Welcome to Season 3 of Love & Context. This season,
we're exploring the life of Jesus step -by -step
and uncovering what His story teaches us about
loving God and others. Here on Love & Context,
we're all about having real conversations about
how to live out that love in practical, everyday
ways, and understanding the Bible in its full
context. We're so glad you're here. Let's dive
into Season 3 of Love & Context. Welcome to the
Love and Context Podcast. Podcast! Yeah. We are
continuing with our series on the life of Jesus.
Podcast. You're just going to keep saying podcast.
That's the only word Ben's going to say now.
There was an episode, sorry, I'm just interrupting
you already, but in season one where we were
like, we're like, podcast, podcast, podcast,
podcast. So that was it. Yeah. We're going to
be talking about the woman at the well, John
chapter 4. Life of Jesus. Yep. Yeah, we are going
to be talking about that. In fact, the first
thing I think we should probably do. That's the
first thing we should do? Yes. Okay, hold on.
Yes, we are going to talk about that. This is
one of the stories that is... It's interesting
to see the perspective that some people take
on it initially. We're going to read the text,
and then I want you to hear it, and I want you
to pretend like you've never heard it before.
Because I think if you do that, then when we
actually start having this conversation, you'll
be like, oh, I'm throwing a lot of assumptions
into this text that aren't actually there. It's
fine to think. But people have made very definitive
statements about what's going on in this text
on the character of the woman, the character
of just different things that aren't actually
explicitly said in the text. Yep. There's a lot
of things culturally that could be going on.
And it's always interesting to me how that happens.
Yeah. I mean, to be fair, this is not the only
scripture people do that on. Really? Yeah. No,
this is not. It's the first time I'm hearing
that. I was reading the book of Second Opinions
the other day. It's written by a doctor, by the
way. That's a joke for all my MD friends. It's
not written by Luke. It's written by Juke. Juke?
Yeah. Wow, we're on a roll today. I'm killing
it. This is cool. All right. So if you remember
last week, we were in the story of Nicodemus
and Jesus, and they're having this conversation.
This story is actually going to parallel a lot
of the things that are happening here. Yeah.
We'll just read through the story to start out,
and we're going to go section by section, just
comment on it, and then I want to go back and
take some big high -level views and talk about
that. Does that sound good? Yeah. All right.
I'm going to start in verse 1 here. Chapter 4.
Now Jesus... Learned that the Pharisees had been,
sorry, I can read. Now, geez, stop laughing because
it's not going to cut together well. Just get
in front of your microphone. I might leave that
in just so people know the absurdity that I have.
Actually, okay, real talk here. We are going
to get into the story, but I'm going to tell
you a quick story. I was editing yesterday our
episode that we posted, and I am not allowed
to have soda. during the episode again because
i had to have so many belches removed like i
had to go in so many times because i'd be talking
then it's like you know and i was like it wasn't
like a loud one but it was like very clear and
i'm like imagining people are listening to this
on their way to to work in the morning and they're
like yeah and then jesus comes in and then you
know like it's just weird pause in the middle
of it i personally i think it'd be really funny
for me to show up with like 12 different shirts.
And then like every time you're like, okay, let's
try that again. I change a shirt. It would be
incredibly confusing. Yeah. And then people watching
on YouTube would be like, wait. What? The downside
for me is that I'd have to wait for you to change
each shirt just to go back and do it again. Yeah.
All right. Now, for real, John chapter 4, starting
verse 1. Now, Jesus learned that the Pharisees
had heard that he was gaining and baptizing more
disciples than John, which I don't know why they
care. Although, in fact, it was not Jesus who
baptized, but his disciples. So he left Judea
and went back once more to Galilee. Now he had
to go through Samaria, so he came to a town in
Samaria called Sychar, near the plot of the ground
Jacob had given to his son Joseph. Jacob's well
was there, and Jesus, tired as he was from the
journey, sat down by the well. It was about noon.
When a Samaritan woman came to draw water, Jesus
said to her, Will you give me a drink? His disciples
had gone into the town to buy food. The Samaritan
woman said to him, You are a Jew, and I am a
Samaritan woman. How can you ask me for a drink?
For Jews do not associate with Samaritans. Jesus
answered her, if you knew the gift of God and
who it was to ask you for a drink, you would
have asked him and he would have given you living
water. Sir, the woman said, you have nothing
to draw with and the well is deep. Where can
you get this living water? Are you greater than
our father Jacob who gave us this well and drank
from it himself? as did his sons and his livestock.
Jesus answered, Everyone who drinks this water
will be thirsty again, but whoever drinks the
water I give them will never thirst. Indeed,
the water I give them will become in them a spring
of water, welling up to eternal life. The woman
said to him, Sir, give me this water and I won't
get thirsty and have to keep coming here to draw
water. He told her, Go and call your husband
and come back. I have no husband, she replied.
Jesus said to her, Yeah, at that point, right?
Our ancestors worshiped on this mountain, but
the Jews claim that the place where we must worship
is in Jerusalem. Woman, Jesus replied, believe
me, a time is coming when you will worship the
Father, neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem.
You Samaritans worship what you do not know.
We worship what we do know, for salvation is
from the Jews. Yet a time is coming and has now
come that true worshipers will worship the Father
in spirit and truth, for they are worshipers
the Father seeks. God is spirit, and the worshipers
must worship him in spirit and truth. The woman
said, I know that Messiah, called Christ, is
coming. When he comes, he will explain everything
to us. Then Jesus declared, I, the one speaking
to you, I am he. Okay, let's pause there. So
what's going on in this story? Lots of things.
Was that helpful? It's so helpful. So helpful.
You know, this whole thing thrives on dialogue.
And so I love it when you just give me like...
statement endings, right? It's like a concrete
wall you put up. You're like, I'm like, hey,
what do you think about this? Things. Oh, you
know I did that on purpose. I do. So they're
actually the first couple verses where it talks
about Jesus gaining and baptizing more than John.
There is a significance there because John was
a recognized prophet amongst the Pharisees. If
you read the earlier stuff that John's doing,
which there's not a lot about, they're not going
after John the same way they're going after Jesus.
Well, I think they recognize that John is calling
for something that they agree with, which is
repent because the kingdom of heaven is here.
They're like, yeah, and follow Torah and all
those different things, which, by the way, not
wrong, but also missing the heart. Jesus, on
the other hand. is kind of ruffling some feathers
with them because he's like okay yeah we want
to follow torah and by the way you're not understanding
what it's actually saying and what it's actually
teaching and so g so they're getting to the point
with jesus at this point where they're like okay
how can we trick this guy like they're not quite
to let's kill him let's arrest him let's kill
him but let's prove that he's wrong which by
the way they weren't ever able to do yeah um
so the fact that The fact that it's actually
saying, hey, they're recognizing that Jesus is
getting more followers than John is the point
where it's one of those turning points in Scripture
where... It's starting to become worrisome for
the Pharisees. Yeah. Well, and it's more of something
that is also when you start to have this amalgamation
of more disciples, you're going to get more attention.
And so one of the things we've pointed out and
we'll point out more towards the end of Jesus's
life is Jesus spends about three years having
conversation with the Pharisees in the triangle
and one week in Jerusalem and they kill him.
And so there is a difference between the Jews
that are in Jerusalem. the ruling council and
the rulers of the law, to put up air quotes for
those that are just listening, and the guys that
he's engaging with on a regular basis. And so
every time he starts to get like a massive following,
Jesus kind of... moves away and then he moves
away and then he moves on right um he's kind
of like the the uh if you think about modern
church plans is like you want to grow bigger
and bigger and bigger he's like the opposite
he's like we're big and now i'm going to move
on yeah big and move on growing moving on right
the other thing to note on that is the fact that
his disciples were the ones baptizing because
to be someone who would be administering baptism
you typically would be a rabbi or someone higher
up in the religious chain. I also wonder if there's
not some of this with John writing back against
the Gnosticism that crops up, if there's not
some people in that day who are like, well, I
was baptized by Jesus himself. And he's like,
well, Jesus didn't really baptize, the disciples
did. Yeah. Like, I hear you, but I was there.
We were the ones baptized. Yeah. And then you
get down to verse 4, and I think this is one
thing where we've made assumptions, but this
is mostly factual at this point, is they did
not have to go through Samaria. Correct. Right?
There was a road around Samaria. Right. So they
could have avoided it altogether. Correct. So
when it says they had to go through Samaria,
they had to go because Jesus knew he was going
to have a conversation. Right. That part is the
assumption. Right? We're assuming Jesus knew
that this conversation was going to happen. Now,
based on your theological background, some of
you might be like, well, no, there's actually
no proof in the text of that. True, there's no
proof in the text of that. There's also proof
in the text of Jesus is the Son of God. He is
one with the Father. Last week, not last week,
a couple weeks ago, because that's when I recorded
it, with Les, we were talking about when Jesus
is tempted by Satan in the desert. All three
Gospels, Matthew, Mark, and Luke, recorded as
Jesus is led by the Spirit to the desert. And
once again, we doesn't say specifically led by
the Spirit in the Gospel of John, but where Jesus
is going is where the Spirit is leading. So whether
or not you are of the opinion, depending on where
your theology falls, you may be like, oh, well,
God, he just knows what God wants him to do when
he goes, or he's being led by the Spirit to a
specific place, and his Spirit says, stop, something's
coming up, and you just recognize what's coming
up. Either one of those, it's clear that God
is orchestrating something. And it's going to
be really clear when we come back and do the
story and I start talking about how it compares
to this conversation with Nicodemus. Yes. But
he did not have to go through Samaria. Correct.
But he did. Yeah. Which is significant because
Jews do not like Samaritans. I'm trying to think
of, like, there's not really a really good modern
equivalent. Maybe Israel and Gaza. Maybe. Maybe.
I'm trying to think of a modern equivalence of
people who are closely related but really despise
each other. Yeah, Ukraine and Russia. Yeah, maybe
Ukraine and Russia. Go back to the Old Testament.
You guys do your own research on this. The relationship
between the Jews and Samaritans is not a... good
one. It's one where it's one that's full of violence,
full of strife, full of hurt and anger. It's
crazy that a lot of Jews would rather spend time
with Romans than Samaritans. And yes, the Romans,
the ones who occupied them and are taxing them
to oblivion, they would rather spend time with
them than spend time with Samaritans because
in the Jewish mindset, Samaritans, they look
at them as dirty half -breeds. Right. That have
compromised the true way of Israel. Right. And
yet Jesus is like, nope, we're going here because
it's important that we go here. Yes. And one
of the things that is really important that perhaps
to understand about Samaria is their observance
of Judaism. They only saw the first five books
of the Bible as authoritative, which is going
to be very in line with like the Sadducees, for
example. Yeah. They only see the first five books,
the Torah, as authoritative and everything else
is just commentary. And so they're going to diverge
from people in that capacity. And so a lot of
the conversations that Jesus even has with the
woman are tied back to Torah. Yeah. Right. Which
totally tracks. Some of the other assumptions
that we make in here is that she's coming at
noon because she's ashamed to be around other
people. Possible. She could also just be on a
schedule that noon makes sense. Yep. Just because
everybody comes at a certain time and you go
at a different time doesn't mean you're going
there to avoid everybody else. I mean, it's pretty
well documented that most people would draw water
in the morning or evening. Yeah. Right? That's
pretty well documented. But it's not documented
that everybody... Well, and I think the reason
I think people jump to that is that it says that
you've married five times, but the person you're
living with is not now, not your husband. Now,
immediately people jump on that and they say,
oh, well, she had five husbands. She's been divorced
five times. And this person that she's living
with, she's living in sin. Also not stated in
the text, she could have been caring for a relative.
She could have been a caretaker for somebody,
which also might be why she's there at noon.
And you also have to recognize Torah a little
bit on this, right? Because Torah specifically
states that if you are widowed, that the next
brother in line of the family would marry. Yeah,
think back to the story of Judah and Tamar, right?
Tamar marries his first son, and then he's struck
dead. So the next son marries her, and he's supposed
to provide an heir, and then he's struck dead.
And then he's like, well, you just go be in widow's
clothing for a while in my household until my
other son comes of age. This is a leverite marriage.
You're supposed to take care of the familiar
obligations. I've said that before and I've had
people be like, okay, but five brothers? And
I was like, okay, we're also talking there's
no birth control. Yeah. And reproducing having
five, seven, 10, 12 kids. Totally normal. Is
pretty normal. Yeah. Now, what we're not saying
is that's for sure what's going on. No. What
we are saying is we need to curb our assumptions
when we're coming to the text. That when we assume
that she is. getting divorced lots of times,
and she's been getting rid of divorce lots of
times, and she's living in sin, it's going to
cause us to read the story a certain way. So
instead of doing that, why don't we actually
read what the story says, place it in its context,
and it's fine to make some assertions and be
like, I wonder if, right? But it's problematic
when we put our own biases in there. You should
not read your own stories into the Bible. Yeah,
to be fair, we do like the story of the worst
of these coming to know Jesus and changing a
community. Right. But already going from Nicodemus
being a highly respected biblical teacher to
a Samaritan woman at a well, it's already going
from the highest to the lowest. Yeah. In fact,
it's probably the fact that we don't view women
as subordinate as much in America. The reason
that we don't realize how dramatic that tension
is, right? Yeah. Yeah, so. All right, so I want
to jump in here. Let's jump back into 27. The
disciples rejoined Jesus. This is one of my favorite
parts, by the way. Just then, his disciples returned
and were surprised to find him talking with a
woman. But no one asked, what do you want or
why are you talking with her? Probably because
they've learned their lesson so far that let
him do his thing. Then leaving her water jar,
the woman went back to the town and said to the
people, come see a man who told me everything
I ever did. Could this be the Messiah? They came
out of town and made their way toward him. Meanwhile,
the disciples urged him, Rabbi, eat something.
He said to them, I have food to eat that you
have known nothing about. Then his disciples
said to each other, could someone have brought
him food? My food, said Jesus, is to do the will
of him who sent me and to finish his work. Don't
you have a saying? It's still four months until
harvest. I tell you, open your eyes and look
at the fields. They are ripe for harvest. Even
now, the one who reaps draws a wage and harvest
a crop for eternal life, so that the sower and
the reaper may be glad together. Thus the saying,
one sows and another reaps, is true. I sent you
to reap what you have not worked for. Others
have done its hard work, and you have reaped
the benefits of their labor. Okay, so once again
here is this lady immediately upon hearing what
Jesus says drops her jar and goes back because
what she's doing is not as important as what
he just said. Hey, I am Messiah and I can explain
to you the things you don't understand. Those
things you've been really confused about, I can
tell you about it. Yeah. Like, that's exciting.
Now, leading further credence to not placing
her as reading our assumptions into the text,
she goes and tells the city, which if you're
a person of ill repute, if you just make an announcement
and you say, hey, come and see somebody who told
me everything, they're a prophet, could this
be the Messiah, is your first reaction to just
follow them, the entire city? I don't know. Maybe.
One of the assumptions, though, that's also bred
into this text is that she's a younger woman.
Right. And that's not explicitly said either.
True. And so it's actually would be a safer assumption.
And again, assumptions can be dangerous, but
it'd be a safer assumption to say that she was
actually an older, more well -respected elder
in the community. Right. Who's had bad luck with
husbands. Well, and there is a certain amount
of connection because she does seem to have some
sort of education because the questions she asked
Jesus are profound. Like they're much more profound
than they look on their surface. which has led
so many people, we've talked about it in the
past on the podcast, about whether or not she
was a religious leader in her town. It's possible.
We're not going to speculate. More, we're recognizing
that people from the highest stratosphere to
the lowest stratosphere have significant questions
about God. The point in pointing out that when
she goes and everybody wants to follow her to
find out if, hey, this is Messiah, is pointing
out the fact that we need to not read our assumptions
into it. Because if we're like, well, she's just,
you know, she's been married a bunch of times
and she's been sleeping around and blah, blah,
blah. So that's why people come out. You have
to really start to do what I call hermeneutic
gymnastics. For those of listening who are like,
what are hermeneutics? It's something about how
you interpret scripture, right? So I say you
kind of have to do gymnastics to make your theory
fit. And we shouldn't have to do that. Yeah.
And one of the things with this story, too, is
the details that are left out. aren't important
correct and so you need to you need to look at
the details that are in there and say what is
important and one of the things in this part
is the fact that she encountered jesus and went
to her town whether she was of ill repute or
not she went to her town and her town listened
and came out to meet him the disciples are really
funny here yeah because they're like he's hanging
out with a woman by a well samaritan woman i'm
gonna keep my mouth shut but what is going on
Yeah. Well, and to be fair on the disciples front,
they're probably already very stretched and uncomfortable
in this situation because earlier in the text,
it says they went into town to buy food. Now
all the disciples are not Samaritans. And so,
and the woman talks about how like Jews and Samaritans
don't associate. So you have a group of Jews
going into a Samaritan town to buy food, right?
For the disciples. this would be a very uncomfortable
situation. One, you almost wonder because they
went into town, left Jesus at the well, like
with cultural taboos, is their thought maybe
spare rabbi from having to go into the Samaritan
town? Yeah. And then the Samaritan is coming
out and he's actually talking to the Samaritan.
Yeah. Which these are contextual clues that would
potentially hold some accuracy. Yeah. But again,
not explicitly said in the text, but, but then
to have them come back being like, okay, we,
associated with the unclean, right? And then
to come back and be like, Jesus, what are you
doing? Like, that's kind of what it feels like
to me, at least. All right, so I want to just
close off this last portion of this. We are going
to talk about Jesus healing the official son,
too, but this is verse 39. Many of the Samaritans
from that town believed in him because of the
woman's testimony. He told me everything I ever
did. So when the Samaritans came to him, they
urged him to stay with them and he stayed with
them two days. And because of his words, many
more became believers. They said to the woman,
we no longer believe just because of what you
said. Now we have heard for ourselves and we
know that this man really is a savior of the
world. Okay. Once again, this is playing once
again into this idea of she has to be in some
capacity a member of the community because they
believe because of her words. Yeah. So this isn't
somebody that has no credibility. Now, if you
hold that opinion, it's fine. It's fine. I think
you still catch the crux of the story. But I
want to challenge us not to make assumptions
on the text. And especially when you come into
a story like this. So love and context, we talk
about having real conversations about the scriptures
and talking about Jesus. There are... issues
that i see on social media and we we've talked
about this type of thing before where two people
have a difference of opinion on a passage and
it's a minor thing was she a respected member
or was she uh an outcast doesn't matter doesn't
matter and yet we there are there are times where
we will take these and we will build like entire
walls against each other about why the other
person doesn't really believe in the true story
that's problematic yeah right yeah So take a
look at how you've heard this story before. Like
you've heard it before as like this is a woman
of ill repute, a woman who potentially a prostitute,
not respected in the community, coming out during
the daytime to draw water because nobody likes
her, right? And then you contrast that with what's
actually happening in the story and you realize
that everything I just listed actually isn't
in there. Those are all assumptions we've made.
Yeah. What we know is she's a Samaritan woman.
came out midday to draw water, encountered Jesus,
realizes that there's something more to him.
She goes and tells her community. Her community
listens, and this whole town comes to believe
who Jesus is. Yeah. That's what we know. So there
is, yeah, and those are the things we know. And
so then when we're trying to fill in the details,
we're actually driving those points deeper. Right?
You don't drive the points that aren't explicit
deeper. You're actually saying, you're asking
questions about cultural context, linguistics,
all these different things to try to drive those
points deeper. Now, we said that the story really
pairs really well with the story of Nicodemus.
So I want to point out a few things that I think
is really interesting. So these are direct, literally,
and thematic contrasts. So the time of the encounter.
Nicodemus comes when? Middle of the night. She
comes when? Middle of the day. Middle of the
day. Okay. Nicodemus, social status. He is? High
-ranking religious official. And male, right?
She is? A Samaritan woman. Right? She is a Samaritan
woman, marginalized, stigmatized, all those different
things that are happening with those, both women
and Samaritans. In the approach, who seeks out
Jesus in Nicodemus' story? Nicodemus. Okay. Who
seeks out Jesus or who gets sought out in the
story of Jesus and Samaria? The woman as well.
Okay. So they're different ways. Like one's coming
to Jesus, one Jesus is going to, right? Both
of them are given a chance to respond, Nicodemus
and Jesus. Ultimately, we know Nicodemus does
respond because he's there at the burial of Jesus
at the end of the book. But in the moment, does
Nicodemus have a response? No. No. Does she have
a response? Yes. Leads to testimony, right? Mm
-hmm. Here are some more shared themes, some
things going on. These are going to involve some
Greek words. So if you are a Greek speaker or
Greek linguistic from the Bible, I apologize
because it's going to be wrong. Just forewarning
you. If you're trying to listen and write these
out, I'm probably saying them wrong. So just
go look them up yourself. So Nicodemus, connecting
these stories again. Greek words to show again.
Nicodemus misunderstands the words born again,
which is antheon. right? As a physical rebirth.
Like he says, born again, he's the Antheon should
be like a physical rebirth. She misunderstood
stands the word living water, which is also related
to Antheon, right? Because rebirth actually could
mean coming from above. Yeah. And in both cases,
God redirects them to a deeper truth. Nicodemus
hears that one must be born of water and spirit
to enter the kingdom of God. The Samaritan woman
is offered living water that leads to eternal
life. Yeah. And you are to worship in spirit
and truth. Like a lot of these words lining up.
Jesus tells Nicodemus that belief in the Son
brings eternal life. The Samaritan woman learns
that living water leads to eternal life. Nicodemus
is invited to live by truth. She is invited to
that true worship must be in spirit and truth.
Nicodemus represents a lot of just the religious
Jewish people. Yeah. Right? And she represents
the marginalized outsiders. Together, they show
that Jesus' mission is not just to save a person,
but it's actually to save the entire world. Yeah.
Right? Let's see here. There is, this is really
cool too here. So spirit, the pneuma, John 3,
5 through 6, he says to Nicodemus, born of water
and spirit, same word that is being used in worship
and spirit and truth, central in both stories.
Nicodemus says eternal life through the sun,
living water flowing up for eternal life, same
word that is being used, zoe, truth, alathie,
theia. I should make. Actually, make somebody
else read these. Just call Nick on this. Living
by the truth brings one into the light. True
worshipers worship in spirit and truth. The world,
the cosmos, God so loved the world. She declares,
the Samaritans declare Jesus Savior of the cosmos,
the world. Testimony, Jesus speaks of testimony
not received, and her testimony leads to many
believing. So we have right here again this chiastic
structure. Nicodemus comes at night. She comes
in the day. He's respected. She's marginalized.
He seeks Jesus. Jesus seeks her. They both have
a misunderstanding. One about being born again.
One about living water. Yep. The central idea
is spiritual rebirth versus true worship. It's
almost like those things might be related. Yeah.
Right? He has slow, hesitant faith. She has an
immediate, robust response. And the outcome is
he remains cautious and hidden, but the outcome
of Jesus is that she becomes a bold evangelist.
Yeah. Right? So these stories, and by the way,
I only just took a little sampling. Yeah. There's
actually a lot more that connects these two stories.
Yes. And so what John is doing is all throughout
his gospel, he's going to have this idea of light
and darkness, truth and lies. He's going to be
kind of contrasting these things over and over
again. So this story should be viewed as informing
on each other, right? And so, like I said, being
born again connects to this idea of true worship,
right? Like being born again actually enables
you to see the kingdom of God and actually engage
in true worship with the Father, right? It's
a profound statement. And as you're starting
to hear these and you start to connect these
ideas, you're like, oh, good golly. There's a
lot more going on here than I thought. Yeah.
And one of the things that, and the reason you're
able to connect those two ideas is because Jesus
is proclaiming the same message in a different
language for a different audience. Yeah. Right?
And that's something we could learn, right? Because
so many times I hear Christians be like, okay,
well, this is the gospel, and they proclaim a
good message, right? But the audience they're
proclaiming it to just leaves them be like, what
are you talking about? Yeah. And so, but here
you have Jesus being like, okay, I'm talking
to a high ranking religious leader who's a man.
This is what we're going to talk about. And then
I'm talking to a Samaritan woman at the well
from a Jewish perspective, which is like the
worst of the worst, right? You don't hang out
with Samaritans. I'm not saying women are the
worst. I'm just saying from a Jewish perspective.
You heard it here first on the Love and Conduct
podcast. Spencer McDowell, care of. And I will
be sleeping on the couch because when my wife
listens to this, she'll be like, what the? I
hear you, but what's the likelihood your wife
is going to listen to this? She's not. I've asked
her, I was like, hey, have you listened to any
of our episodes? She's like. I hear you and Ben
talk about them all the time. I don't need to
go listen to it. Fair enough. Fair enough. Fair
enough. But you have Jesus proclaiming the same
message in different words, both of which, by
the way, are relating to not just the audience
he's talking to, but the physical surrounding
that he's in. Right. So like you take Nicodemus,
for example, the idea of being born again, bringing
light into the darkness, he's talking, they're
talking at night. And so like there's that imagery
of like light is coming. Right. And then you
have the imagery of the water at the well. Right.
Of like, well, I'm thirsty. Let's talk about
living water. Right. Yeah. He's using what's
there to bring the gospel message to these people.
And that's something I think we could take note
of. I also think there is this, we quote John
3 .16, but I actually find because 3 .16 is quoted
so often, we curtail it before 17, 18, 19, right?
Which are significant. And even we do that with
this story here, right? 17, 18, 19, real quick,
just to give you guys a reminder. For God did
not send his Son into the world to condemn the
world, but to save the world through him. Whoever
believes in him is not condemned, but whoever
does not believe stands condemned already because
they have not believed in the name of God's one
and only Son. This is the verdict. Light has
come into the world, but people love darkness
instead of light because their deeds are evil.
Everyone who does evil hates the light and will
not come into the light for the fear that their
deeds will be exposed. But whoever lives by the
truth comes into the light so that it may seem
plainly that they have done That what they have
done has been done in the sight of God. Now,
she says, Jesus is Messiah. He told me everything
I ever knew, I ever done. Right? And people come
running to see him. This is the verdict. Light
entered the world. And if you're evil, you're
not going to want to see your stuff exposed.
But light can expose garbage. And then they come
there and they said, now we don't believe just
because of what you said, but because we've actually
been in the light. We've heard the words of God
from his very mouth. Yeah. Right? The response
here is staggering. Right? And I don't want to
be hard on Nicodemus because he eventually comes
around. Yeah. I think this is also a pretty good
conversation about sometimes you just plant a
seed and are okay just walking away. Yeah. you're
not in charge of the outcome, right? And I think
as churches and other people who follow Jesus,
we often want to be in charge of the outcome,
right? Especially in the U .S. We live in a control
-based society. You take control of... Let's
just take finances, for example. If you're bad
with money, it's like, no, you have to take control
of that. Okay, you're not making enough money.
Well, pull yourself up by your bootstraps. Change
your living situation. You take control of that.
So on and so forth. And we kind of bleed that
over into the church. But the reality is redemption
comes from Jesus, comes through Jesus. Forgiveness
comes from Jesus, through Jesus. And what are
we supposed to do? Love the Lord with everything
we have. Love and love your neighbor as yourself.
And if you present the gospel to somebody and
you're in relationship with them and you are
loving them as the Bible is calling you to love
them and they want nothing to do with Jesus,
that's not on you. Right? You can still be there
for them. You can still pray for them. You can
still present the gospel to them. But you're
planting the seed. You're not in charge of the
outcome. That's on the Lord. He's the one who's
in charge of that. I was having this conversation
with somebody and they said, they're like, well,
if people aren't coming to Christ because of
X, Y, or Z, right? I was like, should we even
be doing this? And I was like, is it good work?
Is it loving people well? Are you still sharing
Jesus? Be living as a testimony? Like, well,
yeah. And I said, then yes, you should be doing
it. You need to stop focusing on the numbers
and leave that to God. So a pastor friend of
mine years ago shared this story, and it was
about this guy who was in prison. And someone
went to him, shared the gospel, and he accepted
Jesus. And then the guy immediately afterwards
looked at the guy who presented the gospel to
him and said, okay, I don't want you to get a
big head because you're the 19th person to come
do this. Right. Right? So there were seeds being
planted all along. And the point of that story
is sometimes you're the third person. who's sharing
who's sharing that news with somebody sharing
the good news with somebody sometimes you're
the seventh person sometimes you get to be that
19th person sometimes you're the person who gave
them a loaf of bread so their stomach stopped
rumbling long enough for somebody else to share
yeah like we don't know where we are in those
and it's it's one of those um man, I'm such a
rabbit trail. That's okay. Um, it's one of those
things where I've talked about, uh, people that
are like, they're like, well, you have to evangelize.
I was like, or your life could actually be so
much about Jesus that he just shows up in what
you do. Yeah. Right. Like there's not some, like
I, I shouldn't have to change the way that I
speak to talk about Jesus. I have somebody I
work with right now who really is frustrated
with me. I get that. Yeah, I know. But the reason
they're frustrated with me is because every time
they say something, I spend a positive on it.
Yeah. And be like, well, you know, this is happening.
And they straight up told me, I just want to
be miserable. And I was like, why? Yeah. I was
like, why? And they're like, well, I could be
doing so much more with my life. And I was like,
hey, we're about the same age, and we're doing
the same thing right now. I was like, it's not
about that. And, you know, just get to have some
of those conversations. But he. It's to the point
where he's just not really talking to me because
he's like, Spencer just tries to make everything
joyful and happy. And I'm like, well, there's
something in my life. Can I ask a question? It's
like, where's this Spencer when we're hanging?
No, no, no. I'm the angry, spiteful Spencer with
you. You're like, listen, you've got to be there
sometime when I'm talking to Ben. All the anger
and spite will come out. No, but to your point
is that when you have a relationship with God,
and what we're not saying is that you should.
always going to be happy about everything happens
to you of course not um but there is a uh circumstance
of joy yeah me and carrying an atmosphere with
you that even when you're angry like you understand
you have purpose you have hope you have uh you
know moving forward and stuff like that what's
really strange to me is like they talk about
um when we talk about evangelism we talk about
talking people to jesus they're like listen you
got to go through walk through the romans road
i was like i i don't i'm not begrudging the tools
i think the tools are fine But what's more authentic
when you're like, hey, why do you follow, why
do you go to church? And I was like, oh man,
let me just, I can talk to you about my life,
what God's done, where I was, the hope I have.
The security, the things he's done in my life,
the miraculous things he's done in my life, the
blessings of my kids. I watched him work through
my wife and my kids and my friends and my church
and my family. And I watch people who are consumed
by anger, and I don't know what that's like anymore
because I'm not consumed by it. Now, do we get
angry on occasion? Yes. Yes, like today my daughter
rolled down the window in our car and it wouldn't
roll back up. I got angry and my daughter was
like, why are you mad at me? I was like, I'm
not mad at you. I'm just tired of stuff breaking.
He says this and this is after he zip -tied back
on the rear view mirror because it got ripped
off too. Yeah, it works. It does work. I'm not
begrudging you. There are people who are like,
I've never thought about using a zip -tie. We
just helped just now. I am not going to say how
many zip -ties are on that car. Holding it together.
At least seven. At least. Yeah. At least. But
anyway, this whole idea of you don't need to
become somebody else. You don't need to memorize
a script to talk to people about Jesus. In fact,
and it's fine if you get these tools to learn
where scriptures are and contextualize and you
study and all those things. Absolutely. Because
that's going to get the scripture inside of you.
It's going to get the spirit inside of you. Right?
And so then you just need to go and... B. I was
working in insurance a few years back, property
and casualty. And one of the first things that
you do when you first go into insurance is they
want you to read from scripts. And scripts are
incredibly successful at making sales. They're
incredibly bad at making clients. And some of
you are like, well, what's the difference? It's
like making a sale, you do it once, and then
you might get that person back. When you make
clients, you make a relationship that lasts a
long time. And so when I first got started, I
learned all these scripts so I knew where to
go and what to talk about and how to get there
and all those different things. And I was like,
when I got good at it, I stopped using a script.
And I started looking at the person and talking
to the person and understanding the person and
understanding what they were looking for, what
was wrong in their life, what I could do to actually
address something that's going on inside of them.
Yeah. Give them hope. Yeah. And by the way, I
don't think this is a big rabbit trail because
the reality is, is what is Jesus doing in this
situation? He's just being like, hey, this is
who I am. Let me tell you about. And also addressing.
Tell you about that. And addressing them directly.
So like Nicodemus, he drops him right into. You
can't see the kingdom of God unless you're born
again, dude. Why? Nicodemus, high academic guy.
He immediately jumps to Torah and references
the Torah. And the Samaritan woman at the well
is like, all right, let's talk about physical
needs. And not only that, he speaks to her. A
Jew spoke to a Samaritan. That's the first place
he meets her is he speaks to her. That's cool.
So yeah, like when it comes to this type of stuff,
like we can take a note out of Jesus's playbook,
by the way, we should be doing that. Yeah. In
general, I, in general, I think you should get
most of your evangelism tips from Jesus. Yes.
Um, I want to share one, like, this is the, this
is the last story here because I think, so you've
seen Jesus having a conversation with a, um,
Jewish. teacher, Samaritan woman. Now we're going
to run into an official. Likely we're dealing
with a Roman official. Let's hear this story
and see if we can see some similar themes here.
After two days, he left for Galilee. Now Jesus
himself had pointed out that a prophet has no
honor in his home country. That's always a great
way to start out the visit. When he arrived in
Galilee, the Galileans welcomed him. They had
seen all that he had done in Jerusalem over the
Passover festival, for they had also been there.
Once more he visited Canaan in Galilee, where
he had turned the water into wine, and there
was a certain royal official whose son lay sick
at Capernaum. When this man heard, that Jesus
had arrived in Galilee from Judea, he went to
him and begged him to come and heal his son,
who was close to death. Unless you see signs
and wonders, Jesus told him, you will never believe.
The royal official said, Sir, come down before
my child dies. Go, Jesus replied, your son will
live. The man took Jesus at his word and departed.
While he was still on his way, his servants met
him with the news that his boys were living.
When he inquired as to the time when his son
got better, they said to him, yesterday at one
in the afternoon, the fever left him. Then the
father realized this is the exact time at which
Jesus had said to him, your son will live. So
he and his whole household believed. This is
the second sign Jesus performed at coming to
Judea to Galilee. Okay. By the way, the story
coming right after there is not going to be an
official, but what a poor man sitting by the
water at the pool of Bethsaida that Jesus is
going to heal. Once again, we have a stark comparison.
Yep. Right? So Jesus has just come, and he's
dealt with, talked to Nicodemus, and then he's
talked to this woman at the well, and they got
all these people who are believing just from
the words that he's saying, understanding Torah
and engaging the Spirit and understanding streams
of living water bubbling up inside him. He goes
back to his hometown where he's like, I know
that I'm not going to be able to do signs and
wonders, but everybody's talking about the stuff
he did in Jerusalem, and immediately someone
comes up and they're like, hey, my son is sick.
I need you. And he's like, okay. It seems like
all y 'all want is the show. Yeah. I just came
from Samaria, where you guys don't like those
people. And they responded to the message. Yeah.
But Jesus, with his compassion, still heals the
people. He heals the son. And as he's coming
back, the son is healed. And the guy and his
entire household now believe. So now Jesus has
interacted people with three different ways.
Yeah. Intellectually, emotionally, theologically,
or, you know, like relationally and signs and
wonders. Yeah. So the answer is which, which
of these things should you do to share Jesus?
Yes. Right. Yeah. All of them are going to meet
people where they're at because the, the official
can't see past his sick son, which by the way,
that's, I get it. Yeah. Right. Yeah. He can't
see past his sick son. You can't see past the
sickness to hear Jesus. Yeah. So Jesus heals
him. And as soon as that barrier is gone, the
man believes. Right. Crazy. Yeah. Ministry by
Jesus. Yeah. He does a lot of different things,
a lot of different ways. And not shockingly,
the guy who is known for being the word, spoken
word of God, is really good at communicating
with people. The one constant through all these
encounters is Jesus meets them where they're
at, right? And before you write in and be like,
well, Nicodemus went to Jesus. Yes, he did. And
what did Jesus do when Nicodemus was there? Met
him where he was at. By the way, I think it's
interesting. I don't remember if it's in one
of the upcoming episodes. I'm going to try not
to spoil too much in case we get into it. The
Pool of Bethsaida. What does he say to the guy
sitting there? I can't remember off the top of
my head. Do you want to be well? Yeah. Who did
you just interact with? A guy who ran up and
didn't say anything, but just immediately asked
for healing. Yeah. And Jesus comes to this poor
guy sitting by the water, like doing the work.
And he says, do you want to be well? Yeah. Something
to think about. Yeah. Yeah. So, so take that
from Jesus, Jesus's playbook and be like, all
right. How can I be more intentional about meeting
people where they're at? It's almost like getting
to know people and speaking into their life with
intention matters. Right? Yep. That's good. I
like that. Also, one more thing, then we can
close on this. No. Close now. Okay. So these
three encounters, well, four encounters, if you
include the pool of Bethsaida, none of these
encounters were proclaiming the gospel to a large
crowd. Nope. Now does Jesus do that? yes he does
it actually says he teaches yep large crowds
which is an interesting contrast but um there's
the relational component of you got to get out
of your shell and you just got to get to know
people yeah do you have i mean you could argue
the woman at the well but that's that's a reaction
to the inner interaction exactly Yeah. Get out
and actually get to know people. Which, by the
way, I'm just going to go ahead and plug this.
Wherever you are, if your church has small groups,
you should be in one. Life is not meant to be
done in isolation. It's meant to be done in a
group. Wrestling with the text, struggling with
what Jesus calls us to do, balancing, am I going
too far or not far enough on these things? Yeah.
There are times where we'll be like, you know,
I think you could probably push that a little
further. Yeah. And sometimes we're like, chill,
dude. Yep. Calm down. Yep. Good stuff. Positive
spin. All right. Until next time. Welcome to
Season 3 of Love & Context. This season, we're
exploring the life of Jesus step -by -step and
uncovering what His story teaches us about loving
God and others. Here on Love & Context, we're
all about having real conversations about how
to live out that love in practical, everyday
ways and understanding the Bible in its full
context. We're so glad you're here. Let's dive
into Season 3 of Love & Context.