Sharing Faith

Therefore when the Lord knew that the Pharisees had heard that Jesus was making and baptizing more disciples than John (although Jesus Himself was not baptizing, but His disciples were), He left Judea and went away again into Galilee.  And He had to pass through Samaria.  So He came to a city of Samaria called Sychar, near the parcel of ground that Jacob gave to his son Joseph; and Jacob’s well was there. So Jesus, being wearied from His journey, was sitting thus by the well. It was about the sixth hour.

There came a woman of Samaria to draw water. Jesus said to her, “Give Me a drink.”  For His disciples had gone away into the city to buy food.  Therefore the Samaritan woman said to Him, “How is it that You, being a Jew, ask me for a drink since I am a Samaritan woman?” (For Jews have no dealings with Samaritans.)  Jesus answered and said to her, “If you knew the gift of God, and who it is who says to you, ‘Give Me a drink,’ you would have asked Him, and He would have given you living water.”  She said to Him, “Sir, You have nothing to draw with and the well is deep; where then do You get that living water?  You are not greater than our father Jacob, are You, who gave us the well, and drank of it himself and his sons and his cattle?”  Jesus answered and said to her, “Everyone who drinks of this water will thirst again; but whoever drinks of the water that I will give him shall never thirst; but the water that I will give him will become in him a well of water springing up to eternal life.”

The woman said to Him, “Sir, give me this water, so I will not be thirsty nor come all the way here to draw.”  He said to her, “Go, call your husband and come here.”  The woman answered and said, “I have no husband.” Jesus said to her, “You have correctly said, ‘I have no husband’; for you have had five husbands, and the one whom you now have is not your husband; this you have said truly.”  The woman said to Him, “Sir, I perceive that You are a prophet.  Our fathers worshiped in this mountain, and you people say that in Jerusalem is the place where men ought to worship.”  Jesus said to her, “Woman, believe Me, an hour is coming when neither in this mountain nor in Jerusalem will you worship the Father.  You worship what you do not know; we worship what we know, for salvation is from the Jews.  But an hour is coming, and now is, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth; for such people the Father seeks to be His worshipers.  God is spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth.”  The woman said to Him, “I know that Messiah is coming (He who is called Christ); when that One comes, He will declare all things to us.”  Jesus said to her, “I who speak to you am He.”

--John 4:1-26  (NASB)

[The following is from my sermon delivered on Sunday, February 10th, 2013, at St. James Reformed Church in Mt. Pleasant, NC.  This is transcribed from my notes and memory.]

To avoid the Pharisees who planned to harm Him before the appointed time, Jesus took the route through Samaria, a place good Jews avoided.  They came to a small village with a well, where Jesus rested while His disciples went off to buy food for their noon meal.  A woman came to draw water from the well.  This was very unusual, because the women of the village would draw their water early in the morning while it was still cool, enough to last the day.  This woman came at noon when she could be pretty much assured no one else would be around.

Jesus spoke to her, asking for a drink of water from the well.  This also was very unusual, for a male Jew to speak to any Samaritan, let alone a female Samaritan.  And since He had no cup or other vessel to hold the water, He would have to drink from whatever she might have, which is yet another unusual occurrence, for a good Jew would consider a Samaritan's cup as being unclean and therefore he would not drink from it.

So now the stage is set for something we've never before seen.

Why did she go to the well at midday instead of in the morning with all the other women?  Because she was ashamed and didn't want to face the scorn and looks and remarks of the others.  She was shunned by the village.  By Jewish law, she could have been allowed one or two, maybe even three divorces, but she'd had five.  And now she was living with someone she was not married to.  In those times, this just wasn't done.

The woman didn't really understand what Jesus was trying to offer her.  She thought He could supply all her water needs so she would no longer have to come to the well at all, no longer have to worry about what the other women might say or do.  She knew she had a need, and Jesus kept trying to tell her that He could fill that need, but she had a little trouble figuring it out.  She got hung up on her little need and almost missed having her greater, eternal need taken care of.

Do you remember the story of sisters Martha and Mary?  Luke tells of us how Martha almost missed a divine encounter too..

Now as they were traveling along, He entered a village; and a woman named Martha welcomed Him into her home.  She had a sister called Mary, who was seated at the Lord’s feet, listening to His word.  But Martha was distracted with all her preparations; and she came up to Him and said, “Lord, do You not care that my sister has left me to do all the serving alone? Then tell her to help me.”  But the Lord answered and said to her, “Martha, Martha, you are worried and bothered about so many things; but only one thing is necessary, for Mary has chosen the good part, which shall not be taken away from her.”

--Luke 10:38-42  (NASB)

Martha was so caught up in all the little details - preparing the meal, setting the table, carrying food back and forth, seeing to the needs of her guests - that she almost missed the opportunity to really be with her Lord while He was in her house.  But just as He was with Martha, Christ was patient with the Samaritan woman and kept making the offer.  He put no conditions on the offer; He didn't ask that she give up anything or change.  He knew if her heart changed, she would change her life.  Even though she had no clue what was happening, Jesus came to save her.  This reminds us of what Isaiah prophesied for God...

“I permitted Myself to be sought by those who did not ask for Me; I permitted Myself to be found by those who did not seek Me.  I said, ‘Here am I, here am I,’ to a nation which did not call on My name."

--Isaiah 65:1  (NASB)

Did you notice that the Samaritan woman acknowledged that she does indeed believe in and await the coming Messiah?  She mentions that her people worship God at their temple there on Mount Gerizim, which was the equivalent to the Samaritans in importance to the temple in Jerusalem to the Jews.  The woman believes that when the Messiah comes, He will make all things known to His people.  Then, at the end of our message scripture, Jesus confirms with His own mouth that He is that Messiah.  If we found it nowhere else in the Bible, Jesus tells us with His own words that He is indeed the Christ, the Messiah, the One promised from God.

Jesus told the woman all about her life even though, as far as she was concerned, He didn't know her.  Then He threw the throttle wide open and told her He was the long awaited Messiah.  How did she respond?

So the woman left her waterpot, and went into the city and said to the men, “Come, see a man who told me all the things that I have done; this is not the Christ, is it?”  They went out of the city, and were coming to Him.

--John 4:28-30  (NASB)

Here was this woman who went to the well during the heat of the midday to fetch her water because she was so concerned about what the rest of the villagers might say about and to her.  She had obviously been doing this for a long time, trying her best to avoid everyone else, probably not so much to save face rather than to just not be hurt further by their mean words and accusations.

But in a flash all this was forgotten.  All cares about what others may say evaporated just like a drop of water in the noon sun.  She did not hesitate even a moment, leaving her waterpot behind, empty, but went into the village seeking out the men to tell them what just happened.  "Could this really be the Christ?", she asked.  Can't you just imagine how excited and incredulous she must have been.  Is this really the One we've been waiting for?  If He knew everything about her, what else must He be able to tell us?  The woman's excitement spread and the men went to check out her story.

John gives us a very interesting little side-story here.  When the disciples returned with food, they tried to give some to Jesus and encourage Him to eat.  But He responded that He had already been fed...

Jesus said to them, “My food is to do the will of Him who sent Me and to accomplish His work.  Do you not say, ‘There are yet four months, and then comes the harvest’? Behold, I say to you, lift up your eyes and look on the fields, that they are white for harvest.  Already he who reaps is receiving wages and is gathering fruit for life eternal; so that he who sows and he who reaps may rejoice together."

--John 4:34-36  (NASB)

Jesus was doing the Father's will, saving lost souls.  His "food" was in the salvation of this Samaritan woman and all in the village who would believe in Him.  Just as in a parable told elsewhere, He notes that the harvest is ready for reaping, the true fruit being eternal life.  Some may sow the seed that others reap, but both sower and reaper can rejoice when the harvest is brought in.  Saving these people is the harvest.

Now the men of the village, and most likely they were accompanied by the women and children who would be milling about in curiosity, came out to see this man who told the woman all about her life, who knew her so well...

From that city many of the Samaritans believed in Him because of the word of the woman who testified, “He told me all the things that I have done.”  So when the Samaritans came to Jesus, they were asking Him to stay with them; and He stayed there two days.  Many more believed because of His word; and they were saying to the woman, “It is no longer because of what you said that we believe, for we have heard for ourselves and know that this One is indeed the Savior of the world

--John 4:39-42  (NASB)

They asked Him to stay with them a while, and we're told He stayed two days.  We can only surmise that He talked with them during that stay, showing them signs and wonders, maybe performing some acts of healing.  In the end, many were saved by His word and acknowledged Jesus as the Savior.  And it was all because of one woman, one scorned and shunned woman who feared to even show her face to the rest.  This woman was willing to take the risk of speaking to the others and sharing what she had just heard.  She shared her faith and many were saved.

Are we willing to take a risk and share our faith with others?  Chances are that we will not truly be scorned or shunned because of it, although we may be treated as mentally unbalanced or just plain silly by those who think they don't need a Savior.  But that is the chance Jesus encourages us to take.  He wants us to be like this Samaritan woman, to drop everything and go tell others this wonderful Good News about Jesus the Christ.  In his letter to the church in Rome, Paul tells us...

But what does it say? “The word is near you, in your mouth and in your heart” — that is, the word of faith which we are preaching, that if you confess with your mouth Jesus as Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved; for with the heart a person believes, resulting in righteousness, and with the mouth he confesses, resulting in salvation.

--Romans 10:8-10  (NASB)

Not only is it good for others that we share our faith with them so that they might also be saved, but it is vital for us as well.  It isn't enough that we believe in our very hearts that Jesus Christ is Lord.  We need to open our mouths and speak those very words.  We need to let others know without a doubt that we believe, just like Jesus let us know in these verses, without a doubt, that He is the Christ, the Messiah, the Savior of all the world.  Don't make others guess how you feel and what you believe.  Tell them.  Come right out and say it.  Engage them in conversation and say "Oh, by the way, Jesus Christ is my Lord and my personal Savior."  Share your faith with others so that they might be saved.  Plant that little seed, so that they may become part of the great harvest.  Confess with your mouth so that the result will be salvation.

Amen.