The Road to Samaria

The Road to Samaria

John 4:1-6

Jesus had been about preaching and teaching when he received word that the Pharisees were concerned about him baptizing more people than John the Baptist. In other words, they were greatly concerned about all the attention Jesus was attracting. So Jesus decided it would be better if he made his way back up to Galilee. And he chose to make his way along the road through Samaria.

Of course, if you’ve ever been to Sunday school, or listened to enough sermons, then you probably know that most Jews did not like traveling through Samaria. They would rather take a long detour, traveling east, crossing the Jordan River, going completely around Samaria, before making their way back into Galilee. The most direct route… however… cut directly through Samaria.

The NIV and the Revised Standard Version tell us, “he had to go through Samaria.” But the King James actually expresses the words of John best: “he must needs go through Samaria.” “He must NEEDS go”... emphasizes the essence of what’s actually taking place.

I don’t think anybody knows how many times Jesus passed through Samaria. Is it enough to say that he ever passed through it at all. The Samaritans were looked down upon by the Jews. They were considered “half breeds”. No good Jew would associate with a Samaritan. So, I guess Jesus wasn’t the best of Jews (in that sense)… He made it his mission to “see” (to recognize/notice) the outcasts, the ostracized, the poor and downtrodden. So, “He must needs go through Samaria.”

Of course, as Jesus made his way, he came upon Jacobs Well. He was tired and needed to take a break... So he had a seat at the Well, but his disciples went into town (another mile or so up the road), to get some lunch. And while resting at the well, Jesus encountered a woman. A woman who’d come to draw water. It was a strange time of day for that… it was chore usually carried out in the cool of the day. But as she began to draw water from the well, Jesus spoke, asked for a drink.

Now, think about what was taking place here! Jesus, a Jewish man, and a Samaritan woman from Sychar, engaged in a simple, innocent, polite conversation: in broad daylight! It just wasn’t done. And it took the woman aback for a moment, and she said, “how is it that you, a Jew, ask a drink from me, a woman of Samaria?” To which Jesus replied, “if you knew the gift of God, and, who it is that saying to you, ‘give me a drink’, you would have asked him, and he would have given you living water.”

I’m sure she found such a statement somewhat humorous. So she replied, “sir. You have nothing to draw with and the well as deep… Where do you get this ‘living water’?”

Jesus said to her, everyone who drinks of this Well water will thirst again. But whoever drinks of the water that I shall give him will never thirst. The water that I give becomes a spring of water welling up to eternal life.” Of course the woman said, “I’m in... give me this water.” And Jesus seized the opportunity to go deeper into the woman’s story... telling her “everything” she ever did.

All of it took place at a well, along the road, through Samaria. And it sheds light on a couple of very basic things about our faith as Christians.

First of all it, it highlights the very thing we need most. The Samaritan woman came to draw water. And we all need water… we simply can’t live without it. Just like food, and air, we need these things to live. But Jesus offered her something that regular H2O could never provide... and it’s the very thing that you and I need most in this life.

Jesus offered this woman Living Water… from a source that wells up to eternal life. At first, she had no idea what that meant! But she knew that she needed what he had to offer.

What we need more than anything else in this life… the one solitary resource… is the sustenance of Christ. We need living water, from a source that’s forever abundant.

There’s a story I’ve shared with you all before, that came to my memory while preparing for tonight‘s message. It was about a woman who lived in one of the poorest of the inner cities. She’d lived “hand-to-mouth” her whole life. Having known nothing but poverty, she’d barely been able to provide for her own needs, much less anyone else. Well, as she grew older, she became involved in a community program for the elderly, and one day the group took a trip to the beach. She never been to the beach before, she had never seen the ocean. And as she stood there on the beach for the very first time, looking out, she suddenly said, “look at all that water. For the first time in my life, I’m able to see something that there is enough of.”

That little story reminds me of the Living Water of Christ... there’s always enough. No other resource will ever see us through. It’s the only source that never runs out.

Of course, another thing that our scripture from John makes clear, is that... Jesus’ offer of Living Water requires us to make a response. After we have received his gift, there is only one response that’s ever appropriate. There will never be enough “thank yous” - and it’s never appropriate to brag about having it when others don’t. It’s not even adequate to express how good this water is, while keeping it for ourselves!

The response comes to us... as John tell us… when the woman left the Well, and went into the city where all the other people were, and she said, “come, see a man who told me all that I ever did. Can this be the Christ?” And they left the city and went with her. She brought her friends to Christ.

Of course, there were many times throughout the Bible we see friends bringing other friends to Jesus. Andrew met Jesus, and he went to find his brother Simon and bring him to meet Jesus, too. Phillip met Jesus. Then he went out to find Nathaniel, and brought him to Christ. A wild man lived at a cemetery. He met Jesus. And then he went into town and told everyone of the One who set him free!

The fact is... once you meet Christ, there’s no way you can keep that secret. You simply have to tell others about it. And that’s the only proper response, because the Living Water is meant to be shared.

Of course, Jesus encounter with this woman at the Well also shines light upon what happens when we’re faithful to share the Giver of living water with others.

When the people of the town came out to meet Jesus... they asked Jesus to stay a while. And, so He did. He stayed with them for two days. Think about that: These second class citizens… These Samaritans, welcomed Jesus in… and he welcomed them in to the kingdom of God.

John tells us, “many more believed because of HIS words.” The people actually professed that they no longer believed simply because of the woman’s testimony. They had come to believe because of Him… because of Christ… and His words.

What if you and I were to take the Living Water Jesus has given us, and started passing it around. What if we made it our sole purpose, to share what we have found to be not only refreshing, but sustaining... Living Water that quenches our thirst for life, and overflows into eternal life.

Amazing things would begin to happen, no doubt. No longer would people just take our word for it, that the water is good. They’d began to discover it for themselves… And they’d realize that this water is life. Living water that wells up to life everlasting.

Like Jesus, we “must needs go through” our own Samaria... we must! For it’s the way to the cross.

Amen.