Hey! Eyes Up Here, Buddy

 

He who keeps you will not slumber.  Behold, He who keeps Israel shall neither slumber nor sleep.  --Psalm 121 3b-4

In our study of John's Gospel, we have seen that the Apostle has woven together several threads that color the life of our Savior.  Jesus was described as the Word of God, the Light of the world, and the Lamb of God.  We see Him work in very intimate and personal ways: 

• He turned water into wine without the bride or bridegroom knowing about it; 
• He met with Nicodemus, a Pharisee and teacher of the Law, explaining that he must be born again;  
• He met with a Samaritan woman at a well and changed her life; and 
• He met with a member of king Herod's court who begged Jesus to come heal his son, when Jesus showed His power extends beyond time and place.  

Not only did Jesus meet people on an individual basis to meet their specific needs; He also had a very public ministry where He performed many signs and wonders: 

• He chose His disciples and took over the ministry of John the Baptist, having His disciples baptize many; 
• He cleansed the Temple; 
• He created a following that demanded more signs and more wonders, much to His consternation.

In the fifth chapter of John we see that Jesus' private ministry and His public ministry intersect.  He starts with a private conversation that leads to an individual healing.  We read about it in verses 1 - 9

After this there was a feast of the Jews, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem.  Now there is in Jerusalem by the Sheep Gate a pool, which is called in Hebrew Bethesda, having five porches.  In these lay a great multitude of sick people, blind, lame, paralyzed, waiting for the moving of the water.  For an angel went down at a certain time into the pool and stirred up the water; then whoever stepped in first, after the stirring of the water, was made well of whatever disease he had.  Now a certain man was there who had an infirmity thirty-eight years.  When Jesus saw him lying there, and knew that he already had been in that condition a long time, He said to him, "Do you want to be made well?"  The sick man answered Him, "Sir, I have no man to put me into the pool when the water is stirred up; but while I am coming, another steps down before me."  Jesus said to him, "Rise, take up your bed and walk."  And immediately the man was made well, took up his bed, and walked.  --John 5:1-9a

The need to shift our focus

When I was in middle school, I was confused and bewildered.  Going through puberty, getting picked on at school, starting to notice girls--all the things one goes through at that age.  I didn't think my parents would understand, so I didn't want to talk with them about it.  I was a preacher's kid, so I couldn't go to my pastor. I thought I needed help, so I made an appointment with the middle school guidance counselor.

It took several days, but when they finally called me out of class to go see the counselor, it was not at all what I expected.  The man with that title apparently had other responsibilities in the school: he was in charge of attendance, of getting substitute teachers when needed, and also of replying to requests to change classes.  When I arrived in his office, he told me to take a seat, that he'd be with me in a moment.  His mind was laser-focused on what he was furiously writing in a 3-ring binder.  This was before computers (yes, I am that old), and his desk was filled with files, binders, and loose sheets of paper.

When he finally turned his attention to me, he did not look up.  "So, Mr. Stewart, I assume that you want to drop Basic Math and sign up for Intro to Algebra?"  I could only stammer, "I...guess so."  Here I was, a young person in crisis, with questions about Life, Love, and Longing; and here was a "counselor" who was focused on class sizes, class schedules, and classifying students in his myriad binders.  "The class you are dropping is third period," he said, "but Mr. Short's class that meets at that time is full.  You'll have to switch your fourth period class.  Do you mind switching to the early lunch?  I think we can make this work."  I could only nod my head, as it dawned on me that I would not get my real questions answered on this day.

This is how I see the sick man's response to Jesus's questions.  He had been ill longer than Jesus had been alive on this earth, yet I imagine him to be laser-focused on the water.  Like an avid fisherman not averting his gaze from the line, I imagine he barely looked at Jesus as He approached and tried to engage the man in conversation.  I could be wrong, but his answers seem rote to me--he was sick of having to tell the same story over and over, and he didn't want to miss an opportunity to rush down to the mineral water when the pool started bubbling up.

"Do you want to be made well?"  Those words seem foolish to us.  The man had been in that condition for almost four decades, and he was in a place where there was some hope of healing, however small.  "Don't You see I'm trying?" the man responds.  "I'm here by myself, with no one to help me.  So when the opportunity arises I try with all my might, but the prize always goes to another."  You can hear the frustration, the angst.

Jesus heard him. 

You may go to church every Sunday.  You may read your Bible and pray regularly.  If Jesus spoke to you audibly, and asked you, "Do you want to be made whole?" or "Do you want to be delivered and set free?" what would your answer be?  "I come to church every time the doors are opened," you might say in response.  "I volunteer for the choir, serve on the benevolence committee, and teach a children's Sunday School class.  But sometimes it seems like my prayers never get past the ceiling, and my efforts leave me frustrated and unfulfilled."

Jesus hears you.

Fittingly, the name of the pool where Jesus met the man was called Bethesda, which means House of Grace.  Jesus doesn't give up just because the man was not giving Him his full attention.  "Get up, pick up your bed, and walk," Jesus commands.  That, I think, is when the man actually looked up and saw Jesus.  Suddenly, he felt strength he hadn't felt since he was a kid.  He was energized, motivated, and obedient.  He picked up his bed and looked for Jesus, perhaps so he could thank Him.  Jesus had slipped away, disappearing into the crowd.

The plot thickens

And that day was the Sabbath.  The Jews therefore said to him who was cured, "It is the Sabbath; it is not lawful for you to carry your bed."  He answered them, "He who made me well said to me, 'Take up your bed and walk'." Then they asked him, "Who is the Man who said to you, 'Take up your bed and walk'?"  But the one who was healed did not know who it was, for Jesus had withdrawn, a multitude being in that place.  Afterward, Jesus found him in the Temple, and said to him, "See, you have been made well.  Sin no more, lest a worse thing come upon you."  The man departed and told the Jews that it was Jesus who had made him well.  For this reason the Jews persecuted Jesus, and sought to kill Him, because He had done these things on the Sabbath.  But Jesus answered them, "My Father has been working until now, and I have been working."  Therefore the Jews sought all the more to kill Him, because He not only broke the Sabbath, but also said that God was His father, making Himself equal with God.  --John 5:9b-18

Not being able to thank Jesus directly, the man went directly to the Temple to thank God for his healing.  As he approached the Temple grounds, he was stopped by some Jews, probably religious leaders, maybe even Pharisees.  They gave the man a stern warning.  "Hey, you," they said, "don't you know you're not supposed to do any work on the Sabbath?"

Sabbath Regulations

The fourth commandment is to remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy.  This command is followed by commentary in Exodus 20:9-11, "Six days you shall labor and do all your work, but the seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord your God.  In it you shall do no work; you, nor your son, nor your daughter, nor your male servant, nor your female servant, nor your cattle, nor your stranger who is within your gates.  For in six days the Lord made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and all that was in them, and rested the seventh day.  Therefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and hallowed it."  Further, Moses said in Exodus 31:14-15 that anyone who does any work on the Sabbath shall be put to death, or at the very least cut off from his people.

Those are some pretty severe consequences, and therefor the Pharisees over the years had many discussions about what constitutes work.  Not wanting to break God's command or be in danger of being cut off or even put to death, they had traditions that became pretty ridiculous in the extreme:

• “The Rabbis of Jesus’ day solemnly argued that a man was sinning if he carried a needle in his robe on the Sabbath. They even argued as to whether he could wear his artificial teeth or his wooden leg.” (Barclay)
• The absolute devotion to the traditions of man surrounding the Sabbath can’t be understated. For example, Deuteronomy 23:12-14 tells Israel to practice good sanitation when their armies are camped. Ancient rabbis applied the same principle to the city of Jerusalem, which they regarded as “the camp of the Lord.” When this was combined with Sabbath travel restrictions, it resulted in a prohibition against going to the bathroom on the Sabbath. (David Guzik)
• This devotion to the rabbis’ interpretation of the Sabbath law continues in modern times. An example is found in an April 1992 news item: Tenants let three apartments in an Orthodox neighborhood in Israel burn to the ground while they asked a rabbi whether a telephone call to the fire department on the Sabbath would violate Jewish law. Observant Jews are forbidden to use the phone on the Sabbath, because doing so would break an electrical current, which is considered a form of work. In the half-hour it took the rabbi to decide “yes,” the fire spread to two neighboring apartments. (Guzik)

THAT'S what you heard?

When the man was confronted with doing unlawful work on the Sabbath, he explained that he had been infirm and bedridden for 38 years, but that he had been healed that very day, and the Man who healed him told him to pick up his bed and walk.  This shifted the rabbis' focus, but not in the way you would think. Lightfoot writes, “Whosoever on the Sabbath bringeth anything in, or taketh anything out from a public place to a private one, if he hath done this inadvertently, he shall sacrifice for his sin; but if willfully, he shall be cut off and shall be stoned.”  On the other hand, “Inciting others to break the law (as they understood it) was worse than breaking it oneself. Therefore they launched a campaign against Jesus which was not relaxed until his death some eighteen months later.” (Bruce)

So instead of rejoicing with the man that he had been miraculously healed after decades of being unable to walk, let alone work, the rabbis started investigating who had made this outlandish demand of the man.  This is one reason I think the man never really looked at Jesus.  If he had, he would have known, as Jesus was well-known in Jerusalem.

Jesus finds the man and begins to disciple him

There were tens of thousands of visitors to Jerusalem for this feast (we don't know which feast it was--it's not important to John's story here).  The chances were low for two people to randomly meet someone in the Temple area that they had seen outside the Temple.  However, Jesus somehow finds this gentleman and greets him.  Notice He does not make small talk.  He doesn't say, "How's it going?  Legs working okay for you?"  Instead, Jesus gives the man instructions in life and righteousness.  "It's good you are at the Temple, for it was God who made you well.  Now make sure you live a life of repentance, so that God's work in you was not in vain."

Jesus seeks us out after we receive a blessing, to make sure we are continuing to walk in His grace.  Jesus warned the man that something worse may befall him if he fails to live a life of repentance.  What could be worse than being disabled for 38 years?  I don't think Jesus was threatening hell, although that would certainly be a fate worse than sickness.  It would be a tragedy for someone to be miraculously healed then not trust Jesus as Savior and Lord.  Another outcome that might be worse than a lifetime of illness would be to be graciously healed then fail to share that grace with others.

Having seen Jesus and recognizing Him as the One by whom he was healed, the man goes to tell the Rabbis.  I don't think he was intentionally betraying Jesus to the authorities, but was rather acting as a witness of Jesus's grace and power.  Unfortunately, the Jewish leaders did not see it that way.

The Pharisees start building a case against Jesus

In the view of the Rabbis, Jesus had profaned the Sabbath.  Not only that, He had directed someone else to break the Sabbath.  They knew that Jesus already had a sizable following--not only the Disciples, but the throngs of people who followed Him and hung on His every word.  If they all started playing fast and loose with the Law of Moses, they feared a spiritual insurrection.  Sure, they may have feared for the peoples' safety, as the Law proscribed death as a penalty for profaning the Sabbath.  They may have been concerned for the peoples' spiritual condition, for ignoring one part of God's commands is a slippery slope--once you start questioning the Sabbath regulations, how long before you start breaking the other commandments with impunity?  More likely, however, was that the Pharisees enjoyed their position of power, and Jesus threatened their elevated position.

Jesus starts poking the bear

In verse 17 Jesus gives the Pharisees an answer that He must surely know will infuriate them.  "My Father," He says, "has been working until now, and I have likewise been working."  A venerated rabbi, Philo of Alexandria (who was a contemporary of Jesus and of whose teachings the Pharisees in Jerusalem would have been familiar) wrote, "God never ceases working; but as to burn is the property of fire, and to be cold is the property of snow, thus also to work is the property of God, and much the more, inasmuch as He is the origin of action for all others”

 Moses said in Genesis that God "rested" on the seventh day during the work of creation.  However, God's "rest" was for us to use as an example, but it does not mean that God ceases all of His work on the seventh day.  Without God exercising power and working His will in the universe, the entire Creation would spiral out of control.  The Jewish leaders knew this, and they understood it.

What really made them mad, however, was not the assertion that God worked on the Sabbath, but that Jesus said He does His Father's work as well.  Just who did Jesus think He was?  Was He equating Himself with God Almighty?  This was worse than breaking the Sabbath; this was blasphemy.

As I was researching this passage, I read this from Barnes' Notes On The Bible:

The answer of Jesus was suited greatly to irritate them. He did not deny what he had done, but he "added" to that what he well knew would highly offend them. That he should claim the right of dispensing with the law, and affirm that, in regard to its observance, he was in the same condition with God, was eminently suited to enrage them, and he doubtless knew that it might endanger his life. We may learn from his answer:

1.  that we are not to keep back truth because it may endanger us.
2.  that we are not to keep back truth because it will irritate and enrage sinners. The fault is not in the "truth," but in the "sinner."
3. that when any one portion of truth enrages hypocrites, they will be enraged the more they hear.

Whenever we have an opportunity to speak truth to power, we should follow the example Jesus gave us.  There may be consequences, but we should be willing to suffer them for the sake of the truth.  Today in many large cities in the United States, protesters will hold political rallies.  Their rallying cry will be "No Kings."  They believe that they are speaking truth to power, as they perceive the current President as usurping Constitutional limitations.  I wonder, though, whether any of them would support a counter argument: No King But Christ.  Sadly, I feel that if a preacher were to find himself in one of these rallies, upholding Christ as King, he might be shouted down.  Worse, he may be persecuted for speaking this truth to the counter-culture.  Should this threat of persecution deter the preacher?  No, not if he wants to be like Christ.  He should call people to re-focus, to not look to the right or to the left, but to look up.  We should encourage folks to turn their eyes toward Jesus, to look full in His wonderful face; then the things of earth will turn strangely dim in the light of His glory and grace. 

Interpreting signs, unwinding wonders

 

For the Jews request a sign, and Greeks seek after wisdom; but we preach Christ crucified, to the Jews a stumbling block and to the Greeks foolishness, but to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God."  --1 Corinthians 1:22-24

 The story goes that a prisoner was transferred to a new prison.  On his first night there he was sitting in his cell and he hears another inmate down the hall shout out, "Number 23!"  He hears a few chuckles up and down the ward.  Someone else says, "Number 31!"  A bunch of the men on the ward laugh out loud.  Another shouts, "Number 17!" and the entire cell block erupts in laughter.  The newbie asks his cellmate what was going on.  He explains that the prisoners have all told the same jokes for so long, that whenever one of them wants to tell a joke, he just shouts out the number.

The new prisoner, wanting to fit in, takes his shot.  "Number 14!" he shouts.  This is met with dead silence.  Again, the new prisoner is puzzled.  He asks his cellmate why nobody laughed.  The old-timer shrugs his shoulders.  "It's all in the delivery," he says.

When we read our text today in John 4:43-54, it may seem to us that something might be missing.  Let's take a look together.

Context Clues

Now after the two days He departed from there and went to Galilee.  For Jesus Himself testified that a prophet has no honor in his own country.  So when He came to Galilee, the Galileans received Him, having seen all the things He did in Jerusalem at the feast; for they also had gone to the feast.  --John 4:43-45

Let's stop here for now. At first glance, it looks like John is glossing over some events without giving any context.  This is probably because John's Gospel was written last, and his readers would be familiar with the story of Jesus's first attempt at teaching in Nazareth (in the Southern region of Galilee) as told in the Synoptic Gospels of Matthew, Mark and Luke.  Here is what Matthew's Gospel records:

Jesus's first sermon in Nazareth

Now it came to pass, when Jesus had finished these parables, that He departed from there.  When He had come to His own country, He taught them in their synagogue, so that they were astonished and said, "Where did this Man get this wisdom and these mighty works? Is this not the carpenter's son?  Is not His mother called Mary? And His brothers James, Joses, Simon, and Judas?  And His sisters, are they not all with us? Where then did this Man get all these things?" So they were offended at Him.  But Jesus said to them, "A prophet is not without honor except in his own country and in his own house." Now He did not do many mighty works there because of their unbelief.  --Matthew 13:53-58

Mark 6:1-5 recounts the same scenario almost word-for-word, with the addition of, "And He marveled because of their unbelief."  Luke, however, goes into the most detail.  He reminds us that Jesus grew up in Nazareth.  When He spoke at the synagogue there, Jesus quoted from the book of Isaiah, reading a passage that indicated God had sent Him and anointed Him "to preach the gospel to the poor," and to "heal the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to set at liberty those who are oppressed; to proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord."

The response was underwhelming.  The people asked one another, "Is this not the carpenter? Isn't this Joseph's son?  Don't we know His mother Mary, and all His brothers and sisters?"  Jesus answered them by saying, "You will surely say this proverb to Me: 'Physician, heal yourself!'  Whatever we have heard done in Capernaum, do also here in Your country." 

Then He said, "Assuredly I say to you, no prophet is accepted in his own country.  But I tell you truly, many widows were in Israel in the days of Elijah, when the heaven was shut up three years and six months, and there was a great famine throughout the land; but to none of them was Elijah sent except to Zarephath, in the region of Sidon, to a woman who was a widow.  And many lepers were in Israel in the time of Elisha the prophet, and none of them was cleansed except Naaman the Syrian.'  So all those in the synagogue, when they hear these things, were filled with wrath, and rose up and thrust Him out of the city; and they led Him to the brow of the hill on which their city was built, that they might throw Him down over the cliff.  Then passing through the midst of them, He went His way.  --Luke 4:24-30

What a traumatic response to His message!  Not only would the people of Nazareth not listen to Him, but they tried to kill Him right then and there.  

Jesus goes back to Galilee, not expecting much

We looked at the background of Jesus having visited Galilee before.  We saw the context of the phrase, "Jesus Himself testified that a prophet has no honor in his own country."  Moving on in our text in John 4, we see in verse 45 that when He went back the second time into Galilee, He was well received--not because of who He was (the Son of God) or that they believed, but that they had seen him perform many signs and miracles down in Jerusalem.  To them He was a source of entertainment, a carnival side-show.

Now, remember last time we saw that He was accepted in Samaria for His words alone.  There was no miracle done there--no turning water into wine as He had done in Cana of Galilee, no signs and wonders as He had done in Jerusalem.  How He must have longed for His words to have the same effect in His hometown of Nazareth, and throughout all of the region.  How He longed for people to believe in Him without His having to perform signs and wonders.

Jesus had the blues

So Jesus came again to Cana of Galilee where He had made the water wine.  And there was a certain nobleman whose son was sick at Capernaum.  When he heard that Jesus had come out of Judea into Galilee, he went to Him and implored Him to come down and heal his son, for he was at the point of death.  Then Jesus said to him, "Unless you people see signs and wonders, you will by no means believe." -- John 4:46-48

Was Jesus feeling used?  Did it seem that His sermons were like preaching to a brick wall?  We see from the passage in Isaiah that Jesus had quoted to them the first time He was there what His purpose was on earth. "The Spirit of the Lord is upon Me," He read, "because He has anointed Me to preach the gospel to the poor; He has sent Me to heal the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to set at liberty those who are oppressed; to proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord." (Luke 4:18-19, quoting Isaiah 49:8-9)

The people needed to hear good news, because they were poor in spirit.  They needed their broken hearts mended, not just their broken bodies.  They needed freedom from the oppression of sin, not political freedom from the oppression of Rome.  The year of Jubilee had come, and they couldn't see it.  All they could see was their physical situation--their hunger, their sicknesses, their political servitude.

One man's troubles

So there was this man, described in the text as "a nobleman" who lived in Capernaum, about 20-25 miles from Cana.  Some commentaries say this man may have had a Jewish upbringing, and that he may have served in Herod's court, since Herod was the Tetrarch (sometimes translated "king") of Galilee.  This man had a son who was on his deathbed.

When the man heard that Jesus was in Galilee, he made the seven-hour walk (uphill, I'm told) to Cana to ask Jesus for help.  We don't know what words he used to try to convince Jesus to "come down (to Capernaum) and heal his son."  He may have admitted, "Listen, Jesus, I don't know what magic incantations or potions You use; I don't understand the voodoo that You do.  I just know that if You come and lay Your hands on my son, he will be healed."  To this, Jesus responded "Unless you people see signs and wonders, you will by no means believe."

Painting with a broad brush

Jesus may have lumped this man in with everyone else, or He may have had a larger audience listening to Him there.  We do know that the Greek word He used for "you" is plural.  In certain regions of the U.S., He might have said "you guys."  In the South, He would be translated "all y'all."  He wasn't picking on this one man so much as issuing an indictment to all who saw Him there, expecting Him to do those signs and wonders they saw Him do in Jerusalem.

We see this happen in other times in Jesus's ministry.  Later, we read in John 6:30, "Therefore they said to Him, 'What sign will you perform then, that we may see it and believe You?  What work will You do?'"  Even after His resurrection, when Thomas witnessed His resurrected body and believed, Jesus told him, "Thomas, because you have seen Me, you have believed.  Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed."

CS Lewis once wrote, "We are half-hearted creatures, fooling about with drink and sex and ambition when infinite joy is offered us, like an ignorant child who wants to go on making mud pies in a slum because he cannot imagine what is meant by the offer of a holiday at the sea. We are far too easily pleased."  If we are distracted by signs, we miss the point entirely.  We read in 2 Thessalonians 2:9-10, "The coming of the lawless one is according to the working of Satan, with all power, signs, and lying wonders, and with all unrighteous deception among those who perish, because they did not receive the love of the truth, that they might be saved."

Jesus would not always physically be around to be at their beck and call.  Did they believe in Him enough to pray to Him after He had ascended?  Is the Jesus that you believe in powerful enough to heal from heaven?

The man gets good news

Not understanding Jesus's words, the nobleman reiterates his purpose, and in his statement we see his heart.  "Sir," he says earnestly, "come down before my child dies!"  Jesus doesn't answer him the way he expected.  John Piper preached a sermon on this passage; you can read it here desiringgod.org/messages/go-your-son-will-live.  Here's what Piper had to say:

Verse 49, “Sir, come down before my child dies.” Neither Jesus nor John comments on the man’s sincerity. Jesus simply gives him a gift. Verse 50: Jesus said to him, “Go; your son will live.” John says (still in verse 50), “The man believed the word that Jesus spoke to him and went on his way.” What is remarkable about this is that the man had asked Jesus to come with him. But when Jesus simply spoke, “Go; your son will live,” the man obeyed without a question. He believed and went. He did not insist on seeing the miracle. He did not complain that Jesus would not come with him. And amazingly, he simply left, John says, believing. I’m inclined to think that in that moment of seeing Jesus speak so sovereignly in spite of his accusations, something awakened in the man. He saw something more than a miracle-worker.

The man believed Jesus, and went on his way.  He even spent the night in Cana: rather than rushing home, we see that the man met his servants on the road the next day.  "Your son lives!" they exclaimed when they saw him.  The man's response contained more than just joy that his son was healed.  It reveals a true belief in Jesus.  "What time did he recover?" he wanted to know.  The servants were undoubtedly confused by this question.  They probably looked at each other and shrugged.  "About the seventh hour," they answered.  

The nobleman knew that this was the time that Jesus had spoken.  Jesus spoke healing.  He did not have to come down, or lay His hands on the boy.  If He could do that with a word, He could certainly speak the world into existence. From that moment on, the man was changed.  He believed, and his whole household followed.  Why? Because the man bore witness of the power of Jesus.  Jesus speaks, sickness disappears.  Jesus speaks, the wind and waves obey Him.  Jesus speaks, and God has come down to man to forgive us and cleanse us and give us new life.

I found a fellow blogger named David McLemore.  He writes "Jesus, the gospel, and things of the sort."  He writes on this passage:

Maybe you’re coming to Jesus for a better life in some way. Jesus wants you to think that through. We all want relief, but do we even know what relief is possible in him? Are we, as C.S. Lewis once said, playing with mud pies in a slum when Jesus offers us a holiday at sea? What if there is a greater miracle Jesus can do in us? Maybe we don’t have a sick son that needs healing, but we all have some need only Jesus can meet. And I hope you’re asking him to help. But how are you asking? Are you even asking? Or are you demanding? What limits are you putting on Jesus? This man wanted Jesus to come to his house, but Jesus had another way to heal. He wasn’t even aware of that category. Are you like that? Will you allow Jesus to deal with you on his own terms? Will you trust him to handle things his way?

We read in Hebrews 2;3-4, "How shall we escape if we neglect so great a salvation, which at the first began to be spoken by the Lord, and was confirmed to us by those who heard Him. God also bearing witness both with signs and wonders, with various miracles, and gifts of the Holy Spirit, according to His own will?"  What will your response be to Him?

Breaking down all barriers to the gospel

 

For though I am free from all men, I have made myself a servant to all, that I might win the more; and to the Jews I became as a Jew, that I might win Jews; to those who are under the law, as under the law, that I might win those who are under the law; to those who are without law, as without law (not being without law toward God, but under law toward Christ), that I might win those who are without the law; to the weak I became as weak, that I might win the weak.  I have become all things to all men, that I might by all means save some.  --1 Corinthians 9:19-22

When my son was in high school he joined the track team, deciding to run cross country racing.  I went to several of his cross country meets and was amazed at the motivational T-shirts and sweatshirts I saw.  I think my favorite said, "Trample the weak, hurdle the dead."

Obviously, in any competitive environment like long-distance running, participants are coached to give it their all to cross the finish line first, even if it means leaving a struggling runner behind.  That's why it is always so heartwarming when I see a video online of a long-distance runner who will stop and go back to help a struggling runner finish the race.  You've probably seen them too--a runner collapses within sight of the finish line, either from injury or from sheer exhaustion.  The stronger runner usually passes the kaput competitor, then after a few strides stops, turns around, and helps the struggling trackster to his or her feet.  Together, they hobble across the finish line together.

Lots of familiar phrases come from the sport of running.  Phrases like "hit the ground running," or "it's a marathon, not a sprint."  I think my favorite is "stay in your lane."  We all have barriers in our life, either real or imagined, either physical barriers or those set up by legal constructs or even social barriers invented to divide people.

Jesus broke through those barriers.  His love was not hemmed in by geography, genealogy, or genetics.  We read about that in our passage today.

His Primary Purpose

He left Judea and departed again to Galilee.  But he needed to go through Samaria.  So He came to a city of Samaria which is called Sychar near the plot of ground that Jacob gave to his son Joseph.  Now Jacob's well was there.  Jesus therefore, being wearied from His journey, sat thus by the well.  It was about the sixth hour.  A woman of Samaria came to draw water.  Jesus said to her, "Give Me a drink."  For His disciples had gone away into the city to buy food.  Then the woman of Samaria said to Him, "How is it that You, being a Jew ask a drink from me, a Samaritan woman?"  For the Jews have no dealings with Samaritans.--John 4:3-9

Let's stop here a moment.  Why did John say that Jesus "needed to go through Samaria"?  It sounds like He had urgent business there.  I believe His urgent business was for Him to meet and speak with this unnamed woman at the well.  Now, if you have a Bible map, you will notice that the quickest way from Judea to Galilee was straight through Samaria.  However, because of their hatred for the Samaritans, most observant Jews would travel the long way around between Jerusalem and the Sea of Galilee.

Why did they hate the Samaritans?  Well, back in the Old Testament we see that Israel was divided into the Northern Kingdom (which kept the name Israel because it was bigger, consisting of 10 of the 12 tribes) and the Southern Kingdom (which was then called Judea).  The Northern Kingdom was carried off into exile before the Southern Kingdom, and the remnant that was left there intermarried with their Assyrian captors.  They kept on worshiping the true God, but they assimilated the gods of the Assyrians, in direct disobedience to God's command.  Later, when the Southern Kingdom of Judea was carried into exile by the Babylonians, they stayed true to their monotheistic roots, and never assimilated the false gods of Babylon.  The Samaritans were not allowed into the Temple at Jerusalem, so they built their own temple near Sychar where they were able to worship until some Jewish zealots burned their temple down in 146 BC.

So that was what was going on geographically and genetically.  Now we come to the gender issue.  Observant Jewish men would not speak to any woman in public, let alone touch her.  If a Jewish man touched a woman who was on her menstrual cycle, he was considered unclean under Jewish law.  Since they could not ask whether the woman was on her period, they stayed away from all women all the time.  Bible commentator William Barclay wrote this:

The strict Rabbis forbade a Rabbi to greet a woman in public. A Rabbi might not even speak to his own wife or daughter or sister in public. There were even Pharisees who were called ‘the bruised and bleeding Pharisees’ because they shut their eyes when they saw a woman on the street and so walked into walls and houses.

It is no wonder, then, that this woman was rather astounded that Jesus would approach her and engage her in conversation.  He even asked for some water, meaning there may have been some physical contact between them.  How many barriers were broken in this exchange?  Let's keep reading.

A Prophet Portrayed

Jesus 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 living water."  The woman said to Him, "Sir, You have nothing to draw with, and the well is deep.  Where then do You get that living water?  Are you greater than our father Jacob, who gave us the well, and drank from it himself, as well as his sons and livestock?"  Jesus answered and said to her, "Whoever drinks of this water will thirst again, but whoever drinks of the water that I shall give him will never thirst.  But the water that I shall give him will become in him a fountain of water springing up into everlasting life."  The woman said to Him, "Sir, give me this water, that I may not thirst, or come here to draw." --John 4:10-15

Now, this woman did not have the best reputation, which we will get into a bit later.  That's why she was there at noon (the sixth hour counted from sunrise, about 6 a.m.)  Most of the other women in the village would come draw water in the morning, when it was cooler, and before they prepared food and water for washing for their families.  The assumption is that this woman was gossiped about mercilessly by the other village women, and did not want to face them. This was yet another barrier that Jesus broke in speaking with her.

Much like His conversation with Nicodemus in chapter 3, Jesus started talking about physical things in a spiritual way.  And like Nicodemus, this Samaritan woman did not understand what Jesus was saying at first.  We know from our background of studying the other verses in John and in Revelation that Jesus likens Himself to the Water of Life.  In fact, Isaiah 12:3 says, "Therefore with joy you will draw water from the wells of Salvation."  I think Jesus was Himself the fulfillment of this prophecy.

People in that day would describe flowing streams and rivers as "living water."  The woman knew there was no river or stream nearby, so she thought that Jesus was referring to some mystical source of physical water.  If she could find another source, she would not need to come to the well in the middle of the day.  Indeed, she would not need to come to the well at all if there were another source of water.  Yet, when she said it out loud, it probably made no sense to her.  Maybe Jesus was not speaking about something physical; maybe He was talking about something spiritual.  Maybe this Man had something she needed at her most basic level.  In this way Jesus was starting to break down barriers in her mind.

Now Jesus gets personal.

Jesus said to her, "Go, call your husband, and come here."  The woman answered and said, "I have no husband."  Jesus said to her, "You have well said, 'I have no husband,' for you have had five husbands, and the one whom you now have is not your husband; in that you spoke truly."  The woman said to Him, "Sir, I perceive that You are a prophet.  Our fathers worshiped on this mountain, and you Jews say that in Jerusalem is the place where one ought to worship."  Jesus said to her, "Woman, believe Me, the hour is coming when you will neither on this mountain, nor in Jerusalem, worship the Father.  You worship what you do not know; we know what we worship, for salvation is of the Jews.  But the hour is coming, and now is, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth; for the Father is seeking such to worship Him.  God is Spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth."  The woman said to Him, "I know that Messiah is coming" (who is called Christ).  "When He comes, He will tell us all things."  Jesus said to her, "I who speak to you am He."  --John 4:16-26.

The woman probably did not want to have a conversation about her past sins.  Her sordid life was a topic of gossip in the town, and now this Man was bringing it up.  If Jesus had started His conversation with her by bringing up past sins, she would have likely not listened to Him.  But now, with the barriers in her mind being broken one by one, she was ready to hear it.

Jesus knew her heart; He knew her past.  Similarly, He knows us that intimately, as well.  As a result, the woman tries to change the subject again.  She wants to know why her people were prohibited from worshiping in the Temple in Jerusalem.  Since the Jews had burned down the Temple of Yahweh that they had built some two centuries prior, they were prohibited from worshiping God where they were.  I think the core of her question may have been, since You know so much about me, tell me this: am I prohibited from worshiping God because of my sin?

This woman answered one of her own questions.  Did you notice?  In verse 12 she asked Jesus, "Are you greater than our father Jacob?"  In verse 19, after being reminded of her sin, she says, "Sir, I perceive You are a prophet."  Given this measure of credibility that she gave to Jesus, she was ready to hear His answer about worship.  Last barrier coming down hard.  When we try to evangelize our neighbors, are we coming from a position of credibility?  If not, then they may not hear us, or they may not be ready to confront their sins.

Jesus's answer starts with worship in general, but moves to the personal.  One day people will not need to go to a Temple or shrine to worship.  One day we all be able to worship God in Spirit and in truth.  If you approach God in a spirit of worship and truth, then your past doesn't matter.  Your sins won't be a barrier to your coming to God.  Truth means confessing your sins, and repenting.  Truth means you recognize that God came down as Man, to become sin for us.  2 Corinthians 5:21 says, "For He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him." 

The Right Response

And at this point His disciples came, and they marveled that He talked with a woman; yet no one said, "What do You seek?" or, "Why are You talking with her?"  The woman then left her waterpot, went her way into the city, and said to the men, "Come, see a Man who told me all things that I ever did.  Could this be the Christ?"  Then they went out of the city and came to Him.  In the meantime His disciples urged Him, saying, "Rabbi, eat."  But He said to them, "I have food to eat of which you do not know."  Therefore the disciples said to one another, "Has anyone brought Him anything to eat?"  Jesus said to them, "My food is to do the will of Him who sent Me, and to finish His work.  Do you not say, 'There are still four months and then comes the harvest'?  Behold, I say to  you, lift up your eyes and look at the fields, for they are already white for harvest!  And he who reaps receives wages, and gathers fruit for eternal life, that both he who sows and he who reaps may rejoice together.  For  in this 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 labors." And many of the Samaritans of that city believed in Him because of the word of the woman who testified, "He told me all that I ever did."  So when the Samaritans had come to Him, they urged Him to stay with them; and He stayed there two days.  And many more believed because of His own word.  Then they said to the woman, "Now we believe, not because of what you said, for we ourselves have heard Him and we know that this is indeed the Christ, the Savior of the world."--John 4:27-42

What was the disciples' response?  They stayed quiet, even though the sight of their Rabbi conversing with a Samaritan woman must have filled them with questions.  When we come up on someone sharing the Gospel, our response should not be to interrupt, but to pray that the seed sown would be fruitful, that this person would come to the saving knowledge of Jesus Christ.

What was the woman's response? She left all that she had behind, and ran to tell others.  She became the messenger and missionary of the Messiah.  "Come and see!" she said.  "He's told me everything I ever did."  The Pulpit Commentary says, 

This exaggeration of the self-revelation was due to the deep conviction of her mind that the Prophet had read her whole life - its weakness and its follies, and it may have been its sins and crimes, not unknown, alas! to others as well. Chrysostom says, "She might have said, 'Come and see One that prophesieth;' but when the soul is aflame with holy fire it looks then to nothing earthly, neither to glory nor to shame, but belongs to one thing alone, the flame which occupieth it."

The disciples, concerned with temporal things, wanted to make sure that their Master had eaten.  Jesus was more concerned with spiritual things, replied that He was satisfied.  He then took an opportunity to teach the disciples about evangelism--sowing seeds of the Gospel, reaping where other had sown, and the sheer joy experienced by both laborers at the result.

The townspeople responded positively to His message.  "Now we believe," they said, for they had seen the Messiah with their own eyes.  "And many more believed because of His own word."  I am reminded of the prophet Jonah.  You'll recall that Jonah did not want to go preach in Ninevah; by contrast Jesus purposefully went to Samaria.  The Ninevites responded to Jonah's message, much to his consternation.  The Samaritans responded to Jesus, to His great joy.  In Matthew 12:39 Jesus said, "An evil and adulterous generation seeks after a sign, and no sign will be given to it except the sign of the prophet Jonah."  Now, this was in response to the Pharisees (who did not think that He was the Messiah) who demanded a sign of Him.  His response to them was to think of Jonah--as Jonah spent 3 days and nights in the belly of a whale, the Son of Man will spend 3 days and nights entombed in the earth.  I know that is what He was referring to.  But this episode also has shades of Jonah in it, don't you think?  The response of the people of Samaria was like the response of the people of Ninevah.  The message of Jonah was "repent, for God's wrath is coming."  The message of the woman at the well was, "This Man knows who I am--my faults, my past, my failings--and He loves me anyway."

What will your response be to the message of the Gospel?  Will you be like the Pharisees and reject Him?  Or will you be like the Samaritans (and the Ninevites) and accept Him fully and completely?  What barriers still need to be broken in your life?  He can break them down if you let Him.  If you have responded positively to His message, what barriers exist for you to share the Gospel?  Run--don't walk--to tell your friends and neighbors what Jesus has done for you.