FACING THE TRUTH AND SHARING THE WONDER

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The woman said, "I know that Messiah" (called Christ) "is coming. When he comes, he will explain everything to us." Then Jesus declared, "I who speak to you am he."
Just then his disciples returned and were surprised to find him talking with a woman. But no one asked, "what do you want?" or "Why are you talking to her?" Then, leaving her water jar, the woman went back to the town and said to the people, "Come, see a man who told me everything I ever did. Could this be the Christ?" They came out of the town and made their way toward him. Meanwhile his disciples urged him, "Rabbi, eat something." But he said unto them, "I have food to eat that you know nothing about." Then his disciples said to each other, "Could someone have brought him food?" "My food," said Jesus, "is to do the will of him who sent me and to finish his work. Do you not say, "Four months more and then the harvest? I tell you, open your eyes and look at the fields! They are ripe for harvest. Even now the reaper draws his wages, even now he harvests the crop for eternal life, so that the sower and the reaper may be glad together. Thus the saying, 'one sows and another reaps,' is true. I sent you to reap what you have not worked for. Others have done the hard work, and you have reaped the benefits of their labor."
Many Samaritans from that town believed in him because of the woman's testimony, "He told me everything I ever did." So when the Samaritans came to him, they urged him to stay with them, and he stayed two days. 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."
After the two days he left for Galilee. (Now Jesus himself had pointed out that a prophet has no honor in his own country.) When he arrived in Galilee, the Galileans welcomed him. They had seen all that he had done in Jerusalem at the Passover Feast, for they also had been there. Once more he visited Cana in Galilee, where he had turned the water into wine. And there was a certain royal official whose son lay sick at Capernaum. When this man heard that Jesus had arrived in Galilee from Judea, he went to him and begged him to come and heal his son, who was close to death.
"Unless you people see miraculous signs and wonders," Jesus told him, "you will never believe."
The royal official said, "Sir, come down before my child dies."
Jesus replied, "You may go. Your son will live."
The man took Jesus at his word and departed. While he was still on the way, his servants met him with the news that his boy was living. When he inquired as to the time when his son got better, they said to him, "The fever left him yesterday at the seventh hour."
Then the father realized that this was the exact time at which Jesus had said to him, "Your son will live." So he and all his household believed.
This was the second miraculous sign that Jesus performed, having coma from Judea to Galilee.

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Message:
Let's paint the picture for the scene before us with our pen dipped in the ink-well of ancient history!
The land of Palestine is only 120 miles long from north to south. But within that 120 miles there were, in the time of Christ, three definite divisions of territory. In the extreme north there lay Galilee; in the extreme south there lay Judaea; and in between them there lay Samaria.
Jesus did not wish at this stage of His ministry to be drawn into and involved in a controversy about baptism; so he decided to leave Judaea for the time being and to transfer His ministry to Galilee.
There was a centuries-old feud between the Jews and the Samaritans. Way back about 720 B.C. the Assyrians had invaded the Northern Kingdom of Samaria and had captured and subjugated it. They did what conquerors often did in those days--they transported practically the whole population to Media (2 Kings 17:6). Into the district the Assyrians brought other people--from Babylon, from Cuthah, from Ava, from Hamath and from Sepharvaim (2 Kings 17:24).
The Assyrians left some of the people in Samaria, and when the new foreigners joined their land, they began to inter-marry. For the Jews, this was an unforgivable crime! They lost their racial purity. In a strict Jewish household even to this day, if a son or daughter marries a Gentile, his or her funeral service is carried out! Such a person is dead in the eyes of orthodox Judaism. In the course of time, a like invasion and a like defeat happened to the Southern Kingdom, whose capital was Jerusalem. Its inhabitants were also carried off to Babylon; but they did not lose their identity; they remained stubbornly and unalterably Jewish. In time, there came the days of Ezra and Nehemiah and the exiles returned to Jerusalem by the grace of the Persian King. Their immediate task was to repair and rebuild the shattered Temple. The Samaritans came and offered their help in this sacred task. They were contemptuously told that their help was not wanted. They had lost their Jewish heritage and they had no right to share in the rebuilding of the house of God. Smarting under this repulse, they turned bitterly against the Jews of Jerusalem. It was about 450 B.C. when that quarrel took place, and it was as bitter as ever in the days of Christ! It had further been embittered when the renegade Jew, Manasseh, married a daughter of the Samaritan, Sanballat (Nehemiah 13:28) and proceeded to found a rival temple on Mount Gerizim which was in the center of the Samaritan territory and to which the Samaritan woman refers. Still later in the Maccabean days, in 129 B.C. John Hyrcanus, the Jewish general and leader, led an attack against Samaria and sacked and destroyed the temple on Mount Gerizim. Between Jews and Samaritans there was an embittered hatred. The Jewish-Samaritan quarrel was more than 400 years old, but it smouldered as resentfully and bitterly as ever. It was no small wonder that the Samaritan woman was astonished that Jesus, a Jew, should speak to her, a Samaritan! Well, there is the history behind the scene... But, let's take just one more peek behind the curtain of

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history.
The Samaritan was a woman! Now, the strict Rabbis forbade a Rabbi to greet a woman in public. A Rabbi might not even speak to his own wife or daughter or sister in public. There were even Pharisees who were called, "The bruised and bleeding Pharisees" because they shut their eyes when they saw a woman on the street and so walked into walls and houses or stumbled and fell! For a Rabbi to be seen speaking to a woman in public was the end of his reputation-and yet Jesus spoke to this woman! Not only was she a woman, she was also a woman of a character which was notorious! No decent man, let alone a Rabbi, would have been seen in her company or even exchanging a word with her--and yet Jesus spoke to her! To the Jew, this was an amazing story!
Here was the Son of God tired and weary and thirsty. Here was the holiest of men listening with understanding to a sorry story. Here was Jesus breaking through the barriers of nationality and orthodox Jewish custom. Here is the beginning of the universality of gospel; here is God so loving the world, not in theory, but in action!
Now, let's follow the story.
It is interesting to draw a comparison between this story and the one in the preceding chapter.
In John 3, we have "a man of the Pharisees named Nicodemus;" In John 4, it is an unnamed woman of an insignificant small village. Nicodemus was a man of rank, an aristocrat of Jerusalem; the latter as a woman of lowest rank--a drawer of water. One was a favored Jew. The other was a despised Samaritan! One was a man of high reputation, a member of the Sanhedrin; the other was a woman of despised, dissolute habits. Nicodemus sought out Christ in the blackness of the night, the other was sought out by Christ in the light of day. To the self-righteous Pharisee Jesus said, "Ye must be born again;" to this sinner of the Gentiles. He tells of "the gift of God." It is interesting to note that the reason why Jesus left Judaea and journeyed through Samaria was because he wanted to leave a scene of jealousy...John the Baptist's disciples were jealous over the success of Jesus and were concerned for their master who was losing his following! Competition can be created when none is intended. John and Jesus were not competing. But, as others compared their ministries, their analysis gave the impression of competition. So Jesus wisely and graciously left the area so that no further comparison could be made...he loved John!
The quickest way from Judaea to Galilee was through Samaria. The alternative route was to cross Jordan, to go up the eastern side of the river, to avoid Samaria, to recross the Jordan north of Samaria and then to enter Galilee. The alternative route was twice as long...but to avoid those terrible Samaritans...the Jews would choose the longer route! On the way, Jesus and disciples came to the town of Sychar. Just short of Sychar, the road to Samaria forks. It was at this fork in the road that Jesus came to an ancient well...it was dug by Jacob (Genesis 33:18). Jacob, on his deathbed, bequeathed this

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ground to Joseph. On Joseph's death in Egypt, his body had been taken back to Palestine and had been buried here near the well. So around this well there gathered many Jewish memories. The well itself was more than 100 feet deep. It is not a springing well of water; it is a well into which the water percolates and in which it gathers. Here at the well, Jesus strikes up his conversation with the Samaritan woman. As you read through the New Testament, you will note that Jesus follows exactly the same pattern in His conversations with people. Jesus makes a statement. The statement is misunderstood and taken in the wrong sense. Jesus makes the statement in an even more vivid way. It is still misunderstood and then Jesus compels the person with whom He is speaking to discover and to face the truth for himself or herself. That was Jesus' usual way of teaching: "There are certain truths which a man cannot accept; he must discover them for himself."
Jesus makes the issue...LIVING WATER! Her desire was just to get her water jug filled and get back home. Some commentators suggest that the woman could have g6tten water at a well located closer to her village, but she selected this well and an unusual time of the day to avoid meeting other women. Remember, she had a very bad reputation in the village! Five husbands...and living with another! In those days, this was unforgivable! LIVING WATER! What did Jesus mean by "living water?" In the Old Testament, many verses speak of thirsting after God. In promising to bring living water that could forever quench a person's thirst for God, Jesus was claiming to be the Messiah. Only the Messiah could give this gift that satisfies the soul's desire.
Psalm 36:8-9 "They feast on the abundance of your house, you give them drink from your river of delights. For with you is the fountain of life; in your light we see light."
Isaiah 55:1 "Come, all you who are thirsty, come to the water, and you who have no money, come, buy and eat! Come, buy wine and milk without money and without cost."
Jeremiah 2:13 "My people have committed two sins; they have forsaken me, the spring of living water, and have dug their own cisterns, broken cisterns that cannot hold water."
When Jesus offered ‘living water.’ this woman knew He was making an unusual claim! She did not yet understand what the claim was, but she knew He was getting at something. She noticed He had no leather pouch with which to draw water, so she asked two significant questions. From where did He get this water? Was He greater than Jacob who was once of the great religious patriarchs of the Samaritans? Jacob had to dig the well in order to secure water for his family. Was Jesus greater, able to do more than Jacob did? The point is this: the woman recognized something most people do not. Jesus was claiming to be greater than one of the greatest religious fathers, Jacob himself and He was claiming to have access to a much better water for quenching the real thirst of the soul of man!

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Men know immediately how to quench their physical thirst, but their spiritual thirst is a different matter. Within their hearts men sense a thirst for purpose, meaning, significance, satisfaction and fulfillment. There is something missing and they need deliverance from a sense of emptiness and lostness.
Please note these important truths about 'living water.' It comes from Christ...He and He alone is its source! "In the last day, that great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried saying, If any man thirst, let him come unto me, and drink." (John 7:37)
"And he said unto me, It is done. I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end. I will give unto him that is athirst of the fountain of the water of life freely." (Rev. 21:6)
This 'living water' keeps a person from ever thirst! His inner thirst is quenched and satisfied!
Isaiah 58:11
"And the LORD shall guide thee continually, and satisfy thy soul in drought, and make fat thy bones; and thou shalt be like a watered garden, and like a spring of water, whose waters fail not."
This 'living water' Springs up into everlasting life. It will never end!
Rev 7:17
"For the Lamb which is in the midst of the throne shall feed them, and shall lead them into living fountains of waters; and God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes." BEFORE SHE COULD DRINK'OF THE LIVING WATER...she must face the truth about her sin, and Jesus reveals this to her. Jesus knew the truth about her...and He knows the truth about all of us! The woman had responded to the offer that Jesus made...she requested this 'living water.' But before she could be given the living water of spiritual rebirth, she had to be convicted of her sin and renounce it. She must repent, turn from her sins, and put her trust in Jesus Christ as the Messiah, the 'heaven-sent One.'
In the excitement of her new-found friend, she leaves her water pot and returns with hast to the city.
SHE HAS BEEN CONFRONTED WITH THE TRUTH OF SIN, SHE HAS RESPONDED TO THE OFFER OF JESUS...AND NOW SHE HASTENS TO SHARE THE WONDER OF HER DISCOVERY.
But...before she hastens into the city, she has a very important conversation with Jesus about worship! She brought up the centuries-old controversy about where to worship...in Jerusalem or Mount Gerizim.
Jesus immediately moved the conversation to the real issue of worship..."But the hour cometh, and now is when the true worshipers shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth: for the Father seeketh such to worship him." Just what did He mean? Location is not important...it is the attitude of the heart that counts with God! Jesus said the hour was coming when the very essence of worship would change from the physical surroundings to the temple, the heart of man, and that the presence of the Holy Spirit would make man truly a worshipping being! In the new birth, the Spirit of Christ comes to live within the

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heart of man, and His presence makes our heart His abiding place.
To worship in spirit is to worship spiritually; to worship in truth is to worship truly. They are not two different kinds of worship, but two aspects of the same worship. To worship spiritually is the opposite of mere external rites which pertain to the flesh; instead, it is to give God the homage of an enlightened mind and affectionate heart. To worship Him truly is to worship Him according to Truth, in a manner suited to the revelation He has made of Himself; and, no doubt, it also carries with it the force of worshipping truly, not in pretense, but sincerely, such and such alone, are the acceptable worshippers.
What is worship?
We answer: First, it is the action of the new nature seeking, as the sparks fly upward, to return to the Divine and heavenly source from which it came. Worship is one of the three great marks which evidences the presence of the new nature. Worship is the activity of a redeemed people and proceeds from the heart.
"This people draweth nigh unto me with their mouth, and honoreth me with their lips; but their heart is far from me. But in vain do they worship me" (Matt. 15:8,9). Worship is a redeemed heart occupied with God, expressing itself in adoration and thanksgiving. Worship then, is the occupation of the heart with a known God and everything which attracts the flesh and its senses, detracts from the real worship.
THE SAMARITAN HAD FACED THE TRUTH...JESUS CHRIST! She believed and returned to her village to share the wonder. The village people invited Jesus to come and share with them.
Verse 39: Many of the Samaritans from that town believed in him because of the woman's testimony, "He told me everything I ever did."
The first instinct of the Samaritan woman was to share her discovery. Having discovered this amazing person, she was compelled to share. The Christian life is based on the twin pillars of discovery and communication. No discovery is complete until the desire to share it fills our hearts; and we cannot communicate Christ to others until we have discovered Him for ourselves! First to find, then to tell are the two great steps of the Christian life.
Romans 10:6-13: "For salvation that comes from trusting Christ--which is what we preach--is already within easy reach of each of us; in fact, it is as near as our own hearts and mouths. For if you tell others with your own mouth that Jesus Christ is our Lord, and believe in your own heart that God has raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For it is by believing in his heart that a man becomes right with God; and with his mouth he tells others of his faith, continuing his salvation. For the Scriptures tell us that no one who believes in Christ will ever be disappointed. Jew and Gentile are the same in this respect; they all have the same Lord who generously gives his riches to all those who ask him for them. Anyone who calls upon the name of the Lord will be saved."
Jesus stayed two days in Samaria...and verse 41 says:

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"And many more believed because of his own word; And said unto the woman, Now we believe, not because of thy saying: for we have heard him ourselves, and know that this is indeed the Christ, the Savior of the world." Again, think of this Samaritan woman. She did not say, "Of what use can I be for Christ?--I who have lost character with men, and have sunken into the lowest depths of degradation!" No; she did not stop to reason, but with a conscience that had been searched in the presence of the Light and its burden of guilt removed, with a heart full of wonderment and gratitude to the One who saved her, she immediately went forth to serve and glorify Him. She told what she knew; she testified to what she had found, but in connection with a Person. It was of Him she spoke; it was to Him she pointed. "He told me," she declared, thus directing others to that ONE who had dealt so blessedly with her. But she did not stop there. She did not rest satisfied with simply telling her fellow-townsmen of what she had heard, of Whom she had met. She desired others to meet with Him for themselves. "Come" she said; come to him for yourselves!
JESUS CAME TO SEEK AND SAVE THOSE THAT WERE LOST...those blind to Truth, those under the wrath and judgment of Almighty God. He looked at our world as a field ready to be harvested.
Verse 34: "Then Jesus explained: My nourishment comes from doing the will of God who sent me, and from finishing his work. Do you think the work of harvesting will not begin until the summer ends, four months from now? Look around you! Vast fields of human souls are ripening all around us, and are ready now for reading. The reapers will be paid good wages and will be gathering eternal souls into the granaries of heaven! What joys await the sower and the reaper, both together! For it is true that one sows and someone else reaps. I sent you to reap where you didn't sow; others did the work, and you received the harvest."
As Christians, we are like the Samaritan woman. We have encountered TRUTH, Jesus Christ. He has changed our lives. He has forgiven and cleansed our past sins. He has given us eternal life. WE CANNOT KEEP THIS WONDER TO OURSELVES. WE MUST SHARE!
When we became Christians, we joined the HARVESTING TEAM. The souls of men and women, boys and girls are the grain. Heaven is the granary! We are gathering souls for the heavenly granary!
HARVEST TIME is a set time. The grain cannot be left too long in the fields...it will rot and become useless and without value! This is true spiritually...the harvest of souls will come to an end...there is a day when the harvest is past!
I BELIEVE THE HEART OF THIS MESSAGE IS brought home to us in the action of the woman when she met Jesus...she left her waterpot to find others to share the wonder! WHAT HAVE WE DONE WITH THIS WONDERFUL SALVATION? Have we kept the news to ourselves? Have we looked upon the fields of human souls which are ripening every day around us and not participated in the harvest?