When I was a young preacher my father advised me to reduce every prepared sermon to its basics. In doing that, I found that I needed to examine not only individual texts but also larger contexts. That’s how it is in the search for more satisfying sermons.
The Fourth chapter of John’s Gospel has many “favourite” texts. Verse 14 is one of them: “But whoever drinks of the water that I shall give him will never thirst. But the water that I shall give him will be in him a fountain of water springing up into everlasting life.”
Verse 24 is another: “God is a spirit, and those who worship Him must worship Him in spirit and in truth.” Then there’s verse 35, much loved by the more missions minded: “Do you not say, ‘There are 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!”
Each text is succulent with truth, and those who love the words of Jesus savour them with the heart, much as connoisseurs roll food around the palate. Instead of indulging our personal tastes, however, we’ll look at what the context of the Gospel of John, chapter 4, is all about.
1. THE WELL OF BELONGING. We all long to belong. That’s why we join churches, clubs and cultural groups. In her search for identity, the Samaritan woman “owned” Jacob’s Well, a link with history that wasn’t even hers. (2 Kings 17) Jesus spoke to her of a spiritual well, one that satisfied from within.
2. THE MOUNTAIN OF APPROVAL. “Our fathers worshipped on this mountain…” Mt. Gerizim was where the favoured tribes of Israel shouted “Amen!” when the priests read the Covenant blessings. (Deuteronomy 27) The woman didn’t lay claim to Mt. Ebal, where the less favoured tribes shouted “Amen!” to the Covenant curses, although it was less than a mile away. But then, why would she? A mountain is a point of reference. Jesus introduced her to a time that was coming (“and now is”) when spiritual worship would replace mountains that no longer held meaning. Approval would come direct from God – “the Father.”
3. THE FOOD OF SATISFACTION. “I have food to eat you know nothing about.” Having redirected the woman’s attention from externals to internals, Jesus spoke of His own internal values – firstly, the personal satisfaction He experienced in doing His Father’s will. Satisfaction had not only eluded the much-married Samaritan woman, but the disciples, as well. If God’s Word is the Christian’s daily bread, His Will – doing it and living in it – satisfies beyond superlatives.
4. THE HARVEST OF OPPORTUNITY. Jesus demonstrated that we don’t have to wait for a national revival sometime – we can have a local one anytime. Discernment and prophecy opened the Samaritan woman’s eyes to a dimension in which the old icons – the well and the mountain – had no place. They were valueless. Acceptance, belonging, approval – things more meaningful – were now all that mattered. Soon after Jesus revealed his knowledge of her five ex-husbands and “live-in” lover, she summed these up as “everything I ever did.” No doubt there was more to her life than that, but failed relationships were what her desperately unfulfilled life was all about.
It’s always harvest-time somewhere in the world – that’s what we learn here from Jesus. The key of revelation knowledge opens the door of opportunity! It all comes down to this.
Now you see this portion of Scripture in context, you can enjoy the individual texts. Bon appetit!