Title: I Am the Messiah
The Gospel of John shows who Jesus really is and for what purpose he came to this world rather than his activities of what Jesus did. That is why Jesus is described as being full of the glory of the only begotten Son of God.
The entire Gospel of John introduces the glory of this only-begotten Son, Jesus. Let us discover the glory of serving, humble, and humble. But what about the church in our land today? Are all the institutions or events of the church revealing this glory? Or did we not put our glory to it? There are voices of magnetism that say that it is creaking in a significant part. I want this to be a time to realize the clear truth through the text and to learn the clear truth of Christianity and salvation.
1. Conversation between Jesus and the Samaritan woman
One day, Jesus met a Samaritan woman at a well in the city of Suga, Samaria.
Jesus: Give me some water (4:7)
Woman: As a Jew, why do you ask a Samaritan woman for a drink? (Because Jews have no dealings with Samaritans) (4:9)
Jesus: If you had known 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 (verse 10).
Woman: Lord, where can I get this living water when there is no vessel to draw water from, and this well is deep? Are you greater than Jacob, because our father Jacob gave us this well, and he and his sons and his animals ate from it? (verses 11-12)
Jesus: Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again, but whoever drinks the water I will give him will never thirst. The water I will give him will become in him a spring of water springing up to eternal life (verses 13, 14).
Woman: Lord, give me this water so that I will not be thirsty or come here to draw water (verse 15).
Jesus: Go and call your husband (verse 16). Woman: I have no husband (verse 17).
Jesus: You are right when you say that you have no husband. You are true because you had five husbands, and the one you have now is not your husband (verses 17, 18).
Woman: Lord, I see that you are a prophet. Our ancestors worshiped on this mountain, but you say that the place of worship is in Jerusalem (verses 19, 20).
Jesus: 21 Jesus said to her, “Woman, believe me, the hour is coming when you will worship the Father neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem. 22 You worship what you do not know, and we worship what we know, for salvation is from the Jews. 23 The hour is coming, and now is, when those who truly worship the Father will worship the Father in spirit and truth. The Father seeks those who worship him like this. 24 God is a Spirit, and those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth. ).
Woman: The woman said to her, “I know that the Messiah is coming, who is called Christ, and when he comes he will tell us all things” (verse 25).
Jesus: Jesus said to him, “I am he who speaks to you” (verse 26).
3. Who is a Samaritan?
After ‘Solomon’, who was king of Israel, his son came and the kingdom was divided in two. So Judah in the south and Israel in the north. About 250 years later, northern Israel was destroyed by the Assyrian nation. At this time, about 27,000 of the Israelites were driven out to other provinces, and Mesopotamians came in.
So, those born to Mesopotamians and Israelites were called Samaritans. After that, Alexander the Great of Macedon took over the area, and the Macedonians inhabited it, further exacerbating the mixed race. So the Jews treated the Samaritans as Gentiles, not Israel, and looked down on them.
In 2 Chronicles 34, when the Jews returned from their Babylonian captivity and rebuilt the Temple in Jerusalem, the Samaritans tried to cooperate, but they were rejected because they were Gentile and mixed race. From that time on, relations between the Jews and the Samaritans were severed. So the Samaritans built a pagan temple on Mount Gerizim and worshiped there.
The Jews treated the Samaritans like dogs. So, he did not deal with the Jews. And the Jewish purification law forbade the use of vessels used by the Samaritans. But Jesus asked the Samaritan woman for water.
Then this woman said, 'Why do you ask a Samaritan woman you don't have a relationship with for a drink?' And the conversation started. Ultimately, this conversation shows who Jesus Christ is.
4. Crossing the Wall of Local Emotions
The Jews in Jesus' day were great. They thought they were the only people of God. He said that there was no such thing as salvation for the Gentiles, including Samaria. Healthy Jews think that even if Gentiles were saved, they would have saved them to serve the Jews, and you can see what the arrogance of those Jews was.
Even the Jews inhabited areas inhabited by Gentiles were considered unclean. So they had a habit of dusting their feet whenever they passed through a foreign territory and left it.
In today's text, the Samaritan woman asked Jesus a question, saying, "As a Jew, why do you ask me, a Samaritan woman, for a drink?"
The Samaritan woman was rather puzzled by Jesus, who was kind to her. But Jesus is breaking down the wall of local emotions in faith. Now, salvation and holiness are not guaranteed just because you were born in Judea, but only when you are in Jesus Christ. Jesus is tearing down the invisible wall now.
What is the reality of our church today? The trough of this local sentiment is too deep. In faith, how about Gyeongsang-do, Jeolla-do, Chungcheong-do, and Gangwon-do? It has become as if the church was borrowing the local sentiments that ordinary worldly politicians created for their ambition and desire for domination.
We must not drive the Gwangju uprising into the hands of politicians who lead to local sentiment. We must remember that the Gwangju incident that the church sees is not a local emotion, but Satan's conspiracy to eliminate even the life God-given because of their desire for domination when they become an obstacle to their desire for domination.
If certain church politicians divide the denomination due to local feelings for their own vested interests and promote church disputes, they are not servants of God, and it cannot be regarded as the church. In the past, the German church was silent during the genocide of Jews. It is said that he is now repenting of that silence. Jesus gave the Samaritan woman who was being discriminated against with the same gospel message and “a well of water springing up to eternal life” that never thirsts.
Now, Jesus is not in Jerusalem of the Jews, nor Mount Gerizim of the Samaritans. It is not Jeolla-do, Gyeongsang-do, Chungcheong-do, or Gangwon-do, but Jesus Christ. In this belief, everyone became one. In order to destroy this unity, the devil is testing and tempting with local emotions.
5. Messiah, or Christ
The Samaritan woman at the well recognized Jesus. How did you find out? It was through the work of Jesus. Verse 19 says, “The woman said, ‘Lord, I see that you are a prophet.
Verse 25 says, “The woman said to her, “I know that the Messiah is coming, who is called Christ, and when he comes he will tell us all things.” In verse 27, Jesus said, “Jesus said to me, ‘I am he who speaks to you. At this time, in verse 39, the Samaritans began to believe.
“Many Samaritans in the town believed in Jesus, because the woman’s words testified that he had told me all that I had done.”
invitation to the word
How does the Samaritan woman understand when Jesus says in verse 14 that he will give him a spring of water springing up so that he will never thirst and live forever? The woman answers in verse 15:
“The woman said, “Lord, give me this water, so that I will not be thirsty or come here to draw water.” What did Jesus' disciples think next?
“At this time the disciples returned and were amazed that Jesus was talking to the woman, but no one asked, “What are you seeking? Why are you talking to him?”
They don't understand Jesus' intentions at all. Or is this not what we are? We are obsessed with what we see right now. But what kind of work happened according to the intention of Jesus taught?
As Jesus intended, amazing works came to be revealed. That grace and work are well illustrated in the parables of verses 35-38. Verse 38 says, “I sent you to reap what you did not labor for; others have labored, and you have shared in their labor.”
It is a word of grace that by giving salvation to the Samaritans, the Gentiles can enjoy the blessing of salvation by freely participating in the efforts of Jews. This is the blessing of grace that has come upon you and me today. I pray that you will always cherish this grace.