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Remember,
Yeshua had experienced much opposition and pressure
from His own people, especially from the most
religious, in Judea. Things are heating up between
Yeshua and the Pharisees, and so to avoid a confrontation,
He headed back north towards the Galil. He decided
to go through Samaria, even though there were
other routes available.
Therefore
when the Lord knew that the Pharisees had heard
that Yeshua was making and baptizing more disciples
than John (although Yeshua 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 Yeshua, being wearied from His journey, was
sitting thus by the well. It was about the sixth
hour.
Now, to
better understand what is going on here, we need
a little background on the Samaritans. They were
descendants of the mixture of the Northern Kingdom
of Israel, and other nations that the king of
Assyria imported after Israel was conquered by
Assyria around 722 BC.
They developed
their own religion and worship based on the Torah,
along with their own religious ideas that crept
in from their pagan background. They developed
their own worship, their own Temple on Mount Gerazim,
which was close to Sycar, where this event takes
place. Of course, the Samaritan’s religion was
seen by the Jewish people as a perversion of true
religion. The Samaritans were generally looked
down upon, even despised, by the Jewish people,
and so there was very little social interaction
between Jews and Samaritans. By the way, a small
community of Samaritans still exists today.
Our father
Ya’akov is mentioned, because 1800 years earlier
he bought a piece of property and dug a well there
and bequeathed it to his son Joseph (see Gen.
33:19, Joshua 24:32). The well was outside the
town.
It was
the sixth hour, most likely meaning it was 12:00
noon. Yeshua came to the well, tired, hungry and
thirsty from His journey. Let’s see what happens:
There
came a woman of Samaria to draw water. Yeshua
said to her, “Give Me a drink.” For His disciples
had gone away into the city to buy food. Yeshua
seems to be alone. This woman, apparently by herself,
comes to draw water from the well. Since it was
most likely 12:00 noon, it was hot, and not the
best time to draw water, and carry it back to
the village. Women normally drew water earlier
in the day, before it got too hot. This tells
us that this woman is most likely a social outcast.
But her race, her gender, her social status, or
her false religion, does not prevent Yeshua from
interacting with her. Yeshua takes the initiative,
and asks her for a drink, since His disciples
weren’t there to help.
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.)
It was
unusual for a Jewish man to ask a Samaritan and
a woman for help. Religious Jewish men, especially
rabbis, had very little to do with women other
than their wives. Rabbis barely talked to women,
let alone taught them, as Yeshua will.
What kind
of Messiah is Yeshua? He is a Messiah who is not
prejudiced. He has a love and a concern for everybody,
even those of a different race, gender, social
status, even those caught up in false religion.
We need to be more like Yeshua in this area. We
tend to limit our interests to those like us,
and those who our close to us: our family, our
friends, our people, our nation. But the love
of Yeshua encompasses everybody, and so must we.
When we
eat lunch upstairs after the service, I want you
to sit down and eat with someone you don’t know
very well - not the same old crowd, your group
of friends in the synagogue. Expand your horizons,
cross some of those barriers, and meet some new
people. Will you do that?
Yeshua
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 mayim chaim - living water.”
“Woman,
I wish you knew who I really am, and what I have
to offer you. God Himself has a great gift for
you, a gift that will do the most amazing things
for you, and I am empowered and authorized to
give you that gift from God. If you only knew
who I am, you would only have to ask Me for this
gift, which is like water, but mayim chaim - living
water - fresh, clean flowing water, thirst-quenching,
refreshing, renewing, invigorating, life-giving
water.” If you only knew who I really am, and
asked God to bless you with His gift that He wants
to give to all human beings, God will answer your
prayer with that tremendous gift.
But the
Samaritan woman didn’t quite understand what the
young Rabbi was talking about: 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?”
Sir, your
offer sounds intriguing, but I see a couple of
difficulties with you delivering what you offer.
First, you have nothing to get the water out of
the well, and this well is quite deep. How are
you going to get that living water. And I understand
that you Jews teach that mayim chaim, living water,
is water that comes from a stream or river, as
opposed to water from a well or cistern - where
are you going to get that living water - with
no tools, no equipment?
Second,
our father Jacob needed tools when He dug this
well 1800 years ago, and this amazing well has
been providing water to those who have lived here
for the past 1800 years. Do you think yourself
equal to or greater than Jacob, that You can give
me this living water without any equipment?
But Yeshua
was not talking about physical water, as He makes
clear to her: Yeshua 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.”
Woman,
God’s gift for you, this mayim chaim - this living
water, is not physical water. I’m not talking
about regular water - H20, molecules composed
of two atoms of hydrogen joined to one atom of
oxygen! If you drink that water, it only quenches
your physical thirst for a short time, and then
you get thirsty again, and need to drink again.
That water you can get from this well. But what
I am offering is something that not only will
quench a thirsty soul forever, but will keep on
quenching your spiritual thirst, your thirst for
God, your thirst for meaning, your thirst for
life. The spiritual water that I, Yeshua of Nazareth
give to you, will become an abundant source of
spiritual vitality forever and ever, that will
give you eternal life!
Yeshua’s
offer sounded better and better, but the woman
still didn’t quite grasp what this living water
was. She still thought that Rabbi Yeshua was talking
about normal water. But she definitely was interested
and wanted Yeshua’s gift. And so the woman
said to Him, “Sir, give me this water, so I will
not be thirsty nor come all the way here to draw.”
I definitely want this gift that you are offering,
and so, I am now asking.
How about
you? Are you still thirsty? Are you trying to
quench your thirst for meaning, for life, for
happiness, in the wrong places? Or, have you come
to know that God, working through Messiah Yeshua,
can quench that longing? Are you still thirsty,
or are you satisfied?
But first,
Yeshua, who knows her heart, tests her. Before
He gives her God’s amazing gift, His amazing gift,
He asks her to do something that will show
her truthfulness, her sincerity. He said to
her, “Go, call your husband and come here.”
The woman answered and said, “I have no husband.”
Yeshua 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
(notice that according to the Son of God,
who instituted marriage, merely living with someone
is not the same as marriage); this you have
said truly.” “Now, how did He know that?”
the woman must have wondered to herself. But out
loud, the woman said to Him, “ Sir, I perceive
that You are a prophet.”
What’s
happening? This Samaritan woman is growing in
confidence, in faith, in belief in Rabbi Yeshua.
She believes that He is able to give her this
mayim chaim - this living water, and she asked
Him for it. Now she understands that He is not
just a Jewish Rabbi, but also a prophet, a man
who hears directly from God.
She is
going to change the subject, perhaps to divert
the questions from her personal life; perhaps
now that she is in the presence of a true prophet,
and there hadn’t been any prophets in Israel for
400 years, and because she sincerely wanted to
know this very important question, she asks Yeshua:
“Our fathers worshiped in this mountain, and
you people say that in Jerusalem is the place
where men ought to worship.” Rabbi Yeshua,
prophet of Israel, who is right? You Jews or we
Samaritans? Whose got the right religion. I’ve
wondered about this all my life. Please tell me.
Is our Temple on Mount Gerazim the true Temple,
or is it your Temple in Jerusalem?
Yeshua
answers her question, but in a surprising way
that is instructive for all of us: Yeshua said
to her, “Woman, believe Me, an hour is coming
when neither in this mountain nor in Jerusalem
will you worship the Father. Trust what I
am about to say: a time is coming very soon when
physical location will no longer be crucial in
worship. God is about to do something amazing,
something very radial, something dramatic, something
long ago prophesied, so that He will be able to
be worshiped outside of any Temple!
But I
need to let you know something about you Samaritans.
Even though I love you, and want to tell you the
truth. You are involved in a false religion that
can’t save you: You worship what you do not
know; woman, you Samaritans are terribly misinformed.
Your religion is a mixture of truth and error.
You don’t have true and accurate knowledge of
God. You don’t know the truth. You aren’t worshiping
God properly.
On the
other hand, Yeshua made it clear, we worship
what we know, for salvation is from the Jews.
We Jewish people, and I identify Myself as
part of Israel, we have the true worship. Our
religion is based on the Word of God - the Torah,
the Prophets and the Writings, and they are pure
truth. Our worship isn’t a mixture of truth and
error. Our faith hasn’t been mixed up with erroneous
influences, like the religion of you Samaritans!
God has
appointed us - the Jewish people - to impart the
knowledge of God, and the way to be reconciled
to Him, to the rest of humanity. It is only through
the Jewish people that Yeshua - salvation, restoration
to life, reconciliation to God, redemption from
sin and death, can take place. Of course we Jews
are closer to the truth! God chose us to bring
salvation to all the other nations - not you Samaritans!
I’ve got
good news for you woman! 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.” God, My Father, is not
concerned merely with Jews, but with all peoples.
God wants, longs, He seeks human beings who will
really know Him, who are genuinely reconciled
to Him, who truly love Him. God is actively seeking
these worshipers, who will worship Him in spirit
and in truth.
The true
God, the God of truth, the Source of Truth and
Reality, is Spirit. He is not material and physical,
like that matter that makes up this universe.
O, we know that He can manifest Himself in this
world, if He chooses to do so, but His basic nature
is Spirit - not physical, not material, Spirit
which is everywhere throughout the universe.
And so,
His true worshipers will worship in Spirit, genuinely
connected to God, as compared to the majority
of mankind, who worship Him by wrote, with rituals,
ceremonies, prayers read out of prayer books,
sermons listened to but not put in practice. And,
true worshipers worship in truth, based on accurate
knowledge of God that comes from the prophets
of Israel. True worship is based on truth, not
falsehood - truth - not a mixture of truth and
error.
God wants,
the Father is seeking human beings who know Him,
who are connected to Him, who worship Him 24 hours
a day, seven days a week, wherever they are. From
the time that I die to atone for sin, their physical
location, and ceremonies and rituals, will no
longer be of primary importance.
How about
you? Are you worshiping God in Spirit and in Truth?
Do you really know God and Messiah personally,
intimately, or is your religion based on ceremonies,
rituals, observances of days, standardized prayers?
Now, she
brings up another important issue - the coming
of the Messiah. She had enough truth to understand
that one day, God was going to send the Anointed
One. The woman said to Him, “I know that Messiah
is coming (He who is called Christ - the Anointed
Ruler who will help us); when that One comes,
He will declare all things to us.” Rabbi,
I believe that the Messiah will come one day.
You are a Jewish Rabbi and Prophet. What do you
think about the coming of the Messiah?
Yeshua
said to her, “ I who speak to you am He.”
Wow! You may hear some people say that Yeshua
never claimed to be the Messiah. But here Yeshua
gives the clearest declaration that He is the
long awaited Messiah, the heir to the throne of
David, who will rule in peace and justice over
Israel and all the other nations of the world.
At
this point His disciples came, and they were amazed
that He had been speaking with a woman, yet no
one said, “What do You seek?” or, “Why do You
speak with her?” They respected Rabbi Yeshua,
and didn’t challenge Him, even though He was going
against social custom.
There
is quite a contrast between this spiritually sensitive
woman and the disciples. They can't figure out
why He is wasting time talking with a Samaritan
woman. Notice, that Yeshua has been bringing this
woman along step by step in her understanding.
She is growing in her knowledge of Yeshua. First,
she understood that He was a Jewish rabbi; then,
she learned that He was someone greater than Ya’akov,
a prophet, and finally, the Messiah who can give
here eternal life. And what does she do when she
comes to realization?
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 Messiah, is it?” She came to draw
water, but is so taken with the Messiah, that
she leaves her waterpot, and goes to find others
that she can introduce the Messiah. When someone
is being effected by our witness, he will leave
off almost everything to further investigate.
What is
your waterpot? Are you willing to leave it, if
called upon, if necessary. Is there anything that
you are doing, that you aren’t willing to leave
behind, in order to bring to others the eternal
life giving message?
They
went out of the city, and were coming to Him.
Meanwhile the disciples were urging Him, saying,
“Rabbi, eat.” But He said to them, “I have food
to eat that you do not know about.”
So
the disciples were saying to one another, “No
one brought Him anything to eat, did he?”Yeshua
often used tangible, real, physical things, like
water and food, to teach us about spiritual things,
as He did here. But He wasn’t speaking about physical
food. Yeshua said to them, “My food is to do
the will of Him who sent Me and to accomplish
His work. The thing that sustains Me, that
gives Me the power to live, is to do what God
is asking Me to do. That is what energizes Me.
That is My food - My bread and butter, My meat
and drink.
How about
you? What is your food? What really energizes
you? Doing the will of God, accomplishing His
work for you?
“Oh, but
Rabbi Loren, you don’t understand. It’s really
difficult for me to do that. These days the spiritual
environment is hostile to Believers. If I speak
up, I’m ridiculed. There are so few who are interested.
Maybe I should wait until later. Yes, the harvest
is for later.”
No - the
harvest is to take place now: “Do you not say,”
asked the Messiah of His disciples, “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.
While it may be true that for many annual crops,
it takes four months after we plant the seeds
for the plant to be ready to harvest, but that
is not true of the harvest of humanity. There
are people in the fields of humanity who are ready
to be harvested right now!
There
are people around us who are willing to listen,
ready to receive seeds of truth, prepared to respond
positively to these glorious realities that we
proclaim. They are there. They are willing to
hear and learn. The harvest is ready! We must
lift up our eyes and look around, and ask God
to lead us to those individuals who are open and
prepared. Are you doing that? Praying, “Lord of
the Harvest, help to me find those who have been
prepared. Bring them across my path.”
And the
Son of God encourages us to enter the work of
the harvest by telling us that there is a reward
to be earned: 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. For in this case the saying is true,
"One sows and another reaps.” I sent you to reap
that for which you have not labored; others have
labored and you have entered into their labor.
God will
reward us for entering the work of sowing and
reaping. Why do we need a reward placed before
us to motivate us to bring the Good News to others?
Because being a proclaimer of the B’sora Tova
- the Good News about the Messiah, can be difficult
and painful. Taking part in the sowing and reaping
of humanity is usually not easy. Often, there
are tears for those who sow the Truth. There is
usually some weeping as we carry our bag of truth
seeds, sprinkling them here and there. But there
is also the promise that eventually there will
be reaping, with much joy.
Reaping
is generally the most enjoyable. It’s wonderful
to harvest that fruit after all your labors. It’s
nicer to reap than sow, but God’s fellow workers
must be willing to sow - proclaim the truth, and
not see any immediate results. Messiah promises
that he who sows and he who reaps may rejoice
together.
He also
tells us that there will be instances when we
will share the truth with others, maybe over a
period of years, and labor teaching them the Scriptures,
and explain the prophecies, and pray for them,
and love them, and then God will bring someone
else along at the very end who will enjoy the
reaping, and have the joy of leading them into
a commitment to God and Messiah. For in this
case the saying is true, "One sows and another
reaps.” I sent you to reap that for which you
have not labored; others have labored and you
have entered into their labor.
Has that
ever happened to you? But sometimes you might
be that one who has the joy of leading someone
to Messiah after others have sown much light and
truth in their lives! Indeed, the saying is
true, "One sows and another reaps.” Thank
God that there is joy in both sowing and reaping,
and both are rewarded!
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.”
Our witness to others can bring them to belief,
to saving faith. Yeshua started with one Samaritan
woman, but eventually many believed in Him.
So
when the Samaritans came to Yeshua, 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.” After
two days, even more believed because they heard
Yeshua’s teaching, they listened to His word,
and knew that He was the Messiah and the Savior
of the World. Yeshua is the Jewish Messiah, but
He is the Savior of the world who loves all the
peoples of the world.
Principles
Of Witnessing:
Look for
opportunities to witness to the most unlikely
people, and not those who are convenient or easy.
"Samaritans"
Go to
where the people are at. Yeshua goes to where
she is at. He is in Sycar. Take the initiative.
"Give Me a drink"
Find out
what they are interested in and go from there.
He talks about something that she is very interested
in. "Mayim chaim." Concepts like salvation, atonement,
repentance, are not necessarily the place to start.
Go from
the natural and the understood to the supernatural
which is less understood. Don't bring up things
that people are totally unfamiliar with. "Living
water to water that He gives so that we will never
thirst".
Ask people
who are searching to do something not convenient.
"Call your husband". Come to services, read this
book, come to my house. Mistakes I've made going
always to others repeatedly.
Tell people
to witness to those they know best. "She went
back to her town."
Emphasize
what is ultimately important, one's personal intimate
relationship with God, not ritual. "Worshipers
in Spirit and Truth."
Bring
people from your witness directly to Yeshua. "We
have heard for ourselves and know."
Evangelism
calls for sacrifice, putting aside your other
priorities. "I have other bread." “She
left the waterpot.”
Witnessing
demands an attitude that rejoices no matter who
reaps. "He who sows and he who reaps may
rejoice together."
Evangelism
is now, not later. "The fields are white
with the harvest."
Expect
a great reward!
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