Hello my ‘Walking with Jesus” friends,
Some years ago, I was visiting missionary friends in one of those ‘dangerous’ places where you drive to visit, making sure you can get back home before dark. We didn’t and we ended up having to stay the night in that ‘dangerous’ place. Have you ever heard the phrase ‘sleeping with one eye open’? I think that’s what I did that night!
While not quite the same, I think the 5 men we met yesterday in our journey with Jesus, experienced something very similar. They are just getting to know Jesus and have, with great risk, walked into Samaria with Jesus, fully expecting that by nightfall they’d be out, at least into a wide-open space where they could at least sleep on the ground far from any Samaritan person. But things sometimes don’t go as we planned, do they, my friends?
They had arrived at a town in Samaria called Sychar, and while the men went to find food, a Samaritan woman had come to the town well at noon to draw water. Jesus was sitting at the well and had asked her for a drink. They had talked, and it seemed with every sentence Jesus shocked her more and more with outrageous things He said to her. She had no idea who this Jewish man was nor why He was in her town asking her for a drink. I think it’s safe to say she was very uncomfortable, yet she felt His compassion, so she had engaged the conversation while drawing her water.
Jesus had shocked her with amazing statements like telling her He had something He called “living water” that would bubble up like a spring of HOPE inside her. (John 4:14) She didn’t fully understand, nor did she ask questions to try and understand. She simply asked for some of that water so she wouldn’t have to keep coming to the well.
Jesus had shocked her by telling her that she’d had five husbands and the man she was currently with was not her husband! Stunned, of course, she had no idea how He could possibly know such personal things about her. She hurried to complete her water draw so she could return home. To change the subject and maybe to buy a little time so she could finish her water work, she asked Jesus about why Jews and Samaritans worshipped in two different places.
Jesus then referred to God as ‘the Father’ and said those people who pleased God with their worship would be anyone, from anywhere, who would worship God in spirit and in truth, because God is Spirit and God is a God of holy Truth.
The woman had said to Jesus “I know that Messiah is coming. When He comes, He will explain everything to us.” (John 4:25) Jesus had nodded in agreement and then shocked her by saying: “I who speak to you am HE.” Stunned, she set down her water jar and ran off to town. She had to tell someone… but, who would believe her?
As she left the 5 men who had been walking with Jesus arrived back from town. They saw the abandoned but full water jar, and just a glimpse of the woman running back to town. They tried not to jump to conclusions, and simply offered Jesus some food. But Jesus said to them “I have food to eat that you know nothing about. My food is to do the will of Him who sent me and to finish His work. Do you not say, ‘four more months and then the harvest?’ I tell you, open your eyes and look at the fields. They are ripe for harvest! Even now the reaper draws His wages, even now He harvests the crop for eternal life…“ (John 4:32-36) I think the five men looked at each other totally confused. What could Jesus possibly mean by what He just said to them? Already they were seeing a soon coming decision. If Jesus were to ask them to leave their jobs and follow Him, they would be in for an adventure of miracles and messages like they’d never seen or heard in their lifetime. But so little of what Jesus said or did, made common sense to them. If they spent more time with Him, they’d often need to ask Jesus to sit down and explain what they were witnessing.
After a few moments, the woman returned from town, this time with a group of people from the town of Sychar. She pointed to Jesus. She had told them what had happened. John writes: “They urged Jesus to stay with them and He stayed two days…” (John 4:39)
Pause a moment, reflect on what you just heard my friends. Jesus not only walked intentionally into Samaria, He stayed two days at Sychar, a Samaritan town! NO good Jewish man would stay overnight in a town in Samaria unless trapped or ill or forced to stay. We don’t know where they stayed the night but it’s safe to assume as these men and Jesus lay down for the night they were very, very anxious. Peter, Andrew, Philip, Nathaniel and John wondered what was happening here. It was almost as though Jesus had come intentionally to Sychar, at noon, as though He knew this woman would come there. It seemed Jesus actually cared about these Samaritans and welcomed their invitation to stay the night in Sychar! That was unheard of, beyond ridiculous, it was dangerous. Through the night I imagine at least one of them stayed awake, alert, all through the night watching and listening. I’m sure they thought certainly at first light Jesus would agree they needed to get going, as soon as possible, and get out of Samaria by nightfall.
But Jesus was in no rush to leave, in fact He stayed and talked with people all through the day, and late into the evening. Unbelievable. These Jewish men were actually going to spend a SECOND night in Sychar, in Samaritan territory!! Their friends back in Galilee would never believe it, perhaps they agreed it would be better for all of them simply not to tell anyone about this not to be believed excursion with Jesus into Samaria!
Years later John was led to record this remarkable event in this way: “And because of His words, many more became believers. 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 Savior of the world! (John 4:41,42) It appears my friends, the unthinkable happened. Not only did the Samaritans invite Jesus and His friends to stay two days and nights, and not only was Jesus willing to stay in Sychar two days and nights, but many people in that town of Sychar believed Jesus was the Savior of the world! Now… John the Baptist had proclaimed that about Jesus, but no one had believed him. These five Jewish guys Andrew, Simon Peter, Philip, Nathaniel and John had spent the last couple of weeks with Jesus, but NONE of them were prepared to make such a bold, radical statement and declare Jesus to be Messiah, the Savior of the world!
Do you see history is being made here my friends, in Sychar, Samaria? The first, the very first people to BELIEVE Jesus is who He claimed to be were SAMARITANS!! Not Jews in Nazareth where Jesus had grown up. Not Jews in Jerusalem with the Temple and all the religious leaders. But the first town to be significantly impacted by Jesus was Sychar in Samaria!! Do you see the global significance of this my friends? Jesus was proving that He had come to save anyone, anywhere in the world, who would believe in HIM! This is what He had told Nicodemus!
If you’re courageous enough, let’s spend the day and night with Jesus in Sychar, a Samaritan town! Watch the people, listen to their questions, watch Jesus as He loves and teaches them and helps them understand. And look occasionally at the five Jewish guys, really struggling to even be here in Sychar. Everything they’d ever been taught was that God didn’t care about these Samaritans… but they were watching Jesus bring God’s love here, to Sychar! Wherever you live, has God’s love reached there through Jesus? Are you perhaps the person God will use to bring the love and hope of Jesus there to your town?
If that Samaritan woman could have written and recorded a song, I think it might have been this one…
Today’s Scripture is John 4:29-42.
Choose below to read or listen.
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Bible images provided with attribution to www.LumoProject.com.
Have a comment or question about today’s chapter? I’m ready to hear from you, contact me here.
Pastor Doug Anderson 262.441.8785
“Let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, with our eyes fixed on Jesus…” (Heb. 12:1,2)
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