Close Encounters With Christ John 4:5-42 Sunday, March 15, 2015 We ve all heard the story before... some of us have heard it many times... I ve even delivered a message from this story before... But I wanted to lift this story up on our Journey through Lent because it raises a very important question for us to ponder that I will share later. And I don t know about you, but EVERY TIME I hear, or reflect, upon this ENCOUNTER with the Christ from this Samaritan woman at the well... knowing the culture in that day and time, it still brings us to say... WHAT the WHAT? And let me remind you why I say that... I mean, here we have a Samaritan woman, having come to the village well to draw her water, in the heat of the day ~ not early morning when the other women would come... most scholars believe that it was to avoid overhearing the ladies of the village making rude comments about her sordid past. But, here she is, in the middle of town, in the middle of the day, and she meets the Messiah. She meets God s chosen One... she meets Jesus... and what s MORE is that... He acknowledges her ~AND~ talks with her... in public... He actually talks to her. And again, in this day and time we might think ~ SO WHAT? But in Jesus day and time He was BREAKING ALL KINDS of social stereotypes. First, Jewish men do NOT talk to women in public... even their own wives!
2 In fact, for a Jewish wife to address her husband in public without permission was grounds for divorce! Secondly, regardless of the MAN/WOMAN contact in public... Jesus was Jewish and she was Samaritan (MIXED RACE) which was considered and abomination in the eyes of Jewish people. I mean the animosity between Jews and Samaritans was so great that most travelers would take the extra nine hours just to avoid Samaria altogether on a journey from Judea up to Galilee (which we find out in today s scripture text is where Jesus was traveling from and going to). Yes, on foot, it took (on average) an extra 9 hours to go around Samaria (from Judea up to Galilee.) And another reason they would take the extra time to go around Samaria, was because Samaritans were known to gang-up and rob Jewish pilgrims passing through their territory... which is WHY Jesus' later story of the exceptional GOOD Samaritan was an even more remarkable story for them to hear. And yet, here s Jesus... in Samaria... in broad daylight... with a woman... ~AND~ He s engaging with her verbally. And what does He ask her? He asks her if she would draw him a drink of water while she s filling her pot. And, of course, she s surprised that He s said anything to her, but you can sense in her response, that she s also a little irritated. Saying, "How is it that you, a man, and a Jew, ask a drink from me, a woman and a Samaritan?" Fiesty!
3 Perhaps that s why she s had so many husbands... Or perhaps that s how she s survived so many husbands and the ensuing isolation coming from the ostracism of a cold-hearted village. And then Jesus said to 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." At this point, she must be thinking... Living water? WHAT? Who is this man?... He has nothing with which to draw water ~ Is he making fun of me? Is he suggesting that Samaritan water is not good enough? So she questions Jesus... and He confuses her even more... He begins talking about eternal life. And although she s not sure what s happening, she s intrigued... as you can tell by her next response, when she says: Sir, give me this water so that I won't get thirsty and have to keep coming here to draw water. In other words, if you ve got something that can keep me coming here... keep me away from having to show myself in public... be under the scrutiny of a judgmental community... I WANT TO GO TO WHERE THAT IS... I WANT THAT! The conversation continues ~ only this time... Jesus gets personal... And He begins to talk about her love-life and her current living arrangements. Jesus 101 in HOW TO WIN PEOPLE AND INFLUENCE FRIENDS ~ RIGHT?
4 And so... she does what nearly EVERY person does when you get a little too personal, doesn t she? Especially when it s a little too embarrassing... she changes the subject. And so, she says, I can see that you re a prophet. OUR church says that people should worship God in this place, but YOUR church says Jerusalem. Let's argue about that instead of talking about me." And Jesus answers her with the Gospel ~ with the Good News. Good News for every man, woman or child on the face of this earth, when He says to her the most prolific statement ever made by anyone concerning the act of Worship, when He says, A time is coming when you will worship the Father neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem... God is spirit, and his worshipers must worship in spirit and in truth. In other words... Cities, states, nations, denominations are not holy. God, and God alone, is holy ~ and holiness can only be worshipped IN and BY God s Spirit ~ NOT by man or by the WILL of Man... only in and through and by God's Spirit. WHY? Because, as Paul so eloquently put it in his first letter to the Church in Corinth: The Spirit searches all things, even the deep things of God. 11 For who knows a person s thoughts except their own spirit within them? In the same way no one knows the thoughts of God except the Spirit of God. 1 Cor. 2:10-11 No more artificial divisions - Jews/Samaritans, Protestant/Catholic, Presbyterian/Lutheran, Methodist/Baptist - NO MORE DIVISIONS
5 to separate human beings one from another. Good news = Gospel. <p> And then something very important happens... she goes into the village... the same one that ostracized her... and she tells of her encounter with the Christ. And her story is what COMPELS OTHERS to want to go to the WELL, as it says: 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. WHAT THE WHAT? A woman, a half-breed Samaritan woman, a woman of disrespect... an ostracized woman of questionable character... and of all the unexpected evangelists in the world... you ve got to admit... she ranks right up there, doesn t she? And don t you just love the way she went about it? No heavy theology... No fancy words... No special effects... NO! She simply told her story ~And~ (and this is VERY important to note) ~ she even spoke forth her questions, saying, He can t be the Messiah... can He? And I love this story for so many reasons... but probably the greatest of all, is that it answers the age-old question, once and for all... for all those who ve wondered whether or not they could ever be an effective Christian witness. And it also answers the HOW question in being an effective witness for Christ... JUST TELL YOUR OWN STORY!
EVEN YOUR OWN QUESTIONS! ~ Just tell it! 6 Fulfill the GREAT COMMISSION ~ you remember... there in the end of Matthew s Gospel, that thing about Making Disciples of ALL nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything that I have commanded you. And remember this very important FACT... I am with you ALWAYS ~ even to the end of the age. Matt. 28:19-20. And if that s not enough... He even said very similar words after His resurrection and He was about to depart for the last time, remember? In Acts 1:8, when he said to the disciples But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth. It then says, When he had said this, as they were watching, he was lifted up, and a cloud took him out of their sight. And then it says in verse 10 that While he was going and they were gazing up toward heaven, suddenly two men in white robes stood by them. And I love verse 11, where it says that these two men in white robes said, Men of Galilee, why do you stand looking up toward heaven? This Jesus, who has been taken up form you into heaven, will come in the same way as you saw him go into heaven. I love the way it s translated in The Message where it says that these two men in the white robes said, You Galileans! ~ why do
7 you just stand here looking up at an empty sky? This very Jesus who was taken up from among you to heaven will come as certainly as mysteriously as he left. Did you ever wonder where the expression, He s got his head in the clouds, came from? I don t know about you, but this is a pretty good candidate... because this is what these men in white robes are basically saying: GET YOUR HEADS OUT OF THE CLOUDS! YOU VE BEEN GIVEN YOUR MARCHING ORDERS... HE S GONNA COME BACK... RIGHT NOW, THERE S WORK TO DO. And the Missional work of the Church is simple... Doing what an unlikely Samaritan Evangelist did over 2000 years ago... JUST TELL YOUR STORY. Tell the story of your close encounter with the Christ. Because, just like the people of Samaria... people are far more interested in our real-life experiences of faith... than any deep theological discussion... Just tell about your encounter with the Christ. <PP> I know I ve shared this before, but it bears to be heard again... it s my story... It s perhaps similar to others... but I just KNEW there was something MORE than trying my hardest to be my best. I honored God by following a call to work at a Church straight out of College in 1987. In 1990 I become more intentional about THE CALL of God in my life by becoming a Commissioned Minister (they called it Licensed
8 Ministry at that time), and I have met before a REVIEW Panel EVERY YEAR since... in order to maintain my STANDING in the Area that I have served (first in the Northeast Area of the Christian Church and now, the Bluebonnet Area). I never ~ in my wildest dreams ~ ever thought that I d ever become a Minister of a Church... mainly because these services never really did anything for me! It was just another BOX to check-off on my Being a Good Christian LIST of things to DO. I, like my Mother before me, KNEW that there was something MORE to this Faith we call Christian. It was shortly after my working at the Church, that my wife (at that time) decided to file for Divorce. This completely came out of the blue as there wasn t anything that I could see that precipitated this decision... no signs... no warnings that there was anything like this coming whatsoever! You talk about GETTING BLOWN OUT OF THE WATER! I tried everything to keep this from happening... knowing, in faith, that God would use our story one day for those couples that were struggling... just KNOWING, TRUSTING, BELIEVING that our STORY / testimony, would enable some couples to reconcile and be healed... and that didn t happen. I saw my 2 year old blessing, Alyson, taken from me by a choice that I had no control over. AND I WAS MAD AT GOD!
9 I remember several HEATED conversations with God, all of which were along the lines of: If you re my Father, and I m your child... and this is how You TREAT your children... then I don t know that I want to be a part of your family! God... I need to know ~ in no uncertain terms ~ that You are real! I can t tell you exactly how it happened, but it happened, and God became REAL... and something spoke to my heart these words: Mark, I didn t send my Son JUST to die for you... I sent Him to LIVE for you. And then, all of a sudden, Paul s Epistles started opening up to me. I realized that, here, was a person NOT telling me to be a better ME... but someone explaining the transformation of Christ in me... my hope of Glory. And that the OVERWHELMING THEME of the New Testament isn t Love, Grace, Mercy or even Forgiveness... it is... Christ in you ~ you in Christ... stated over 220 times! I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith OF the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me. Gal. 2:20 KJV It was HIS LIFE living through me... it was HIS FAITH that I was to realize... a faith that led Him to be unjustly judged, mocked, ridiculed, abandoned, tortured and left to die in the most humiliating way... nailed on a cross.
10 A faith that looked BEYOND this existence to the PURPOSE of WHY He came in the first place... to redeem humanity to God ~AND~ (and this is most important) to live through the earthen vessels (YOU AND I) all around this world... so that His Life would be known among ALL. This is WHY Jesus said: The hour is come, that the Son of man should be glorified. Verily, verily, I say unto you, Except a corn of wheat fall into the ground and die, it abideth alone: but if it die, it bringeth forth much fruit. He that loveth his life shall lose it; and he that hateth his life in this world shall keep it unto life eternal. John 12:23-25 KJV His LIFE in us is the MUCH FRUIT He spoke about over 2,000 years ago. He s the Mercy... He s the Grace... He s the Forgiver... He s the Lover of all... ~AND~ He lives in us! And the more I got that TRUTH fixed in my mind, the more the blessings of God flow through me... and the beautiful thing about it... is that... it s NOT ME... it s HIM! I praise God for RESTORING my relationship with my ex-wife... AND MORE than RESTORED my desire to be Married with my beautiful wife, MARA. And I m so thankful for the beautiful relationship I have with my little girl, Alyson! Blessings upon BLESSINGS! <p> And as continuing to GROW in the understanding of who and what He wants to BE and DO, in and through me... I enter into HIS PEACE and HIS REST... as I realize my purpose on this earth is to manifest Him wherever I am.
11 And I pray you will continue to GROW in your understanding of who and what Christ wants to BE in YOU. <p> Like I said, that s MY Story, and I continue to share it with all who will hear. But this world needs to hear YOUR STORY of your encounter with the Christ. And I want to encourage you to share your story... therefore, I want to encourage you to find me, email me, call me... and lets discuss how that can happen. Because God s PLAN is still going forth to this day... one story at a time. All of us, in our own unique ways, expressing the LIVING BEING of Christ through our EARTHEN VESSELS, uniquely as God created us. And folks, THAT S a DIFFERENT message... it s a message that I dare say, I NEVER HEARD in the Church all the days of my life. It s not a message about doing good or being better... it s a message about ALLOWING the ONLY One who is GOOD to live through us. It s a message about the One who is BEST, live out our BEST LIFE HERE AND NOW! <p> So, what about you? What s your story? What do you have to say about YOUR ENCOUNTER with the Christ?
12 Because we, like this Samaritan woman over 2,000 years ago, as we continue to share OUR STORY... make up the MOSAIC of the LIVING BREATHING CHURCH of today. We continue to manifest Christ in our own unique ways, in and through this world through all that we say and all that we do... NOT IN THE NAME OF CHRIST... but IN AND THROUGH THE LIVING CHRIST THAT LIVES AND MOVES AND HAS HIS BEING THROUGH ALL THAT WILL GIVE HIM A MIND. Living water that flows from each of us by God s Holy Spirit. <p> Counter to the most interesting man in the world in the Dos Equis commercials... DO NOT STAY THIRSTY MY FRIENDS! The rivers of Living Water are in ALL who have accepted Christ Jesus... Do you DARE DRINK from the Rivers of Living Water? Continue to SHARE your story of your CLOSE ENCOUNTER with Christ. Prayer/Hymn of Invitation: Fill My Cup, Lord No. 398 (1 & 3)