A chance encounter with Jesus! Pg.1
What motivated this chance encounter?
Joh 4:1 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. 3 So he left Judea and went back once more to Galilee.Jesus did not have to leave Judea, but knowing that the Jews in Judea were getting very jealous of him and knowing that he was gaining a reputation by spreading his ministry in that area, and realizing he could go to the Galilee and continue to spread his ministry even more. And safer.
Q 1.Is Jesus really worried about what the Pharisees think?
Q 2.All things work together for good…Do you consider it a good thing, Jesus relocating?
Q 3.Do you ever feel you should change the direction your life is taking?
Q 4.What motivates your spiritual life?
Why Did Jesus stop at this well?
Joh 4:4 Now he had to go through Samaria. 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. 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.)The Jews did not look forward to having any type of contact with any Samaritan. But there were times, of necessity that they might use their services or accept their goods. Usually in the business of commerce.
Jesus had to go through Samaria because His love and mission compelled Him to go. He did not skirt around to avoid encountering the disenfranchised, the outcasts, the broken, unwanted, and despised Samaritans. His encounter with this woman is enriched by his asking for a drink of water. It was not provocation, It was out of Love for humanity that Jesus even spoke to her.
Jesus will speak sometimes, we must always be aware.
Q 1. Can you recall relationships that have been served by chance encounters?
Q 2. What is different about this meeting, and the meeting Jesus had with Nicodemus last week?
Q 3. Was there something Jesus could do to make this woman’s life better?
Q 4. Is there something we can do to make someone else’s life better?
A serendipitous moment with Jesus?
John 4:9 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.)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."
The Jews did not associate with the common citizen of Samaria thus this woman was both surprised and perhaps even offended that Jesus spoke to her. She answered perhaps mockingly, and she responded in the negative. Yet Jesus at that moment gives her his message of ministry. After only two sentences, he gives her an interesting challenge. We never know from which of our encounters with others will come the one with the blessings from God.
Q 1. What was Jesus reason for asking for water, He could have gotten a drink?
Q 2. What did the woman react to, and why?
Q 3. Why did Jesus answer her the way he did?
Q 4. Have you ever experienced a blessing coming to you from an unexpected source?
A serendipitous moment?
Pg.2
Jesus answers questions
Joh 4:11 "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."The obvious comment is made by the woman, she could see he had nothing to draw water yet he says he will give her living water. How? Is he someone special? Then Jesus answer is even more intriguing, water offering eternal life? She certainly wants that.
Q 1. Jesus had nothing to work with so how was he to do this living water thing?
Q 2. Do you think that she began to question his accuracy or validity?
Q 3. I think we know what Jesus meant, but does she understand ?
Q 4. Have you ever questioned The direction Jesus wants for you?
Q 5. What did Jesus want for this woman?
What Jesus Knows
Joh 4:15 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." 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."A typical response from the woman, A practical application of what Jesus has offered her. It will greatly aid her lifestyle making her life easier. Did she have a hard life? Then Jesus answer is strange, and provoking. Totally off the subject, He tells her to call her husband, this reveals her lifestyle, and Jesus comments about it. Does He really know all about her, husbands and all?. He knows about her sins. She then begins to realize he is special. How is that?
Q 1. Jesus answer about the water seemed to get her attention, could he help her?
Q 2. Jesus changes the subject. He brought up her personal failings, was that necessary?
Q 3. The woman realizes Jesus knows her and all about her. What does she do then?
Q 4. Jesus knows all about each of us, does that make you stop and think?
The Jesus effect
Jesus is real, he actually does know everything about each of us, and what we need. If we would just let him, he would minister to our needs. So often, we are driven to fix it ourselves. Just as the woman when he spoke to her about the water of eternal life. She wanted it so that she could do it herself. If we just enter into dialog with him. He Speaks, we listen, and we become affected by his interest, as was this woman. Then as she did, we are compelled to let it be known. We then become his disciple.Q 1. What about Jesus made this woman even speak with him, wasn’t she beneath him?
Q 2. Jesus changes everything. We often underestimate what He will do, why is that the case?
Pg.3
What Jesus Reveals
Joh 4:21 "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." 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."Jesus begins to tell her the real truth of honest worship. She is not worshipping the true God. No false Gods, idols etc which the Samaritans all took part in. The salvation of her soul is from the Jews. God is spirit and must be worshipped in spirit and in truth. Then she speaks of what she believes to be the truth, That the Messiah is coming.
Q 1. Jesus speaks firmly, the truth of worship, what point is he making?
Q 2. He says that the Samaritans do not worship as they should. What does he mean?
Q 3. This is getting to be a religious philosophical discussion. Is it confusing to her??
Q 4. Are we willing to do this discussion with Jesus, examine our religious beliefs?
Q 5. Did she come to realize that Jesus was The Messiah?
Q 6. Do we act as if we realize that Jesus is The Messiah? Some do, some don’t, why?
Q 7. Here was Jesus, the Son of God, and the Author of her salvation, actually speaking to her, devoting time to her, giving her the realization of her salvation, what effect did it have?
Jesus Changes everything
Joh 4:27 Just then his disciples returned and were surprised to find him talking with a woman. But no one asked, "What do you want?" or "Why are you talking with her?" 28 Then, leaving her water jar, the woman went back to the town and said to the people, 29 "Come, see a man who told me everything I ever did. Could this be the Messiah?" 30 They came out of the town and made their way toward him. Joh 4:40 So when the Samaritans came to him, they urged him to stay with them, and he stayed two days. 41 And because of his words many more became believers.42 They said to the woman, "We no longer believe just because of what you said; now we have heard for ourselves, and we know that this man really is the Savior of the world." The woman then became the first of what we would call a witness for Christ. She was the very first woman Evangelist. She begins to tell everyone she meets about him. She is so taken with him that her enthusiasm is contagious, and the whole town comes out to see him. No doubt with the question, who is this man? Can he actually be the Messiah?
Q 1. By asking for a drink of water from a common sinner, what has Jesus done?
Q 2. The woman is excited about Jesus and what response does that generate?
Q 3. Would one call that a proper response upon coming to know Jesus?
Q 4. She had to go and witness, had to agree with his intimate knowledge of her, Why?
Q 5. And so what is it the whole town is coming out to see?
Q 6. Are we too, destined to bring attention to Jesus by our testimony?
Opening Prayer:
Father God, we come to study about Your Son, Our Lord Jesus Christ whom we believe with all our heart is our Savior. We understand that there are people and places in this world where His presence is not anticipated, neither is it welcomed. Our study today takes us to one of those places. We ask that no word be spoken here tonight which might be contrary to your will and that each word be blessed with your approval, or it not be spoken. Bless those who are here tonight with the perfect understanding of those things which You would have us learn from this study. We ask this in the name of Jesus Amen
Our study today. Last week, we were introduced to Nicodemus who comes to Jesus by night with a single question. This weeks encounter with Jesus, the Samaritan woman at the well. The contrast between Nicodemus and the Samaritan woman is striking. She is a woman, she has no name, but she meets Jesus at noon, in full daylight. She was the first person to whom he revealed he was the Messiah. Jesus gives her the most profound discourse in Scripture on the subject of worship. That God is spirit and that worship is not an approach of the body to a church, or a thing or object but an approach of the soul to the spirit of God. In their spiritual conversation this stranger (Jesus) was to her, first simply "a Jew"…then "Sir"…then "a prophet." Finally she sees him for who he really is, The "Messiah. Like Nicodemus, she first interprets Jesus' words on a literal level, but she is able to ask for what Jesus has to offer rather than question the possibility, as Nicodemus did. She is not certain that Jesus is the Christ, but she does not let that stop her from leaving behind her water jar, going into the city, and inviting the people to their own encounter with Jesus. She demonstrates what can happen when we actually engage in conversation and questions about our faith. She becomes a witness for him, she became the first evangelist.
Closing Prayer:
Father God, be with us now as we leave this place. May we carry with us your blessing as we continue in our
efforts to live the life of a disciple of Jesus Christ. Grant to us your protection as we leave here and go with us as we travel. Bless the families represented here tonight. We pray for your continued watch over our loved ones and those among us who need your healing hand to touch them in their time of distress. Some are ill some are conflicted, all need your healing power. We pray that we will come to realize as the woman in our study did , that Your son Jesus is, our messiah, our counselor, our savior and our guide. And the only giver of that living water of eternal life. It is in Jesus name we pray, AMEN
Meditation:
We desire the life that is imaged by Living Water—we want to feel alive within ourselves—we want deep, fulfilling relationships; we want to be able to transcend our sometimes dreary day-to-day routines and discover beauty and grace, meaning and goodness. St. Augustine has said, “Our hearts are restless until they rest in Thee.” We know this about ourselves. It is the deep thirst each of us has—for a life of integrity and love. Our sins throw up impediments to those things. Without harsh accusation or disparagement, Jesus reveals the truth of our brokenness. Christ’s loving presence and his total acceptance of each of us has likely affected us more than we can realize in this life. The Samaritan woman came to this realization quickly. Ought we not also to do that?
In this Scripture, we glimpse how the encounter with Christ can set one’s life on fire. His spirit enlivens, gives one courage to face the truth of oneself and to reach out in love to others. It motivates, it fills, it nourishes. In his letter to the Ephesians, St Paul prays, “that God may strengthen you with power through his Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith…and that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God.” May that be our personal mission statement. God has plans for your life. Your life is God’s gift to you, capable of being a participation in his own life and love. It may be filled with more hardships than you think you can possibly bear at times. That is when we rely on the faith we have gained in times of communion with Christ. God desires that his living water flood each of our lives and the entire universe, flowing in you and me, in us, through us and all around us. Our choice is to try to say “yes” not just when loving and trusting are easy, but even when it is very difficult and scary, even when we are in the painful process of being transformed and pruned by him. We are never alone. We are ever loved beyond all measure. But we need to be aware and certainly never underestimate what Jesus can do in our life if given an opportunity. He can do Miracles.
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