Between 1958 and 1963 there was a television crime drama series called "The Naked City." Each episode would end with the famous line, "There are 8 million stories in the naked city; this has been one of them." Every person has a story, and life is the interconnection between those separate and distinct people. Each person's story is an open book, ready for all to read. Much has been heard and read about the life of Jesus Christ. But when you look at the stories of the distinct encounters he had with individual people, you get to know Him so much more.
Last week I found a way to look at the Gospel of John that I had never seen before. You remember the post about chapter three, where John compares and contrasts John the Baptist with Jesus, and attributed similar quotes to both of them. John also described the encounter with Nicodemus in a way that shows how Jesus broke through the religious customs of the day.
I confess that since then I have looked at the Gospel of John with new eyes. I re-read chapter 2, where Jesus' first miracle was done behind the scenes, where no one knew about it except the servants who had drawn the water that Jesus had turned to wine. If anyone at the wedding had known about it, it would have embarrassed the host, because they would have known that he had run out of wine for the wedding feast. Jesus was sensitive to people's feelings.
The second event described in chapter 2 was the first cleansing of the temple. Unlike the miracle at the Wedding at Cana, this was a very public showing. It challenged the status quo, and showed Jesus' physical and mental strength. He stood up to the vendors and money-changers; He even stood up to the Jewish officials, who had allowed the money-changers and vendors to set up shop there. We should be as strong-minded and strong-willed as we stand up against injustice.
So we see Jesus' first acts after He went public as being both showing both passion and compassion. Then, as we saw last week, Jesus challenged a member of the Jewish Sanhedrin by taking Nicodemus from the physical mind-set into a spiritual mind-set. Now, in John 4.4-42, Jesus meets a Samaritan woman at a well.
This story is well known to Bible students. Jews hated Samaritans, because they had started out as a Jewish town that had inter-married with Gentiles. Over time, the so-called "pure" Jews' hatred of the Samaritans grew such that they probably hated the half-breed Samaritans worse than the Gentiles. Also significant is the fact that Jesus was talking to a woman: most Jewish Rabbis did not speak to women with whom they were not married. (Marriages were pre-arranged, so there was no occasion for men to chat up women in that society). But even beyond that, this particular Samaritan woman had a sordid past; she was divorced or widowed from at least five men, and was just then living with a man with whom she was not married. Scandalous!
Yet Jesus saw her heart and knew she had a need. Again, John writes it in such a way that we see how Jesus led her from the physical to the spiritual in her thinking and in her actions. Jesus sat by the well, and this woman approached with a water jar on her head. Jesus asked her for a drink. Her response is colored by years of rejection: Sir, you don't want me to draw water for you--I'm a Samaritan, and you are a Jew. Verse 9 tries to explain by saying "(For Jews do not associate with Samaritans)". The real meaning of this phrase is that Jews do not use dishes that Samaritans have used, because the dishes are unclean by virtue of the fact that a Samaritan has touched them; using unclean dishes would make the Jew ceremonially unclean. So Jesus broke through this barrier with her.
His response to her is telling. He said you should be asking me for water, because the water I give you leads to eternal life. The woman misunderstands. She sees that he cannot draw water, as he has no jar or rope. How can she ask Him to draw water from this well? She points out the obvious--that the well is deep, and that he has nothing with which to draw the water. And then she gets defensive, saying that her ancestor Jacob dug this well. Remember that thing about the Jews and the Samaritans? She is still hanging on to the fact that her people and the Jewish people that despise her are both descended from Jacob, who was called "Israel". Jesus repeats himself, saying the "water" he can give her will become a spring of water welling up to eternal life. Again she misunderstands--she thinks if this man has water that will never again leave me thirsty, then give me some of that. Going to the well was not just a physical burden to her, but an emotional one as well. She was going to the well at mid-day, when none of the other towns-folk were there. She didn't like being stared at, or being called an adulteress, or being gossipped about. So if she could find a way to keep from going to the well every day, she wanted to take advantage of it.
Jesus opens her eyes spiritually by telling her who she is. Suddenly, she realizes that this man, this Jewish man, has approached her and has had a conversation with her, all the while knowing her secrets, her past. And yet there is no condemnation. This is the most amazing part of the whole encounter. She calls Him a prophet, and listens to His testimony. Then she basically asks Him if He is the Messiah. He confirms His identity to her, and she is overjoyed.
After this, the woman becomes a missionary for Him. As a result of her testimony, many in the town come to Jesus to hear Him, and they believe. They believed not just because she told them, but because Jesus spoke to them directly. Today, our job is to bring people to Jesus, and let Him touch them.
The last part of the fourth chapter of the Gospel of John shows Jesus breaking through political barriers. Verse 46 tells of a royal official who came to Jesus for help. The term "royal official" probably means that worked closely with Herod, the king. This king was the son of the King Herod who had killed all the baby boys in Bethlehem, trying to kill Jesus just after He was born. This King Herod was the one who would later behead John the Baptist, and would participate in the trial of Jesus with Pontius Pilate. Knowing this, Jesus still helped the official by healing his son.
To recap, Jesus impacted the lives of a Galilean groom, a misdirected member of the Sanhedrin, a sinful Samaritan woman, and a recalcitrant royal official. They all believed. Two were Jews; two were not. Two were likely very wealthy; two were probably not. One was probably not even religious. One was a woman. Yet Jesus met them all where they were, and after the encounter with Him, they believed. Not everyone who met with Jesus believed in Him. Some rejected Him, and held on to their traditions, their politics, their religion or their sin. But these four encounters show that Jesus can change you regardless of your situation.
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