Class Lesson March 12, 2023

2

Jesus Restored My Life

Question 1:

When have you been thankful for rescue from a helpless situation?

THE POINT

Jesus restored what was broken in my life.

THE BIBLE MEETS LIFE

In 2004, our daughter Hadley was born. Due to some pre-existing health conditions, she was born weighing only 15.5 oz. Over the next 108 days we were on a roller-coaster ride of life and death. Some days the doctors had great news to share with us about her progress, and on other days we arrived at the NICU only to be greeted with discouraging news. At one point during that journey our daughter acquired an infection that caused her to become septic. Our doctors shared with us that there was nothing else that the medical staff could do for her. We would just have to wait and see what happened.

Hearing those words can cause you to lose your breath. We had reached the end of the medical options, but we had only begun to explore what God was capable of. Over the next several weeks, we learned to pray like never before, and as we did, God showed up. In our time of desperation, we turned to the only One who could meet our need, and He did.

WHAT DOES THE BIBLE SAY?

John 5:2-7

2 By the Sheep Gate in Jerusalem there is a pool, called Bethesda in Aramaic, which has five colonnades. 3 Within these lay a large number of the disabled — blind, lame, and paralyzed. 5 One man was there who had been disabled for thirty-eight years. 6 When Jesus saw him lying there and realized he had already been there a long time, he said to him, “Do you want to get well?” 7 “Sir,” the disabled man answered, “I have no one to put me into the pool when the water is stirred up, but while I’m coming, someone goes down ahead of me.”

We don’t know much about the pool called Bethesda, but it was by the Sheep Gate. Here came Jesus, the Lamb of God (John 1:29) to the Sheep Gate to touch a man’s life and show Himself to be the Good Shepherd (10:11). We do know this pool was a place where the sick and the infirm would gather, and at some point along the way, something significant must have happened at this pool for it to receive the reputation as a place of healing. Over time it had become a place where it was thought that, when the waters stirred, they had healing powers.

Jesus met one man who apparently believed in the healing power of the waters when they were stirred. He had a health condition that prevented him from functioning with full mobility. Like the Samaritan woman at the well we studied about in the previous session, this man also misunderstood his greatest need. The woman thought her greatest need was a drink of water, and this man thought his greatest need was someone to help him get into the water. In both cases they had met the only one who could help them. In this man’s case, he had been suffering for thirty-eight years. We are not told if this man was thirty-eight years old and had been suffering from this infirmity his entire life or if he acquired this problem later in life. Either way, this man was well acquainted with suffering.

Question 2:

What do you find most striking about this encounter?

Jesus knew what the man’s ailment was and how long he had suffered. Jesus’s encounter with this man was no accident. In compassion, Jesus asked him, “Do you want to get well?” (v. 6). One would think the easy answer would be “Yes!” However, like we often do, the man only gave the Lord an excuse. He blamed other people for his hopelessness. Many times in my life I miss out on the blessing of God because I make excuses for my sin, my failure, or my situation instead of responding to God with humility. Just as He does in our lives today, Jesus ignored the man’s excuse and stepped in with His power and His grace. He is so good to us like that. He meets us right where we are in our hopelessness and provides what we need.

Question 3:

Why would Jesus ask the man, “Do you want to get well?”

John 5:8-11

8 “Get up,” Jesus told him, “pick up your mat and walk.” 9 Instantly the man got well, picked up his mat, and started to walk. Now that day was the Sabbath, 10 and so the Jews said to the man who had been healed, “This is the Sabbath. The law prohibits you from picking up your mat.” 11 He replied, “The man who made me well told me, ‘Pick up your mat and walk.’ ”

Then it happened! After thirty-eight years of suffering, this man’s life was instantly changed by a few short words spoken by the Healer, “Get up, pick up your mat and walk.” All of the pain and suffering were just gone. Jehovah-Rapha had spoken, and the man was healed—instantly, in the blink of an eye.

Jehovah-Rapha was the Hebrew name meaning, “The Lord is my Healer.” This name was first used by God when the Israelites were in the wilderness (Ex. 15:26), and much like this man waiting by a pool of water, the Israelites found their healing by the waters at Marah. It was there that God turned the drinking water from bitter to sweet and provided a promise of health and healing. What the Israelites needed was water to drink to sustain them in the present. What God provided was water that would sustain them in the moment and a promise that would sustain them in the future.

At Bethesda the man’s request was simply to receive help getting down into the water. Instead of following the man’s request, Jesus just met his need. God excels at exceeding any expectations we may have. When we come to faith in Christ, we are amazed at how deep His love is for us. We are blown away by the depths of His sustaining grace in our lives. We can’t imagine the short-sightedness of our expectations. Like the Samaritan woman and the man at the pool of Bethesda, we sometimes fail to recognize “the gift of God” (John 4:10), the One with whom we are in a relationship.

Engage

SPIRITUAL HEALING

The man in this story had a disability. He couldn’t stand or walk until Jesus healed him. List some spiritual disabilities people experience. Beside each item, list a way Jesus can heal that problem:

“The Lord is my shepherd; I have what I need. He lets me lie down in green pastures; he leads me beside quiet waters. He renews my life; he leads me along the right paths for his name’s sake.” 

PSALM 23:1-3

This man had been waiting thirty-eight years to be healed, but he was healed on “the wrong day.” At least that’s how the religious leaders viewed it. Jesus had healed this man on the Sabbath. This wasn’t against the law given by God, but it was against the rules developed by the Jewish leaders. They had a set of “guidelines” about what could and could not be done on the Sabbath.

Jesus didn’t forget that this was the Sabbath day. He knew what He was doing. This pattern of “breaking of the rules” would become the theme of Jesus’s interaction with the Jewish leaders for the next four chapters of John. The authorities’ problem with what happened was not how this man had been healed or who had healed him. They were upset because he was carrying his bed! They considered this work. Notice the lack of compassion. The Jewish leaders showed no concern for this man’s suffering, but they were extremely bothered by his “work.” We can be thankful that Jesus is full of compassion; He never overlooks our condition. Jesus saw the real need of this man and He sees ours as well.

Question 4:

How has life with Jesus exceeded your expectations?

John 5:19-21

19 Jesus replied, “Truly I tell you, the Son is not able to do anything on his own, but only what he sees the Father doing. For whatever the Father does, the Son likewise does these things. 20 For the Father loves the Son and shows him everything he is doing, and he will show him greater works than these so that you will be amazed. 21 And just as the Father raises the dead and gives them life, so the Son also gives life to whom he wants.”

After healing the man, Jesus was confronted by the religious leaders, leading Jesus to make a powerful claim about Himself. The crux of this claim was what would ultimately lead to His crucifixion. “Jesus responded to them, ‘My Father is still working, and I am working also’ ” (John 5:17). Jesus was claiming to be the Messiah. There can be no doubt what Jesus saying, and it was not lost on the Jewish leaders: Jesus was “making himself equal to God” (v. 18).

In verses 18-21, Jesus made three bold claims about Himself and His unique relationship with the Father.

1. Jesus saw the Father at work and aligned Himself with that work. Being God in the flesh, and one with the Spirit, Jesus would have seen clearly what the Father was doing. Today we can see where God is at work because, as believers, we have the indwelling of the Holy Spirit (1 Cor. 2:10-12).
2. Jesus did the work the Father showed Him. Jesus not only saw what the Father was doing, but He joined Him in it. Jesus participated because His life and mission lined up perfectly with His Father.
3. Jesus came to give life. The very purpose for the Word becoming flesh (John 1:14) was to seek and save the lost. God sent His Son to accomplish this work. God sent His Son into the world, not to condemn the world, but to save it (John 3:17).

Just as Jesus brought physical healing to the man by the Sheep Gate through the power of His words, He has brought us spiritual healing through His death, burial, and resurrection.

Question 5:

What do these words of Jesus teach us about our priorities in life?

LIVE IT OUT

Jesus restored what was broken in my life. Choose one of the following applications:

Watch. Jesus was watching what His Father was doing. Ask God to open your eyes to people and needs around you this week. You may be surprised at what you see and hear.

Think. Think about some of the “God stories” you have heard in recent weeks. Where has God been working? Who has God been using? Write down any insights about what these stories and testimonies tell you of how God works. Praise God for the work He is doing around you.

Tell. The greatest “God story” of my life is the moment Jesus saved me from my sin. If you are a believer, you have a similar testimony. While each story is unique, they each have Jesus at the center, saving a sinner at their root. Tell someone your testimony this week.

When someone close to us is suffering, it consumes our thoughts and we desperately look for someone who can help. It’s good to know in such times that there is a God who loves us and stands ready to meet our needs. That’s especially true when it comes to the deepest needs of our hearts. 

 

New Series Begins March 5, 2023

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My Encounter with Jesus

We are living in an epidemic of loneliness and isolation. A recent study by Harvard revealed that 36 percent of Americans experience a serious level of loneliness. That sense of loneliness and isolation is greater in some groups, like young adults and mothers with small children. Relationships and connection matter. We need those encounters in order to thrive.

Throughout this study we are going to see what happens when people encounter Jesus in their moment of need. He reached out to a woman alone at a well, healed a man born blind, showed compassion to a woman caught in sin, and willingly died on a cross and was raised from the dead to meet our greatest need. Jesus was always meeting and transforming people just when they needed Him most.

If you have ever needed Jesus to meet you, then this study is for you. If you have ever needed your life transformed, then there is a message for you in these texts. However, be prepared. Jesus often asked those He encountered difficult questions. He often caused them to reflect and think about their lives, their sin, and their future. He was even known to ask them to do difficult things, but this is how transformation works.

Transformation happens as we encounter Jesus.

Chad Keck

Chad serves as Pastor of First Baptist Church Kettering in Dayton, Ohio. His wife, Candace, is a teacher and together they have four children. Chad also teaches courses at Midwestern Baptist Theological Seminary and Cedarville University.

Share Christ. We have the responsibility and privilege to tell others about Christ. As we see how others were changed by their encounter with Jesus, we discover how we can tell others about our own life-changing encounter with Him.

My Encounter with Jesus

1   Jesus Met My Greatest Need John 4:7-18,25-26

2   Jesus Restored My Life John 5:2-11,19-21

3   Jesus Gave Me Grace and Forgiveness John 8:2-11

4   Jesus Opened My Eyes to the Truth John 9:1-7,32-33,35-38

5   Jesus Died for Me John 19:16-19,28-30,38-42

6   Jesus Rose Again to Give Me Life John 20:1-2,11-18 

1

Jesus Met My Greatest Need

Question 1: What’s the thirstiest you’ve ever been?

THE POINT

Only Jesus can truly satisfy my thirst.

THE BIBLE MEETS LIFE

It’s not good to be so thirsty your body hurts.

Several years ago, I was training for a marathon. No one ever accidentally finishes a marathon, because running one requires training and discipline. One morning I set out to complete a 16-mile run. As I began, the temperature was about 50 degrees, but it quickly rose into the 80s. It was at that point I realized I had not brought enough water. Being a determined person (my wife would say “stubborn”), I pressed on. It didn’t take long in the heat for me to become thirsty—very thirsty. I became so thirsty that my kidneys hurt. This was a very dangerous situation, and I’m grateful I made it back to my car, rehydrated, and recovered.

Our thirst tells us when we need water, but our lives tell us how much more we need eternal living water. This water isn’t found in a bottle or a fountain. Jesus encountered a Samaritan woman who discovered that it is found only when we meet the One who knows us better than we know ourselves.

WHAT DOES THE BIBLE SAY?

John 4:7-14

7 A woman of Samaria came to draw water. “Give me a drink,” Jesus said to her, 8 because his disciples had gone into town to buy food. 9 “How is it that you, a Jew, ask for a drink from me, a Samaritan woman?” she asked him. For Jews do not associate with Samaritans. 10 Jesus answered, “If you knew the gift of God, and who is saying to you, ‘Give me a drink,’ you would ask him, and he would give you living water.” 11 “Sir,” said the woman, “you don’t even have a bucket, and the well is deep. So where do you get this ‘living water’? 12 You aren’t greater than our father Jacob, are you? He gave us the well and drank from it himself, as did his sons and livestock.” 13 Jesus said, “Everyone who drinks from this water will get thirsty again. 14 But whoever drinks from the water that I will give him will never get thirsty again. In fact, the water I will give him will become a well of water springing up in him for eternal life.”

“A woman of Samaria.” That is how this passage invites us in. We don’t know her name, but we do know where she was from—and where she is from tells us a lot about her. Knowing she is a Samaritan woman gives us the context for the conversation we are about to witness.

Jesus was always eager to engage people no matter their history or their circumstances. But the Samaritan woman didn’t know that when she first arrived at the well; she may have been a bit on edge about Jesus’s presence.

We don’t know exactly why this woman came to the well at noon (v. 6), but it’s most likely because she was seen as an outcast, even among her own people. If that was the case, she had likely come at mid-day to be alone and avoid the looks or comments from the women who would come in the morning hours to get water. We’ll see later in the passage that she had some issues in her personal life that were likely the source of this rejection.

Question 2:

What catches your attention from the start of this conversation between Jesus and the woman at the well?

Instead of being able to privately draw water, the woman was greeted with a request from a Jewish man. Nothing about this experience was making much sense to her. “ ‘How is it that you, a Jew, ask for a drink from me, a Samaritan woman?’ she asked him. For Jews do not associate with Samaritans” (v. 9).

One of the things Jesus was so good at was engaging in everyday conversations that were segues to eternal conversations. This conversation was no different. As they began to discuss something as simple as His human need for water, Jesus shifted the conversation to her eternal need for redemption. She thought they were talking about His need, but they were talking about her need!

The Samaritan woman was confused at first. She didn’t understand how this man was going to give her water that would cause her to never thirst again. If Jesus was able to provide this water to her without anything to draw with, then He must know about another source of water, one that was much easier to access. Her next question revealed her thinking on this: “You aren’t greater than our father Jacob, are you? He gave us the well and drank from it himself, as did his sons and livestock” (v. 12). To her, Jesus’s statement implied He was claiming to be greater than the patriarch Jacob.

It’s at this point the conversation turned. In just one sentence Jesus shifted from a discussion about the physical to one about the eternal. He is greater than Jacob, not because He knows of another water source, but because He is the Source. He identified for her the solution to a problem she didn’t know she had.

John 4:15-18

15 “Sir,” the woman said to him, “give me this water so that I won’t get thirsty and come here to draw water.” 16 “Go call your husband,” he told her, “and come back here.” 17 “I don’t have a husband,” she answered. “You have correctly said, ‘I don’t have a husband,’ ” Jesus said. 18 “For you’ve had five husbands, and the man you now have is not your husband. What you have said is true.”

Question 3:

What are some cultural bridges you’ve seen someone use effectively to start spiritual conversations?

The woman may have thought she had found a secret source of water that would allow her to avoid the shame of coming to this well alone. She had found an escape from her embarrassment and from having to face the reality of her public sin. Then it hit. Jesus didn’t point out the location of a running stream. He didn’t show her a better way to draw water from the well. Instead, Jesus—this stranger—identified her sin, a sin she would prefer not to talk about. Jesus told her to go get her husband and bring him to the well.

Most of us, when confronted with something shameful, hide, deflect, or shy away from the truth. We come by this behavior honestly because this is the way Adam and Eve handled their confrontation with God in the garden of Eden after they had eaten of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil (Gen. 3:8). The Samaritan woman responded in the same way. She thought she could avoid the issue by admitting she had no husband, but she failed to realize whom she was speaking with. This man just looked into her life and spoke a truth about her that, as a stranger, He shouldn’t have known.

There’s nothing about us that Jesus doesn’t know. He created us and, therefore, He knows us. So often we fool ourselves into thinking that we can hide our sin. We believe that, if we don’t get caught and exposed publicly, then no one really knows. The reality is that God always knows. Nothing catches Him by surprise. When Jesus initiated the conversation with the woman, He already knew her situation, her marital status, and her history. Knowing all this didn’t prevent Him from meeting with her at the well. In fact, it may be the very reason Jesus chose to travel through Samaria. It was certainly no accident that Jesus met this lady, on this day, at this time, and under these circumstances. Jesus does this with each person He encounters; He meets them right where they are.

Question 4:

What are some obstacles to acknowledging our sin?

John 4:25-26

25 The woman said to him, “I know that the Messiah is coming” (who is called Christ). “When he comes, he will explain everything to us.” 26 Jesus told her, “I, the one speaking to you, am he.”

The Samaritan woman may not have known much about what it took to make a marriage work, and she may not have known a lot about the nature of worship (John 4:19-24), but she did know the Messiah would be coming. She didn’t know everything, but she knew the Messiah would. What she heard next would change her life, and eternity, forever. “Jesus told her, ‘I, the one speaking to you, am he.’ ” The man that had asked her to get Him a drink was the very one she had been waiting for. He was the one who knew her sin and shame and still took the time to engage with her anyway. He was the One who would love her unconditionally. He was the one who, just a few short years later, would die a criminal’s death on the cross and be raised from the dead. The walk in the middle of the day that led her to the well didn’t turn out at all like she suspected. God is so good at meeting us where we are and surprising us with His grace.

Following a Sunday morning service, an eighty-year-old church member introduced me to a young lady in her twenties. They were neighbors and the senior adult woman had invited her to be her guest that morning. I was thrilled, but a bit surprised. What did this eighty-year-old lady have in common with this twenty-year-old? My curiosity got the better of me, so I asked. The older woman had been bitten by the younger woman’s dog, but instead of getting mad at her and reporting it, the senior adult invited her to church.

Something amazing happened. The young lady heard the gospel, felt convicted of her sin, repented, and trusted Jesus as her Savior. Attending church and having her life completely transformed by Jesus wasn’t on her agenda the day her dog got loose and bit her neighbor, but it was on God’s agenda.

The woman at the well wasn’t going to find rest in another husband nor in water from a stream. She needed something supernatural as we all do. And that’s exactly what she found when Jesus met her at a well in the middle of the day.

Question 5:

How do we know we can trust Jesus?

FULLY KNOWN

How does it make you feel to be completely known by Jesus? Place a mark on the scale below. Then offer a prayer of thanks to God for knowing and loving you.

Scared ----------------------- Ambivalent --------------------- Comforted

Being known by Jesus can be scary because He knows the worst about you. But Jesus already knew that when He loved you to the point of dying on the cross for you. We have nothing to hide, and we are still completely loved. That is truly comforting.

My Prayer:

“God whispers to us in our pleasures, speaks in our conscience, but shouts in our pain: it is His megaphone to rouse a deaf world.”

C. S. LEWIS

LIVE IT OUT

Only Jesus can truly satisfy my thirst. Choose one of the following applications:

Remember. When did Christ come into your life? Think about that moment. Thank Jesus for saving you. If you cannot identify that moment or you have not yet begun a relationship with Christ, reach out to your pastor or another believer and ask them to help you. The inside cover of this book can tell you more.

Connect. Who around you may feel isolated like the woman at the well? Take a moment this week and write a card, make a call, or send a text. Let that person know you love them and care about them. Jesus saw the woman and her need. Let someone know that you see them.

Fast. If you are medically able, skip a meal or two one day this week. Jesus moved the woman from thinking about a physical need to a spiritual need. Fasting can help us prioritize the need for spiritual food more than physical food.

All of us know what it’s like to be thirsty. Some of us know what it’s like to be really thirsty. That’s true of our spiritual thirst also. Thankfully, Jesus is our Living Water, the One who has come to make sure we never thirst again! 

Teacher's Notes:

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Is America ready for another Jesus revolution?

My Encounter with Jesus

We are living in an epidemic of loneliness and isolation. A recent study by Harvard revealed that 36 percent of Americans experience a serious level of loneliness.

 

What were the hippies looking for in the 1960’s Jesus movement? What are the youth looking for today?

 

Like the late 60’s our country is a dark and divided place – people are looking for hope and truth – purpose and meaning.

 

Jesus Met My Greatest Need

Want you to think for a moment - What’s the thirstiest you’ve ever been?

 

Our thirst tells us when we need water, but our lives tell us how much more we need eternal living water. This water isn’t found in a bottle or a fountain. Jesus encountered a Samaritan woman who discovered that it is found only when we meet the One who knows us better than we know ourselves.

 

Only Jesus can truly satisfy my thirst.

 

 

John 4:7-14

A woman of Samaria came to draw water. “Give me a drink,” Jesus said to her, because his disciples had gone into town to buy food. “How is it that you, a Jew, ask for a drink from me, a Samaritan woman?” she asked him. For Jews do not associate with Samaritans. Jesus answered, “If you knew the gift of God, and who is saying to you, ‘Give me a drink,’ you would ask him, and he would give you living water.”  “Sir,” said the woman, “you don’t even have a bucket, and the well is deep. So where do you get this ‘living water’? You aren’t greater than our father Jacob, are you? He gave us the well and drank from it himself, as did his sons and livestock.” Jesus said, “Everyone who drinks from this water will get thirsty again. But whoever drinks from the water that I will give him will never get thirsty again. In fact, the water I will give him will become a well of water springing up in him for eternal life.”

 

In biblical times, wells provided people with an adequate water supply while also being used as meeting locations for social gatherings. In fact, when people gathered at these ancient wells, they could expect to run into their neighbors at regular times throughout the day. Jacob’s well was on the property originally owned by Jacob. It was not a spring-fed well, but a well into which water seeped in from rain and dew, collecting at the bottom. Wells were almost always located outside the city along the main road. Twice a day – morning and evening, women came to draw water.

 

 

Why was their only one woman at the well? Who initiated the encounter?

Jesus meets a Samaritan woman. We don’t know her name, but we get the impression that those who knew her name had no respect or regard for her. The Samaritan woman Jesus met at the well was a despised sinner. She had a reputation in town — and it wasn’t a good one. So here she was alone at the well under the heat of the noonday sun. Other women had come to the well when it was cool. Had this woman gone earlier in the morning with those women, she might have been talked about, ridiculed, and openly shunned. She found the heat of the noonday sun preferable to the icy stares from others.

 

 

Why was it unusual to the woman for Jesus to speak to her?

He was a Jew, and she was a Samaritan. After the northern kingdom, with it’s capital at Samaria, fell to the Assyrians, many Jews were deported to Assyria, and foreigners were brought in to settle the land and help keep the peace. The intermarriage between those foreigners and the remaining Jews resulted in a mixed race, impure in the eyes of Jews who lived in the southern kingdom. Thus the pure Jews hated the mixed race called Samaritans because they felt that their fellow Jews who had intermarried had betrayed their people and nation. The Samaritans had set up an alternate center for worship on Mount Gerizim to parallel the temple at Jerusalem, but it had been destroyed 150 years earlier. The Jews did everything they could to avoid traveling through Samaria.

This woman (1) was a Samaritan, a member of the hated mixed race, (2) was known to be living in sin, and (3) was in a public place. No respectable Jewish man would talk to a woman under such circumstances. But Jesus did – the gospel is for every person, no matter what their race, social position, or past sins are. Jesus crossed all barriers to share the gospel – we should too.   

 

How did Jesus shift the conversation to a more critical issue?

As they began to discuss something as simple as His human need for water, Jesus shifted the conversation to her eternal need for redemption. She thought they were talking about His need, but they were talking about her need!

In just one sentence Jesus shifted from a discussion about the physical to one about the eternal. He is greater than Jacob, not because He knows of another water source, but because He is the Source. He identified for her the solution to a problem she didn’t know she had.

 

What did Jesus mean by “living water”?

In the OT, many verses speak of thirsting after God as one thirsts for water (Psalm 42:1, Isaiah 55:1, Jeremiah 2:13, Zechariah 13:1). In saying He would bring living water that could quench a person’s thirst for God, Jesus was claiming to be the Messiah. Only the Messiah could give this gift that satisfies the soul’s desire.

 

How would you define “thirst” in this passage?

Spiritual thirst - Many spiritual functions parallel physical functions. As our bodies hunger and thirst, so do our souls. But our souls need spiritual food and water. The woman confused the two kinds of water, perhaps because no one had ever talked with her about her spiritual hunger and thirst before. The living Word, Jesus Christ, and the written Word, the Bible can satisfy our hunger and thirsty souls.

 

 

1.      Jesus revealed a greater thirst in me - John 4:7-15

Salvation comes only to those who recognize their desperate need for the spiritual life they do not have. Living water can be obtained only by those who recognize that they are spiritually thirsty.

 

 

Truths: Jesus has taken the initiative in our encounter with Him; He came to us. Jesus provides for our temporal needs that bring happiness to daily living, but even more so He provides for our spiritual needs which gives us the joy of eternal life. We need what Jesus has, to give us. We ought not to underestimate what Jesus is able to do for us and within us. Only Jesus can completely satisfy our spiritual thirst.

 

 

 

John 4:15-18

“Sir,” the woman said to him, “give me this water so that I won’t get thirsty and come here to draw water.” “Go call your husband,” he told her, “and come back here.” “I don’t have a husband,” she answered. “You have correctly said, ‘I don’t have a husband,’” Jesus said. “For you’ve had five husbands, and the man you now have is not your husband. What you have said is true.”

 

What indicates the woman still did not have a spiritual understanding of what Jesus was saying to her?

The woman mistakenly believed that if she received the water Jesus offered, she would not have to return to the well each day. She was interested in Jesus’ message because she thought it could make her life easier. But if that were always the case, people would accept Christ’s message for all the wrong reasons. Christ did not come to take away the challenges, but to change us on the inside and to empower us to deal with problems from God’s perspective. The woman did not immediately understand what Jesus was talking about – it takes time to accept something that changes the very foundations of your life. Jesus allowed the woman time to ask questions and put pieces together for herself. Sharing the gospel will not always have immediate results. When you ask people to let Jesus change their lives, give them time to weigh the matter.

 

 

What further shift in the conversation did Jesus make?

She had found an escape from her embarrassment and from having to face the reality of her public sin. Then it hit. Jesus didn’t point out the location of a running stream. He didn’t show her a better way to draw water from the well. Instead, Jesus — this stranger — identified her sin, a sin she would prefer not to talk about. Jesus told her to go get her husband and bring him to the well.

 

Why is it difficult for us to acknowledge and confess our sins sometimes?

Most of us, when confronted with something shameful, hide, deflect, or shy away from the truth. Same way Adam and Eve handled their confrontation with God in the garden of Eden after they had sinned. The Samaritan woman responded in the same way. She thought she could avoid the issue by admitting she had no husband, but she failed to realize whom she was speaking with. This man just looked into her life and spoke a truth about her that, as a stranger, He shouldn’t have known. There’s nothing about us that Jesus doesn’t know. He created us and, therefore, He knows us. So often we fool ourselves into thinking that we can hide our sin. We believe that, if we don’t get caught and exposed publicly, then no one really knows. The reality is that God always knows. Nothing catches Him by surprise.

 

When Jesus initiated the conversation with the woman, He already knew her situation, her marital status, and her history. Knowing all this didn’t prevent Him from meeting with her at the well. In fact, it may be the very reason Jesus chose to travel through Samaria. It was certainly no accident that Jesus met this lady, on this day, at this time, and under these circumstances. Jesus does this with each person He encounters; He meets them right where they are.

 

 2.     Jesus revealed my sin - John 4:15-18

Salvation comes only to those who confess and repent of their sin and desire forgiveness. Before this immoral woman could embrace the Savior, she had to concede the full burden of her sins.

 

FULLY KNOWN

How does it make you feel to be completely known by Jesus?

 

Scared --------- Ambivalent -------- Comforted

 

Being known by Jesus can be scary because He knows the worst about you. But Jesus already knew that when He loved you to the point of dying on the cross for you. We have nothing to hide, and we are still completely loved. That is truly comforting.

 

 

Truths: We can be so accustomed to our sin that we fail to see it and our need to confront it until we are challenged by another who has our best interest in mind. Jesus knows our sin; we cannot hide it from Him. An awareness of sin prepares us for confession and repentance.

 

 

 

John 4:25-26

The woman said to Him, “I know that the Messiah is coming” (who is called Christ). “When He comes, He will explain everything to us.” Jesus told her, “I, the one speaking to you, am He.”

 

Who did the woman expect to come? What was her understanding of Messiah?

The One who would explain everything to them. The Samaritan woman may not have known much about what it took to make a marriage work, and she may not have known a lot about the nature of worship, but she did know the Messiah would be coming. She didn’t know everything, but she knew the Messiah would.

 

What did Jesus make known to her? How was Jesus more than what she understood Messiah to be?

What she heard next would change her life, and eternity, forever. “Jesus told her, ‘I, the one speaking to you, am He.’ ” The man that had asked her to get Him a drink was the very one she had been waiting for. He was the one who knew her sin and shame and still took the time to engage with her anyway. He was the One who would love her unconditionally. The walk in the middle of the day that led her to the well didn’t turn out at all like she suspected. God is so good at meeting us where we are and surprising us with His grace.

The woman at the well wasn’t going to find rest in another husband nor in water from a stream. She needed something supernatural as we all do. And that’s exactly what she found when Jesus met her at a well in the middle of the day.

 

 

3.      Jesus revealed He is the one to trust - John 4:25-26

 

Salvation comes only to those who take hold of Jesus as their Messiah. For the absolute truth is that salvation is found in no one else

 

Truths: We can see spiritual things more clearly when we encounter Christ. We are responsible to make our own decisions concerning who Jesus is - God’s Christ, our Savior, the source of living water who satisfies our spiritual thirst.

 

 

 

Conclusion:

The Samaritan woman was thirstier than she realized. No, not physical thirst but spiritual thirst. Jesus sought to confront her with the reality of her need so that she could know the reality of the solution. She needed eternal, spiritual refreshment and renewal — salvation. It was available to her if she would only acknowledge her need, confront her sin, and accept the good gift God had for her. Once she did so, her life would be changed in the fullest sense. She had been ashamed of who she was, even to the point of going to the well alone in the heat of the day. She was an outcast among the outcast so to speak. Having encountered Jesus, she was so changed that subsequently she spoke a message that provided hope to a whole community.

 

 

What happened to her is what should happen to each of us who profess Christ as Lord and Savior. Our life-changing encounters with Him should lead us eagerly and joyfully to share Him with others.

 

All of us know what it’s like to be thirsty. Some of us know what it’s like to be really thirsty. That’s true of our spiritual thirst also. Jesus is our Living Water, the One who has come to make sure we never thirst again!

 

 

 

Setting: Jesus had been teaching, preaching, and healing in Judea. He had attracted many followers, which made the Pharisees uncomfortable. They had already applied pressure on John the Baptist concerning John’s identity (John 1:19-25), which had contributed to his arrest and imprisonment. No doubt, Jesus was next on their list. He determined it best to leave Judea and go into Galilee, where He could continue His ministry with less opposition. However, this does not mean Jesus was “running” from His opponents. He would be back in Judea and Jerusalem again, where He would face His opponents head-on. Until then, He had more work to do to complete His redemptive mission.

 

Samaria as a place name was first identified with a city in the area, but eventually the term was applied to the entire region surrounding the city. By New Testament times, Samaria was the name given to the central region of the Holy Land. Judea lay to the south; Galilee to the north. Therefore, the most direct route into Galilee from Jerusalem was the road straight through Samaritan territory.

 

The relationship between Jews and Samaritans had been severely strained for decades, much of it related to the intermarriage of some Jews with Gentiles who had been settled in the region by the Assyrians. The Gentiles brought with them their worship of foreign deities, which eventually led to a syncretic blend of Judaism with the other religions. Mount Gerizim was chosen as the center of worship, rivaling the worship of the Lord God in the temple in Jerusalem. They regarded the Pentateuch as the Scriptures. Other differences also existed, including the concept of Messiah. Such differences contributed to great animosity between the two people groups.

 

As a result, many Jews would not travel through Samaria because they considered the people defiled. Hence, to interact with them would be defiling. So, many Jewish travelers took an alternate route, which though longer, allowed them to avoid the Samaritans altogether. The Samaritans were fine with that.

 

Jesus was not caught up in such prejudice, though on one occasion He was a victim of it (Luke 9:51-53). You may recall that the hero in one of Jesus’s most well-known stories was a Samaritan who acted graciously toward a fallen man on the road between Jerusalem and Jericho (10:25-37). On this particular journey to Galilee, Jesus “must needs go through Samaria” (John 4:4). He felt a divine compulsion, a moral and spiritual necessity to travel this direct route. The reason becomes clear as the events of chapter 4 unfold.

 

Thus, Jesus and His disciples came to the little town of Sychar in Samaria, located near some property Jacob had given to Joseph. Although there is no Old Testament reference to it, apparently a well had been dug there that continued to bear Jacob’s name.

 

Weary from the travel, and it being “the sixth hour”, “about noon” (CSB), the hottest part of the day, Jesus sat down to rest at the well. Such is an interesting reminder of the humanity of Jesus. However, something else was at play — the critical reason He “must needs” travel the route through Samaria and why He rested at the well. He was on mission. And of all people, a Samaritan woman would be the reason for His decision to take this route on His journey.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

What can we learn from the woman at the well?

ANSWER

 

The story of the nameless Samaritan woman at the well, recorded only in the Gospel of John, is a revealing one, full of many truths and powerful lessons for us today.

 

The story of the woman at the well follows on the heels of the account of Jesus’ interaction with Nicodemus, a Pharisee and prominent member of the Jewish Sanhedrin (John 3:1–21). In John 4:4–42 we read about Jesus’ conversation with a lone Samaritan woman who had come to get water from a well (known as Jacob’s well) located about a half mile from the city of Sychar in Samaria.

 

This was an extraordinary woman. She was a Samaritan, a race of people that the Jews utterly despised as having no claim on their God, and she was an outcast and looked down upon by her own people. This is evidenced by the fact that she came alone to draw water from the community well when, during biblical times, drawing water and chatting at the well was the social highpoint of a woman’s day. However, this woman was ostracized and marked as immoral, an unmarried woman living openly with the sixth in a series of men.

 

The story of the woman at the well teaches us that God loves us in spite of our bankrupt lives. God values us enough to actively seek us, to welcome us to intimacy, and to rejoice in our worship. As a result of Jesus’ conversation, only a person like the Samaritan woman, an outcast from her own people, could understand what this means. To be wanted, to be cared for when no one, not even herself, could see anything of value in her — this is grace indeed.

 

But there are many other valuable truths we glean from this story. We learn that:

 

1) Only through Jesus can we obtain and receive eternal life: “Jesus answered, ‘Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again, but whoever drinks the water I give him will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life’” (John 4:13–14; cf. John 14:6).

 

2) Jesus’ ministering to those outcasts of the Jewish society (the Samaritans) reveals that all people are valuable to God and that Jesus desires that we demonstrate love to everyone . . . including even our enemies (John 4:7–9; Matthew 5:44).

 

3) Jesus is the Messiah (John 4:25–26; 1:41; Matthew 27:22; Luke 2:11).

 

4) Those who worship God, worship Him in spirit and truth (John 4:23–24; Psalm 145:18).

 

5) Our testimony about Jesus is a powerful tool in leading others to believe in Him: “Many of the Samaritans from that town believed in Him because of the woman’s testimony, ‘He told me everything I ever did.’ So when the Samaritans came to Him, they urged Him to stay with them, and He stayed two days. And because of His words many more became believers. 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”’ (John 4:39–42).

 

Additionally, we learn from Jesus’ dialogue with the woman at the well three absolute truths about salvation:

 

1.    Salvation comes only to those who recognize their desperate need for the spiritual life they do not have. Living water can be obtained only by those who recognize that they are spiritually thirsty.

 

2.    Salvation comes only to those who confess and repent of their sin and desire forgiveness. Before this immoral woman could embrace the Savior, she had to concede the full burden of her sins.

 

3.    Salvation comes only to those who take hold of Jesus as their Messiah. For the absolute truth is that salvation is found in no one else (John 14:6; Acts 4:12).