Sunday's Message - A Woman at a Well

Here's the message I offered during the celebration service in the Richmond United Presbyterian Church, Richmond, Ohio on Sunday, March 15.

John 4:5-42 

...and on his way he came to the town of Sychar. It was near the field that Jacob had long ago given to his son Joseph. The well that Jacob had dug was still there, and Jesus sat down beside it because he was tired from traveling. It was noon, and after Jesus' disciples had gone into town to buy some food, a Samaritan woman came to draw water from the well.

Jesus asked her, “Would you please give me a drink of water?”

“You are a Jew,” she replied, “and I am a Samaritan woman. How can you ask me for a drink of water when Jews and Samaritans won’t have anything to do with each other?”

Jesus answered, “You don’t know what God wants to give you, and you don’t know who is asking you for a drink. If you did, you would ask me for the water that gives life.”

“Sir,” the woman said, “you don’t even have a bucket, and the well is deep. Where are you going to get this life-giving water? Our ancestor Jacob dug this well for us, and his family and animals got water from it. Are you greater than Jacob?”

Jesus answered, “Everyone who drinks this water will get thirsty again. But no one who drinks the water I give will ever be thirsty again. The water I give is like a flowing fountain that gives eternal life.”

The woman replied, “Sir, please give me a drink of that water! Then I won’t get thirsty and have to come to this well again.”

Jesus told her, “Go and bring your husband.”

The woman answered, “I don’t have a husband.”

“That’s right,” Jesus replied, “you’re telling the truth. You don’t have a husband. You have already been married five times, and the man you are now living with isn’t your husband.”

The woman said, “Sir, I can see that you are a prophet. My ancestors worshiped on this mountain, but you Jews say Jerusalem is the only place to worship.”

Jesus said to her: 

Believe me, the time is coming when you won’t worship the Father either on this mountain or in Jerusalem. You Samaritans don’t really know the one you worship. But we Jews do know the God we worship, and by using us, God will save the world. But a time is coming, and it is already here! Even now the true worshipers are being led by the Spirit to worship the Father according to the truth. These are the ones the Father is seeking to worship him. God is Spirit, and those who worship God must be led by the Spirit to worship him according to the truth.

The woman said, “I know that the Messiah will come. He is the one we call Christ. When he comes, he will explain everything to us.”

“I am that one,” Jesus told her, “and I am speaking to you now.”

The disciples returned about this time and were surprised to find Jesus talking with a woman. But none of them asked him what he wanted or why he was talking with her.

The woman left her water jar and ran back into town. She said to the people, “Come and see a man who told me everything I have ever done! Could he be the Messiah?” Everyone in town went out to see Jesus.

While this was happening, Jesus' disciples were saying to him, “Teacher, please eat something.”

But Jesus told them, “I have food that you don’t know anything about.”

His disciples started asking each other, “Has someone brought him something to eat?”

Jesus said:

My food is to do what God wants! He is the one who sent me, and I must finish the work that he gave me to do. You may say that there are still four months until harvest time. But I tell you to look, and you will see that the fields are ripe and ready to harvest.

Even now the harvest workers are receiving their reward by gathering a harvest that brings eternal life. Then everyone who planted the seed and everyone who harvests the crop will celebrate together. So the saying proves true, “Some plant the seed, and others harvest the crop.” I am sending you to harvest crops in fields where others have done all the hard work.

A lot of Samaritans in that town put their faith in Jesus because the woman had said, “This man told me everything I have ever done.” They came and asked him to stay in their town, and he stayed on for two days.

Many more Samaritans put their faith in Jesus because of what they heard him say. They told the woman, “We no longer have faith in Jesus just because of what you told us. We have heard him ourselves, and we are certain that he is the Savior of the world!”

A Woman at a Well

Before I say anything else, let me tell you how glad I am to be here this morning. But even more than that, I’m delighted to see y’all, especially knowing all the other stuff y’all could be doing because of the coronavirus , you know, like staying home and not watching March Madness or risking infection just to grab one of the last few rolls of toilette paper in eastern Ohio. Trust me, even as we speak, God has taken note of your dedication and, frankly, your courage.

And I hope by the time you leave you believe the risk was worth it, because this morning we’re going to look at one of those stories that’s pretty familiar to folks who’ve been around the church for a while, and I’m talking about the story of Jesus and the woman at the well. I mean, I think a lot of y’all probably already had a pretty good idea about what happens even before I read it, right? What y’all may not know is that there’s really two stories here, with one actually being a story within the story. And even though, as we’ll talk about in a minute, the two have a lot in common, I think the difference is really important for us. And for that reasons, for the next ten minutes or so, we’re going to look at this passage from John by, first, focusing on the bigger story and, second, talking about the story within the story and, third, looking at how both of them might relate to us. And even though it won’t replace the XFL, it just might change how we see ourselves as disciples of Jesus Christ a little bit.

And like I said, first, it really starts with the bigger story, and you know, I think this is what generally comes to mind when we hear about the woman at the well. And I’ll tell you, I think it can be broken down into the three parts. For example, I think part one involves the initial exchange between Jesus and the woman. Now the fact that Jesus said anything at all is sort of a surprise. I mean, we’re talking a Samaritan woman, and we all know Samaritan women are just no good, right? And so that’s a surprise. And after they meet, there’s a lot of confusion. Jesus said something which she didn’t understand and so Jesus said something else which she still didn’t understand and yada, yada, yada. It was like they’re talking pass one another. But even though, in the story, she was clueless we understand that Jesus was talking about a heck of lot more than water. Now that’s the initial exchange. And the second part, well, I think that centers on what Jesus said. I mean after they tied up the “who’s on first” conversation, “Jesus said to her, ‘Believe me, the time is coming when you won’t worship the Father either on this mountain or in Jerusalem. You Samaritans don’t really know the one you worship. But we Jews do know the God we worship, and by using us, God will save the world. But a time is coming, and it is already here! Even now the true worshipers are being led by the Spirit to worship the Father according to the truth. These are the ones the Father is seeking to worship him. God is Spirit, and those who worship God must be led by the Spirit to worship him according to the truth.’” [John 4:21-24, CEV] Now that’s what he said, that the time had come when God was going to change everything and that starting right now, through the living water, the Holy Spirit, he was leading folks into a new kind of worship and revealing a new kind of truth and offering a new kind of relationship, a new kind of life. And after this woman told him that Samaritans expected this to happen when the messiah came, Jesus told her, “I am that one, ...and I am speaking to you now.” [John 4:26, CEV] You see, in this second section, Jesus told the woman exactly what to expect and how it was going to happen. And in the third section, well, that was all about what the woman did and the results that followed. Remember, according to John, “A lot of Samaritans in that town put their faith in Jesus because the woman had said, ‘This man told me everything I have ever done.’ They came and asked him to stay in their town, and he stayed on for two days. Many more Samaritans put their faith in Jesus because of what they heard him say. They told the woman, ‘We no longer have faith in Jesus just because of what you told us. We have heard him ourselves, and we are certain that he is the Savior of the world!’” [John 4:39-42, CEV] You see, she went and shared, and the people, her people came and believed. Now, in a nutshell, that’s the bigger story.

But, if you remember what we read a little while ago, that’s not the entire passage, because there was something else, sort of a story within a story, one that if you took it out, man, that wouldn’t change what happen to the woman at the well at all. And this second story dealt with Jesus and his disciples. And I think this is cool, right from the start, structure sure seems to be similar. For example, it also started with an initial exchange, this time between Jesus and the disciples. And as they talked back and forth, there was also a lot of confusion. I mean, while the woman didn’t understand what Jesus meant by water, the disciples couldn’t get their heads around what he meant by food. And again, after the initial conversation, in the second part, Jesus made a statement, but instead of talking about the changes that had already come, you know, about how the good news made everything different, he zeroed in on what his confused followers had been called to do. In other words, Jesus told his disciples about the role they would be expected to play in this new spirit-driven world. According to John, he said, “My food is to do what God wants! He is the one who sent me, and I must finish the work that he gave me to do. You may say that there are still four months until harvest time. But I tell you to look, and you will see that the fields are ripe and ready to harvest. Even now the harvest workers are receiving their reward by gathering a harvest that brings eternal life. Then everyone who planted the seed and everyone who harvests the crop will celebrate together. So the saying proves true, ‘Some plant the seed, and others harvest the crop.’ I am sending you to harvest crops in fields where others have done all the hard work.” [John 4:34-38, CEV] Now that’s what he said, that in this new age brought by the Spirit, his disciples would play the role of the harvesters, you know, the guys who bring in the crop. In other words, recognizing that someone else had prepared the soil and planted the seeds, you know, done the hard work, they would be the ones out in the field ready to gathering the harvest. And since the fields were ripe and ready, right now was the time to do it. Of course, I think we all know he wasn’t talking about agriculture. Instead, Jesus told his disciples exactly what they were suppose do now that spirit was leading folks to believe, people like the woman at the well and all the folks from her village. And once he said this, before his disciples could respond, those Samaritans started to come.

And I’ll tell you why I think that’s important. The third point in this passage is really up to us. you know, in how we apply it. You see, just like he told his disciples back in the day, Jesus is telling us to roll up our sleeves and to get to work. Why? Because the fields are ripe and ready to harvest. In other words, people are ready to hear the good news, but not some stuffy, boring and arcane collection of should and shouldn’ts that probably should be left in a dusty case in a museum. No, I’m telling you, they’re ready to hear a red-blooded message of grace and mercy and compassion and to hear it with energy and enthusiasm and passion. And they’re ready to hear about a God who loves and a Christ who saves and a Spirit that inspires. You see, they are ready, man, they’re desperate to hear the exact same message we’ve got. And as harvesters, it’s our job to get out there in the world and to share it. And getting out there is important, because Jesus never said that we should wait for the harvest to come to us. That would be nuts. We need to go outside these walls into our families and communities and world. And even though it’s easy to assume that the only way we can do it is through our words, that’s just not true. You see, we share godly compassion every time we’re compassionate, especially to someone who doesn’t deserve it. And we share godly mercy every time we’ve got the courage to turn the other cheek and to walk the second mile. And we show godly grace when we choose to pull an Elsa and, as it relates to the past, simply let it go. And brothers and sisters, we show godly love the minute we decide to make these words of Paul a check list for daily living. Paul wrote, “Love is kind and patient, never jealous, boastful, proud, or rude. Love isn’t selfish or quick tempered. It doesn’t keep a record of wrongs that others do. Love rejoices in the truth, but not in evil. Love is always supportive, loyal, hopeful, and trusting.” [1 Corinthians 13:4-7, CEV] You see, that’s how we can bring in the harvest, and we don’t need to be a great public speaker or to have a seminary degree to do it. As a matter of fact, we can step out confident of two things. One, just like Jesus said, the hard work has already been done. The soil has already been prepared. The seeds have already been planted. The plants have already grown. All we have to do is bring in the sheaves. That’s one reason to be confident. And two, when those crops start coming in, man, we’re going to see lives transformed. We’re going to see men and women take the good news and pass it on to others not unlike the coronavirus, but in a good way. As a matter of fact, we’re going to see the world change, when we get off our pews and do what disciples are called to do. And all this is possible because of a woman at a well.


And so there you have it. Of course, I’m not going to say that this message was as exciting as watching Ohio State play Maryland for the Big Ten Championship. Nor am I suggesting that it was as satisfying as finding the last pack of Charmon behind the paper towels at Krogers. Still I think this passage is still pretty good. I mean, in the big story we can learn a lot about both the good news and how it can change people. And in that story within the story, we can understand what disciples are called to do in this new, spirit-driven world. And then, by applying both stories to ourselves, we can get ready to move out into the fields and to bring in the harvest. That we can do. And I’ll tell you, unlike watching basketball and buying toilette paper, no virus can stand in our way.