The setting for this story is laid out in some detail. 

“5 So he came to a town in Samaria called Sychar, near the plot of ground Jacob had given to his son Joseph.

There are two passages in the Old Testament that refer to this plot of ground.

“19 For a hundred pieces of silver, he bought from the sons of Hamor, the father of Shechem, the plot of ground where he pitched his tent.” Genesis 33:19, NIV.

“32 And Joseph’s bones, which the Israelites had brought up from Egypt, were buried at Shechem in the tract of land that Jacob bought for a hundred pieces of silver from the sons of Hamor, the father of Shechem. This became the inheritance of Joseph’s descendants.” Joshua 24:32, NIV.

              The Samaritans thought of themselves as Joseph’s descendants, rather than Jacob’s.  The important person, however is not Joseph, but Jacob.  This is called Jacob’s well.  Jacob was the one who gave the well to Joseph.  And just a little later the woman will ask, “Are you greater than Jacob?”

Near this is a well.

6 Jacob’s well was there, and Jesus, tired as he was from the journey, sat down by the well. It was about the sixth hour.

The well alongside a road was the rest stop of the ancient world.  The animals would drink and the people would drink its refreshing water before they continued on their journey.

Rest areas we have are public facilities that weary travelers can stop, eat and maybe get a little rest from their travels.  We often us the term,  “I am going to stop at the rest area to breakup the trip.” 

Jesus was tired.  How tired?  Tired enough that he sent his disciples, all twelve of them to get food.  Tired enough that the text mentions his fatigue.  Tired enough that he wanted to be alone.  Tired enough that he sat down.  The kind of tired that a person feels at noontime, the Jewish sixth hour.  But not to tired to seek a lost woman.

              7 When a Samaritan woman came to draw water, Jesus said to her, “Will you give me a drink?” 8 (His disciples had gone into the town to buy food.)

For here she comes, in the heat of the day, to get water.  Women normally went to the well in the early part of the day or perhaps at night.  We speculate that the reason this woman came was that she was shunned by the other women in the village.  Her behavior and lifestyle were not acceptable to the good women of the village, and they let her know it.

              I will tell you that her behavior and lifestyle were not acceptable to Jesus, either; but he didn’t come to condemn, but to help save this woman from her sin.  He came to give her rest.

              How do we give rest, deep spiritual rest, to people who do not know they need it? 

              My only answer that I can give you is to point them to Jesus.  Jesus said, “28 “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. 29 Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.” Matthew 11:28, 29, NIV.

              The deep rest that we need in our lives is only found in Jesus.  If I could only do one thing for you in your life, I would not give you a lot of money or perfect health, I would give you Jesus who would give you rest.

In order for you to experience the rest that Jesus can give, three issues would need to be resolved.

First, we would have to deal with the reality of our ignorance.  Second, we would have to deal with the reality of our sin.  Third, we would have to deal with the reality of Jesus Christ.

At least that is what happens in this passage.  That this woman finds rest is pretty clear.  At the end of this story, she leaves her water pots and runs to tell the men in the village that she has met Jesus!  She is excited about it.  She is clearly animated and a different woman than she was when she left the village.

First, let’s deal with the reality of our ignorance. 

The woman in this passage listens to Jesus, but even with Jesus teaching, she is just not getting it.

9 The Samaritan woman said to him, “You are a Jew and I am a Samaritan woman. How can you ask me for a drink?” (For Jews do not associate with Samaritans.) 10 Jesus answered 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.”

Do you see the key word here?  “If you knew the gift of God and who it is that asks you for a drink…”  This woman did not know who Jesus was.  She did not know what the gift of God was.  She had never met Jesus and she didn’t know anything about him.

11 “Sir,” the woman said, “you have nothing to draw with and the well is deep. Where can you get this living water?

We can see from her response that she is taking Jesus literally.  She doesn’t understand a word he says.  “Living water” was running water that came from a river or a spring.  She is at the edge of a 40 ft well and Jesus says, “I can give you running water.” 

Wouldn’t that be great!  Instead of letting the bucket down, instead of filling it with water and then bringing the bucket back up 40 feet, she could turn on a tap and have living water, running water.

I checked on the history of the pump and could not find out when the first pump was used.  But they did not have the luxury of running water.  Every time you turn on a faucet, you are getting living water!

This raises a question for this woman?

12 Are you greater than our father Jacob, who gave us the well and drank from it himself, as did also his sons and his flocks and herds?”

Even Jacob used a bucket.  For the Samaritans, Jacob was the most important person she knew.  He is the “father” of the Samaritans.  Is Jesus greater than Jacob in giving her running water rather than water from the well?

It is clear that Jesus is going right over her head.  But she has moved in the right direction.  She has switched subjects from water to the important question, “Who are you, Rabbi?”

13 Jesus answered, “Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again, 14 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.” 15 The woman said to him, “Sir, give me this water so that I won’t get thirsty and have to keep coming here to draw water.”

She still doesn’t see the spiritual direction that this is going.  Jesus promises that if we drink the water he gives, we will never thirst.  That spring that Jesus gives, that moving water, that living water, will well up to eternal life!

“Great,” she says.  “I want your water so I won’t have to come back and draw water when I am thirsty.”

She is still thinking in physical terms.  Jesus is going to answer her question, but he will change direction to do so.

I find great comfort in this passage so far.  Some of you who listen to the spiritual truths we teach in this church, it may be from the pulpit, from Sunday School, in our printed literature or through small groups, find yourself with the deer in the headlight look.  You don’t understand some of the things we say.

I find comfort in this in that, first, Jesus said them anyway.  We live in an age where people are telling us not to use spiritual terminology to describe spiritual truth.  Jesus didn’t always think that being understood clearly was that important.  Sometimes being misunderstood leads to further questions.  He welcomed the opportunity to explain himself.

Second, I find comfort in this because if people don’t understand what I say the first time I say it, I have not failed,  I just need to try to find another way to say it.  We get so discouraged in telling others about Jesus.  Instead, we should use their lack of understanding as a sign to change direction.

Third, I find comfort in this because if this woman didn’t understand Jesus, and he didn’t condemn her, so if you are here and don’t fully understand all that is being said, keep asking questions.

The truth is that we do not understand until the Holy Spirit gives us understanding.  It doesn’t come together for us until it comes together.  So if you have been attending here and you don’t quite understand, don’t get discouraged, keep asking questions.  Deal with the reality that you don’t know the Bible well, you may not understand who Jesus is, but that all of us have been there.  We can only learn when we take the time to come to sit at the feet of Jesus and learn from him.  This does take time. Don’t be discouraged by your ignorance, God will help you if you continue to ask questions and are open to listening and learning.  If we will ever find this rest for our souls, we will need to acknowledge the reality of our ignorance on how to get it.

Second, we would have to deal with the reality of our sin. 

The Bible will teach us that the reason we are not resting is because of sin.  Something in us is wrong, broken, incomplete, missing the mark, crossing a line, breaking a law.  All of which we call sin. 

The presence of sin in our lives is destroying our rest.  Sin is standing between God and us.  Sin is making us go our own way instead of God’s way. 

I want us to understand that we need to deal with the reality of our sin.  God already knows all about our sin.  He doesn’t need to deal with it, he dealt with our sin at the cross two thousand years ago.  He knows who you are, what you are, and what you have done.  There are no secrets from God.  God does not want to condemn you; he wants to save you from your sin.

Notice how Jesus deals with this woman.

16 He told her, “Go, call your husband and come back.”

This is interesting.  She says, “I want running water.”  Jesus says, “Go and call your husband and come back.” 

This request would not have seemed strange to her.  If Jesus was going to reveal a spring or wanted a trench dug, or was going to have to spend some time or labor in providing this spring, then it would be more appropriate for her husband to take part in this.  Of course, this would have been true except for one small problem.  This is shown in verse 17 “I have no husband,” she replied.

Jesus said to her, “You are right when you say you have no husband. 18 The fact is, you have had five husbands, and the man you now have is not your husband. What you have just said is quite true.”

Quite true!  In just a moment he will talk about worship in truth.  This will be the same word in the Greek. 

I want to draw our attention to two ideas in this passage. 

First, people living together are not married in the eyes of God.  This woman is living with a man and Jesus, who is God the Son, says, “The man you now have is not your husband.”  I can’t think of a clearer statement in all of the Bible that debunks the myth that living together is the same as marriage.  It is not.  This is from Jesus, not me.

Second, notice that Jesus did not hammer on her.  Some Christians seem to think that until a person is groveling in the dirt, remorseful, tears streaming down their cheeks about their sin, that they do not realize the seriousness of their sin. 

Jesus did not come to condemn her, but to save her.  When she confesses her sin, he agrees with her.  He doesn’t push her at this point.  He says, “You are right.”

You may be ignorant of a lot of things, but would agree with me that you are a sinner?  A sinner is someone who sins.  Do you sin?  If we knew you and said, “You did this wrong, you said this and it wasn’t right, you are guilty of this,” would you be in agreement?  Unless we can accept the reality of our sin, we can never find rest in Jesus.  Our sins separate us from God.  We will find unrest until we come to realize who we are.

I perceive that you are a prophet.

The woman takes a giant step forward.  She is realizing that Jesus is not an ordinary teacher.  Without ever having met her, he slips in information about her personal life that he could not have known. 

Jesus knows all about us as well.  If he were to take you out to lunch today, if he were to sit at your table and talk to you, he would be able to do the same thing with you.  “I know you tell me the truth when you said you were delayed.  You had a fight with your wife, screamed at your kids, and were stopped for speeding.  You tell the truth when you say you are late.”

Jesus knows all about us.  The woman thinks he is a prophet.  What do you think about Jesus?  Who do you say he is?

Because she thinks Jesus is a prophet, she asks him a question that had divided the Jews and Samaritans for a long time.  This is like asking someone to explain the difference between predestination and freewill.  It’s like asking someone to take sides on the issue of abortion or gay rights in our country today. 

20 Our fathers worshipped on this mountain, but you Jews claim that the place where we must worship is in Jerusalem.”

This is the only question she asked that Jesus gave a direct answer to.  “This mountain” refers to Mt. Gerazim.  The Jews and Samaritans debated between Jerusalem and Mt. Gerazim as the site for worship.

21 Jesus declared, “Believe me, woman, a time is coming when you will worship the Father neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem. 22 You Samaritans worship what you do not know; we worship what we do know, for salvation is from the Jews.

Jesus gives a present answer.  In Jesus’ day he is telling the woman that the Jews in Jerusalem are closer to the truth than the Samaritans.  He doesn’t fudge this answer.  He gives it straight out.  But worshipping in Jerusalem is a temporary state.

23 Yet a time is coming and has now come when the true worshippers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for they are the kind of worshippers the Father seeks.

This time has now come.  I say to you, based on what Jesus said, that this is what Jesus wants from you and I today.  He wants you and I to worship the Father in spirit and in truth.  The Father is seeking such worshippers.

Is this you?  Is your worship that you give God coming from your spirit?  Is worship something that comes from deep within you?  Are you interested in the truth about God, about who he is, about what he wants?  Do you want your life to be free of lies? 

If so, then God is seeking you.  Jesus is putting out a challenge to this woman to rethink her religious beliefs.  He goes from the outward, “where do we worship” to the inward, “how do we worship?”  The answer is, “We worship in spirit and in truth.”

24 God is spirit, and his worshippers must worship in spirit and in truth.”

What does it mean for this woman to worship in spirit and in truth? 

First,  the spirit can refer to the right attitude or it can refer to the immaterial part of us.  What I would call the real us.  This is worship from within.  It’s not being in church, it’s not doing religious activity.  This is worship which comes from the heart.

This woman does not have this kind of worship.  If she did, she would not be living with this man that she is living with.  If within the deepest part of her being she worshipped God, she would choose God over sin.

Worshipping in truth means that she will need to abandon the false teaching she has received.  Jesus is pretty clear that the Samaritan viewpoint is wrong.  If she is going to worship God, she needs to let go of her upbringing, her traditions, and listen to the teaching of Jesus.

This is why Jesus said, “Take my yoke upon you and learn of me…”  The yoke in that verse was understood as the teaching of a Rabbi.  Jesus is telling them to listen to his teaching.  That is where we find rest.

The woman would not find rest if she continued to cling to and believe the lies she was taught.  Jesus is giving her the straight truth.  Her worship of God must be pure, must be built on truth, must be built on the teachings of Jesus.

25 The woman said, “I know that Messiah” (called Christ) “is coming. When he comes, he will explain everything to us.”” John 4:5-25, NIV.

What brings this on?  This seems like a major change of subject! 

Think about this for a moment.  What her religion did teach her was that the Messiah would explain everything to us.  Underline  everything.  Jesus had just explained to this woman her personal life and in an understandable way, the issue between the Samaritans and the Jews.

The light is coming on.  Jesus is more than a prophet.  She is starting to deal with a fundamental teaching.  Jesus is more like the Messiah, the Christ, the Anointed one promised in the Old Testament, than he is a mere prophet.

If I could put it in different terms, this woman is dealing with the reality of who Jesus really is!

If we are going to find rest for our soul, we need to come to this point as well.  The Bible tells us that Jesus Christ came down from heaven, was born of a virgin, lived a sinless life, died on a cross for our sins, was buried in the ground, rose the third day, and is alive in heaven at this very moment.  The Bible tells us that Jesus fulfilled the prophesies for the Jewish Messiah and that God has made Him both Lord and Judge.

Jesus is not just another human religious leader, such as Muhammad, Joseph Smith or Buddha.  Jesus is the Son of God.  When Jesus speaks, God speaks. 

Jesus is also our redeemer.  He died on the cross for our sins.  The Samaritan woman didn’t know this because the cross had not happened yet.  But we know this.  Jesus has paid for all our sins.  It is now up to us to respond and put our trust in Jesus.

We need to come to grips with who Jesus is.  We need to trust Him and believe in Him, before we can find rest for our souls.

Here at the well we see a rest sign.  Are you troubled by life?  Jesus is the living water that gives eternal life.  Are you troubled by death?  Jesus is the living water that gives eternal life.  Jesus is our rest.

The song writer said, “My faith has found a resting place, not in device nor creed…  It is enough that Jesus died and that he died for me.”

I hope that this message has made clear some of the things you may not have known about Jesus before this.

I hope that this message has communicated clearly that our sin is what keeps us from having real rest for our souls.

I hope this message has communicated clearly that you will find rest if you trust in Jesus Christ, who died on the cross for your sins, was buried, who rose again so that you could have a new life, a different life, a life of faith in Jesus.