Some years ago, Lee Strobel wrote a chapter entitled—
-What Would Jesus Say to Madonna?
-if Jesus met this Pop Mom after a London concert—
-would He ignore or condemn her?
If there is a text that tells us—it would have to be John 4
-the story of a woman with her own list of failed relationships
-her own list of outrageous behaviors (read 4-26)
What would Jesus say?
1-I’M INTERESTED IN YOU
-what Samaritan means today--listeners
-John seems to underscore this from the start-by using the word “had”-4:4
- obligation, direct route—a shorter way to Galilee, most Jews took the longer journey, for Samaria was the other side of the tracks-the part of town you avoided
racial half breeds-religious mixed breeds-it was the area where immigrants from pagan cultures of the past—Assyria, Babylon, Persia came, settled, mixed with the Jews that were there
-the place where religion got screwed up—Torah, paganism, and alternative
temples all mixed into a strange brew of beliefs
-the Jews occasionally sought to take care of the problem—like burning down
their temple in the second century BC
Hence-there was no love lost between these two groups
-these were the Sunnis living next to Shi’ites, Hamas next to Jewish settlers
-Samaria was the epitome of ritual impurity
Nonetheless, Jesus had to go through Samaria
-not because He was in a hurry
-Jesus never seemed to have a list of “Things to Do Today”
-He attended wedding feasts that lasted for days-allowed Himself to get
distracted by “nobodies”
-would accept almost anyone’s invitation to dinner
-He was always on divine standard time
“Had” can only mean one thing—He had to go through Samaria because Jesus
was interested in someone
-interested because He was in the business of reclamation—not condemnation
-and there was someone He had to reclaim
-something His compassion, His divine will, His eternal purpose required Him to
do-so He came-
And a conversation began with a woman on the fringe of the fringe-
-that it was noon and she was isolated suggests she was socially isolated, living
on the periphery-detached from the lifeblood of the community
What John is painting here is the ultimate picture of disconnect
-if John 3 was a story of the ultimate INSIDER -the learned, powerful respected, orthodox—a man, a Jew, a ruler named
Nicodemus
-John 4 is the story of the ultimate OUTSIDER -an unschooled, without influence, despised, unorthodox, Samaritan, woman, sinner—with no name
And both needed Jesus
-but unlike the insider—who sought after Jesus
-Jesus went to the woman at the well—because He had to
-because HE WAS INTERESTED-particularly in those marginalized by others
-making the first move—He always does—it’s never us who find God—He finds
us
Here’s the second thing Jesus would say—
2-I’M INTERESTED—NOT SO MUCH IN WHAT YOU CAN GIVE ME—BUT
WHAT I CAN GIVE YOU
-it doesn’t begin this way
-Jesus-it appears-was wanting something from her (read 7b)
-but then-she was used to someone wanting something from her-particularly if it
was a man
-but this conversation was still a surprise
-Jesus’ request brought suspicion, maybe even animosity to the surface-read vs
9
-these were people they did not associate—lit “use together with”
-touch one another’s dishes, touch one another’s lives
Common was the saying—to eat the bread of Samaritans was to eat the bread of
swine
And then—Jesus, as He is prone to do—turned the conversation on its head—
reversed all of the assumptions-read vs 10
-it turns out—He was less interested in what she could offer
-far more interested in what He could give her
-it wasn’t about what He wanted at all
Here’s a third thing Jesus might say—
3-I’M INTERESTED-NOT SO MUCH IN MEETING YOUR TEMPORAL
WANTS—BUT IN MEETING THE DEEPEST NEED OF YOUR SOUL
-living water is language that seems cryptic—not because Jesus is intentionally
unclear
-He is describing something that cannot be easily explained
-Jesus is speaking in metaphor—there are no literal words to describe what He
offers
-it is far too profound
-our language falls short
-like born again, bread of life
At best—all it can do is serve as a pointer to the thirst quenching life mediated by
the Spirit
But this woman remains on the earthly-read vss 11-12
-vss 13-14-she can’t get past H2O-vs 15
She has failed to grasp the true dimension of her need
-that even if Jesus brought physical water to her every day
-she would still be thirsty
In an interview in Vogue some years ago, Madonna acknowledged her own thirst
for something that satisfies—
“I’m always struggling with fear. I push past one spell of it, thinking I’m special,
then find myself thinking I am mediocre. That’s always been pushing me,
pushing me. Because even though I’ve become somebody, I still have to prove
I’m SOMEBODY”
-so she keeps reinventing herself, developing a more daring version—a treadmill
of doing something more outrageous to keep her fans
-a treadmill that leaves her more and more thirsty
In the story of John 4—this woman kept pursuing relationships
-a treadmill that left her in the desert of relational thirst
-Jesus pointed this out (read vss 16-18)
Jesus started rummaging around in her injured spaces
-and touched her pain
-her guilt, despair, need
-He understood the failing cycle she had experienced
-multiple relationships, serial failures
-year by year accumulating wounds and scars—the kind that come from being
the source of someone else’s gratification—leaving her dry
But it is much more preferable to switch the conversation-read vss 19-20
-talk about another subject—safe things—like religion-
-get Him off on some controversy
-pre-trib/post trib?
-once-saved-always saved?
-cessationist/non-cessationist?
-it was much safer to keep the walls up
-but it only opened a door for Jesus to talk about an even deeper thirst
-if relationships left her dry—religion left her dehydrated
-so He moved her past form to function
-past the place of worship to the nature of worship
-past law and confusion
-to spirit and truth
-from ritual to relationship with Him
APPLICATION
So what is Jesus saying to us in this conversation?
1-God is very interested in you--compelled
-His passion for our lives, His commitment to justice, demanded that He leave
His neighborhood and enter into ours
-we are that valuable-are you convinced?
2-God is not so interested in what we can give Him
-our tendency is to assume that a relationship with Jesus is largely about what
He wants, what He expects, what He needs from us
-lots of us live with this notion it’s largely about what Jesus needs from us
-our money, our service
-when if we really -it’s actually about what He wants to give us—are we asking?
3-God is interested in satisfying our lives at the deepest level
-will we settle for less?
-let sin and religion get in the way?