Echoes of Her Faith: The Woman at the Well

Well, thank you to our worship team. I want you

to imagine with me a song about God being a way

maker. It never crossed my mind that the first

example of the first moment of miscommunication

in our 20 -year marriage would happen today in

front of all of you. But here we are. So probably

just as well that happened with all of you present.

Yeah, no, I don't know what happened other than

miscommunication. But just imagine if God was

a way maker and said he's a slave deliverer and

we can live into that promise as well. Amen.

Thank you to our worship team. We've added these

kind of Sundays where we kind of unplug a little

bit. And man, it's beautiful. Beautiful sound.

We can hear you all. Sounds so great. I told

Haas, my favorite version of Haas is ambidextrous

Haas, where he's like going both ways. And I

had this weird thing like in my early 20s. People

asked me like, what do you want to do when you

grow up? I said, I want to be ambidextrous. And

it was very weird. I had this weird fascination

with being able to do things with both hands.

And it lasted for about two days. And I gave

up. So here we are. But thank you to our worship

team. Flaws and all, that's my fault. But the

worship is beautiful. The truths of the songs

are most important. They're beautiful. So we

continue our series today, Echoes of Her Faith,

which we kicked off last Sunday. The intent of

this series, if you weren't with us or didn't

catch it online or whatever, is to examine and

listen closely to the stories. and the voices

of some incredible women in the Bible who I think,

because of the timeless nature of the scripture

that we hold in our hands today, that their voices

still echo into our faith and our lives today.

And last week, we began our series by looking

at the story of Hannah, if you were with us,

and what hope in suffering looks like as she

waited in this pretty prolonged period of time

for the blessing of a child that God eventually

did give her. And we just looked at her story

and said, what does it look like to live with

hope in the midst of suffering and being misunderstood

and having these longings that, quite honestly,

are somewhat paralyzing for your soul and your

heart? And what a powerful story. And today we're

going to move on into our second character in

this series, a story and a longing that is deeply

human. And one of the things that I said last

week is I think all of these characters that

we're going to look at, five women in the Bible,

all of their stories are... deeply human in the

sense that there's something very relatable for

us. And I know sometimes when you read the scripture,

it can get a little heady. You can kind of get

lost in some of these heroes of the Bible, like

we'll never be the Apostle Paul. He did things

we long for, aspire to, right? But there's some

characters in the Bible that are just deeply

human and deeply relatable. And that is something

that we all understand, the story of the woman

at the well, which is to experience thirst. Now,

I'm not just talking about physical thirst, although

we experience that more living in the deserts

than a lot of people. But I'm talking about that

which is like, the physical thirst is kind of

the piece that initiates this encounter with

Jesus, as you're going to see. But I'm talking

more about like the soul level thirst, if you

know what I mean. And I can describe it for you.

It's that thing that keeps you up at night or

wakes you up in the middle of the night. Or it's

that thing that... The kind that just kind of

keeps you scrolling and striving and searching

and achieving and acquiring, and you still kind

of feel like something is missing. We've all

heard the interviews with celebrities and famous

athletes who have more money than we could even

write out on paper, and yet they tell these stories

of feeling empty or lonely or whatever it may

be, and you're just like, how? How is that possible?

So that's that soul level thirst that I'm talking

about. And to help us to see it, we're going

to turn to one of the most remarkable encounters

in all of the Bible. This is truly one of the

most, I mean, you could say so many things about

Jesus, and we do. And we know so many things

about Jesus. But one of the things that I'm so

struck by is his encounters with people were

just... Did he just keep you on the edge of your

seat because he was just a master at kind of

helping people to see their true need? He's an

example for us. This is one of the most remarkable

encounters in the entire Bible. It's the encounter

of Jesus and the woman at the well in John chapter

John 4 · chapter mention

4. And here's the main thing that I want us to

see in her story today, and that is what redemption

in brokenness looks like. Redemption in brokenness.

Let me give you the context of where this scene

occurs. It's the most unlikely of meetings. I

don't know if you've ever had an experience like

that where you ran into someone somewhere that

just felt so unlikely or so random, as you would

call it. I just got an email from one of you

this week who was telling me a story of like,

you were out for a walk and someone literally

came by on their bike that you had been longing

to talk to and you had lost connection and like,

this felt so random, right? Like, what are the

odds kind of moment? And that's the scene in

which this story is going to unfold here. That's

the situation in John chapter 4. Jesus is traveling

John 4 · chapter mention

through Samaria, which is already unusual in

the sense that Jewish people did not typically

go through Samaria unless they absolutely had

to. Maybe you've experienced something like that.

There was a history, if you will, of just deep...

Tension, prejudice, there was mutual suspicion

between Samaritans and Jews. You just didn't

go there unless you absolutely had to. But there's

an interesting few words in the account of which

it happens in John chapter 4, and we're going

John 4 · chapter mention

to read together in a moment. But in verse 4

it says this, and we'll kind of read the whole

thing, but I wanted to set it up for you this

way. He had to travel through Samaria. If you

were a Bible scholar and a geographical whiz,

geography whiz I should say, You could look at

a map and be like, I'm not sure that he had to

travel through Samaria. There's other ways to

go. If I said, hey, you got to go to Phoenix

and you have to go down I -10, that's the only

way to get there. He'd be like, no, you can go

up through Globe or through whatever. There's

other ways that you could go all the way over

to LA and come in the back way. There's a lot

of ways you can get there. They said he had to

travel through Samaria. It's interesting because

we can... I think safely speculate, although

it is that, I want to be clear, it's a speculation,

that geographically speaking, he didn't have

to travel through Samaria. He didn't have to.

There are other routes. So what's the had to

all about? I think we read scripture with hindsight.

I recognize that. But I think in hindsight, it's

because there was a divine encounter to be had

with a certain woman that lived in Samaria. And

therefore, he had to travel through Samaria.

And it's not just any woman. It's someone that

society had quite literally pushed to the margins.

And so we're going to read her story together.

We're going to kind of stop along the way and

make some key points. We see this encounter between

Jesus and this woman. It begins in verse 1 in

John chapter 4 this way. When Jesus learned that

John 4 · chapter mention

the Pharisees had heard he was making and baptizing

more disciples than John, though Jesus himself

was not baptizing, but his disciples were, he

left Judea and went again to Galilee. He had

to travel through Samaria. So he came to a town

of Samaria called Sychar, near the property that

Jacob had given to his son Joseph. Jacob's well

was there. And Jesus, worn out from his journey,

sat down at the well. It was about noon, and

a woman of Samaria came to draw water. Now let's

just pause there to consider some of the context.

Because if you just read it, it's like, okay,

it's a pretty normal encounter. It's not normal

by any means, because the women would come to

draw, they don't come to draw water at noon,

typically. Why not? It's the hottest part of

the day. The small details tell us something,

that this woman had not been welcomed in by other

groups of women because the place to be in the

morning was like the water cooler gathering.

The Starbucks gathering was at the well to draw

water. If you were welcome, if you were in the

in crowd, so to speak, you were probably at the

well to draw water in the morning, maybe late

in the evening, but certainly not at noon. Certainly

not at noon. The small detail tells us that this

woman had been kind of pushed out, so to speak,

from her culture, her society that she lived

in. Because it was just not a time for people

to come draw water at noon. She comes alone.

Why? Most likely, people ask me, like, are you

introverted or extroverted? I'm like, the more

I'm around people, the more introverted I become.

Like, how many of you have a place in town where

you go because you're hoping you won't run into

anybody else? Anybody? There are options close

to home, but sometimes I go farther because I

don't want to see any of you. That's, of course,

a total joke. She went at noon because she's

smart. And she's like, there's less chance I'm

going to run into anybody. Because she knew the

stigma towards her. She knew the shame that other

women, other people, not just women, anybody

thought had towards her. I'm going to go at noon.

I'm not going to run into anybody. I'm going

to avoid conversation. I'm going to avoid judgment.

Put it this way, if there's social media that

existed back then, she would have been the person

that had been unfriended, unfollowed, muted,

however you want to say it, definitely not invited

into the social network. And yet, Jesus is there

waiting for her. And the conversation begins

with a very simple request from Jesus in verse

7. Give me a drink, Jesus said to her. because

his disciples had gone into town to buy food.

Now, on the surface, this seemed like a very

ordinary request from Jesus. Somebody said to

you, if you showed up at a well and someone said,

give me a drink, you'd be like, what? What are

you talking about? Give me a drink. But culturally,

this is a radical request from Jesus, and I'll

tell you how so. Multiple ways. First of all,

a Jewish man speaking to a Samaritan woman, it

just was out of bounds. It's not supposed to

happen that way. Secondly, a rabbi initiating

conversation is unheard of. Thirdly, a man asking

a woman, no matter the ethnicity, if you will,

like, you just don't do that. Men don't ask women

for anything. Totally backwards. Everything about

this moment, Jesus' simple request of, give me

a drink. That's all he said to her. And because

of this, her response is obviously one of shock.

She knows the... cultural, societal context that

I just explained to you. Verse 9, this is her

response. How is it that you, talking to Jesus,

a Jew, ask for a drink from me, a Samaritan woman?

She just takes all of those barriers and puts

them in one sentence. How is it that you, a Jew,

This man asking me a Samaritan woman. She asked

him, for Jews you're not associated with Samaritans.

And here's where it starts to get really interesting.

Jesus doesn't back away from the awkwardness,

does he? But he leans into it in verse 10. Jesus

answered, if you knew the gift of God, and who

is saying to you, give me a drink, you would

ask him and he would give you living water. Her

confusion at this point, and if you say you wouldn't

have the same confusion, you're probably lying.

Her confusion is just escalating. It's multiplying

quickly. Like, what in the world? First of all,

this Jewish man, why is he even here? Second

of all, he's asking me for water, and now he's

talking about, if you knew who I was, you would

ask me to give you living water? Like, has this

man lost his mind? Verse 11 and 12. Sir, said

the woman, you don't even have a bucket, and

the well is deep. Where do you get this living

water? You aren't greater than our father Jacob.

This is his well, by the way. You aren't greater

than our father Jacob, are you? He gave us the

well and drank from it himself, as did his sons

and livestock. She's just radically confused.

You don't even have a bucket. She's totally very

relatable. Okay, let's say that you will give

me this living water. What are you going to do?

Just snap your fingers and draw it up? You at

least need a cup. You at least need a bucket,

which honestly is a very fair point. If someone

offered you water and you didn't have a bottle

or a cup or whatever hydro flask you guys spend

$80 on today to buy, you'd be skeptical too,

right? Like, this guy has weird motives here.

Like, give me a drink. There's nothing to give

you a drink with. Like, what do you really want

from me? But with the advantage of hindsight,

as we read the story, we know, of course, that

Jesus isn't talking about physical water, was

he? He's talking about something much deeper.

And this is where the point in the story where

the whole conversation begins to shift. The whole

conversation begins to shift. Jesus was a master

at this. I alluded to it earlier. He had a way.

He had a way. I was talking with a friend earlier

in the week, and he was expressing to me, I want

to know how to share my faith. I'm kind of paraphrasing

a longer conversation, but I want to know how

to tell people about Jesus. I want to know how

to be more confident in what I share. Quite honestly,

just look at how Jesus engaged people. He often

started with a physical need that opened the

door to a spiritual need. Why do the scriptures

tell us, this is a tangent, but here we go. Why

do the scriptures tell us to like, not just love

in word and deed, but in action and in truth,

like there's something, there's action to our

love because so often it opens the door to meet

a spiritual need. Why do we give away? thousands

of dollars, maybe hundreds of thousands of dollars

a year as a church because meeting physical needs

opens the door to meet spiritual needs. Why do

people go into these remote villages with clean

water and bread? Because meeting physical needs

often opens the door to meet spiritual needs.

When we were in India and we went into this village,

went into a lot of villages, one that we went

into. They knew the Americans were coming, and

it's a big deal. You feel like this weird celebrity

actually took a lot of getting used to, and now

I miss it. I'm kidding. But it's this weird thing

where you go in, and they treat you like gods.

It's very strange, humbling, quite honestly.

Nevertheless, the draw that night was not primarily

the Americans, although that's a piece of it,

but they were feeding the entire village. And

so it was food. It was free food. And it was

going to be good food. And so the entire village,

I mean, hundreds of people just everywhere. And

it was almost like they're sitting there just

like, all right, as soon as this guy stops talking,

we'll get to eat. Much like you are on Sundays,

probably. But the draw was the physical need.

And so we said, yeah, we'll feed the whole village.

We'll meet a physical need if it enables us to

maybe meet a spiritual need. That's the tangent.

Meeting physical need opened the door to expose

the spiritual need, and Jesus was masterful at

this. Watch it in verse 13. Jesus said, everyone

who drinks of this water will get thirsty again.

And that makes sense. But whoever drinks from

the water that I will give him will never get

thirsty again. In fact, the water that I will

give him will become a well of water springing

up for him in eternal life. And so just pause

here, because it's not just her story. This is

where it has to begin to kind of land into our

own story. We live in a world obsessed with quenching

thirst. Metaphorically speaking, of course. We

keep going back to what? Empty wells, essentially.

Or at least things that you'll have to come back

for the next day because you'll be thirsty again.

Success, but it's never enough. We're never successful

enough. I mean, you see it in professional sports

all the time. Like, they just keep trading bigger

contracts for bigger contracts for bigger contracts.

And you're like, how is it that at 10 million

you're unhappy? Well, I suppose if you had 10

million and someone offered you 20 million, all

of a sudden you'd be unhappy at 10 million. Like,

we can't fathom it, but it's a real thing. How

do you keep chasing success when you have it?

It's just never enough. Relationships, but they

don't fully satisfy. Comfort and entertainment

and distraction. But the silence and the emptiness

still creeps in. And you've heard the famous

quote. I don't know who it's by, but you've heard

it. We buy things that we don't need with money

that we don't have to impress people we don't

even like. And yet, you're still thirsty. You're

still thirsty. This woman at the well doesn't

fully understand yet, but she's at least now

intrigued. There's something unique about this

man, this conversation, this promise. So verse

15, In other words, I don't get it, but I'll

buy what you're selling. I don't get it, but

it sounds intriguing. And that's a really good

starting point, at least. And then Jesus does

something really unexpected in verse 16. Go call

your husband, he told her, and come back here.

And this is where her world just goes. And here

comes yet another shift in this conversation

because suddenly she's realizing this isn't really

about water at all. Her reply, I don't have a

husband, she answered. Jesus' reply in second

part of verse 17, you have correctly said, I

don't have a husband. Just imagine in the moment

you came at noon because you wanted to avoid

this very conversation. You came at noon because

you didn't want anybody to give you a hard time

about your life and all the judgment and all

the cultural shame you'd experienced. And so

you came at noon to avoid this very thing. Imagine

what this lady is suddenly feeling like this

is the point where most of us would want to disappear.

We want to change the subject. Like, you know

what? Turns out I don't want this water that

you're offering. Have a good day. Change the

subject. Fake a phone call. Pretend we got to

run because the kids need picked up unexpectedly.

Like, whatever it is, we're scooting out from

this conversation as quickly as we can. But notice

what happens next. With this woman, like, she's

feeling all of these things. And Jesus, he's

going to expose her truth without shaming her.

This is in verse 18. For you have had five husbands,

and the man you now have is not your husband.

What you have said is true. What does she say?

I don't have a husband. She's like, you're correct.

And I know a few details. And the details are,

you've had five. The man you now have is not

your husband. What you have said is true. So,

he doesn't humiliate her. He doesn't condemn

her. He doesn't. Is she feeling some of her own

condemnation? Perhaps. He doesn't humiliate her.

He doesn't condemn her. He simply reveals that

he knows her. Like, I know about you. I know

your story fully. And he still is going to continue

to engage her. I think of the old quote. It's

attributed to several different people, but it

says it this way. It's on the screen for you.

To be known and not loved is our greatest fear.

To be loved and not known is superficial, but

to be fully known and fully loved, that is grace.

That is grace. Just leave that up there for a

second so you can see it. To be known and not

loved, which is that's all the further this conversation

is between this woman and Jesus at this point,

is he knows me. He knows my history. He knows

I've had five husbands. The one I'm with now

is not my husband. He knows that, but she doesn't

know if he loves her yet. To be known and not

loved is our greatest fear. To be loved and not

known is superficial. To be fully known and fully

loved, that is grace. That is grace. And certainly,

that's what this woman is at least about to experience

in this moment with Jesus. But like many of us

would have, she's going to try and deflect, and

she's going to try and redirect the conversation

away from her to who Jesus is. John 4, 19 -20,

Sir, the woman replied, I see that you are a

prophet. Our ancestors worshipped on this mountain,

but you Jews say that the place to worship is

in Jerusalem. What is she really... doing in

this moment. She's deflecting. She's changing

the conversation. She's like, hey, let's talk

about theology instead. That was her attempt

to redirect the conversation, like, hey, help

me sort out this, like, are we worshiping here?

Are we worshiping there? Instead of letting things

get personal, she wants them to get, what, philosophical.

And as I was preparing for this, one story in

my mind sticks out so clearly. Many years ago,

I had a guy who was constantly emailing me deep

philosophical, theological questions. Finally

get to a point where I say, hey, man, why don't

you just come in, bring your Bible, we'll talk.

And he comes in with the thickest study Bible

I've ever seen, and I'm instantly intimidated

by him. Like, I mean, I went to seminary, but

I don't think I went to that seminary. And we

talked. The point of the story is six months

later, he dipped out on his marriage of 50 years

to go rekindle with a high school sweetheart.

It wasn't about theology for that guy, let me

assure you. He had too much and had not penetrated

his heart. Bring that back to the story. Like,

if you don't want to be known, there's easy ways

to deflect. Hey. Cool that you know about my

five husbands, but can you sort out this, where

are we going to worship? Mountain stuff for me?

I think it's humorous, quite honestly. She doesn't

want to get personal. She wants to be philosophical.

She's questioning Jesus about the appropriate

place for worship in the midst of this conversation,

mind you. And Jesus' reply to her is one of the

most profound statements in the whole Bible.

Verse 21, Jesus told her, believe me, woman,

an hour is coming when you will worship the Father.

neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem. In

other words, you want your answer? Neither. You

Samaritans worship what you do not know. We worship

what we do know because salvation is from the

Jews, but an hour is coming and is now here.

when the true worshipers will worship the Father

in spirit and in truth. Yes, the Father wants

such people to worship him. God is spirit, and

those who worship him must worship him in spirit

and in truth. Just imagine that you're that lady,

and she's like, hey, tell me, we'll be here or

we'll be on that mountain, and this is the answer

you get back. You're like, if I wasn't confused

before, I am now. Thank you very much. Jesus

told her, like, I'll answer your question. but

probably in a way that you don't expect and maybe

don't even like. God is spirit. Those who worship

him must worship in spirit and truth. What was

Jesus trying to show her? He was trying to show

her that true worship was not about a place,

was not about a ritual, was not about a performance,

but rather authenticity and honesty and a real

true connection with God. He was trying to just

pull back those layers of... philosophical, theological

confusion for her. And then in one last moment

of confusion, Jesus responds with total clarity.

Verse 25, the woman said to him, by the way,

you should mark this in your Bible and go read

it for yourself. There's something profound about

opening a physical Bible and knowing the story

and looking at it and digesting it for yourself.

John chapter 4, it's all there. Verse 25, the

John 4 · chapter mention

woman said to him, I know that the Messiah is

coming who is called Christ. When he comes, he

will explain everything to us. Jesus told her,

imagine just being in the room. I, the one speaking

to you, am he. It reminds me of so many of the

other stories where, like, we were talking about

Downey Thomas on Easter, right? Like, Thomas

wasn't the only one that was skeptical, right?

He appeared to the lady in the gardener. She

thought he was the gardener. Remember that? She's

having this entire conversation, knowing about

the Messiah, who is called the Christ. When he

comes, he will explain everything. She had a

pretty good familiarity with this coming Jesus.

And Jesus told her, I, the one speaking to you,

am he. You just think about this. This is the

first time. I love this. These are just the details

that I get the privilege of kind of mining out

and bringing to us. This is the first time in

John's gospel that Jesus explicitly declares

himself as the Messiah. Why is that significant?

It's significant because this woman who, culturally

speaking, he should have never been engaged with

in the first place, is the first one to whom

Jesus makes this declaration. A woman of total

shame. It's not to some religious leader. It's

not in the temple to some noble king or dignitary.

It's not even to his own disciples. It's to this

woman at the well who everybody else had said,

don't go near her. Go in the morning to draw

water because she's going to come at noon. And

it's to this very woman that Jesus, for the first

time in this gospel account, makes this declaration

of who he is to her. Who he is to her. It reminds

me of the story of Jesus' birth. It was to the...

shepherds that the angels declared first. And

when you read the scripture and it talks about

the first shall be last and the last first, I

think it's embodied in some of these stories

that we already see in the scripture. There's

going to come a point where Jesus is going to

reveal his identity. Who do you think it's going

to be? It's got to be his disciples. It's got

to be some dignitary in the temple. No, it's

going to be that woman. Oh, to a Samaritan woman,

huh? Yep, to a Samaritan woman. An outsider,

a marginalized voice, and this is not only surprising,

it's also very intentional. Jesus didn't, I mean,

I do it every Sunday. I get home and I'm like,

did I really say that? Like, dang, I could take

that back. Jesus didn't have those moments. We

all have those moments. Like, oh, I didn't mean

to do that. Be totally clear, Jesus wasn't like,

oh, she drew it out of me before I was going

to tell everybody else. Like, hey, think you

could keep this between us? And so that's where

her direct interaction with Jesus ends, but that's

not where the story ends, because the text tells

us that after this, she immediately leaves her

water jar, which, why is that ironic? Well, because

she came considering that's what she thought

she needed in the first place. She leaves her

water jar. She runs back into the town. Mind

you, to the same people that she's avoided, the

same people that she's been afraid of, the same

people that she's been shamed by and unwelcomed

by. And in verse 29, she says, come, see a man

who told me everything I did, which, by the way,

is not good. I've had a history of just broken

relationships. Come, see a man who told me everything

I ever did. Could this be the Messiah? It's so

profound, my friends. You have to sit in the

significance of this moment to think that not

only was it this woman that Jesus declared this

to, but it was the same woman who went back into

a community that had totally rejected her and

said, I got something to tell you. Think about

it for a moment. The same woman who... came alone

at noon to avoid people is now inviting people.

You think about how profound that is. Like, and

so here's a point to make. When grace meets truth,

it transforms shame into testimony. When grace

meets truth, it transforms shame into testimony.

And that's exactly what happened here in the

story of the woman at the well. Verse 39. This

is, I don't know. There are a few better endings

to a story than right here. Now, many Samaritans

from that town believed in him because of what

that woman said when she testified. He told me

everything I did. Many Samaritans, who, mind

you, don't like Jews, believed in him because

of what that woman said when she testified. He

told me everything I did. And he didn't tell

her all the things he liked about her. He told

her truth. And in that place of truth, it transformed

her to the point where she's now inviting. And

many Samaritans would come to believe in Jesus.

One conversation, one encounter, one life transformed,

and it ripples out from there. One of my favorite

quotes from C .S. Lewis says, there are no ordinary

people. And he goes on to say, you have never

talked to a mere mortal. In other words, no conversations

like, oh yeah, we're just chit -chatting. Like

you're talking to an immortal soul, a body that's

mortal for sure, a soul that's immortal, it'll

live forever. And so there's no just happenstance

in life. One conversation, one encounter, one

transformation that would ripple out from there.

Jesus knew and understood who this lady was.

He didn't see a scandal that needed to be publicized

and to be shamed, but he saw it as an immortal

soul that he was trying to get to understand

what true living water will do for you when it

hits your soul. One conversation, one transformation.

And so just in the few minutes that we have left,

I'm going to give you a couple things that I

think this story, how it intersects with us,

right? Because it's a powerful story, but you

got to also ask the so what, like. What's the

intersection? What's the echo of this faith forward

to us today? And here's the first thing, Jesus

meets us in unexpected places. Now, I don't mean

this to mean in the kitchen as opposed to church,

although that is possible. So when I say Jesus

meets us in unexpected places, the focus here

is not so much geographically, okay? Although

that could be true, but rather the unexpected

places of our soul. The unexpected places of

our soul. What do I mean by that? Think about

it. This woman, again, at the well, she wasn't

in a temple. I mean, if you had said, hey, you're

going to meet the Messiah, where do you think

that's going to happen? She would have said,

well, I suppose if I go to the synagogue, like

maybe go to the temple, certainly not at the

well. And I understand it's a geographical example,

but the point is, is like her soul was not ready

for that. She had just gone like she did. countless

times before to avoid people, to draw water,

to get on with her day. And it wasn't in the

synagogue, which is another way of saying that

she wasn't even looking for Jesus. I mean, if

you had told her, hey, the Messiah's in town,

go find him, where would she have gone first?

The synagogue, the temple, to where the religious

leaders were. She certainly wouldn't have gone

to the well, like of all places. She was at the

well, she's doing chores, she's avoiding people,

she's living life, and Jesus shows up. And so,

might it be, friends, might it be that in your

search for success, where your soul is, you bump

into Jesus? Might it be in your search for a

perfect relationship or a family, you bump into

Jesus? Like, in your soul, I mean. Might it be

that in your search for financial wealth or...

Whatever it may be, you bump into Jesus or in

your search for sexual satisfaction, you bump

into Jesus. Like in these places of our soul,

we're like, we thought we were thirsty for this.

I need water, so I'm going to go to the well.

I need sexual satisfaction, so I'm going to go

to the internet. I need financial gain, so I'm

going to go to the stock market. Like I need

success, so I'm going to keep changing jobs until

I can find the right one. And look. All those

things have their place in life, in the right

context, of course. But might it be that in that

search for the thing you think you're after,

you bump into Jesus in that place of your soul.

In your search to be satisfied, the true thirst,

the thing you've convinced yourself will solve

it all, you bump into Jesus who meets us in unexpected

places, sometimes geographically, but more often

than not in the place of our soul, when you aren't

looking for him. In fact, maybe even purposely

avoiding him. So many places in the Bible we

see it, especially in the gospel accounts, we

see it play out that way. I think of the account

of where Jesus is calling his disciples and they're

fishing. Like, come on man, don't disturb me

while I'm fishing. Zacchaeus, up in the tree,

just wanted to see Jesus but not know Jesus.

Jesus is like, come on down, man. I'm going to

your house today. In the middle of his career,

collecting taxes, doing his thing, Jesus meets

him in that unexpected place. Secondly, our deepest

thirst is spiritual. It might be obvious, but

it should be said. A few chapters later in John

John 6 · chapter mention

chapter 6, Jesus cautions his disciples in a

group of gathered people. If you were to go over,

you'd see it not to work for food which perishes,

he says, but that which endures to eternal life.

And if you think about it, we spend so much time

trying to satisfy the wrong thirst that costs

us so much time, money, emotional. And I would

say the newest, the most valuable asset that

we now have as a culture and as individuals is

mental bandwidth. Because we are so distracted.

So distracted. And so we... We try to satisfy

the wrong thirst that costs us these things,

our time, our money, our mental and emotional

bandwidth. But underneath it, there's just like

a deep thirst. You don't scroll on your phone

and then put it away for two years. You do it

again two hours later because you might have

missed something. I do it. It's dumb. But there's

a deeper thirst that we're just like, hmm. I

mean, you don't check your stock account and

then never check it again. You don't, I mean,

you get it. You just play it out in your own

life. There's a deeper thirst. There's a thirst

for purpose. There's a thirst for belonging and

acceptance and forgiveness and love. And don't

you know the woman at the well had all of those

things but had not the first clue how to find

it because the people that she did life with

were like, no, you don't do life with us. You're

unwelcome here. Thirst for purpose, belonging,

acceptance, forgiveness, love, and we keep coming

back for more, but they don't truly satisfy us.

St. Augustine said, you have made us for yourself,

O Lord, and our hearts are restless until they

find rest where? In you. In you. That is what

Jesus was offering this woman, and that is what

Jesus still offers us today, which is living

water. That's the key phrase in that whole story.

Living water. Meaning what? Like a spring that

never runs out. We don't know anything of those

in Arizona, but they exist. Unlike the other

things that we try to pursue to satisfy our thirst,

this is not a temporary relief, but this is a

lasting fulfillment in Christ, in Christ. Thirdly,

grace tells the truth. Grace tells the truth.

Jesus didn't ignore her past. You got to hear

this. Jesus didn't ignore her past, but he also

did not weaponize it either. He did not weaponize

it. He brought it into the light because healing

happens in the light. When you go to the doctor

and they need to do an important procedure on

your body, what do they do? They turn on the

headlamp because they've got to make sure that

they see it so that they can cure it. They don't

do it in the cover of dark. They get the room

as bright as they can. They get the light on

the wound or whatever, the surgical. That's how

healing happens. We've got to light it up. And

that's exactly what Jesus is doing. He's not

weaponizing it against her, but he's also not

ignoring it. And I think we live today in two

extremes. Either we hide our truth out of shame

or we celebrate everything without transformation.

Those are the two extremes that I think we live

in, which is why I think people struggle to figure

out our church because we're trying to do something

in the middle. We say we have truth and we live

into that truth and we have to expose what is

untrue by what is true. But we're not going to

use it as a weapon against you just because you

haven't got there yet. But we need to bring that

into the light so that you might experience true

transformation in Jesus. He didn't weaponize

it. There's two extremes. We hide it. She tried

to, right? She's like, hey, what about this mountain?

And Jesus is like, there's a bigger issue here.

Or we celebrate everything without transformation.

Jesus offers a third option, a better option,

which is truth and grace. And this is how he's

described in the first chapter of John. The words,

that's Jesus, became flesh, dwelt among us. We

observed his glory. The glory is the one and

only son from the father, full of what? Say it

with me. Grace and truth. That's John's description

of Jesus. This is how he came. This is how he

came. This is how he arrived on the scene. We

observed his glory, the one and the only from

the Father. And what is he like? Well, he's full

of grace and truth, both. And it's transformational.

If you had said, are the woman at the well and

Jesus going to be friends? Unlikely. But there

was not somebody in that whole community that

had better things to say about Jesus than that

woman who had been... transformed by Jesus. Jesus

knew this woman, and he knows you, and he still

welcomes and invites you into something that's

deeper that will satisfy your soul. One final

point. Your testimony is your faith invitation.

From time to time, people will say to me as a

pastor, I could never do what you do. I don't

know enough of the Bible, etc. Okay, I could

never do what you do. I don't know how you like.

Sit in a building without your phone all day

and do secret work, but that's what you do. Or

not kill seventh graders who are in your math

class. I can never do what you do, which is tolerate

middle schoolers. They will say that to me, but

here's the point in saying that. Think of the

woman in the story. She didn't have a theology

degree. She didn't even have a well -rehearsed,

polished testimony. Like when she went back,

she wasn't like, yeah, so here it is. I was after

water that doesn't satisfy, and now I have living

water. And it comes from Jesus, who is the spring

of living water who flows. Like, she didn't have

that. No theology degree, not a well -rehearsed,

polished testimony. Instead, what she had was

a winsome, inviting story of transformation.

There is something. There is nothing, I should

say, more powerful than that. And the invitation,

come and see, was so magnetic. So magnetic. Come

and see. And sometimes we think we're disqualified

from sharing our faith because of our past, but

often it is our past that makes our stories most

powerful. Most powerful. Why do we spend the

time to let people tell their story on Baptism

Sunday? Because there are other churches that

don't do that, and I'm good with that. It's preference,

not... Theologies. Preference. Because we believe

that there's power in that. The story of transformation.

The people that come up onto this stage. I mean,

it is powerful. There's a winsomeness to it.

Like, wow. If it can happen for that person,

maybe it can happen for me. Maybe it can happen

for me. I mean, you had five husbands and you're

now kind of on your sixth. Like, okay. If it

works for you, it might work for me. People can

argue doctrine, and there's a place for that,

I suppose, but they can't argue with a transformed

life. They can't argue with a transformed life.

I'll say accidentally, but I think it was by

God's design. I put on my CR shirt today for

Celebrate Recovery, and every time I go, which

is not as often as I would like to, but every

time I go, what you see in stories of people

who are really living it, And actually being

transformed and taken from darkness to light

in the name and in the power of Jesus. It's undeniable.

It's hard to be like, oh, this is some weird

theology thing. No, this is transformation. And

give me another explanation other than the person

who spent so much of their life oppressed and

under the weight of this addiction who now just

coincidentally is not. It's powerful. And you

can't dispute it. And I've shared this example

before from the scripture. But I always think

of it, the story of the blind man. I'll show

it to you in a moment. But let me tell you about

it before you see it. Jesus heals this blind

man in John chapter 9. And they're pressing this

John 9 · chapter mention

blind man about who Jesus is. Because they don't

want it to be true. They don't like Jesus. So

they're pressing him about, like, tell us theology,

doctrine, what was his response to their persistent

questioning? They're questioning the blind man.

Here's what it is. So a second time they summoned

the man who had been blind and told him, give

glory to God. We know that this man is a sinner.

Speaking of Jesus, he answered, whether or not

he's a sinner, I don't know. Although he kind

of fumbled that one, but we'll give him some

grace. But one thing I do know, I'm confused

about theology, but one thing I do know. I was

blind, and now I can see. And this real transformation.

Like, you can be like, the guy's a sinner, he's

not a sinner, he's a priest, he's a rabbi, he's

a good Samaritan. Like, who is he? I don't know.

But what I do know, and what you can't argue

with, is the real transformation. In his case,

physically, right? I was blind, and now I see.

I've told you before, if we could do that, not

a seat next to you would be empty. Because you

would see it and you can't deny it. Real transformation,

impossible to deny and ignore. And so many of

you have a story of transformation. And here's

what I will say to you. It is such an easy faith

invitation. I get it. To sit down with your Bible,

it can kind of feel intimidating. Like, well,

what if it asks me a question I don't know? I

get that. But lead with your story of transformation.

Lead with that. That's what the woman at the

well did. She just went home and said, come and

see. Like, I can't put it into words. Just come

and see it for yourself. Come and see and meet

this man who told me everything I ever did. And

the outcome of that is what? Many Samaritans

believed in him because of her simple invitation

to come and see. Come and see. A woman comes

to a well carrying emptiness. She leaves without

her water jar. But note this, filled with purpose.

And totally transformed. Because she discovered

something greater than what she came for. And

unquestionably, there's some of us that are in

that same place today. You came for one thing

or you go to that well at noon for one thing.

Thinking that that's what you really need or

that's what you're really after. answers, peace,

clarity, whatever it may be, but Jesus offers

you something deeper, and it's not just water,

it's living water, like the kind that gets into

your very soul and transforms you. And so the

question I'll leave you with is, what is the

thirst of your soul today? What are you thirsting

for? I mean, a good way to diagnose it is just

to look at how you spend your time, how you spend

your money. The things that you do in your career,

the things you do in your home, the things you

do on social media. All those things are diagnostic.

They tell us, like, what are we craving? Is it

money? Is it attention? Is it love? Is it acceptance?

What's the craving? What's the thirst in my soul

today? And are you willing to let Jesus meet

you there, not just to comfort you, but to transform

you? Like, Jesus could have done a different

kind of miracle, which is what? Like, hey, yeah.

I'll get the water for you today. Here you go,

ma 'am. Here's a bucket of water. Good luck.

I might not be here tomorrow when you come back

for more. He could have done that. We would have

been like, that was very kind of him. That was

very noble of him. And so he wasn't just trying

to comfort her. Like, here's some water. Go and

be well. But he was actually trying to transform

her. And he did. Because when he transforms us,

It's not just that you're satisfied, although

that is primary, but you also become a conduit

pointing others to the same source of life. Imagine

in that scenario, it's like, hey, that well over

there is different. There would be a line around

the block. That's what it is about. It's not

just that I'm transformed. Thank God that I am.

But hopefully, hopefully that I become a conduit

pointing others to the same source of life. And

what was the invitation? Come and see. That was

it. Come and see. What about your life is the

come and see part that people would be like,

yeah, like I'm not sure about that person's theology.

But it's really hard to ignore how they live.

How they live. Like come and see. How Jesus has

changed my life. The story of redemption in brokenness

is powerful. And it insulates us in our place

of brokenness and shame and whatever it is. We're

insulated with that so that we may share it with

others. Amen. Let's pray together. Father, thank

you that in our place of shame and brokenness,

you are waiting. At the noon hour at the well,

you are waiting. When we're hoping to not run

into anybody, we're hoping to avoid it, we're

hoping to deflect it, hoping to change the subject.

Whatever it may be, God, in our place of brokenness

and shame and superficial thirst, we'll call

it, you give us living water through Jesus. May

not one person leave today. unclear on where

that well of living water is and how to get it.

Would you expose in our hearts our superficial

thirst and would you do a transformational work

that only you can do? We come thinking we're

after this and you meet us in that place unexpectedly

and say, no, actually what you really need is

the living water that can only come through Jesus.

And in that, in that place of transformation,

that we would go to the very people who maybe

we haven't even been welcomed by before. Go to

those places that feel scary. Go to those places

where we experience shame. Go to those places

where we're nervous. Go to those places where

we're certain people will say, we don't want

to hear it. And we would just simply lead with

our faith, our story of transformation, say,

come and see. Come and see. Come and see what

Jesus has done. Do that in our very lives today,

in our soul. We love you and we trust you. In

Jesus' name, amen.