John 4 Is a packed full passage with several different things weaved in it. Jesus was a master story teller - (called parables). In the interaction with the woman at well Jesus takes physical things and communicates spiritual truths. Jesus teaches us how to have spiritual conversations in every day language with everyday people. The thing that is challenging me in this passage with the woman at the well is how do I communicate the story of what God is doing and what he has done without using Christianese (christian sub culture terms that only church people know and use). Are you engaging people in spiritual converations? When was the last time we shared what God was teaching us with someone else?
+ The story - [backgroung] Samaritans were people that were half Jew and have Assyrian? When the Assyrians conquered the jews some of the Jews intermarried and created the Samaritans. Jews were not supposed to talk to the Samaritans because they were looked down on. So Jesus by religious standards was not supposed to talk to a samaritan, let alone a women. Who are the Samaritans that you are "not suppossed" to talk to because they are looked as unclean people? Be honest about this - are there people that you wouldn't be caught talking to because of what others might think, or what others think about them. Why wouldn't you talk to those people? What's going on there? How do you talk about others that dress different, look different, live a different way? How can we learn from Jesus here?
Jesus does something beautiful here talking about water but really talking about life. He is offering this woman a different way to live. Not living in a way that will only continue to leave her empty. You see this woman had been through 5 marriages and was living with someone else. Jesus, instead of condemning her offers her hope in the midst of a life that is filled with pain and plenty of emptiness.
Jesus is offering this women a different way to live. A way that won't leave her broken, empty, continuing the cycle that she is in. Jesus offers life. He always does - as a teenager i always thought that God's ways were limiting me. I thought if i follow God i am going to miss out. Do you ever feel that way?
At the core of who you are do you believe God wants what is best for you?
When we answer this question we start trusting that God's ways don't hinder or limit us but actually free us. God wants us to be free. It was for freedom that Jesus came.
John 4:39-42 - Many samaritans heard the message of Jesus through the woman and believed. God did something amazing in this woman's life and she told everyone - I think she didn't have to use many words because her life spoke a lot of the change to people. The news of who God is and What he has done spread through this woman.
Reread John 4 - What is God communicating to you in this passage? Just be still with the passage - think about it - ask God to teach you - to change you. Are you living in the life that Jesus offers.
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