Understanding: Jesus was traveling from Jerusalem to Galilee. The quickest route was through Samaria - but there was little love between the Jews and the Samaritans. You need to think about Northern Ireland and the troubles between the Catholics and the Protestants when it was at its worst. On several occasions the Romans had to intervene between warring mobs who were causing too much disruption to the Roman ‘peace’.
At midday, when the day was at its hottest, a woman came to the well. An unpopular time of the day for an unpopular woman. Jesus asks for a drink. He is a Jewish Rabbi talking to a Samaritan ... and she is gobsmacked. It is easy to imagine a fairly tart exchange going on as she is playing along in the whole situation.
Suddenly the conversation turns more serious and she attempts to distract him and back away ... but she is on the hook. The Holy Spirit has just opened up her whole life.
In the mean time Jesus’ disciples return with lunch and are amazed to find him talking to a ... woman. He is one odd Rabbi.
Ironically, it is the Samaritans who first declare Jesus as the long awaited Messiah and hail him as ‘saviour of the world’!
Application: ‘Treasure hunting’ may be a little frightening for some and a bit off-putting for others ... but there is no doubting that it is a legitimate form of Holy Spirit led evangelism. Don’t worry though, if it is not your ‘cup of tea’.
As we can see from the passage - Jesus was NOT on a ‘Treasure Hunt’, but he was open to the leading of the Holy Spirit and a ‘social outcast’ ends up leading her whole community into an amazing encounter with God.
Q. Has anyone in the group had an experience of Holy Spirit leading them in a similar way either with a stranger or with somebody you know ?
Q. What do you think about the possibility of God using YOU to speak supernatural truth into the life of somebody else ?
Q. What do you think of the following statement ?
“If we are really going to see people being transformed ... it is going to involve all of us in stepping out in faith more often than we do at the moment and in seeing our ‘comfort zones’ seriously stretched.”
Tonight would be a good evening to pray for people to be baptized in the Holy Spirit or simply refreshed and refilled!
Jesus was traveling from Jerusalem to Galilee. The quickest route was through Samaria - but there was little love between the Jews and the Samaritans. You need to think about Northern Ireland and the troubles between the Catholics and the Protestants when it was at its worst. On several occasions the Romans had to intervene between warring mobs who were causing too much disruption to the Roman ‘peace’.
At midday, when the day was at its hottest, a woman came to the well. An unpopular time of the day for an unpopular woman. Jesus asks for a drink. He is a Jewish Rabbi talking to a Samaritan ... and she is gobsmacked. It is easy to imagine a fairly tart exchange going on as she is playing along in the whole situation.
Suddenly the conversation turns more serious and she attempts to distract him and back away ... but she is on the hook. The Holy Spirit has just opened up her whole life.
In the mean time Jesus’ disciples return with lunch and are amazed to find him talking to a ... woman. He is one odd Rabbi.
Ironically, it is the Samaritans who first declare Jesus as the long awaited Messiah and hail h
