march 12 2023
2023 Lent 3, March 12th
Old Testament: Exodus 17:1-7
Psalm: Psalm 95:1-9
Epistle: Romans 5:1-8
Gospel: John 4:5-26
Sermon Text: John 4:5-26, (27-30, 39-42)
Sermon Title: “Living Water”
Grace to you and peace, from God the Father and our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Amen.
From our Gospel text this morning; Jesus said, “whoever drinks of the water I give him will never be thirsty forever”. (John 4:14a) “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 (He who is called Christ) … Jesus said to her, I who speak to you am He”. (John 4:24-25) “So, the woman left her water jar and went away into town and said to the people; Come and see a man who told me all that I ever did. Can this be the Christ”? (John 4:28-29) “Many Samaritans from that town believed in Him because of the woman’s testimony … and many more believed because of His word … this is indeed the Savior of the world”. (John 4:39a, 41, 42b)
Did you notice the rather obvious water theme in several of the readings? In the Old Testament reading, we heard the people of Israel (once again) complaining against Moses and the Lord, “for there was no water for the people to drink … they thirsted for water, and the people grumbled”. (Exodus 17:1b, 3a) “Why did you bring us up out of Egypt to kill us and our children and our livestock with thirst”? (Exodus 17:3b) This was the second time since crossing the Red Sea on dry ground that they complained about water; “they tested the Lord by saying, Is the Lord among us or not”. (Exodus 17:7b)
The Psalmist speaks beautiful words of praise for “the Lord, our maker/creator … we are the people of His pasture”; (Psalm 95:6b-7a) but then recounts this event from Exodus warning, “Do not harden your hearts, as at Meribah; as on the day at Massah in the wilderness, when your fathers put Me to the test, and put Me to the proof, even though they had seen My work”. (Psalm 95:8-9)
The Epistle reading from the book of Romans does not specifically mention water, but the Apostle Paul speaks clearly about the free grace of God, the forgiveness of our sins which is a gift of God; and the faith to receive that grace; which is also a gift of God. This is what Jesus called being “born of water and the Spirit” (John 3:5a) in His conversation with Nicodemus; and in todays reading calls “living water”. (John 4:10b)
Notice that the Lord provided (water) for the people in each of these accounts; even in spite of their past behavior. The Lord told Moses; “Behold. I will stand before you there on the rock at Horeb, and you shall strike the rock, and water shall come out of it, and the people will drink”. (Exodus 17:6a) Paul also declared, “God showed His love for us in that while we were sinners, Christ died for us”. (Romans 5:8) Jesus also provided “living water” for this “woman of Samaria”; (John 4:7) in spite of her questionable reputation.
So, Jesus came to a town of Samaria called Sychar, near the field that Jacob had given to his son Joseph. Jacob’s well was there; so Jesus, wearied as He was from His journey, was sitting beside the well. It was about the sixth hour (noon)”. (John 4:5-6) Now, Samaria was the capital of the Northern Kingdom, in Old Testament times. The Northern Kingdom was especially known for its wickedness and eventually it was destroyed, several hundred years before. (Later the Southern Kingdom, which was where Jerusalem was located was also conquered by Israel’s enemies).
The people of the north had also intermarried with their captors, who believed in many false gods and idols. They combined some true beliefs about God with the pagan beliefs of their captors By the time of Jesus, the religious beliefs of people of Samaria had become quote corrupt. Among other things, they did not accept any of the Old Testament Scriptures after the book of Deuteronomy, and they had their own temple at Gerizim.
Because of these things, the Jews and Samaritans generally did not get along. There are numerous examples of this in Holy Scripture. For example, in Luke 9:50-55, Jesus’ disciples ask Him if they can call down fire from heaven on the Samaritans who had refused to let Jesus and the disciples to through Samaritan territory. In the Gospel of John, the religious leaders call Jesus demon possessed and a Samaritan as if the two were equally bad. And in our text today John records, “Jews have no dealings with Samaritans”. (John 4:9b) Many Jews considered it better to suffer than to be helped by a Samaritan.
That is why Jesus’ parable of the Good Samaritan was so powerful; no one expected the hated Samaritan to do anything good for a Jew. Now, “there came a woman of Samaria to draw water. Jesus said to her give Me a drink. (For His disciples had gone away to buy food) The Samaritan woman said to Him; How is it that You, a Jew, ask for a drink from me, a woman of Samaria”. (John 4:7-9a) She was shocked that a Jewish man would even talk with her.
Jesus immediately changes the conversation from mere physical water (thirst) answering her, “If you knew the gift of God, and who it is that is saying to you, Give Me a drink, you would have asked Him, and He would have given you living water” (John 4:10) which quenches a thirsty soul. Much like Nicodemus last Sunday, the woman at the well initially takes Jesus’ word quite literally, pointing out that Jesus has “nothing to draw water with, and the well is deep”. (John 4:11)
Then she speaks of the common ancestry of the Jews and Samaritans asking, “Are You greater than our father Jacob? He gave us this well and drank from it himself”. (John 4:12a) But Jesus (as already stated) was not talking about water that quenches physical thirst; “whoever drinks of the water I will give him, will never be thirsty forever. The water that I will give him will become in him a spring water welling up to eternal life”. (John 4:14) Still the woman misunderstands Him, saying to Jesus, “Sir, give me this water, so that I will not be thirsty or have to come here to draw water”. (John 4:15)
So, what is this “living water” that Jesus speaks of that brings such great benefits? It is nothing else than the Word of God; the Gospel message of the forgiveness of sins and the promise of eternal life that Jesus won for us by His bloody death on the cross; by which He atoned for the sins of the whole world; which we receive “by grace … through faith … it is the gift of God”. (Ephesians 2:8a) Jesus later said to the crowds in Jerusalem, “If anyone thirsts, let them come to Me and drink. Whoever believes in Me as the Scripture has said, out of his heart will flow rivers of living water”. (John 7:37b-38) In the book of Jeremiah, the Lord calls Himself “the fountain of living waters”. (Jeremiah 2:13a)
Therefore, since God speaks to us through His Word, we are to prize/value the Word of God above all things. Luther said, “by comparison, the world’s riches and glory are nothing but filth”. Hear a bit of what Luther said about this in a sermon about this living water of the Word. “Regard it as a real treasure that God speaks into your physical ear … when you hear the sermon … who is speaking? The Pastor? By no means! … Of course, the voice is his, but the words he uses are really spoken by God. If we looked upon it as the Word of God, we would be glad to go to church, listen to the sermon, and pay attention to the precious Word. (Do not despise the treasure of the word because of the person.) (Sermon on John 4:9-10)
Jesus engages with this woman in order to offer her this living water and in doing so, He reveals His divinity, by telling the woman many not so pleasant details of her past and current life; that she has had five husbands and the fact that “the one you now have is not your husband”. (John 4:18b) Unlike most people, then and now, this woman did not take offense at Jesus’ pointed words exposing her sin. She doesn’t use the harshness of His words as an excuse not to listen to Him. Rather, “The woman said to Him, Sir, I perceive that You are a prophet”. (John 4:19) Jesus showed the woman her sin, in order that she might confess both her sin and Christ Jesus as her only Savior from sin.
Next, the woman engages Him in a discussion about the location of the temple; which was a point of disagreement between Jews and Samaritans. In response, Jesus points to the greater truth “saying to her, Woman, believe Me, the hour is coming when neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem will you worship the Father. You worship what you do not know; we worship what we know for salvation is from the Jews”. (John 4:21-22)
To say salvation is from the Jews simply means that according to the Old Testament Scriptures, the Messiah would come from the Jewish tribe of Judah. It does not mean that salvation is limited to the Jews; which should be clear from the fact that Jesus is talking with a Samaritan woman. The greater point that Jesus is making is that proper worship of the true God is not a matter of geographical location; it is not a matter of finding where the biggest crowds are; it is a matter of gathering where the Word of God is rightly proclaimed and the Sacraments rightly administered.
“The hour is coming and is now here, when thew true worshippers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for the Father is seeking such people to worship Him. God is spirit and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth”. (John 4:23-24) To worship God in “spirit and truth” is to accept and believe that the long promised Christ/Messiah; is the Savior of the world; who the Father sent into the world “to seek and to save the lost”; (Luke 19:10) like the Samaritan woman at the well; like you and me. This saving faith is worked in us by the power of the Holy Spirit of God, “working when and where He wills” through the preaching of the Gospel and the Holy Sacraments. God pleasing worship focuses on the death and resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of sinners.
The woman at the well then “said to Him, I know that Messiah is coming, even He 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 4:25-26) This text (among many others) speaks to those who would claim that Jesus never said He was God. Here, He clearly reveals Himself to be the long-promised Christ.
“Just then, His disciples came back. They marveled that He was talking with a woman” (John 4:27a) but no one said anything to Him. In the excitement of the Messiah seeking and finding her, the woman forgot all about why she had come to the mountain in the first place. “So, the woman left her water jar and went away into town and said to the people, come and see a man who told me everything I ever did. Can this be the Christ? They went out of the town and were coming to Jesus”. (John 4:28-30)
Even though the Samaritan woman just met Him, she boldly bears witness to Jesus, to her neighbors and friends. “Many Samaritans from that town believed in Him because of the woman’s testimony, He told me everything I ever did”. (John 4:39) Again, notice that she did not take offense at Jesus’ confronting her with her sin (of having a man that is not her husband) or rejecting her beliefs about worship; rather she gladly received His message of salvation and then told others about Him.
“So, when the Samaritans came to Jesus, they asked Him to stay with them, and He stayed there two days. And many more believed because of His Word”. (John 4:40-41) They were glad to hear the words of Jesus and wanted to learn more. It wasn’t the word of the Samaritan woman that saved them, she simply testified to what He had done for her. The Holy Spirit used her testimony to bring them to Jesus; who won them over with His Word.
They then told this to the woman, “It is no longer because of what you said that we believe, for we have heard for ourselves, and we know that this is indeed the Savior of the world”. (John 4:42) And the world needs a Savior. This is the churches proclamation. So, John the Baptist preached, “Behold, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world”. (John 1:29b) The Apostle John also wrote, “We have seen and testify that the Father has sent His Son, to be the Savior of the world”. (1st John 4:14) Last Sunday, we also heard Jesus’ own words; “God sent His Son into the world … that the world might be saved through Him”. (John 3:17)
This is the Gospel message that “is trustworthy and deserving of full acceptance; Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners”. (1st Timothy 1:15a) Our Gospel text today shows that all people of every race, tribe, nation, and language who are baptized and believe the Gospel, receive the forgiveness of sins and the promise of eternal life.
We who belong to Christ through faith, now drink from His fountain of living water; gladly hearing the Word and receiving the sacrament; worshipping Him “in spirit and truth”. (John 4:24b) “Oh come let us worship and bow down; let us kneel before the Lord our maker. For He is our God, and we are the people of His pasture”. (Psalm 95:6-7a) Amen.
The peace of God …