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Sunday School Special : Lesson 60

Text: John 4
16 May 2021

SUNDAY SCHOOL SPECIAL 16 May 2021

Text: John 4

Subject: Evangelism

Focus: Special Challenges I

INTRODUCTION

1. General problems exist

a) Lack of interest
b) Lack of concern about spiritual matters
c) The problem of how people prefer not to come to the light (John 3)

2. Special problems also exist

a) Gender problems
b) Racial problems
c) Religious problems

A BRIEF BACKGROUND OF THE TENSION BETWEEN RABBIS AND WOMEN

1. Known practices of strict Pharisees

a) They do not talk to women in public
b) Some were quite extreme:
i) Will not talk to even sisters
ii) Or spouse in public
c) “Bleeding and bruised Pharisees” 
i) Some close their eyes if they happen to see women in public
ii) They end up with bruises as they walk into walls

2. Status of women in the first century

a) Quite a low status
b) Society did not think much about women
c) Few were well-educated
d) They were not considered as worthy of studying Torah

A BRIEF BACKGROUND OF THE TENSION BETWEEN JEWS AND SAMARITANS

1. Samaria was the capital of the Northern Kingdom of Israel 

It was conquered by the Assyrians in 722 BC

2. Judah fell to the Babylonians in 586 BC

The bulk of the Jews were exiled to Babylon

3. Those who were left behind

a) The poor
b) Those who were in the “lower class” 

4. They mingled with others

a) Jews and Gentiles
b) Their beliefs were a strange mixture

5. They believed they were worshipping the LORD too

6. They had their own Temple in Mount Gerizim 

7. This Temple was destroyed by the Jews in 128 BC

This added to the tension between Jews and Gentiles

SAMARIA 

1. Samaria lay between Jerusalem and Galilee

2. Many strict Jews would take the longer route and bypass Samaria

3. There were many tensions:

a) Despising
b) Distrust
c) Deep religious divide post Exile period

WISE DECISION TO LEAVE JUDEA FOR A WHILE

1. The Pharisees

a) They heard that the Lord Jesus had more baptized people than John the Baptiser (John 4:1)
b) The Disciples baptized them and not the Lord personally (John 4:2)

2. Decision to leave Judea for a while

a) To avoid conflict
b) There were other areas the Lord needed to minister at

CHOOSING THE ROUTE FROM JUDEA TO GALILEE

1. The longer route

To bypass Samaria

2. The shorter route

To go through Samaria

3. Choice made

To go through Samaria

4. Reason

To reach the Samaritans (not because it was a shorter route)

THE CITY OF SYCHAR

1. A community well 

a) Collecting of water usually done by the womenfolk
b) Collection usually late afternoon 

2. Reference to Jacob and Joseph

a) A historical reference
b) Parcel of land given to Joseph by his father Jacob (Extra-Biblical reference)

3. The Lord Jesus at the Well at the 6th hour (Noon time)

4. The Disciples had gone to the city to purchase food (John 4:8)

EVANGELISTIC OUTREACH 

1. Taking the initiative

The Lord Jesus spoke to the woman of Samaria

“Give me a drink” John 4:7

a) Initiative taken by the Lord Jesus
b) Humble request
i) Being friendly
ii) Being nice and polite

2. The response of the Samaritan woman

a) She was surprised
b) She raised a question
“How is it that You, being a Jew, ask a drink from me, a Samaritan woman?” (John 4:9a)
c) Explanatory note
“For Jews have no dealings with Samaritans” (John 4:9b)
d) Was this a wrong move by the Lord Jesus?
Were the words of the woman of Samaria hostile?

3. Further response of the Lord Jesus

a) Engaging the Samaritan woman
“If you knew the gift of God, and who it is who says to you, ‘Give Me a drink,’ you would have asked Him, and He would have given you living water.” John 4:10
b) The Lord introduced some important spiritual matters:
i) The gift of God
ii) The Person who speaks 
ii) Living water
c) These were the right things to say to gain further interaction 

4. The puzzlement of the Samaritan woman

11 “Sir, You have nothing to draw with, and the well is deep. Where then do You get that living water? 12 Are You greater than our father Jacob, who gave us the well, and drank from it himself, as well as his sons and his livestock?” John 4:11-12

a) Politeness begets politeness
The Samaritan responds politely to the Lord’s humble request for a drink.
b) The subject of “living water”
i) She was intrigued
ii) She asked how the Lord would have drawn water from this deep well
iii) He had no bucket to draw water with
c) “Are You greater than our father Jacob?”
i) She showed that she was a traditional Samaritan
ii) They took pride in being one of the children of Jacob
iii) The typical Jewish pride is being “children of Abraham”
d) Potential danger
i) Racial tension
ii) Historical/ traditional problem
How would the Lord Jesus respond to this obvious “signal?”

5. The wise response of the Lord Jesus

13 Jesus answered and said to her, “Whoever drinks of this water will thirst again, 14 but whoever drinks of the water that I shall give him will never thirst. But the water that I shall give him will become in him a fountain of water springing up into everlasting life.” John 4:13-14

a) Literal water
Literal water will never fully quench spiritual thirst.
b) Spiritual water
i) The water the Lord Jesus offers
ii) Receiving it and drinking it 
iii) The individual will never thirst (John 4:14)
c) The water the Lord Jesus gives
i) It is first given
ii) It is received
iii) It becomes a fountain of water
iv) It will be a fountain of water springing up to eternal life

6. The positive response of the Samaritan woman  

The woman said to Him, “Sir, give me this water, that I may not thirst, nor come here to draw.” John 4:15

a) Politeness retained
b) Humility shown
c) Requests made
i) “Sir, give me this water”
ii) “That I may not thirst”
iii) “Nor come here to draw”

7. Analysis of these requests

a) The request was sincere enough
b) But it was a mixed response
i) Self-interest
ii) Gain and advantage – the main ingredients
c) Not the desired response that the Lord would like to see
(To be continued in the next lesson)