John 4:1-30, 39-42
November 14, 2004
Sermon preached by Rev. Donald Ng at the First Chinese Baptist Church in San Francisco.
Last Sunday, I carried Timothy Milton Jang as we dedicated him to God in the presence of his parents, family, and friends. I can remember a time when our two grown up children were just as tiny as Timothy is now.
Many years ago now, our son, Greg was almost five when we were going to his nursery school’s “Fathers Open House.” It’s like “bring Daddy to school” day. It was dark outside and a cold wind-swept rain made it more forbidden. Greg looked up at me and asked, “Daddy can you carry me?” Greg’s days of being carried were just about over.
As I picked him up into my arms I said, “Greg, one of these days you’re going to be too big to carry.” Greg, smiling, looked up at me and said, “Not today.” I laughed and Greg giggled, and we went to the open house.
As I look back at this moment with Greg, I realize that it’s a moment in which the fullness of time was at hand. Greg will never be that small again for me to carry nor would I ever be as young and strong as that time to carry him!
Fullness of Time
This familiar story from John about the Samaritan woman meeting Jesus at Jacob’s well was in the fullness of time. Jesus asks the woman at a basic level of human need, “Give me a drink.” Then he tells her that he could give her “living water.”
Thinking that Jesus means “running water,” she objects, “Sir, you have nothing to draw with, the well is too deep. Where do you get this living water?” She is interested in this “running water” as an answer to the very practical problem of having to carry water from a stagnant well. How wonderful it would be to gain access to a spring, or a stream! In this conversation between Jesus and the woman, we see how we can be drawn into the spiritual even when we are engaged in the pursuit of practical answers to problems.
Most of us come to church like we were on “auto pilot.” We come for fellowship and the renewing of friendships. We may have a meeting to attend or someone to meet after church. And for most of the time, our plans and expectations turn out to be what we expect them to be when we get up in the morning to experience the day. These are all practical and daily routines of life. But what we see from this story is that from a daily chore like going to the well to draw up some water can become the fullness of time! In the simple act of drawing for some water, we can be drawn into the spiritual.
The emergence of the spiritual for this woman occurs when Jesus reveals the true nature of what he has to offer: Everyone who drinks of this well water will thirst again, but whoever drinks of the water that I shall give will never thirst. The water I shall give will become a spring of water welling up to eternal life.”
Jesus identifies himself as the Messiah for whom she has been waiting, the one who “will show us all things.” In the midst of ordinary reality another dimension of reality—the spiritual reality suddenly opens up.
Engaging Conversations
Much has been said and written about this Samaritan woman by preachers like me. We won’t go into all the details but what we know is that her heritage of being Samaritan means that she comes from a lesser group than the Jews. She was marginalized in her own community from the probable profession that she did—she was a “painted lady.” A fallen woman married five times and now living in sin could only come to draw water in the heat of the noon-day sun because the other women would have ridiculed her if they saw her.
What we see of this woman is limited to what Jesus sees. What we see is a painted woman. Jesus sees someone beyond the obvious. Maybe Jesus sees victimization, unfortunate and tragic circumstances, a child of God who is thirsty for the eternal love of God. Then something amazing happens. Jesus extends an invitation to her by engaging in conversation with her. They have this dialogue of running water to satisfy physical needs and living water that leads to spiritual life.
In return the woman introduces the subject of Messiah, as though she perceives Jesus is someone more than a prophet. Jesus then reveals himself as Messiah. He sees the woman to be worthy of having a theological conversation with him. They engaged in a dialogue with the divine, and thereby Jesus includes her as a part of God’s divine plan in the world.
How about us? Are you having a conversation, a dialogue with God? Or are you only coming to Jesus on your terms when you have some physical need to be met? Are you just having an intellectual relationship with Jesus like a book you pull off the shelf now and then? Just like how Jesus knew everything about this woman, are you amazed that Jesus knows all about you and still wants to talk to you, teach you, and have a conversation with you?
Worship is Seeing God
As a new worshiping congregation at FCBC, we have made our 9:30 worship time the main expression of our faithfulness. We practice our praise songs. We recruit helpers as set-up team and ushers. We hang banners to transform this public place to appear more like how we think a house of worship should look like. We have brought over symbols of formal worship such as offering plates and flowers. All of these things are important.
But from this text that we are looking at this morning, worship is not set to only happen in a particular location. The woman said that her ancestors worshiped on Mount Gerizim and acknowledging that Jesus was a Jew, asked him should we now worship in Jerusalem—Mount Zion. Jesus responds that the hour is coming when you will worship the Father neither on this mountain of Gerizim nor on the mountain of Zion in Jerusalem. The issue is not where worship would occur, but how.
True worship in the Gospel of John is worship that sees the Father through the “Spirit of truth.” In verse 4:23, Jesus said, “The hour is coming, and is now here, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for the Father seeks such as these to worship him.”
True worship sees the Father God. In John 14:8-9, “Philip said to Jesus, “Lord, show us the Father, and we will be satisfied.” Jesus said to him, “Have I been with you all this time, Philip, and you still do not know me? Whoever has seen me has seen the Father.” When we come to church on Sunday and we come into this place, our focus is on seeing God through the life, teachings, and sacrifice of Jesus Christ. When we see Jesus, we see the Father.
True worshipers worship the Father in spirit and truth. In the John 4 passage that we have been looking at this morning, we read in verse 24: “God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth.” What this means is that when we see God in worship, we are helped by the Holy Spirit. Let’s look at John 15:26, Jesus said, “When the Advocate or Helper comes, whom I will send to you from the Father, the Spirit of truth who comes from the Father, he will testify on my behalf.” When we gather for worship every Sunday, we have in our midst the Holy Spirit to help us know and see God!
You have heard of those moments when people were dazzled by what was happening before their eyes. These extraordinary and rare moments when the “fullness of time” happened, we treasure in our hearts and wish more can happen. We think that these moments only happen to someone else who is more fortunate than we are. Or that we are less worthy of receiving such wonderfully blessed moments.
The good news for today is that since Jesus dialogs with the Samaritan woman with her checkered past, Jesus would do the same with us. None of us have perfect lives. Jesus wants to dialogue with us even with our checkered past. Nothing is so terrible that we have done that would prevent Jesus from talking with us.
Confronting Worship
But worshiping God is not for mere observers who like to take the back seats in church and slip out as soon as we say the benediction. True worship is not just the compassionate Jesus who welcomes the Samaritan woman. The warm fuzzy Jesus becomes hard as nails. The conversation between Jesus and the woman quickly becomes intense. Our comforting Jesus quickly becomes a confrontational Jesus.
If he is going to engage this woman as a child of God, then he needs to engage all of who she is—her brokenness, her weakness, her corruption, her need, and most of all her deep, deep thirst for a sense of purpose and worth.
Jesus confronts her with her sexual history, her marriage history, her inability to truly love herself and to love others. He tells her—with no holds barred—that until she encounters God, she will never experience the abundant life. Until she drinks deeply of the Living Water, she will remain shriveled, dry and lost. Because she is so ultimately worthy in the eyes of God, Jesus reveals to her in glaring detail the unworthiness of how she is living.
And then it happened. Our sister is transformed because she heard the truth about herself and was honest about it. Far from being offended or embarrassed, she is empowered. Seeing herself in the mirror of Jesus’ truth, she meets herself honestly for the very first time and she is changed. When Jesus confronts us and we are honest with ourselves, Jesus transforms us into his own.
So transformed by this conversation with Jesus, the woman leaves her water jar behind and God breaks loose running rampart through the Word in the world. The prostitute becomes the preacher. The fallen woman is raised up to be a community leader. The shame becomes the esteemed. The outcast becomes central to the story as the whole community comes to know the Messiah. In the ordinary times of our lives, God breaks in to offer us Living Water.
The woman simply testifies as to what she knows, which she admits is limited, calling others to come and see for themselves, and what happens? The whole town comes to believe. In fact, there is still a Christian church there today as the result of this one woman’s testimony. We may say that we don’t know enough to testify about Jesus or to lead in worship or to invite others to come to church. Look at this Samaritan woman—she simply testified to what she knew and God did the rest.
I don’t know about you, but I know where I want to stand when it comes to worship. I want to stand with Jesus and have him confront me with my past because he knows it already. He knows all about me yet he loves me just the same. I want him to draw me deeper into a divine dialogue with God, calling me to get all washed up with the Father in living water when I am all washed up with the world.
You may have come to worship this morning expecting nothing special will happen. Beneath the surface of everyday life, pursuing the necessities of our lives, we suddenly recognize Jesus is here. The Spirit of truth, the Holy Spirit is here. We see God.
You may have come to worship this morning looking for something to drink to quench your thirst for a more meaningful life, we suddenly realize that the water Jesus offers is a spring of water gushing up to eternal life. The Spirit of Truth, the Holy Spirit is here. We see God.
If God is dialoguing with you today because the fullness of time is at hand, let him confront you with your dry, parched life in spirit and truth. Become transformed, made whole and worthy as God has planned for you to be so that you can tell the whole world the good news of Jesus.
Let us pray.
Precious Lord God, we give thanks for your constant desire to be in dialogue with us, leading us to worship you in spirit and in truth. Help us to see God, our Creator in daily life especially when we think that nothing extraordinary can happen and we realize that you have been with us all the time. Empower us to be faithful worshipers in the name of Christ, we pray. Amen.