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Grace, mercy, and peace be unto you from God our Father and our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Amen

Today our meditation is based on our Gospel reading, Jesus with the Samaritan woman at Jacob’s well.

• There are a lot of dynamics associated with this account.

• A lot of interactions. A lot of misunderstandings.

• A lot of different influences and a lot of wrong impressions as to what is really important and who is really in charge.

As I read this account I was reminded in a way of the dynamics associated with many major social gatherings.

• If you go to one of these gatherings, and stand back and observe, many times you can see certain dynamics.

• You see all the little groups of people being together but really being apart.

• And there usually is at least a few of the people that seem to think a lot of themselves.

• Oozing from them is that they are “special”, the most popular and in control.

• And usually these people talk much and want to be the center of attention.

• But after you observe all of this, sometimes the outcast, is the person who really has it together and ought to be the one listened to.

All of these dynamics seem to take place with the Samaritan woman at the well in our text.

• There is much dynamics taking place.

• What is really going on here and what really should be going on here?

• With all this in mind, I’ve entitled this message, “Who’s Leading Whom?”

We begin with Jesus coming to Samaria.

• That in itself says something to us.

• A good Jew would never go through Samaria.

• The Samaritans were the detested people that you would avoid.

• A good Jew would go around Samaria to get to the south to Judah and Jerusalem.

• But our Messiah is for all people. He not only goes through Samaria, He makes it a point to go through Samaria.

• Each of us is important to our God.

We are told it is 12:00 noon and Jesus sits down at the well—weary from His journey.

• And a local woman of Samaria comes to draw water.

• Considering the customs and surroundings for the time, this tells us much.

Women would come to the well to get water.

• But they would not do it at noon.

• The scorching sun would be out and it would be very hot.

• Practicality would tell you to come draw water from the well in the early morning.

The women would do this.

• They would all come early morning; and not only would it be a time to draw water, but it would be a time for socializing.

• They would be able to update each other on the latest gossip and even feel good about themselves.

Apparently, the Samaritan woman with Jesus would not have been included in this inner circle.

• Either she was made to be an outcast or she felt from within that she was an outcast.

• Or maybe both.

• Perhaps she, at times, at her expense, would be the subject of conversation with the group of early morning women.

The Samaritan woman in our account came at noon to avoid the group.

• She was an outcast.

• The heat would be easier to take than the humiliation and inditement she would get from the group of ladies.

• She avoided the crowd. She was downtrodden and on her own.

Including thinking she could come to the well, as usual at noon and be on her own.

• But this day, would be different.

• She would meet up with someone who thinks she is important, knows her, cares for her, wants to be with her, and will literally change her life.

The woman comes to the well.

• Jesus is sitting there by Himself. His disciples have gone into town, we are told to buy food.

• Jesus approaches the woman.

• He is interested in all people. There are no outcasts.

• In fact, this Jesus has special love and concern for the outcast.

And Jesus says to the woman, “Give Me a drink.”

• This request got the woman’s attention.

• She would have recognized from Jesus’ clothing and speech that He is a Jew.

• And Jews did not associate with Samaritans.

• This would have been like one person from one group of people at the social event talking to another person from another group they normally would not associate with.

• And also, a man at this time would not associate with or even address a woman.

So the woman responds, “How is it that You, a Jew, ask for a drink from me, a woman of Samaria?”

• Who’s leading whom?

The common ground, the center point for all this interaction is water.

• But there is confusion and misunderstanding about the water.

• The water that is being talked about in this account is not thought of the same way by Jesus and the woman.

We saw this also last week with Nicodemus.

• Jesus told Nicodemus you must be born again.

• And Nicodemus asked Jesus how a grown man could be born again from his mother’s womb.

• Jesus was not talking about physical birth but spiritual birth. Being born from above.

We have that here also.

• The water Jesus is talking about is at a much deeper level of meaning than the woman is thinking with simple drinking water.

Jesus said to the woman, “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.’’’

• The woman, between her not understanding, her not recognizing her need for a Savior, and perhaps now wanting to be in charge says……..

• “Sir, You have nothing to draw water with, and the well is deep. Where do You get that living water? Are You GREATER than our father, Jacob?”

• Jesus said to her, “Everyone who drinks of this water will be thirsty again, but whoever drinks of the water I give him will never be thirsty FOREVER. The water I will give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life.”

If He didn’t before, Jesus now definitely has the woman’s attention.

• Water is still the common ground.

• But the woman is still confused and not thinking of the same water that Jesus is.

And now Jesus confronts her in her sin.

• He shows her the need for Him, our Savior.

• He tells the woman to go call her husband.

• And when the woman tells Jesus she has no husband, Jesus shows her that He already knows all about her.

• Jesus adds that she has had 5 husbands, and is now with another man who is not her husband.

• Jesus knows us too, and in spite of who we are, or what we have done, He cares for our every need.

Jesus had been telling the Samaritan woman the saving truth of the Gospel.

• But now He spoke Law to her.

• He confronts her with her sin and her need for a Savior.

The woman recognizes that the exposure of her sin means that she is being confronted by a prophet.

• But it is the job of a prophet to not only identify and confront sin, but also to point to the place of forgiveness.

And this is what the woman now wants.

• Where she can get that forgiveness.

• She cites Mount Gerizim, the place of worship for the Samaritans with Jerusalem the place of worship for the Jews.

• And Jesus continues to teach and show her, her Savior.

• He says, “You worship what you do not know. We worship what we know. For salvation is from the Jews.”

These may seem like strange words unless you have the background here. These, in fact, are very important words.

• The Samaritans had many years previous gone into captivity, never to be reestablished again.

• And there were foreign peoples and foreign gods brought into Samaria.

• As a result there was worship of the true God intermingled with the worship of many false gods.

• Jesus said, “You worship what you do not know.”

But then Jesus added, “We worship what we know. For salvation is from the Jews.”

• Salvation is from Jesus and Him alone.

• He is the only way of forgiveness. He is the only way of salvation.

• He is the way, the truth, and the life.

• There can be no other gods or even intermingling with other gods.

It matters not where you are physically located.

• We can worship God our Father in Samaria, Jerusalem, or even Granite City, Illinois.

• It is not the physical location.

• However, what or whom we worship means everything.

• It matters whom we follow and who it is that is leading us.

And then, without taking a physical drink, this woman receives the Living Water that Jesus was offering her.

• Living Water. The Holy Spirit.

• Throughout Scripture, the Holy Spirit is analogous with water.

• And it is Jesus who has won for us forgiveness of sins and salvation; and it is the Holy Spirit who brings us these gifts.

• Faith, forgiveness of sins, and eternal life.

• Jesus had said, “Whoever drinks of the water I give will never be thirsty forever.”

And then Jesus and the woman have further exchange and Jesus proclaims to her, “I AM the Messiah.”

• The Living Water had opened her eyes to faith and led her to her Savior.

And what did the woman do?

• What does this woman who had come to the well at high noon so she would be alone now do?

• What does this woman with a notorious bad reputation now do?

• What does this woman with budding faith do?

She has been led by the Spirit to Jesus; and now she follows Jesus and what He does.

• Jesus came to Samaria.

• He came to the woman.

And now she goes into the village, to the people she was trying to avoid.

• And she invites them to come see.

• She invites others to come see this Jesus who will die for them.

• To come see this Jesus who yearns to be a part of their life.

• This Jesus whom we are with on our Lenten journey.

• To come join her at the well where there is living water, forgiveness of sins and their Savior.

Our assigned Gospel reading ended at this point but if you read the account further, we are told that many from the town came to the well and believed.

• And the process continues through believers and the work of the Holy Spirit, even to this day.

• Come see. Come walk with Jesus on His journey to the cross where He will give His life for your salvation.

So I ask you, to whom do you relate to in this account?

• The townspeople?

• The women at the well?

Well, no matter who you are, or whatever your place may be at the social event…….

• We are all outcasts.

• We are all in need of a Savior.

And praise be to God, you dear friends, have come to the well.

• It is called Hope Lutheran Church.

• It is the place of God’s true dwelling and the place where God makes Himself known and makes His grace accessible to sinful people.

And you have found the Living Water.

• It is in the baptismal font over there.

• The Holy Spirit dwells within you.

• Who leads whom?

• It is the Holy Spirit who leads you to follow Christ and be in communion with Him.

And what do we see Jesus do in this account?

• He goes to Samaria.

• He goes to the well to a downtrodden, outcast sinful woman and He offers her Living Water.

We too then go out into the city and wherever He has us to go.

• And we offer the Holy Spirit.

• He promises to be present wherever the Word is proclaimed.

And we invite them to come to the well.

• And we lead them back to the well.

• To Hope Lutheran Church where they will get to know and see their Savior.

• They will see this Jesus who knows them, cares for them, thinks they are important, and will literally change their life.

Dear friends, the coronavirus is all over the news.

• I dare say it is on everyone’s mind.

• We have even talked about it here this morning.

God works through even bad situations.

• Surely in this crisis we will have opportunity to witness for Him.

• To invite others to come see this Jesus whom we follow and put our trust in.

• Our Jesus who is bigger than any coronavirus.

Oh, dear friends,

• First and foremost may you draw peace and confidence and strength in knowing you are saved. You are important and God cares for you.

• You are at the well.

• We worship in Spirit and TRUTH.

• We have met the Messiah and in Him we have forgiveness of sins and salvation.

May we draw strength in this House and then go forth from the well, or baptismal font, into the city……

• And then lead others back to see Jesus.

• May we always be led by the Holy Spirit to follow Christ…….

• And in this Lenten Season draw ever closer to Him.

• Amen.

(Please stand) And now, may the peace of God, which passes all understanding, keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. Amen.

Having heard the Word of God we now prepare our hearts to confess the words of the Nicene Creed as found on page 206 in the front portion of your hymnal.

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