Jesus the Savior of the world – John 4:27-42

Good morning church! A warm welcome to everyone who has joined us this morning. As a church we’ve been going through a series titled Believing and Knowing Jesus from the Gospel of John.

And it’s fascinating to know that the apostle John wrote this gospel with only one goal in mind. He wrote this book so that we may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing we may have life in his name. (John 20:31)

If Jesus is truly the Son of God, if Jesus is truly the Savior that God has been preparing for us from eternity past, then not believing in Him and not knowing Him would be the greatest tragedy of our lives.

I remember this story that was once shared by one of the missionaries from my previous church. This missionary had once gone to a village in Maharashtra and was asked to speak at a meeting there.

This missionary kept speaking about the legacy of my previous church – stating how St. Thomas had come to Kerala in AD52 and the result of his work was the eventual formation of this church.

He went on and on about the credentials of this church. And somewhere in between, one of the villagers stopped him and asked “If St. Thomas brought the Gospel of Jesus in AD52, why did it take you so long to bring it to us?”

Not believing and knowing Jesus is the greatest tragedy of anyone’s life.

That villager in Maharashtra recognized that. Do you and I recognize the gift of believing and knowing Jesus? Are we grateful that God has chosen us to believe and know Jesus?

I believe that’s why John wrote this Gospel. If you’re an unbeliever, then John’s purpose is that you would take that step of faith to believe and know Jesus. If you’re a believer, then John’s purpose is that you would be grateful for what Jesus has done for you and that you would trust and know Him deeper than you’ve done before. That you won’t be okay with all that you’ve known about Jesus so far.

So let that be the expectation of your heart today as we study God’s Word. Let that be the prayer of your heart today as we prepare to listen from God’s Word. Let’s ask God for help to be able to believe and know Jesus deeper today through this time with the Word.

Today’s passage happens right in the middle of a fascinating conversation between Jesus and an unnamed Samaritan woman. We don’t know her name but through the conversation we get to have a glimpse into her life and her struggles.

Unlike Nicodemus who was seen as the ideal spiritual leader of the day (you looked up to him and wanted to follow his lifestyle), she found herself on the other side of the spectrum where she was seen as an unspiritual person with promiscuous life, someone whose life you wouldn’t want to emulate.

That was the contrast between the two people and yet Jesus departed from his budding ministry in Judea where He was gaining more followers than John the Baptist. He leaves all of that, and was willing to travel through hostile territory so that he could meet with her. He treated her with the same gentleness and the same compassion just as He dealt with Nicodemus.

He was pleased to reveal Himself to this unnamed Samaritan woman who didn’t have her life put together. The last couple of verses that we read last week were so interesting because it seems like the Samaritan woman is trying to deflect and change the conversation and move on by saying “I know when the Messiah comes, he will tell us all things”.

And Jesus basically tells her “I am He”. The God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, that’s me. The One around whom all of human history hinges on, that’s me! He was pleased to reveal Himself to this unnamed Samaritan woman who didn’t have her life sorted out.

That should encourage you and me because we know that even our lives are not always put together. Even our lives are not sorted all the time. Even if we are in a mess, Jesus delights to reveal Himself to us. So we should never think that Jesus expects us to be perfect before He reveals Himself to us. He knows we cannot be perfect. All we need to do is come to Him.

Matthew 11:28 ESV

[28] Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.

This interaction between Jesus and the Samaritan woman should encourage us, assure us and brings us to Jesus’ feet once again.

Let’s look at V27

[27] Just then his disciples came back. They marveled that he was talking with a woman, but no one said, “What do you seek?” or, “Why are you talking with her?”

Jesus’ disciples who had gone into the city to get food are back with food and they spot Jesus having this intense conversation with the Samaritan woman.

As we heard last week, it was forbidden for a Jewish man to speak to any woman on the street, not even his wife.

And so they see Jesus here breaking traditions, going against cultural norms and doing something that was considered inappropriate at that time. But instead of asking Jesus, they decided to avoid that conversation, slip that under the carpet and not bring it up again.

[28] So the woman left her water jar and went away into town and said to the people, [29] “Come, see a man who told me all that I ever did. Can this be the Christ?” [30] They went out of the town and were coming to him.

The events described in these verses are remarkable! Actions speak louder than words. First things first. Why did the Samaritan woman come to the well in the first place? To draw water. So why would she leave that jar of water which she brought to well to draw water – why did she leave that and go away? Something has happened that is more critical than the water that she came to draw.

Secondly, we know that this woman had a very scandalous life. She faced a lot of public shame in her lifetime which is why she picked a time of the day to draw water when she knew no one else would be around. She tried her best to avoid the public eye because she knows that it will lead to judgments and humiliation.

And now how is it that she’s able to let down her guard, boldly stand in front of those very same people and tell them that she met a person who told her everything that she ever did? How in the world was she able to do that?

It’s because for the first time ever in her life she’s experienced what it means to be satisfied by the fountain of living waters. She spent all of her life going from one broken container to another through her multiple marriages and relationships and she’s returned back dry, empty and unsatisfied in her soul.

For the first time as she interacted with Jesus who knew everything about her – with all of the messy details – He didn’t use those details to humiliate her but to offer her living water to satisfy her soul.

What we’re seeing here is that the joy and satisfaction she’s experiencing in knowing Jesus has completely turned her life around. It’s making her do things that she was so terrified of doing earlier.

It’s causing her to be a bold witness of Jesus. “Can this be the Christ?” She’s not worried about people not taking her seriously, she’s only faithfully expressing what she’s just experienced.

And it’s also causing her to humbly acknowledge her sins before others. No longer is she worried about facing humiliation once she confesses, because the One whose opinion matters has already revealed Himself to her and offered her living water.

So right here, we are able to see the secret to bold witness and humble confession of sin – it’s when we experience joy and satisfaction in our relationship with Jesus.

When our cup is being filled with the joy and satisfaction of Jesus, we no longer look to others to do that for us. We no longer live under the insecurity of people’s opinions about us. We are actually freed to live out the life that God has called us to live.

So if we’re here today, desiring to be a bold witness for Jesus and also desiring to be authentic and not fake in your acknowledgement of your sins and weaknesses, we need to ask ourselves “have I been drinking from the fountain of living water? Have I been filling my spiritual cup with the joy of knowing Jesus?”

[31] Meanwhile the disciples were urging him, saying, “Rabbi, eat.” [32] But he said to them, “I have food to eat that you do not know about.” [33] So the disciples said to one another, “Has anyone brought him something to eat?” [34] Jesus said to them, “My food is to do the will of him who sent me and to accomplish his work.

The disciples have brought food for Jesus from the town. They know that He’s physically hungry and so they urge Him to eat.

But Jesus responds to them saying that He’s got food that they aren’t aware of. The disciples are surprised by hearing this and are wondering if someone else brought food for Jesus.

Again like some of the other conversations that we’ve seen in the past, while people’s minds are only fixated on physical earthly things, Jesus often talks about spiritual things.

That’s what Jesus says in V34 – His food is to do the will of His Father and to complete that work. Just like in the same way as we need physical food to live – to sustain and satisfy us, Jesus is saying that obedience to His Father’s will and completing that work is what sustains and satisfies Him.

In other words, obeying His Father’s will & completing that work was more critical to Him than even eating physical food. Now that doesn’t mean that Jesus is saying that eating food is not important or that we shouldn’t take care of our health.

What He’s trying to say is that the mission on which Jesus was sent – to seek and save the lost was His top most priority. Everything else was secondary. It’s like a fireman saying “I have to go and rescue those people trapped in the building that has caught fire. That is my top most priority”.

Isn’t that encouraging to know that saving you and me was on Jesus’ top most priority? It’s not because we are some special, rare, lovable species. No, in fact we don’t deserve to be on Jesus’ top most priority because we are enemies by nature and by our actions. The Bible tells us that we have all sinned and fall short of the glory of God.

We shouldn’t be on God’s priority list at all. But that’s how amazing God’s love is for us – the Bible says that while we were still sinners Christ died for us. Jesus went on the cross and died for you and me.

And on the third day He rose from the dead so that whoever repents and trusts in Jesus would be rescued from sin, Satan and death & adopted as children of God.

How gracious is our Lord that we would be on His top most priority despite our sin and weakness?

[35] Do you not say, ‘There are yet four months, then comes the harvest’? Look, I tell you, lift up your eyes, and see that the fields are white for harvest. [36] Already the one who reaps is receiving wages and gathering fruit for eternal life, so that sower and reaper may rejoice together. [37] For here the saying holds true, ‘One sows and another reaps.’ [38] I sent you to reap that for which you did not labor. Others have labored, and you have entered into their labor.”

One of the familiar analogies that Jesus would often use is that of harvest. Farmers would sow seeds of grain and then wait for sometime so that the grain grows and matures. Once the grain changes color and becomes hard, it’s ready for harvesting. This whole process from start to end would take months.

So Jesus uses this analogy to tell his disciples that we don’t have to wait any longer for the spiritual harvest because harvest season is already here. In other words, people are already prepared and ready to believe in Jesus right now. We don’t have to wait anymore.

Already Jesus says we’re able to see the fruit of the harvest. We’re already seeing the impact. All we need to do is go and pluck out the ready grains. All of the prior work of sowing has already been done, we just have to reap now.

In the immediate context, it’s referring to the Samaritan people whose hearts were already prepared and ready to believe in Jesus. But what if we also tried applying that today? Do we look at the people around us and trust that God’s already prepared their hearts? Do we trust that God’s readied their hearts to believe in Him?

[39] Many Samaritans from that town believed in him because of the woman’s testimony, “He told me all that I ever did.”

Can you believe that? This unnamed Samaritan woman’s testimony brought many people to faith! Who was this woman? What kind of life did she live in the past? How many church services did she attend? How many years of ministry experience did she have? Which bible college did she go to? Nothing was there. She was a brand new believer and someone who the world considered unfit as an evangelist.

But this is the amazing truth – unfit evangelists are the best evangelists! Why? Because they have nothing else to boast about except Jesus. That’s when it truly impacts people’s hearts.

And so just seeing this from the Samaritan woman should encourage us to know that we don’t need any qualifications to be ready to witness for Jesus. If we are a believer and tasted the love of Jesus, we are qualified to share the Gospel with others.

 [40] So when the Samaritans came to him, they asked him to stay with them, and he stayed there two days. [41] And many more believed because of his word. [42] They said 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.”

These are such assuring, encouraging verses because it tells me that the burden of trying to convince people and make them believers is not my job. My job just like the Samaritan woman is just to introduce others to Jesus. Jesus is powerful and strong enough to convince, persuade and transform people’s lives. Jesus will do that. I’m only called to witness to what Jesus has done in my life & Jesus will do the convincing.

As I close, just want all of us to take a minute to prayerfully ask God to do this:

1. Fill our hearts with the joy and satisfaction of knowing Jesus through the Word
2. Help us to trust that God has already prepared people in our lives who are ready to believe
3. Pray for God to show us who are the people with whom we can witness to about what God has done for us in Jesus or open doors for us to read the Bible with them so that they can be convinced of Jesus themselves