Title: With Burning Thirst! (Gospel of Regeneration 3)
Contents
Title: With a burning thirst! (Gospel of Rebirth ③)
(Sunday service on March 11, 2007, Sermon on the Fourfold Gospel, Text: John 4:1-30)
▲ (Verses 1-4) Jesus goes to Samaria: When we leave Judea and go to Galilee, in fact, passing through Samaria is the fastest way. However, there was a deep conflict between the Jews and the Samaritans, so when many people went from Judea to Galilee, they did not go through Samaria, but turned around. However, Jesus is passing through Samaria, ignoring the conflicts and prejudices of such people. It is because the Jews treat the Samaritans as cursed people mixed with blood by the Assyrians, but they too are precious people who need to be saved.
▲ (Verses 5-6) Jesus tired of the long journey: Jesus is not only God, but He is just like us. So tired and exhausted from the long journey. In this way, Jesus knows, feels, and bears our weaknesses and pains.
▲ (Verses 7-8) Jesus approached naturally: Jesus is not rude or approaching people for the first time. Also, not only is he approaching it naturally, but he is also approaching it very humbly. Jesus didn't say, "You need my help, so ask me for help." He said, "I need your help. Please help me.”
▲ (Verses 9-10) Jesus finds a point of contact amid prejudice and doubt: The Saramian woman was prejudiced in two ways. For one, Jews and Samaritans do not date or talk to each other. When the Assyrians invaded northern Israel, they focused their attacks on Samaria, the then capital of northern Israel. And, after the occupation, blood was mixed through the marriage policy. So southern Judah at that time treated the Samaritans as accursed. Another prejudice was that it was awkward for a man and a woman to talk alone in broad daylight. For these two reasons, the Samaritan woman was suspicious and wary of Jesus who was approaching her (verse 9). But Jesus found common ground so that she could open her heart. It was that Jesus and she were both thirsty. But there are also differences. Jesus was physically thirsty, and in fact, she was spiritually thirsty. Between the two, he is talking about ‘living water’ as the solution.
▲ (Verses 11-14) Jesus speaks in parables about spiritual ignorance: The Samaritan woman does not harm Jesus' words at all (verses 11-12). It is because they are spiritually ignorant. To this spiritually ignorant woman, Jesus uses water and tells parables (verses 13-14). “The water you can give me is an instant quencher of physical thirst. However, the water I give you can quench your spiritual thirst, but it can satisfy you forever.”
▲ (verses 15-16) Jesus faces the fundamental problem of continued ignorance: The Samaritan woman is caught up in spiritual ignorance and continues to not understand Jesus' words at all (verse 15). This is not simply because of her lack of spiritual understanding, but because of Satan's work that obscures the brilliance of the gospel. At this point, Jesus no longer turns around and confronts her fundamental problem. “Call your husband” (verse 16), because the core of her spiritual thirst can be expressed as “husband.”
▲ (Verses 17-18) Jesus, who is not aggressive about denial and avoidance, but hits the core precisely: People deny and avoid when their sins and shame are exposed. Maybe this is instinctive. Adam and Eve also disobeyed God's Word and hid when their sins and shame were exposed. Also, to hide his shame, he covered it with fig leaves. When God gave us the opportunity to repent of our sins, we denied, excused, and shifted the blame. This is what the Samaritan woman is doing today. “I have no husband” (verse 17). But Jesus could not hold back any longer. He's not aggressive, but he's hitting the core with precision. “You are right that you do not have a husband. In fact, you originally had five husbands, but the person you are living with is not officially married, so it may be true that you do not have a husband
▲ (Verses 25-26) Jesus confronts the gospel about the longing for salvation: “When the savior comes, we will be able to meet God through him. He will solve all my pains and wounds, problems and troubles” (verse 25) “I am the Savior, Christ”
Come before Christ. The Lord will quench all our thirst. The Lord will become a spring of water gushing and grant you living water that will never thirst. Quench your thirst with the living water the Lord gives you.