John 4:1-26 The Samaritan Woman

Video Teaching
Verse-by-Verse Commentary
Full Transcript

Video Teaching

Verse-by-Verse Commentary

4 Now Jesus learned that the Pharisees had heard that he was gaining and baptizing more disciples than John— 2 although in fact it was not Jesus who baptized, but his disciples.

Note that the Bible explicitly clarifies that Jesus was not baptizing people. Even though it was a part of his ministry, he didn’t personally do the baptizing. He only oversaw the process.
Why didn’t Jesus baptize?
1. Some suggest that Jesus was more concerned with inspiring faith over baptizing each individual person, so he left the follow-up to the disciples.
2. Some suggest Jesus prioritized inspiring faith over personally baptizing, leaving the act to disciples, though there’s not textual support for this.
3. A stronger reason for Jesus’s reluctance to personally baptism is that He is the one who is supposed to baptize with the Holy Spirit (Acts 1:5). Since the Holy Spirit had not yet been given by Jesus, the fullness of Christ’s baptism was not available. This was more akin to John’s baptism for repentance, which only involved water.
“The reason why He baptized not Himself, had been already declared by John, He shall baptize you with the Holy Ghost and with fire. (Luke 3:16) Now He had not yet given the Holy Spirit: it was therefore fitting that He should not baptize.” -John Chrysostom, Hom. xxxi. 1

3 So he left Judea and went back once more to Galilee.

Jesus’s rising fame created tension with the Pharisees. Rather than allowing his ministry to the “anti-Pharisee” ministry, Jesus moved on to continue focusing on the truth that he needed to share, rather than just arguing in an increasingly hostile environment. HE wasn’t afraid of the Pharisees. He would engage with them again later, but he refused to allow himself to be reduced to their opposition.
“He was showing an example to them who were to believe in Him (that any one servant of God sins not if he retire into another place, when he sees, it may be, the rage of his persecutors, or of them that seek to bring his soul into evil; but if a servant of God did this he might appear to commit sin, had not the Lord led the way in doing it), that good Master did this to teach us, not because He feared it.” -Augustine of Hippo, Tractate 15 on John

4 Now he had to go through Samaria.

Jesus traveled from Judea to Galilee and “had to” go through Samaria. While the route made geographical sense (Samaria lies near Israel’s borders; Galilee is an outlying enclave), most Jews would have found a way around it. There was severe tension between the Jews and the Samaritans.
Sources of Tension between Israelites and Samaritans
1. Similarity can create friction; groups that live in the same area with competing claims and identities often clash more easily than groups that are obviously different.
2. Competing Religious Claims:
  1. Both the Jews and the Samaritans claimed to be true worshipers of God and the true Israel, considering the other’s claim illegitimate.
  2. The Samaritans only accepted the Pentateuch (Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy) as Scripture, denying later prophetic books, which increased conflict with the Jews who affirmed other books as divinely inspired.
3. Competing Identity Claims
  1. Samaritans said they were the true Israelites because they stayed in the land during the Assyrian exile. Others were forced to leave because of the Assyrian policies, but the Samaritans found a way to stay and shepherd the area.
  2. The Israelites that returned after the exile saw the Samaritans as people who had compromised themselves by intermarrying and adopting Assyrian culture to appeal to the dominant culture, losing their real identity while others suffered exile for their faith.

5 So he came to a town in Samaria called Sychar, near the plot of ground Jacob had given to his son Joseph.

6 Jacob’s well was there, and Jesus, tired as he was from the journey, sat down by the well. It was about noon.

“Jacob’s well was there,”
1. Jacob’s well is not particularly famous. There is nothing mentioned in Scripture about it. Its importance comes from its owner, not any event that happened at it.
2. A modern equivalent might be something like “George Washington’s cornfield.” Assuming such a place exists somewhere, nothing noteworthy happened there, but it’s notable because of the owner.
3. “And what more proper place than Jacob’s well, for exposing the unlawful husband, i. e. the perverse law? For the Samaritan woman is meant to figure to us a soul, that has subjected itself to a hind of law of its own, not the divine law. And our Saviour wishes to marry her to a lawful husband, i. e. Himself; the Word of truth which was to rise from the dead, and never again to die.” -Origen, tom. xiii. c. 8
“It was about noon.”
1. In first century Israel, women typically drew water in the morning to avoid heat and to catch up with one another at the well.
2. The Samaritan woman arriving at noon likely indicates that she’s avoiding others. As Jesus unfolds her story in the coming verses, it becomes increasingly obvious that she may be a social outcast and subject of gossip.

7 When a Samaritan woman came to draw water, Jesus said to her, “Will you give me a drink?”8 (His disciples had gone into the town to buy food.)

9 The Samaritan woman said to him, “You are a Jew and I am a Samaritan woman. How can you ask me for a drink?” (For Jews do not associate with Samaritans.[a])

10 Jesus answered her, “If you knew the gift of God and who it is that asks you for a drink, you would have asked him and he would have given you living water.”

“Jesus said to her, “Will you give me a drink?”
1. Jesus spoke directly to her, which broke social norms on several levels. Firstly, Jews didn’t associate with Samaritans. Secondly, men didn’t tend to speak to women alone without a husband, father or brother present to witness the propriety of the interaction.
2. He asks her for a drink—a deliberate request for a favor. Sociologists say that this is a good way to build rapport in a new environment. By asking for help, you show that you see value in the other person and are vulnerable, which prevents you from appearing as some sort of social threat.
“living water”
1. Jesus offers “living water,” a phrase carrying dual meanings in Greek: flowing, fresh water (spring/river) and spiritually vivifying water pointing to eternal life.
2. English translations prefer “living water” to preserve the spiritual resonance; the woman initially interprets it as literal fresh water, focusing on convenience (not having to return to draw water).

11 “Sir,” the woman said, “you have nothing to draw with and the well is deep. Where can you get this living water? 12 Are you greater than our father Jacob, who gave us the well and drank from it himself, as did also his sons and his livestock?”

13 Jesus answered, “Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again, 14 but whoever drinks the water I give them will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give them will become in them a spring of water welling up to eternal life.”

15 The woman said to him, “Sir, give me this water so that I won’t get thirsty and have to keep coming here to draw water.”

16 He told her, “Go, call your husband and come back.”

17 “I have no husband,” she replied.

Jesus said to her, “You are right when you say you have no husband. 18 The fact is, you have had five husbands, and the man you now have is not your husband. What you have just said is quite true.”

Transition from physical thirst to spiritual thirst
1. Jesus contrasts water that only provides for earthly needs (“whoever drinks this water will be thirsty again”) with the spiritual benefit of the water he gives, which becomes “a spring of water welling up to eternal life.”
2. He reveals awareness of her personal life: she has had five husbands and lives with a man who is not her husband. She’s been seeking fulfillment in relationships with men. Not only has it not gone well, but it hasn’t quenched the thirst for meaning in her life.
3. In the Jesus revolution of the 1970s, many young people that had sought their fulfillment in drugs or hippie counterculture found lasting fulfillment in Jesus.

19 “Sir,” the woman said, “I can see that you are a prophet. 20 Our ancestors worshiped on this mountain, but you Jews claim that the place where we must worship is in Jerusalem.”

21 “Woman,” Jesus replied, “believe me, a time is coming when you will worship the Father neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem. 22 You Samaritans worship what you do not know; we worship what we do know, for salvation is from the Jews. 23 Yet a time is coming and has now come when the true worshipers will worship the Father in the Spirit and in truth, for they are the kind of worshipers the Father seeks. 24 God is spirit, and his worshipers must worship in the Spirit and in truth.”

1. “I can see that you are a prophet. Our ancestors worshiped on this mountain…”
  1. The woman shifts the whole conversation towards “religious” questions, shifting the tone from an honest conversation about her life to theoretical doctrinal debates.
  2. “From the truth which was becoming inconveniently personal she flew to that natural resort of the carnal mind, namely, to religions discourse upon points of outward observance”. -Spurgeon, Verse Expositions of the Bible

“true worshipers will worship the Father in the Spirit and in truth”

1. Jesus reframes the issue away from ethnicity, tradition, and location: “A time is coming…when you will worship the Father neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem.”
2. He isn’t vague on doctrine. He acknowledges “salvation is from the Jews” but moves towards that bigger picture that he’s inviting her to participate in where people “worship the Father in spirit and in truth,” because “God is spirit.”
3. Ethnic lineage and traditional sites are not the path to God; the Holy Spirit’s indwelling and truth-seeking are essential. He invites her to abandon religious formalism and be honest about what she really needs. He knows her thirst and how she longs for God in her life.

25 The woman said, “I know that Messiah” (called Christ) “is coming. When he comes, he will explain everything to us.”

26 Then Jesus declared, “I, the one speaking to you—I am he.”

Conversion doesn’t come from superior religious theory being explained well or being so nice for so long that someone just goes with it. Conversion comes from a person encountering Jesus and knowing his power and his person directly.
This encounter gives us some key principles for evangelism.
1. Talk to someone, even if it’s uncomfortable or seemingly strange.
2. Build and honest rapport by letting yourself be vulnerable and seeing their gifts.
3. Connect things that people know to what they don’t know yet.
4. Lovingly help people see what they’re looking for can be found in Jesus.
5. Avoid getting trapped in debates over little things. Emphasize the big picture of what God is doing.
6. Introduce people to Jesus personally. His power is sufficient.

Full Transcript

We pick up in the Gospel of John at chapter four. You’ll remember last week, Jesus’ number of followers had eclipsed John the Baptist’s, and John had humbly okayed it. He said, “That’s a good thing. He’s the Messiah. I hope people go to him.” But he is not the only one wrestling with this. The Pharisees also noticed that Jesus has gained a considerable amount of fame, and Jesus had not endeared himself to the Pharisees. You remember chapter two, what he did in the temple. Jesus and the Pharisees are not on good terms, and he has become more and more famous… and more and more of a target for Pharisee frustration.

What does Jesus do? He leaves. Jesus did not allow his ministry to become the anti-Pharisee ministry. He’s not going to become the anti-Pharisee guy. That’s not his ministry. Yes, the Pharisees are wrong. Yes, he will disagree with them sometimes. But the wholeness of Jesus’ ministry is not just arguing against what is wrong. It is also saying what is right, what is true, what is good, what is beautiful. So rather than just dig in his heels and spend the rest of his time becoming the anti-Pharisee guy, he moves. He moves on. He’ll argue with them more later.

Also notice this really odd detail here: they heard that he was gaining and baptizing more disciples than John, although in fact it was not Jesus who baptized, but his disciples. What an odd little detail to include. It has now explicitly said twice that Jesus was baptizing people, but here it goes out of its way to say he baptized them, but not directly. He was not the one doing it himself. It was his disciples. He was kind of overseeing it. It was a part of his ministry, but he didn’t personally do the baptizing.

I looked around to try to see why this detail was so important. I found a few kind of interesting takes. One was that some suggested Jesus did this because ultimately, yes, baptism is important—but having faith in Christ is the most important thing. So Jesus pursued inspiring faith in people and left the baptizing to his disciples. I thought that was interesting. Not necessarily correct. I don’t know that it’s really supported anywhere. Interesting.

Another, I think a little more compelling, was the suggestion that why didn’t Jesus personally get involved? We saw back in John 1 that John the Baptist said Jesus is going to baptize people with the Holy Spirit. He’s going to introduce this new form of baptism. And we know that fullness of that hasn’t been unleashed on the world just yet, because Jesus says later in the Gospels that he is going to ascend into heaven so that the Holy Spirit can come. That’s when Christian baptism as we know it is really unleashed on the earth. So maybe Jesus not personally baptizing here is to show that the fullness of baptism is not here yet. The Holy Spirit will be unleashed, and he will baptize people with the Holy Spirit, but right now we still have just water baptism, the same kind of baptism that John practiced:the baptism for repentance. Eventually we will see the Holy Spirit get involved in that, and it’ll get crazy. But maybe this is just a hint: the fullness is not here yet.

Jesus leaves Judea and goes to Galilee, and in verse four it tells us that he had to go through Samaria. Not surprising. If you look at a map, Samaria is practically inside the borders of Israel. Not completely, but it’s nestled up next to it on the northeast side, and Galilee is kind of this outlying enclave. So sometimes to get to the farthest portion of Israel, you have to cut through Samaria.

Most people avoid doing it. Samaria is not the kind of place you want to get caught in. There is a ton of tension between the Samaritans and the Israelites. Some of it is just geography: two different people groups right up next to each other in a really inconvenient way. There’s always going to be tension as long as the geography is what it is. But there are also other things that make it especially challenging. The Samaritans and the Jews had competing understandings of who they were and what the world was.

Sometimes when we’re next to people who are very different from us, it’s actually easier to have a conversation because we know we are not talking about the same things. If, for example, the Samaritans were actually a group of Buddhists who had somehow come from China and settled in this area, it might actually be easier. Because they would know: you’re Buddhists, we’re Jewish. You’re from that place, we’re from this place. We may not agree on everything, but we know we’re different. At least we can agree on our disagreeing. The Samaritans were much, much closer in terms of the way they thought about the world.

Both groups claimed to be worshippers of God and said the other was illegitimate. Both groups claimed to be the true Israel and said the other was illegitimate. For example, the Samaritans followed the God of the Old Testament very clearly, but they said Moses was the last prophet of God. They said there were only five books in the Bible: Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy. Anything after that? Fake. Now that’s going to create tension with the Israelites, who say, “But there are a whole lot of prophets that came after that.” So both are competing for who are the true worshippers of God, who really understands who God is.

Not only that, but they also disagree on who they are. Both groups claim to be the true Israelites. The Samaritans say that in the Old Testament—you can read about it—the Assyrians come and destroy Israel and send all of the Jewish people into exile. The Samaritans claim that during that event, when everyone was scattered to different parts of the earth, they stayed. “We were here and they never moved us. So we are actually the true Israel who stayed here the whole time. If anyone’s legitimate, it’s us. You can’t trust the other people. They went all over the place! We are the ones who stayed.”

The rest of Israel responds, “You stayed because you were willing to work with the Assyrians. You intermarried with them. You took on their culture, you took on their way of life, and you want to call yourself Israelites? No. There is nothing Israelite about you anymore. You’re something else. We suffered because we stood true to what it means to be us. You gave it up. That’s why your life was easier.” A lot of division between these two groups. Very uncomfortable, very at odds. But Jesus goes through Samaritan territory here.

Verse five: So he came to a plot of ground in Samaria called Sychar, near the plot of ground Jacob had given to his son Joseph. Jacob’s well was there.

The way it introduces Jacob’s well, you might almost think it’s this famous historical site—like, “Oh man, Jacob’s Well! Something important must have happened there.” Not really. This is the only mention of Jacob’s Well in the Bible, so is it famous? Kinda—but only because Jacob owned it. It’s less important in itself and more important because of who owned it. Kind of like saying, “I went to George Washington’s cornfield.” Oh, that’s cool. Did something important happen there? No, not really, but George Washington owned it, and that’s something. Same idea here. So don’t get caught up in the object itself. Think about the person it’s connected to: Jacob. Jesus is going to a place historically associated with one of the great patriarchs and someone God made multiple promises to.

Jesus, tired as he was from the journey, sat down by the well. It was about noon. His disciples go into town. It’s a little ways off—not super far, but far enough. Jesus takes a breather by the well. It tells us it’s about noon, and that detail is not random. In the Middle East in this era, getting water for the day would be a task done by the women of the household. And if you were someone who had to go get water from a well outside of town, what time of day do you think you would do that?

Middle of the day? You’re going to be roasting. It gets hot out there. I would go at the beginning of the day, just because it’s a hot region. The longer you wait, the more you’re going to get toasted by that sun. So normally people would go in the morning. That would be the norm, and that’s when everyone would be going to get water. You go because you get to see your friends, you get to chat on the way there. But this woman is not going then. She has chosen to go in the middle of the day. On one hand, maybe it’s just her preference That’s possible. Maybe she’s just a middle-of-the-day kind of person. But I think there’s a very distinct possibility here. She chooses to go at the hottest time of the day, when no one else is going? There’s a very real possibility, and I think it’s supported by what we see later, that this is a woman who has led a dramatic life. The kind of life that would naturally lead to gossip, to her being ostracized, to her probably being picked on by other people in the community. So why does she go at the hottest part of the day to get water? Probably to avoid people. Probably because she’s an outcast. I think that’s a reasonable take.

Verse seven: “When a Samaritan woman came to draw water, Jesus said to her, ‘Will you give me a drink?’”

What we’re about to see unfold is this incredible example of evangelizing. Jesus is about to tell her that he is the Messiah. And evangelizing can be a challenge, but we see so much here in how he chooses to do it. First off, he talks to her, which is worth noting. I think sometimes we try to evangelize without actually talking to people. We come up with these really clever, and much more comfortable, strategies. “I’ll just be really nice, and then maybe someday they’ll want to talk to me about Jesus unprompted.” Probably not. Or, “Maybe I’ll give them a little trinket, and the trinket will excite them, and they’ll suddenly start asking me about Jesus.” If you want to talk to someone about something, the best way to do it is to start talking to them. And that’s what Jesus does.

He talks to her, and he’s not just addressing anyone. He’s talking to a Samaritan woman at the well at noon. We talked about how she’s likely an outcast. She’s also someone who would naturally be uncomfortable for a Jewish person to talk to. But not only that: she’s also a woman. In this region, in this era, for a man to talk to a woman without her spouse being present, that’s not the sort of thing you do. That’s odd.

Normally, if a man wants to talk to a woman, you make sure that either her husband or her father is around. Why? Because you want everyone to know there’s nothing strange going on. You’re not trying to hit on her. This is not a weird conversation. Everything is normal, and other people can witness that. There’s a witness to your innocent intentions.

So this is not the kind of conversation that would normally happen. But Jesus is having a conversation that really shouldn’t be happening at all, at least not by the polite standards of the day. If he were worried about what people thought of him, he wouldn’t be having this conversation. But he risks it.

He doesn’t just talk to someone he’s not supposed to talk to, he also asks her for a favor. According to sociologists, that’s one of the best ways to get people to like you if you don’t know them very well: you ask them for a favor. It’s kind of counterintuitive. I don’t know about you, but normally if I want to be on good terms with someone, I try to show that I’m the kind of person you’d want to be friends with. I’m impressive. I know things. I can do things. “I’m the kind of person you want to be friends with—look at how great I am!” That’s a common instinct. It’s not a good instinct. Again, according to sociologists, that’s more likely to make you appear threatening, because you’re trying to come off as a big deal. People think, “Whoa, I don’t know about that person. They’re trying to get something out of me.” Meanwhile, if you ask for a favor, you’re being vulnerable. You’re recognizing their value and saying, “Hey, I see that you can do something. You’re important. I want your help.” Recognizing their value and showing your own vulnerability goes a long way toward building a relationship they actually want to invest in. So—wise of Jesus. Very wise.

She responds, shocked that he would do this. She says, “You are a Jew and I am a Samaritan woman. How can you ask me for a drink?” For Jews do not associate with Samaritans.

Jesus answers her: “If you knew the gift of God and who it is that asks you for a drink, you would have asked him, and he would have given you living water.” This is really playful. He takes it and flips it on its head. She says, “You’re asking me for a drink? That’s ridiculous.” And he’s like, “Yeah, now that I think about it, you should be asking me for a drink. You should be asking me for living water.”

“Living water” could also be translated “spring water.” In the Greek, those ideas overlap. It means moving water—water from a river, from a stream, not stagnant water. Obviously, that’s better than water that’s just been sitting there. I don’t know the last time you went shopping for bottled water, but “Old Desert Well” is not the name of any brand. It’s always “glacial spring,” “mountain river,” something that implies fresh, moving water.

So that’s the physical meaning, but most translators go with “living water” because there’s also a spiritual meaning—eternal life. It has this great double meaning in Greek. And you have to choose: do I emphasize the physical or the spiritual? They’ve chosen well. “Living water” makes it clear that Jesus is hinting at something deeper as the conversation unfolds. But in the moment, she probably just hears it as fresh water. “You should be asking me for better water.” That makes this sound even more ridiculous.

She responds, “Sir, you have nothing to draw with, and the well is deep. Where can you get this living water? Are you greater than our father Jacob, who gave us the well and drank from it himself, as did his sons and his livestock?”

He answers, “Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again, but whoever drinks the water I give them will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give them will become in them a spring of water welling up to eternal life.” So Jesus takes something she knows very well, physical thirst, and uses it to talk about something she doesn’t really want to talk about: spiritual thirst.

He starts talking about eternal life. “I know you’re physically thirsty, you’re here getting water, but I also know there’s another kind of thirst in your life. There’s a deeper thirst. A spiritual thirst. A longing for something more than the life you’re currently living.”

She shies away from that. She doesn’t seem very interested in the religious or theoretical side of the conversation. She responds without engaging the spiritual part at all: “Sir, give me this water so I won’t get thirsty and have to keep coming here to draw water.” She’s talking strictly about physical water. “Look, if you’ve got some kind of magic water, I’m in. But the deeper conversation? I’m not really interested.”

And Jesus responds: “Go, call your husband and come back.” Again, that would have been the social norm. At this point, the conversation has gone on long enough that for Jesus to say, “Go get your husband and come back,” would be polite. It would be mannerly. Go get your husband so everyone knows this conversation is legitimate. We’re not going to continue without it being clear that this is a normal, innocent interaction. But Jesus has a secondary motivation here.

She says, “I have no husband,” and he responds, “You’re right when you say you have no husband. The fact is, you have had five husbands, and the man you now have is not your husband. What you have said is quite true.” You’re acting like you’re not interested in this spiritual thirst. You don’t think you have any need for this “religious theory” about eternal life. And he responds, “No, I’m not just talking about theory. I’m talking about your life. Look at the life you’re living! I can see you’re thirsty. I know you are looking for something, and you’re not finding it.”

Clearly, in her case, she’s seeking it in relationships, and she can’t find one that fulfills her. She’s been with five men. She’s living with a sixth. They’re not married. That’s probably not going to work out. You’re not doing things right. Anyone can look at your life and see: you are thirsty. But you’re looking in all the wrong places. You’re looking for more than what you’re finding. And that is so common for all of us.

I just saw Jesus Revolution this past week—I know, I’m late to the party. That came out a couple years ago at this point. But I watched it, and I think it’s another great example. You have this hippie generation, and they want more. They are thirsty for more, but they’re looking in all the wrong places. Looking in drugs, in free love, in parties, and it’s not filling them. The more they drink from those wells, the thirstier they become.

A pastor I really admire, David Guzik, describes this process of searching for what you’re really thirsty for and looking in the wrong places as drinking salt water. You see something that looks like it will quench your thirst, so you drink—but the more you drink, the thirstier you get. I think that’s a really good picture. Specifically, this woman has been looking in relationships. She seems to think, “If I just find the right man, then everything will come together.” But it always falls apart.

That’s incredibly common. People think, “If I just have the right relationship with the right person, then everything will come together. Then I’ll be happy.” But that’s an unfair expectation. No person can fulfill us. There is one, but Jesus is the only one. No other person can do that. They’re just people. They have good days and bad days. They’re boring sometimes. They’re rude sometimes. People are people. They can never fulfill you. But now Jesus has shown her that this thirst—it’s not a theory. This is her life. “I see you are thirsty. I see you want more. Let’s talk about it.”

And the way she responds might seem baffling. She says, “I can see that you’re a prophet. Our ancestors worshiped on this mountain, but you Jews claim that the place where we must worship is in Jerusalem.”

That feels a little random—kind of out of left field. Who is right about proper worship? The Jews or the Samaritans? As a pastor, I think I can safely say what’s going on here: she has switched into religion mode. She knows she’s talking to someone with religious authority, so she starts saying the things she thinks she’s supposed to say, rather than being honest about her life and what she’s looking for. She’s uncomfortable, so she moves into safer territory—religious discussion. This happens to me sometimes. I’ll be talking with someone, they find out I’m a pastor, and suddenly the conversation shifts to baptism, prayer, the Catholic Church—things like that. And you can tell: “Okay, this is what you think pastors want to talk about.” You’ve gone into religion mode.

Jesus tells her she’s asking the wrong questions. “Woman, believe me, a time is coming when you will worship the Father neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem. You Samaritans worship what you do not know; we worship what we do know, for salvation is from the Jews. Yet a time is coming and has now come when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and in truth, for they are the kind of worshipers the Father seeks. God is spirit, and his worshipers must worship in spirit and in truth.” The questions she’s asking are about ethnicity and tradition. Who is more right? The traditions of the Samaritans or the traditions of the Jews?

Jesus says, “Look, you’re thinking by the wrong metrics. Who you’re related to—that’s never going to get you closer to God. That’s the wrong way to think. This is not about ethnicity. That’s always too far removed. You need the Holy Spirit in you—and that’s coming. There’s going to be a way of opening up and being closer to God than just being related to someone who was supposedly a prophet. You need something closer than what you’re thinking about in these traditions. You’re caught up in which set of traditions is right. You’re asking me who’s more right—their traditions or our traditions. Don’t think in terms of tradition. Think in terms of truth. Who are you, and what are you coming to God for? Be honest. Don’t go into religion mode on me. Talk about your life. What are you thirsty for? Be honest. Are you seeking God? Where are you seeking him? That’s what’s important.”

Now he’s got her right where he wants her. You can almost see throughout this conversation what’s familiar and what’s foreign constantly being intermixed—this playfulness as he talks with her. And finally she says, “I know that Messiah is coming. When he comes, he will explain everything to us.” The conversation has brought her to a place where she realizes: the only one who’s really going to solve this is God. God is going to send someone who can make sense of all of it—all these confusing questions about religion, about what I’m supposed to be doing, about how I’m supposed to find meaning. God’s going to send someone, and then it’s going to be fixed.

Jesus responds, “I, the one speaking to you… am he.” He reveals who he really is. And that’s the goal of all evangelism. It’s so interesting to watch how this conversation unfolds. Jesus does so many incredible things in it. But at the end of the day, the goal of evangelism is not building the best relationship, or having the best religious theory, or giving people what they need. Jesus does a little bit of all of those things. He talks about something they both understand—water. He builds a relationship you wouldn’t expect. He even engages with religious ideas, but none of those things is enough. The only thing that’s enough is introducing someone to Jesus and seeing him for who he is.

I don’t know how each of you came to faith, but I’m guessing, even if those elements were involved, none of you came to know Jesus because he was simply the best religious theory on the market. You weren’t just intellectually convinced and that was it. Or because someone was really nice to you one day and you thought, “Well, I’ll go along with it—they’re so polite.” Or even because someone gave you things and you thought, “These Christians seem pretty all right.” Those things might have played a role. But there’s really only one thing that makes a Christian—and that is encountering Jesus. Encountering a God who is more amazing than you could possibly understand. Encountering a Messiah who has entered in to solve the problems of meaning, of understanding, to bring the world to what it was meant to be.

I don’t know who God has placed in your life. I don’t know if there’s someone waiting to be introduced to Jesus as Messiah. Or maybe it’s you. Maybe you are someone who has never truly met Jesus as Messiah, never felt his power in your life, but this is good news. This is something we need to share. This is something that should fill us with joy and delight and make every day infinitely better. I hope we are able to share that good news with people as naturally, as joyfully, and as beautifully as Jesus does here.

Amen.