Quick Recap of John 4:1-26
There’s a massive story of reconciliation in Jesus’ conversation with the woman at the well. Here are two people who should have nothing to do with each other – the list of ethnic, historic, religious and moral barriers between them should have made them enemies, yet Jesus breaks down one barrier after another as He invites this woman to become a true worshipper of God.
Here’s something I want you to know in the very core of your being: just as in Jesus the wall of hostility between humanity and God has also been broken down – a glorious fact that we celebrate every time we’re together – so in Jesus the wall of hostility between us with each other has been broken down. These walls exist because of sin – it’s our sin that separates us from God and from each other. It’s our sin that destroys relationships. It’s our sin that was defeated by Jesus on the cross of Calvary .
If you want to experience God’s healing & restoration in relationships, you need to let Him deal with your sin, and you need to give others that opportunity also. That’s a core component of Christian relationships. We should never gloss over our own sin or the sin of others, because it will always be destructive.
So to be clear about this: there is no room for racism in the Church of God
Continuing our story…
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?”
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 Christ?” 30 They came out of the town and made their way toward him.
First off, let’s notice the surprise of Jesus’ followers. They see Him, and the see the woman, and they see Him talking to the woman!
The disciples see Jesus with her and they are surprised, because they see the walls that should have kept these two people apart. The walls of religious and cultural difference. The walls of gender difference. They might not have realized it but there was even a thick wall of moral difference. Surprised as they were, however, they did not question Jesus about it. They could see that something special was taking place.
I want to pause here before we continue the story. Last week we focused on learning from Jesus and not allowing those walls of hostility to keep us apart from others. The love of Christ breaks down every barrier. What I didn’t talk about last week was the amazing contrast between these Samaritan peoples and many of the Jews that are described in the surrounding chapters.
These people who had much more in common with Jesus – who were not separated by walls of hostility – nevertheless refused to accept Him as the Messiah. Yet these Samaritans did!
I think it’s a great challenge to us in how we see people. We all have friends that we enjoy common interests and history with. We get along well with them, but just like we must be careful not to be distracted by walls of hostility, we must be careful not to get distracted by bonds of friendship. What really matters is whether people are in Christ or not.
I want you to think of someone close to you who does not know Christ. Now I want you to think of a type of person who you are naturally hostile toward. It might be a serial drink driver who has no regard for the safety of others. It might be a terrorist leader who plots to destroy civilian lives. It might be an academic who publicly mocks faith in God. It might be a person flaunting their sexuality in lewd public display. It might be a murderer or habitual liar. It might be a specific person who have bad history with.
As you keep these two different people or types of people in your mind I hope you appreciate how difficult it is for us to see people as Jesus did, and how often we need to repent and receive His help. If we accept one of these but reject the other, we deny the gospel. If we excuse one but condemn the other, we deny the gospel. If we praise one and criticise the other, we deny the gospel. The only way to be a follower of Jesus is to follow His example and love both. The only thing that really matters is that we do whatever we can to invite both to come to Him for “Living Water”.
That is the subject of Jesus’ next discussion, as he turns His attention to the disciples. As the woman spreads news of Jesus in her village and people start to filter out to see for themselves, the disciples have returned with the food and are offering it to Jesus.
Jesus and His disciples were tired, hungry and thirsty from their journey. They had physical needs waiting to be met. I can just imagine the scene as the disciples settle down with their meals and hoe into the food, only to look over and see Jesus’ own meal untouched. He is gazing off toward Sychar as the woman disappears into the village and as others start to emerge and make their way toward the group. Of course a good Jew would rather finish his meal before the defiling presence of the Samaritans arrive. “Teacher,” they say “eat something”.
Still gazing toward the growing crowd, Jesus says: “I have food to eat that you know nothing about”
Jesus’ mind is not on His physical needs, but on the work of the Kingdom. He has planted a seed of truth in the mind and heart of this woman, and she has gone to spread that seed in her village. People are coming out to see for themselves whether it is true or whether the woman has been duped by a travelling conman.
There’s an irony here. The disciples had just come from that village. They were there for one purpose only – to see to their own physical needs. They did not see the opportunity that existed to tell the people there that the Saviour of the World was waiting just outside town. They did not think to invite anyone there to come meet Jesus.
Jesus was not controlled by physical needs and desires – His primary purpose was to do the work the Father had assigned Him. As His disciples ask each other “Could someone have brought him food?”, Jesus explains this to them. “My food,” said Jesus, “is to do the will of him who sent me and to finish his work.”
Could it be possible that you and I are sometimes so concerned with meeting our own needs that like the disciples we don’t see and don’t do the work around us that the Father has asked us to finish? Do you know what it’s like to be so eager for the Lord’s work that other things seem to become less important to you? Did Jesus still need to eat? Of course He did, but He was able to put that aside for a time while He focussed on the spiritual work at hand. Are you following His example, or does your work for the Lord only get a look in after you’ve looked after yourself, after you’ve satisfied your own needs?
Jesus goes on to explain this work…
35 Do you not say, ‘Four months more and then the harvest’? I tell you, open your eyes and look at the fields! They are ripe for harvest.
Look up from your food! Don’t you see these people coming toward us? This is our work, to bring these people into the Kingdom. You know how to spot a ripening crop of wheat or barley – now learn to discern the harvest of souls!
36 Even now the reaper draws his wages, even now he harvests the crop for eternal life, so that the sower and the reaper may be glad together. 37 Thus the saying ‘One sows and another reaps’ 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.”
Who are the sowers and reapers in this situation? You might go as far back as Moses, who gave the law to the Israelites which was later passed on to the Samaritans. You might list the priest sent by the Assyrians to teach the Samaritans about the God of the Jews. We could assume that the nearby ministry of John the Baptiser had made an impact on this region to prepare people for the Messiah. We have seen the ministry of Jesus Himself and then the Samaritan woman in sowing the seed, and now the disciples are going to be able to participate in the reaping, as they see many people in this area come to believe in Jesus.
39 Many of the 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 many more became believers.
42 They said to the woman, “We no longer believe just because of what you said; now we have heard for ourselves, and we know that this man really is the Saviour of the world.” [1]
May God give us the grace to help us find our satisfaction in sowing the seed of the gospel and reaping the harvest of souls as people put their faith in Christ just as those Samaritans did. May He give us the wisdom to resist the temptations of Satan and our own earthly desires, to find our satisfaction in our work for the Kingdom – finishing the work that our Father has assigned to us. May He give us the endurance to persevere when the work is hard and the harvest seems bare. May He give us the faith to look forward to our rejoicing with the sowers who prepared what we have reaped, and with the reapers who have reaped what we have laboured to sow.
1 Corinthians 3:5-8
5 What, after all, is Apollos? And what is Paul? Only servants, through whom you came to believe—as the Lord has assigned to each his task. 6 I planted the seed, Apollos watered it, but God made it grow. 7 So neither he who plants nor he who waters is anything, but only God, who makes things grow. 8 The man who plants and the man who waters have one purpose, and each will be rewarded according to his own labor.[2]
Are you seeing the harvest? Are you planting and nurturing seeds of truth that God will cause to grow into faith in Jesus?
Maybe like Jesus’ disciples we need to lift our eyes from our lunchboxes. We may have been so focussed on our own stuff that we have not had a good look around us to see the work we are called to do.
Are you praying for people to come to faith?
Are you practicing your faith well among those who don’t know Jesus as well as those who do?
Are you sharing your faith with those around you?
Are you inviting people to come and hear of Jesus?
Are you put off by walls of hostility?
Are you distracted by bonds of friendship?
Learn to see what Jesus sees.
In the Samaritan woman he saw someone the Father was inviting to be a true worshipper who worships in spirit and in truth. The disciples just saw a Samaritan woman.
In the Samaritan village Jesus saw a field of souls that was ready for harvest into God’s eternal Kingdom. The disciples saw a place to buy lunch and then get out of.
How are you seeing the people and the world around you?
