Living Water (John 4:1-14)

Good morning. We are in chapter 4 of John's gospel this morning, which is a chapter that rounds out, brings to conclusion, a kind of mini section at the beginning of John's gospel that features, some events in the life of Jesus, the early ministry of Jesus that aren't recorded anywhere else in scripture. Things like, Jesus' first miracle at the wedding of Cana in Galilee, like his nighttime conversation with Nicodemus up in Jerusalem during the Passover, like the final stamp of approval given to Jesus by John the Baptist, as Jesus outpaces him in ministry. These are wonderful things that we've had in this section. And today, we have another unique and incredibly rich account, about our savior, a surprising interaction that he has with a Samaritan woman at Jacob's well on his way home from Jerusalem to Galilee.

It's been called the most human picture that we get anywhere of Jesus Christ. And actually, what I think it does though is it brings together and pushes to the forefront in a unique way, both the divine and human nature of Jesus Christ. How he was fully God and fully man. This passage is so rich. I've decided I decided yesterday to cut it in half.

We're gonna take our time on it. It's 45 verses long this episode, and I couldn't figure out how to do that without being here till this afternoon. So we're gonna read the first 15 verses and talk about those today, and come back next week, Lord willing, and finish it out. Let's start by reading our text. This is John chapter 4 verses 1 to 15.

John 4:1–15

This is God's word, and it is eternally true. Now when Jesus learned that the had heard that Jesus was making and baptizing more disciples than John, although Jesus himself did not baptize, but only his disciples, he left Judea and departed again for Galilee. And he had to pass through Samaria. So he came to a town of Samaria called Sychar, near the field that Jacob had given to his son Joseph. Jacob's well was there.

So Jesus, wearied as he was from his journey, was sitting beside the well. It was about the 6th hour. A woman from Samaria came to draw water. Jesus said to her, 'Give me a drink.' For his disciples had gone away into the city to buy food. 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.' 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. 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? Are you greater than our father Jacob? He gave us this well and drank from it himself, as did his sons and his livestock.

Jesus said to her, Everyone who drinks of this water will thirst again, 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. 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. This is the word of the Lord. There's a whole host of reasons why I say that this account is surprising.

For starters, Jews were openly hostile and prejudiced against the Samaritans. Samaritans, as they saw it, were the byproduct or the product of an unholy union between those few Jews who had been left behind after the Syrian conquest of the northern territories and those colonizers that the Assyrians had sent in to rule over them. More significantly, though, the Jews saw the Samaritans as covenant breaking rebels. They were had descended from the northern tribes, the Jews from the north, the Israelites, who had long before rebelled against the house of David and sworn off his rule and turned to their own ways and established their own religious centers, unauthorized ones, and develop their own idolatrous forms of worship. And these things persisted even to this day through their descendants, the Samaritans.

Both of these groups together shared the same geopolitical space. They were both under the rule of the Romans, so they didn't have their own political structures. But culturally and religiously, they were as separate as two groups of people can be, very different and very opposed to each other. They really hated each other. And probably all the more because of how closely they had to live with each other.

You know, in the closest thing I think that we have in our history as America would be in the 19 fifties, before 19 mid 19 sixties, when we had ensconced in our laws that we did not share spaces with black Americans. White Americans did not share space with black Americans. They didn't share water fountains. They didn't go to the same schools. They didn't even ride the same buses.

Kept separate and apart and tended to despise one another as a result. But this was like that, but even more intense. So it's astonishing, really is, that Jesus, a descendant of David, a Jew who's descended from the line of David, would be found sitting with and engaging a Samaritan in conversation after asking her for a drink. And it's even more interesting or, emphasized this unique, this surprise, because this was not just a Samaritan, but a Samaritan woman. Jewish teachers like Jesus, rabbis, were encouraged, or discouraged rather, from conversing publicly with women.

That was seen as undignified, immodest and beneath them? How much more than a woman of low moral character as this woman was? She would have been someone in her even in her circles that would have been ostracized, kind of a social pariah, because of the embarrassing nature of her life as a multiple divorcee, and as someone living in open, unwed sin, sexual sin, currently. Jesus gives an astonish her later in this conversation with his secret divine knowledge of who she is. So this really is surprising and unconventional.

You could even say taboo that Jesus is sitting here interacting with her. And just because of that, this is an incredible glimpse into the compassionate heart of our savior and the wideness of God's mercy. If there's a biblical phrase or verse more that perfectly summarizes what this passage brings about, it's this from Isaiah 65. Isaiah was a prophet who, more than any other prophet, spoke of the coming day and rule of the Messiah and of his heart and his character and what he's going to do. And here's what Isaiah said at the end of his book.

He said, speaking in the voice of the coming Messiah, I was ready to be sought by those who did not ask for me. I was ready to be sought by those who did not ask for me. I was ready to be found by those who did not seek me. I said, Here I am, here I am, to a nation that was not called by my name. Isn't that beautiful?

I see three points in this passage that John develops and is drawing out, that I want us to see. That this encounter is a divine encounter, first of all. That it is, second of all, an embodied human encounter. And thirdly, that it is a gracious encounter. Okay?

So first of all, this is a Divine encounter between Jesus and this woman. This is not a serendipitous, accidental meeting between 2, you know, chanced people. This is a divine encounter. That's emphasized here in verses 1 to 5. So in verse 1, we see that Jesus, from a numerical perspective, is doing really well in ministry.

Words gotten around that he's baptizing more disciples than John, and, people are flocking to Jesus in droves. John the Baptist has given his endorsement just at the end of the last passage. Spirits must have been high among Jesus' team. So why on earth does Jesus decide to pull out at this moment? Seriously.

This is like a leader's dream, a pastor's dream, an evangelist's dream. It's all going well. Why pull out just then with the whole team? Well, Jesus, as is usually the case, often the case in the scriptures, is processing things on a much deeper level with spiritual discernment and wisdom from above. Notice it says that the Pharisees Jesus notices that the Pharisees have taken note of his work and of his growing audience.

Now you and I know that because we've read the Gospels and the book of Acts, that the Pharisees are a real jealous, hateful, and murderous bunch. That's what they turn out to be. But that's not clear at this point. This is early days, but it is clear to Jesus. He knows their heart.

He knows what's in the heart of man. God looks on the or man looks on the outward appearance, God looks on the heart. Earlier in John, we read that Jesus knew all people, and he didn't need anybody to teach him about what was in what is in man, because he knew what was in man. So he knew, because of his divine knowledge, that the Pharisees, that the attention that Jesus was drawing, could not help but incite the jealousy and envy of the Pharisees, and that they were going to be coming for him. He also knew that this was ahead of schedule.

This was ahead of God's plan, that he could he he carefully managed the day and the hour of his death, according to God's plans for him, which he knew. So he could not allow too much attention. He carefully managed his growing notoriety with respect to his death. So this was a divine encounter, first of all, because God led Jesus away from Judea to go back to Galilee at this moment. In order to get to Galilee, we read in verse 4 how Jesus had to pass through Samaria.

This was certainly the most convenient route. There's no question about that. But it's not necessarily the most desirable one for the Jews. As I said, Jews viewed Samaritans with disdain and hatred and prejudice. They saw them as covenant breaking rebels who had rejected their their God because they had rejected his place of worship in Jerusalem.

Their hatred comes up in this passage clearly. In verse 9, he says, Jews John adds a parenthetical phrase, Jews have no dealings with Samaritans. Augustine and others have seen the the Greek's hard to translate there, but it seems like an idiom. That's best understood this way: Jews did not share plates or dishes that Samaritans had touched. They enacted laws and rules to try to protect themselves from, contamination with these people.

So if this is a place that the Jews are going to pass through, that Northern Jews had to, because it's the most convenient route to get regularly to Jerusalem for feast days and worship times, This is the kind of place you go holding your nose and hoping to get through without having any kind of uncomfortable or inconvenient encounters with these people. How does Jesus go through? He goes through with his heart open. He goes through with his eyes open to the God given mission that had been laid for him. Is that how you live your life?

As you go about your day, you go through town, you drive through downtown, you go to Walmart. Are you looking for those divine appointments that God has put in your path? The people, do you see them as the interactions, the incidental things that God brings your way through interactions with people? Do do you see that as God's God arranged, something God has brought about for you, and an opportunity to explore, to see how you can minister to that person, and share with them Christ. That's how Jesus went.

I was thinking about Lucy Cabrera, our sister, who's who has fallen asleep in the Lord. She's died. At Walmart, Lucy Cabrera, one of her many glorious stories of evangelism and love. She was too short and couldn't reach the things she needed on the on the top shelf. And she said to this young man, young man, could you help me?

I need that thing up there. I can't reach it. And he very kindly comes over and gets it off the shelf for her, and she says, Now, where do you go to church? You should come to my church. I actually think he'd already been here once before, but he came shortly after, and she's like, Where's Lucy?

She invited me here. Is she here today? I'd like to say hi to her. That's how Lucy was. That's how Jesus was as he goes through Samaria, the most unlikely place.

This wasn't like this place where Jesus shut off his heart. He went there with his eyes open for the mission God had put before him, and his heart opened to people. So this was not a serendipitous encounter. It was a divine appointment. Jesus was looking for divine appointments like this.

At the same time, though, it was an embodied encounter, an embodied encounter. Jesus went through Samaria more attuned to his father's will than he was to his own needs. That's a beautiful thing on display here. And first of all, Jesus had needs. He had needs.

He was fully God, but he was also fully man. And his humanity is beautifully on display here in the fact that he got tired and had to sit down to rest, verse 6. He was thirsty and asked for a drink, verse 7. He was hungry and he sat waiting there as his disciples went to town to buy him some food. That's Jesus, our savior.

He wasn't play acting. These are real desires and needs in his life as a man. He didn't do as some of us do to be manly and pretend like we don't have those needs, stiff arm those needs, pretend as if we don't have the limits of others, of weaklings. Jesus didn't try to muscle through until he crashed. He knew how to listen to his body.

Okay? It's a gay sounding phrase, if I ever heard one. But he knew how to listen to his body. You know, that's how I used to think. Up until recently, that's how I have thought.

Somebody here lovingly gave me a book called, Reset by David Murray, and I've been reading it. And it's changing my perspective, because right out of the gate it says, you're probably in your middle age, if you're reading this book, and you're hitting some walls, or you're about to. And they may be serious if you don't listen to what I have to say to you in this book. And what he's as he's a pastor, but he's also very practical, and he says to men, men, you have to recognize that God has made you limited and finite and in need of rest. And if you do not respect that in faith and take care of the body God gave you, that body is going to break down fast, and in a major way.

And other people who you're responsible for will suffer. And he goes on and on and on in practical ways to live out by faith, or to live by faith in the limitations that God has placed upon us as creatures. I hear his wife has a companion volume for women. I don't know her name. I haven't read it.

I haven't read this whole thing. I'm working through it. But it's been really good. I commend it to you. It's Reset by David Murray.

Jesus had needs, and he knew how to pay attention to them. When he got tired, he sat down. When he was hungry, he asked for food. When he was thirsty, he sought for drink. And this is wonderful news for you and me because here we see the humanity of Jesus Christ.

We needed a savior who was divine, nothing less than an infinite spirit could could could accept all the penalty for all of the sins of all his people from all time, or could swallow up death for all of us. We needed him to be fully God. But we also need a savior who is fully man. If he hadn't become fully man, he could not really have died for our sins. If he hadn't been fully man and had needs, we could not have the assurance that we have a great High Priest who can sympathize with our weaknesses and bring our needs to the Father.

That's what we have in Jesus Christ. We have it because he became fully man. So Jesus felt need. And it's very interesting and instructive for us that paying attention to those needs, listening to his body, is what got Jesus into this incredible opportunity for ministry. He didn't pretend to be tired, so he could have an excuse to sit down next to some unsuspecting evangelistic target.

He didn't feign thirst as some kind of corny opening to a sales pitch. He really felt thirsty. He had walked a long way for 6 hours, probably on a dusty road, and he was hot and tired. It was the middle of the day that says the 6th hour, verse 6. That's high noon as the Jews reckoned it.

And just at that time, Jesus or God sends along a Samaritan woman to draw water. Verse 7. Now this is an unusual time of day, historians tell us, for people in that time to draw water, to go to the well. This is the hot time of the day. Normally this work would have been done early in the morning, in the cool of the morning, or in the cool of the evening.

So another kind of evidence of a divine encounter here. It's not likely Jesus that Jesus is going to encounter anybody at the well at this moment. But here she comes. Why has she come at this hour? Well, quite possibly this is an indication here, an early indication, that she's a disreputable woman, who's come at this time not because it's the nice time to come, but because it's the nice time for her to come.

Because she can be spared the embarrassment, possibly the harassment of the community. When Jesus sees her coming, what does he see? Does he see someone to recoil from? Someone to ignore? Does he see someone far beneath him, someone that he couldn't possibly bring himself to be vulnerable to, or put himself in their debt.

He sees her approaching, and what does he see? Well, God's appointed means for my thirst. I accept whatever God sends to me. Here's a woman coming I'm thirsty and here's a woman coming to draw water. And so he says in verse 7, give me a drink.

How does the woman respond? Well, she doesn't outright refuse, but she also doesn't comply. Something about Jesus' dialect or his clothes makes it clear to her that this is a Jew. And she responds with surprise. How is it that you, a Jew, ask for a drink from me, a Samaritan woman?

Verse 9. For Jews, as John says, have no dealings, they don't share cups with Samaritans. So she's clearly aware and probably not a little scandalized by this, what's going on here. She's feeling the awkwardness of it. Did Jesus let that put him off?

Did he let her discomfort at his need or in this exchange stop him from pursuing, for pressing further? He could have let her surprise induced neglect boil over into impatience and anger. Jesus was tempted in all things as we are, yet without sin. But he was tempted. Would you be have been tempted to be impatient and angry?

He could have allowed his infinitely greatest, greater status as her maker to be known in impatience, and issued some kind of strong command to make her do what he wanted. He could have ripped the pot right out of her hands and said, fine, I'll get it myself. Now, how many of those things are we guilty of on a daily basis in our homes, moms and dads, husbands and wives with each other? Fine. I'll get it myself.

Do trying circumstances like hunger and thirst and fatigue bring out the best in you? And it'll bring out the best in me. Jesus, though, is the master of his feelings. Because it's him and not me. Because it's him and not you.

He begins to turn the conversation, at this point, into a gracious life giving encounter with this woman. It's amazing. Weary and uncomfortably conscious of his thirst, not to mention of his infinitely great status, Jesus doesn't allow his needs to outrank hers. You can almost hear him, kind of, chuckle as he begins to reply, oh, madam, if you only knew the gift of God, the inestimable value of the gift of eternal life, if you only knew the gift of God and who it is who's saying to you, give me a drink. The the only one, the all powerful giver of that life.

You would have asked him, and he would have given you living water. He sees her surprise, and he raises her a 100. Forget male and female, lady. Forget Jew and Gentile, or Jew and Samaritan. The difference between you and me is far beyond that.

If you had half an inkling who I am, and what I can give to you, you would be asking me for infinitely better stuff than what I've just asked of you. I can give you living water. What does Jesus mean by living water? You know, on the surface of it, there's nothing necessarily figurative or metaphorical about that. We use that expression in this day for water that's just not stagnant or putrid.

It's living because it's moving, and it stays healthy and fresh because of that. Spring water is fresh. It's living water. And this very well is still there today, and we know that it is percolated. It is a spring fed well, bare to this day.

But Jesus is using this image, which could be understood or misunderstood. It's not clearly metaphorical, but he is using it in that way as a spiritual metaphor for the gift of eternal life, for the life giving word of eternal salvation that quenches and revives and feeds weary souls. The woman has great need of this water. This is her great need. And Jesus is trying to awaken her curiosity to get her to inquire further about it, because he wants to meet that need in her life.

He is inviting her to ask. But she misunderstands him, and quite possibly even mocks him in her response. We don't hear tone of voice in these accounts, and tone of voice matters. But it's hard not to read into her response to him now, a kind of unbelieving, incredulous taunt. Thinking Jesus is speaking of literal water still, and putting her on, she replies in verse 11, Sir, you have nothing to draw water with.

You don't have a pot or a bucket. And the well is deep. To this day. It's, this at this Today, it's about 75 or more feet deep. Could have been deeper in those days, you know, things fill in holes.

Where do you propose to get that living water that you're so boastful about? Are you greater than our father Jacob? He gave us the well and drank from it himself, as did his sons and his livestock. You know, this well really was or the well, the ground where this well exists really was, did once belong to Jacob the patriarch, the son of Isaac, the grandson of Abraham. And he passed it down to his sons, and it was now under the control, at this time, of the Samaritans, which do have a connection to him by genealogy.

You can read about the history of his ownership of that land in Genesis 33. They considered the Samaritans considered Jacob to be one of their spiritual forebearers. They weren't completely godless. They just got off the bus at the later histories. They accepted their early histories of the Torah.

But anything related to David and the later history of the kings, they rejected. They didn't think that was scriptural. They thought that they were the true people of God. Why does she bring Jacob into this though? Well, because it seems like this stranger is talking a pretty big game.

Oh, my goodness. He he he comes here asking for water, and then proceeds to tell me that he can give me living water. Well, what is he talking about? Who does he think he is? Sir, the best water around is right here in this well, which you have no means to draw from.

That's why you're asking me for water, and yet you claim to be able to give water to me. Who do you think you are? Somehow better than the patriarch Jacob who gave us this well, which has served us now for many generations, are you going to suddenly discover a better water source or a different water source around here in the vicinity? It's not likely. Is Jesus put off by this?

Is he timid like you or I would? Oh, well, I'm sorry. I guess you don't Sorry. I guess you don't need to hear about that or want to hear about that. Okay.

Is he irritated or offended? Does he give back as as good as she gives? No. He perseveres, explaining with gentleness that he's talking about the spiritual good that he can do for her. Verse 13.

Jesus said to her, everyone who drinks of this water in this well will be thirsty again. 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. Do you see Jesus' graciousness on display in this passage? There's a lot more of it to come.

But this was written so that you and me will come to know that this is who he is. This is his kindness. He is kind and gracious to sinners, to unbelievers. He is patient with people who are ignorant. He is accommodating, and magnanimous, and loving towards people who are different.

That's who he is. Paul you know God has different names in scripture. He is love. He is he is provision, the provider. Paul calls Jesus the kindness of God.

He is the kindness of God. Is that the character of the God that you personally know? Have you come to know his kindness for yourself? Or are you an unbelieving, cynical, mocking, distrustful person? Are you above needing this kind of kindness in your life, unwilling to make yourself humble and vulnerable to him?

This woman still is, at this point in the story. She is no longer argumentative. In verse 15, on some level she seems here to be ready to concede, but she is not yet giving a believing response. That's clear. Most commentators detect still more mocking unbelief in her in her comments here to Jesus, in her response.

She says, well then sir, give me this water if you can. You're like, okay, fine. Give it to me if you can, if you mister big shot. And she's still thinking clearly naturalistically about this water source, despite his efforts to explain to her that he's speaking figuratively. Thirsty again or have to come here and draw water.

Yeah, that sounds good, but okay. Put up or shut up. So Jesus has more work to do with this woman and he's gonna do it. He's come to her tired and thirsty, but he puts that aside in order to offer her the water of life. But to get her willing and ready to receive it from him, he has to make her thirsty for it.

How's he gonna do that? Well, he's gonna do that by showing his secret knowledge of her sin, and the tragic fruit of spiritual drought in her life. That's what he's going to do. That's where he's going to turn next. We'll go there next week.

And he's going to reveal to her in powerful ways that he is truly a savior for her from sin. And it's going to transform this woman, and the whole community. That's her. What about you? Is your soul thirsty today?

I don't want to fail to deal seriously with what Jesus says he offers. He says that he has water to give that will make you never thirst again. He says that he can plant in your heart a spring of life that will well up into eternal life and replenish your soul forever. He could put that inside you. That's his claim.

Are you thirsty for that? I know everybody is thirsty because we spend our lives seeking to sat seeking satisfaction, and hope, and joy, and peace, and good things. We seek for life! That's what we do. You never stop doing that, seeking for significance and meaning and purpose and security and joy and prosperity.

This is the the foundations of our government are based on this premise, that we are at liberty to do that. This is who we are. We all have desires, and all of us are seeking to meet these desires, to answer them. And Jesus is saying, Actually, forget all that. Come to me.

I can fulfill that eternally. I can satisfy you. Are you thirsty for it? If you've never tasted the water of life that comes from the well of Jesus Christ, He invites you today to come and drink freely from it. Listen to his, again, from the prophet Isaiah, who gives voice to the coming Messiah.

In his name, Isaiah says, come everyone who thirsts. Come to the waters. And he who has no money, come buy and eat. Come, come buy wine and milk without money, without cost. And he goes on and says, Why do you spend your money for that which is not bread, and your labor for that which does not satisfy?

Come to the living waters of Jesus Christ. Come and draw water from the well of salvation today. If you've drunk from that well I know many of you have. If you've drunk from that well before, but you find today that you're empty or dry, what should you do? Was Jesus' promise to you empty?

Was his promise to this woman empty? He says, you'll never thirst again. So what gives? Well, don't be surprised. Even great saints like David before you have felt that way many times.

David told the Lord in prayer in Psalm 63, I feel like I'm in a dry and a weary land where there's no water. Anybody felt like that? Anybody feeling like that today? I feel like I'm in a dry and barren land. I'm just desperate for water.

Where is it? I don't see it anywhere. And again, he says in Psalm 42, as the deer pants for the water brook, so my soul pants for you. When Jesus promises, whoever drinks will never thirst again, he does not mean that we would get in one mouthful all the drink we would ever need. So whenever you came to him first, he did not offer you so great a mouthful that it would sustain you for the rest of your life.

That's not what he's saying. He's not contrasting thirst with desire, but rather thirst with deadness and complete drought. What he's promising to do is to establish in your heart, by faith, through his Holy Spirit, an ever flowing stream of life that you can return to over and over again. If you've tasted of that water, you can taste again. You can keep returning to Jesus Christ through the power of the Holy Spirit within you, and be refreshed.

And you can take comfort in saints, and the prayers of saints like David, who finds that difficult, and has to work hard in prayer earnestly to overcome that sense of drought. Calvin says you're going to feel desire all your life. That is need. You're That means you're gonna feel empty and dry. But what Jesus offers here is a never or or, you know, a never what?

A never stopping well. Always full of life for us. Available 20 fourseven for us to come and be refreshed in. So come and draw water from that well again today. Lastly, are you and I in the business of doing what Jesus does and offering water to people?

Telling them about the water that he can give, the water of life? Are you the kind of person who inconveniences yourself, sets aside your agenda, your needs, your goals, your responsibilities, in order to do other people good? If you've drunk of the water of life, then you know the gift of God, and who it is that gives it? Are you an ambassador for him? Or are you stingy and selfish with what you know, what you've experienced?

The beautiful thing about this passage, as we'll see next week, is this woman is immediately going to tell other people about what she has found. Do we do that? I'm asking because I know I don't. And I have observed at basketball games and volleyball games that we have a habit of going as parents and just sitting and talking to each other, instead of reaching out to the members of our community, the other parents, and getting to know them. This is what we do.

When we go someplace, we just hang out with each other. We live in our little bubble, because it's comfortable and safe. If Jesus had done this, this woman would never have heard about him. If you do that, many never hear about him. Get out of your bubble.

Think right now about someone in your life that you've been not telling about Jesus Christ. Think right now about somebody you've been not telling about Jesus Christ. And then ask yourself, why? Why? Are you afraid?

Afraid of doing it wrong? Are you afraid of not? Are you afraid of rejection? Are you afraid of them laughing at you, or scoffing at you, or acting incredulous like this woman treated Jesus? Are you gonna be allowed that to put you off?

Have you allowed that to put you off? Jesus didn't. He persevered and it bore great fruit. Follow Jesus' example here, brothers and sisters. Love that person.

Love them enough to tell them about Him and what He's done for your soul, what He can do for theirs. And learn from Jesus how this best happens. The best way that this comes about is through just real human relationship and exchange. This wasn't a sales pitch. He was willing to actually be a human and treat her like a human being.

Could you think of somebody in your life, when I asked that question, that you are neglecting? Like somebody you know and know you're neglecting? If not, why not? Is that because you're sit you live in your bubble and you've organized your life in such a way as you never have to sit down at one of those wells? Never have to risk an encounter with one of those people.

I never go to that part of town because, oh my goodness, I'd have to talk to one of them. Seriously. We have a way of organizing our lives and justifying it as faithfulness to God. Oh, I'm so busy doing God's work. It just so happens I don't have to do anything hard.

The gospel work, evangelism, is best done in the context of real human exchanges and relationship. It starts by being a good neighbor. Are you making yourself vulnerable, dependent on any way to people different from you outside this circle, outside of the boundaries of this church, outside of the boundaries of shared faith and outlook. You have people who live on your street, who don't know the Lord, and have oriented their life according to completely different principles. Are you are they humans?

Are you a human? Can you be neighborly towards them? Could you do what Jesus does and allow them to be neighborly towards you? Hey. Could you watch my house while I'm away?

Start of a relationship. Jesus did that and see where it led. It led to amazing things. Opportunities opened up for the Lord through his thirst. There was a family that I observed this Halloween in our church that, didn't just that opened up their garage door like everybody else in their community, most everybody else, and they offered candy to the kids like most everybody else, but they also offered wine, red and white, to the moms and dads.

I don't know if anybody else in the community did that. That was cool. Just one little glass, not a lot. But think of the humanity of it, the neighborliness of it, the unique creativity of it. I mean, a huge they they are I tell you, they're on the map in their neighborhood.

They're that family who did that. They're

awesome.

I want to know them. They wanted they they were friendly towards me. That would be a really good topic of discussion in our small groups today or next week, whenever you meet. How can we be friendly and neighborly? How can we be humans in our community and love people practically like Jesus did?

Commit to talking to that person about Jesus. Commit to making one of those people a person in your life that you could then talk to about Jesus. The Kingdom of God is meant to grow. And it's meant to grow through our witness and our faith and our love. So let's learn how to do that from our Savior who loves different people.

Amen? Heavenly Father, we ask that you would help us, inspire us by the beautiful example of your Son's kindness, the incredible evidence of his humanness, and help us, father, to receive that kindness into our own souls themselves. And I pray that it would come out all of our pores towards other people. I pray that we would be moved, as our savior was so often moved, with compassion for for the people. That we would see the other souls around us, that we would feel the weight of their need, that we would come to them with a message of hope, and come to them in practical ways to help them in their life because of love, because we ourselves have known love.

And as we continue to look at this passage of scripture next week, Lord, I pray that you would bless our meditations on it, and that you would change us, just as you changed this sinful woman and made her your joyful servant. Make us so as well. In Christ's name we pray. Amen.