's well was still there. Jesus, worn out by the trip, sat down at the well. It was noon. 7-8 A woman, a Samaritan, came to draw water. Jesus said, “Would you give me a drink of water?” (His disciples had gone to the village to buy food for lunch.) 9 The Samaritan woman, taken aback, asked, “How come you, a Jew, are asking me, a Samaritan woman, for a drink?” (Jews in those days wouldn't be caught dead talking to Samaritans.) 10 Jesus answered, “If you knew the generosity of God and who I am, you would be asking me for a drink, and I would give you fresh, living water.” 11-12 The woman said, “Sir, you don't even have a bucket to draw with, and this well is deep. So how are you going to get this 'living water'? Are you a better man than our ancestor Jacob, who dug this well and drank from it, he and his sons and livestock, and passed it down to us?” 13-14 Jesus said, “Everyone who drinks this water will get thirsty again and again. Anyone who drinks the water I give will never thirst—not ever. The water I give will be an artesian spring within, gushing fountains of endless life.” 15 The woman said, “Sir, give me this water so I won't ever get thirsty, won't ever have to come back to this well again!” 16 He said, “Go call your husband and then come back.” 17-18 “I have no husband,” she said. “That's nicely put: 'I have no husband.' You've had five husbands, and the man you're living with now isn't even your husband. You spoke the truth there, sure enough.” 19-20 “Oh, so you're a prophet! Well, tell me this: Our ancestors worshiped God at this mountain, but you Jews insist that Jerusalem is the only place for worship, right?” 21-23 “Believe me, woman, the time is coming when you Samaritans will worship the Father neither here at this mountain nor there in Jerusalem. You worship guessing in the dark; we Jews worship in the clear light of day. God's way of salvation is made available through the Jews. But the time is coming—it has, in fact, come—when what you're called will not matter and where you go to worship will not matter. 23-24 “It's who you are and the way you live that count before God. Your worship must engage your spirit in the pursuit of truth. That's the kind of people the Father is out looking for: those who are simply and honestly themselves before him in their worship. God is sheer being itself—Spirit. Those who worship him must do it out of their very being, their spirits, their true selves, in adoration.” 25 The woman said, “I don't know about that. I do know that the Messiah is coming. When he arrives, we'll get the whole story.” 26 “I am he,” said Jesus. “You don't have to wait any longer or look any further.” 27 Just then his disciples came back. They were shocked. They couldn't believe he was talking with that kind of a woman. No one said what they were all thinking, but their faces showed it. 28-30 The woman took the hint and left. In her confusion she left her water pot. Back in the village she told the people, “Come see a man who knew all about the things I did, who knows me inside and out. Do you think this could be the Messiah?” And they went out to see for themselves. As we’ve been talking about inviting others to the feast we have found in God, I’ve been really frustrated with how to talk about this. And I’ve realized why, and I hope I can explain it. It’s because explaining to you what it looks like for us to invite others to the feast of life brought to us by Jesus and which Jesus leads us into is like giving you instructions for telling your friends about the best restaurant you’ve ever eaten at, or the best wine you ever tasted, or the prettiest lake you’ve ever been to, or... Jesus said, “You will be my witnesses...” A witness just tells what they have seen, what they’ve found, what is there. A witness doesn’t “sell people”. A witness says, “Hey, guess what I’ve seen...” So I started wondering, “How did Jesus invite people to the feast?” What I notice as I watch Christians “evangelize” people, is that the first thing they are often telling them is, “Here’s what you need to do...” You need to repent, you need to say this prayer, you need to learn. All good things, and all necessary things. But what I notice when I read the Gospels is that the first thing Jesus does is let people know that there is something wildly wonderful available. We see that in this story about the woman at the well in John’s Gospel. We see it when Jesus sends his disciples out to the villages and he says, “When you enter a village, say to the people there, ‘The Kingdom of God is near you.” Jesus tells his guys, “Eat with them, lay hands on their sick, and tell them the Kingdom of God is near.” Can’t you just picture the people’s response... “It is?” All they heard was “The Kingdom of God is coming, someday, if you people will just shape up and make God happy.” Then these guys show up and say, “No... it’s near.” I know some of you have heard this story of the woman at the well so many times, but here’s this woman, who has had all these struggles, and she’s getting water alone in the middle of the day because her multiple marriages and loose living have made her a moral outcast (the well was a social place, but not for her... and this is part of her surprise that Jesus speaks to her—she’s a Samaritan, she’s a woman, and she’s a social outcast). Here’s this woman, and what I want you to notice is what Jesus tells her first. The first thing he tells her is “I’ve got water.... I’ve got the water your soul is thirsty for, and it is available for the asking.” Now when we look at the church today, we find that we have people offering Coke... --Jesus is just here to make your life and circumstances happy And we have people offering vinegar... --You better be religious --You better become a Christian (like me!) But Jesus offers water. Water is the one liquid that exists on the earth that your body deeply craves, just as there is a life that your soul deeply craves. And Jesus uses all kinds of pictures for this tangible but unspeakable reality: Water, bread, treasure, a way to start life over, a feast, a pearl, the yeast of life, the light... the life. Now you might listen to that story in John 4 and say, “Yeah, Fran, but he gets tough on that woman about all her marriages and living with this guy, and he tells her she better shape up.” Actually in the story he never does tell her to shape up, though we probably all agree that’s a good idea (for us as well as her). Do you know why he brings all that mess in her life up? Because she’s got a boatload of shame and defensiveness that are keeping her from what? The water. And Jesus wants her to find the water. --You know why Jesus can offer the water? He has water. --You have to have it to offer it. You have to see the sunrise to really invite someone to join you on the road toward it. And when you’re drinking the water, no one has to give you instructions for telling your parched friend how good the water is—you hand ‘em the bottle and say, “Here, drink.” And when you’re staring at the sunrise, no one has to give you instructions on how to turn to your friend and say, “Wow—check this out.” You do it because it’s beauty has possessed you. --So maybe you don’t feel watered, or filled, or like a possessor of treasure, or like your soul has caught sight of the sunrise. How do you find it, get it, discover it? In Him. Period. That’s why there are no words, for it, only metaphors and word pictures, because it is the tangible but unspeakable life of God that connects with the places inside of us for which we have no words. The Silver Chair. Jill Pole: “Maybe I could drink from another stream.” Aslan: “There is no other stream.” So this morning... come to the stream, whatever way you need to do that—kneel and pray, come eat and drink at his table, sing, be quiet, take someone’s hand... there is water. There is life. | 
