Title: The Lord's Request/John 4:3-26
Description On the way to Galilee in Judea, Jesus stopped by a town called Sychar of Samaria.
Jesus rested by the well at Sychar, and the disciples went to the village to get food.
Meanwhile, a Samaritan woman came to draw water.
Then Jesus asks the woman for some water.
Then the Samaritan woman sarcastically criticizes Jesus rather than pouring water politely.
“No, do you ask me, a Samaritan, for a drink?” he repeats.
This land of Samaria is located between Galilee and Judea.
However, after Shalmaneser, king of Assyria, invaded and invaded Israel, he moved Israel's captives to another province and relocated the Assyrian people to this land of Samaria.
After that, after Alexander the Great occupied this place, he sent out the Samaritans again, and Gentiles from other regions were brought there, and they naturally became a mixed race.
From that time on, the Jews treated the Samaritans as Gentiles and ignored them.
After the Jews returned to their homeland after being taken captive in Babylon, the Samaritans tried to help build the temple in Jerusalem, but they refused.
So the Samaritans also hold a grudge against the Jews who rejected them and even block the construction of the temple in Jerusalem.
For that reason, the Jews and Samaritans did not have any dealings with each other, and when they went from Judea to Galilee, they went around the Jordan River even though they could go quickly through Samaria.
In this situation, when a Jew asked a Samaritan for a drink, the woman probably said to herself, "You're not as thirsty as you are face-to-face? Huh! What a star."
Then Jesus says:
“If you had known who it is that asks you for a drink, you would have asked, and he would have given you living water.”
Eventually, this woman realizes the greatness of Jesus and that he is the Messiah, and receives living water from Jesus.
This evening, there are many problems to think about through the text, but I would like to examine only one of them.
Why did Jesus ask the Samaritan woman for some water?
Is it because of Jesus' thirst?
Or is it because of this woman's thirst?
Whose lack is Jesus asking for? Whose deficiency is it due to?
Are you Jesus Himself? Are you a woman?
The results of this text give us a clear answer.
It was because of the lack of a woman.. (Actually, there is no record that Jesus drank water in the text.)
Jesus' request to the Samaritan woman was never because of his lack, not because of his lack.
Rather, he asked Jesus to fill the woman with his own greatness and abundance.
The word of the Lord applies equally to us at this time.
The Lord is plentiful in all things that cannot be found as lacking in the slightest.
do you believe
Almighty God, Creator of heaven and earth, Lord of all things.
But what do you lack and ask us to worship, serve, or help?
It is clearly what the Lord has asked us to fill, knowing our shortcomings.
We definitely need to know.
"Follow me! Trust me!" Is it because the Lord is lacking in something?
It is not that the Lord is lacking something when he says, "Let's worship".
We believe that you have asked us to fill our lack, our want, our poverty, our sickness, and our weakness. Hallelujah !
To fill destruction with salvation... To fill death with life...
To fill our weakness with strength... To satisfy our thirst with the sweet rain of grace...
I believe he said to us first, "Follow me.. Believe me.. Take up the cross.."
At the end of the year and beginning of the year, the church needs workers in various ways.
The Lord, who is the head of the church, calls the workers.
Serve as a teacher... Serve as a choir... As an evangelist... As a lieutenant, a leader... As an officer...
Not to meet the needs of the Lord, but to give us grace.
“You must be a teacher to maintain your faith, grow your faith, and receive grace.” This is exactly what it is.
“You have to be an executive to maintain your faith, your faith will grow and you will receive grace.” This is exactly what it is.
“You must perform in the choir to maintain your faith, grow your faith, and receive grace.” This is exactly what it is.
They say, “You have to do this to live a religious life and keep it even on Sundays.”
But laughing like a Samaritan woman
“Are you so thirsty that you ask without face?” Would you answer that way?
"I'm sorry for asking like that, so will you serve me once?" Is it like this?
We need to think more deeply about the fact that Jesus specifically asked this woman to be incompetent.
After waiting for a while, he realized that he did not ask his disciples what to do, but asked the Samaritan, who, as the woman herself says, should not ask...
Now we can experience this too.
"I'm really lacking. I don't deserve it at all."
However, what is clear is that the Lord knows this fact that “you are not qualified, you are not qualified, and you cannot go out.”
The Lord only asks us to lead us to grace to fill our shortcomings and needs.
Wouldn't it be the same as refusing to go to church because of a lot of sins?
Now our Lord asks of you.
To build up the body of the Lord, He calls and asks you to be workers.
As a teacher, as a choir, as an executive...
Not because the Lord is lacking, not because the Lord can't, but because we need to be filled more.
Because I have to share more through that filling...
I believe that we should take the lead and take the lead in the Lord's request.