Easter Sunday - Stephen van Rhyn

(gentle music) - Well, good morning everybody, and happy Easter to you. Isn't it great to wake up this morning and join with millions of Christians around the world, celebrating the fact that Jesus is risen from the dead and alive. He has won the victory over sin and death. And if that wasn't good news enough, wasn't it amazing that for many of us, we woke up to discover that there was hidden chocolate around our abode. How amazing is Christian tradition. We get to enjoy the Easter weekend, eating chocolate and hot cross buns to the glory of God. It is really fantastic. (audience laughing) Now, I know that some of you are here and you aren't celebrating quite as much. I'm sure you like Easter eggs and a long weekend, but you've never really got the point why there's so much fuss about a carpenter who lived 2000 years ago. What possible relevance could it have for us today? Yes, there's a lot of perks, but like most things in life, there's always a tax to be paid and the tax to be paid is being forced to attend a meeting just like this. Yes, your over-spiritual mother puts on an amazing lunch for Easter, but part of the taxes, you've got to attend the meeting first. I hope the lunch is worth it. Or your weirdly recently converted teenager asked you on boxing day if you had any plans for Easter. Like really, it's like, yeah, I think I'm gonna be cycling Easter morning and he said, well, that's okay, Dad, they've got three services, 830, 1030, and six, and it's like, ah, I can't cycle all day, I guess I have to come and so here you are. But wherever you are in your spiritual journey, we hope that you will get some benefit from this meeting this morning. It is fairly typical for pastors on Easter to spend time focusing on the resurrection of Jesus. And you can understand why they would do that. Somebody being raised from the dead is a real big deal. In fact, it's such a big deal in the Christian faith that Paul says in 1 Corinthians 15, that if Jesus wasn't raised from the dead, that we should pack it all in and go home because what we're doing here is a complete waste of time. And so it's absolutely right and appropriate to focus on the resurrection. But as a teaching team, as we were thinking and reflecting on what we wanted to cover this Easter Sunday, we felt that instead of focusing on the fact of the resurrection, did this really happen? This Easter Sunday, we wanted to focus on the effect of the resurrection. What difference does the fact that Jesus is raised from the dead actually make in our lives? And what we want to do to look at the effect of the resurrection is to reflect on an encounter that Jesus has with a woman in John chapter 4. And we are going to read the first 26 verses of John chapter 4. But I'm going to read a little bit, fill in a few gaps and then carry on reading. But let's begin by reading the first nine verses of John chapter 4. Now when Jesus learned that the Pharisees had heard that Jesus was making and baptizing more disciples than John, although Jesus himself did not baptize but only his disciples, he left Judea and departed again for Galilee. And he had to pass through Samaria. So he came to a town of Samaria called Psycho, near the field that Jacob had given to his son Joseph. Jacob's well was there. So Jesus, where he was from his journey, was sitting beside the well. It was about the six hour. A woman from Samaria came to draw water. Jesus said to her, "Give me a drink for his disciples had gone away into the city to buy food." The Samaritan woman said to him, "How is it that you, Jude, ask for a drink from me, a woman of Samaria, for Jews had no dealings with Samaritans." Our encounter here in John chapter 4 begins with John telling us that Jesus had received some notoriety. Word about him was spreading. And Jesus, instead of leaning into this notoriety, actually withdraws to Galilee to a backwater town that he came from. Now, the quickest way to Galilee was through Samaria. If you put it into Google Maps, it will take you through Samaria. But people knew that if you were a good and God-fearing Jew, you certainly wouldn't want to go through Samaria. You would want to take the long way round. But Jesus goes through Samaria. And we told him when he finds a well, the well of Jacob outside Saikar, he rests there for a moment as the disciples go into town to buy food. When all of a sudden a woman arrives, Jesus unfaiths us for a drink. The woman is surprised because in a single request, Jesus is breaking through a number of significant barriers. Notice, she says, "How is it that you, a Jew, ask for a drink from me, a woman of Samaria?" And then John provides some editorial comment for Jews had no dealings with Samaritans. There are a whole host of reasons why this conversation should never have gone down. Jesus is male, he is single, he is religious, and he is Jewish, and she is none of those things. And the issue at play isn't just that she isn't Jewish, but that she is a Samaritan. This is a major problem. There was significant hostility between the Jews and the Samaritans. Let me just give you some historical context here. There was a long-running feud between Jews and Samaritans that was both racial and religious. When King Solomon died, the kingdom of Israel was broken up into two kingdoms, a northern kingdom and a southern kingdom. And in 721 BC, the Assyrians attacked the northern kingdom and they didn't simply attack the northern kingdom, but they actually settled in the northern kingdom. And their sons and their daughters got married and had children. And the effect of that was that there was this new race, the Samaritans. The southern kingdom didn't like this. They were the pure Israelis, if you like. They hadn't produced families with other people groups. And so they were very proud of the fact of their lineage. And this had caused a racial feud between the North and the South. And then in 400 BC, the racial feud then turned into a religious feud because the northerners were tired of having to go down to the South to the people that thought that they were superior and better. And they were tired of having to go down South to Jerusalem at all the annual feast and festivals in order to celebrate. They had enough of that. And so they created their own sacred site. And in effect, we're saying to the North, we don't need you guys, the guys in the South, we don't need you guys for anything. We don't need to come down and worship with you anymore. So this was a racial and it was a religious feud. I think of India and Pakistan today and you get a flavor of the disagreements, which is why this encounter is surprising even shocking. How is it that you, a Jew, ask me for a drink, a woman of Samaria? And Jesus replies, if you knew the gift of God and who is it that is saying to you, give me a drink, you would have asked him and he would have given you living water. Now at this point, this woman is a little bit confused. She's arrived at the well, this guy's tired, he asked her for a drink. She says, hey man, I'm surprised you, a Jew is asking me a Samaritan for a drink. And then he says, well, if you knew who was asking you for a drink, you would have asked him for a drink and he would have given you living water. What is going on here is Jesus like a traveling water salesman, what is going on with this woman is somewhat confused, but she's not overall, because she replies, sir, you have nothing to draw water with. And the well is deep. Where do you get that living water? Are you greater than our father, Jacob? He gave us the well and drank from it himself as did his sons and his livestock. In the fact she's saying, Jesus, your sales, pictures are working to me. First of you got nothing to draw with and the well is deep. Secondly, you're not going to be able to offer me water that is more superior than Jacob's well. This is the very patriarch of Israel, the one from whom we get the 12 tribes of Israel. Jesus has changed gear, but she hasn't picked up that he's changed gear and she's not the first person who doesn't pick up the gear change. We saw last week, Nicodemus struggling with the same problem. Jesus replies, everyone who drinks this water, will thirst again. But whoever drinks of the water that I give him, he will never be thirsty again. The water that I give him will become in him a spring of water, walling up to eternal life. At which point she becomes really intrigued. The idea that she would drink water and then never thirst again is incredibly intriguing to her because for her, like many rural women on our continent, they had to spend a disproportionate amount of time gathering water in order to survive. She replies, "Sir, give me this water so that I will not be thirsty and have to come here to draw water." At which point this conversation takes a surprising turn. Jesus says, "Go call your husband and come here to which she replies, 'I have no husband.' I have no husband." Jesus responds by saying, "You are right in saying I have no husband. For you have had five husbands and the one you now have is not your husband. What you have said is true." And friends, in a single sentence, we go from spiritual confusion to sexual brokenness. This woman says to Jesus, "I would really love some of that water." And Jesus goes, "Go call your husband." And she says, "I don't have a husband." And he says, "You're right when you say you've got no husband. In fact, you've had five husbands and the man you're currently living with isn't your husband. What you've said is quite true." Jesus deals with her in a loving and respectful way, but he makes it clear to her that she cannot hide the truth from her. She she she may give technically correct answers like I have no husband. But Jesus supernaturally knows the truth. And this fact, instead of causing her to stop in her tracks and reckon with her past, doesn't because actually she quickly pivots. She is a survivor. She knows how to roll with the punches, which is exactly what she does. So I perceive you're a prophet, aka nice party trick, Jesus. But without missing a beat, she deflects like an octopus in danger. She squirts some ink to cause a diversion. She says, "Our fathers worship on this mountain." But when you say that in Jerusalem is the place where people ought to worship. And the question that she asks, Jesus goes to the very heart of the disagreement between the Jews and the Samaritans, where and how should acceptable worship take place? Where and how should acceptable worship take place? It was a live and a contentious issue in the day. But friends, can you see the irony of the question? Can you see the irony of the question? Jesus would have been absolutely with any his rights to say, "Just hang on, time out here for a moment." This may be a live and oppressing issue for your people and my people. But can we just see that your presenting problem right now is not about orthodox worship. You have had five husbands and the man that you're currently living with isn't your husband. I don't think a theological question around worship is the most pressing issue in your life right now. Jesus would have absolutely been with any his rights to push back like that. But he doesn't. But he doesn't. He answers her. He answers her question. And in answering her question, he gives some of the richest teaching on worship in the entire New Testament. Jesus in the very foot of Mount Jerusalem, which was their sacred site, their holy site for the Samaritan says the following, "Woman, believe me, the hour is coming. We're neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem. Will you worship the Father? You worship what you do not know. We worship what we know. For salvation is from the Jews. But the hour is coming and is now here when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth. For the Father is seeking such people to worship him. God is spirit. And those who worship him must worship in spirit and in truth. And friends here is a megaton of theological reflection on worship that we don't have time to go into. But it's worth noting here that this woman isn't particularly impressed with Jesus' answer. She does what is tend to mount to a theological eye roll. I know that the Messiah is coming. When he comes, he will tell us all things. In effect, she's saying to Jesus, you seem to know a lot whatever, but I know that when the Messiah comes, when the main guy comes, when the main dude comes, when the Messiah comes, he will tell us all things. And in one of the greatest might drop moments in the whole Bible in verse 26, we read Jesus said to her, "I who speak to you, am he. I who speak to you, am he. I am the Messiah. I am the God who has become flesh. I am that guy. I am like the burning bush in Exodus." Friends, it is staggering. That the moment of arguably the greatest moment of self-revelation of Jesus in all the gospels is reserved not for the learned scholar, Nicodemus of chapter 3, Israel's teacher, but is reserved for a woman in Samaria who has had five husbands. And the man she's currently living with isn't her husband. This is incredible. This is incredible. What are we to make of this? This Easter Sunday. Well, let me suggest that I think there are three words that are worthy of reflection. Thirst, shame and hope. Let's begin with thirst. Our encounter here in John 4 begins centering around thirst. Our story unfolds at a well and everybody who comes to a well is by definition wanting to satisfy their thirst. As human beings, we can't last very long without water. We get thirsty quickly, we need to drink regularly multiple times a day. Even Jesus in his earthly humanity needs to drink in warm conditions like the Middle East and indeed South Africa. Most people buy the fourth day without water are done. Extreme dehydration leads to organ failure which leads to death. Thirst alerts us to an urgent need. And yet despite the reality of human thirst and the necessity of drinking water, we all know that the lessons of John 4 have nothing to do with the importance of stain hydrated. Even though the woman at the well doesn't initially pick it up just like Nicodemus didn't in chapter 3 or the temple leadership in chapter 2, although she doesn't initially work out what Jesus is talking about, it is clear that Jesus isn't advocating for a new power drink. He is speaking metaphorically and he is pointing to a deeper spiritual reality. Notice verse 10, if you knew the gift of God and who it is that is saying to you, give me a drink, you would have asked him and he would have given you loving water. Notice verse 13, "Everyone who drinks of this water will be thirsty again, but whoever drinks of the water that I give him, he will never be thirsty again. We are thirsty and then we drink water and then we thirst again and then we drink water and then we thirst again and then we drink water and then we thirst again. Water may quench our thirst but it doesn't satisfy our thirst. We thirst again, it's only when we die that we stop thirsty." Spurgeon says that Jesus' words here are in fact a parable for life, the inability of earthly things to lost in Lee's status fires, the inability of earthly things to lost in Lee's status fires. It isn't enough that our favorite team wins, they need to continue winning. It isn't enough that our children do well, they need to keep on doing well. It isn't enough that we land the great job, we need to continue to be promoted, we need to build our CV. There is always something more, there's always something more that we need to achieve. This came home to me a couple of years ago when my son was accepted to do his masters at Cambridge University, which was a fantastic achievement for him. But for people in the Moe, one of the very first questions that they asked him was, "So what college did you get into?" You see in at Cambridge University there are 32 colleges and obviously there are some fantastic colleges and not so great colleges So the question became what college did you get into was yeah you in but are you really in? That there's there's always something more that you've never fully arrived you we we continue to thirst again and And friends what are our addictions other than personal memorials to our first? What are our addictions other than memorials to unmet needs? be it porn or popularity? alcohol or achievement cocaine or children money or marriage If you drink from the well of the world you will first again Friends you may be here this morning and not yet ready to embrace Christ But would you please at least admit that you are thirsty? Would you at least admit that doing things your way hasn't led to the satisfaction that you had ultimately hoped for Despite the fact that you've spent the entirety of your life drinking when you want how you want when you want You're still thirsty Drinking from the well of the world is to drink seawater It leaves you more thirsty. It doesn't satisfy so firstly first Secondly shame as you read through John chapter 4 for the first time it isn't actually easy to kind of spot shame at all until the kind of big reveal of Verse 18 but the fact of the matter is you've got five husbands and the man that you're living with now Isn't your husband and when you become aware of that and then reread the account you become aware that actually shame is hiding in the shadows of this passage throughout Notice verse 6 7 where the woman at the well arrives at the six hour The woman at the well arrives at the six hour which is noon Which is unusual is it not in that culture just like in our culture if you needed to go and collect water When did you collect water you collected water in the morning first thing at the morning or you collected water just before dusk You collected water in the cool of the day not in the heat of the day But this woman is collecting water in the heat of the day. Why is she doing that? Not only is she collecting water at the heat of the day, but she is collecting water alone Collecting water at that time was a very social thing to do It was like the ancient Facebook or Instagram It was the place where you got to catch up on the daily news It was a very social event it took time but people Maximized their time why why is this woman coming not in a group but alone? Why is she coming at the heat of the day and not in the cool of the day? Well the fact of the matter is when you've had five husbands and the man that you're living with isn't your husband The reality is there's a lot of people in the town that you're living that have first-hand experience of the hurt that you have caused you have betrayed a lot of people You have broken up a lot of families Everybody has a first-hand account Of somebody that has experienced pain as a result of your actions and Because of that This woman was a social outcast in psycho She could not go first thing in the morning There were no group of women that were willing to include her in the daily Activity of collective water can you see the fingerprints of shame? There is lifestyle change. There is daily routine changes in order to avoid people There is community dislocation the signs are there and the signs continue to grow go call your husband I have no husband Technically correct, but a profoundly broken response When shame is at play concealment is normally not far away We learn how to manicure our stories to conceal our shame if Undelt with this concealment leads to an active suppression of truth. I have no husband You're right saying I have no husband for you have had five husbands and the one that you now have is not your Husband what you have said is true the woman's said to him So I perceive that you're a prophet our father's worship on this mountain But you say that in Jerusalem is the place where people all to worship Can you see how concealment leads to deflection? Can you see the pivot from Personal sin to a national controversy? Where we go from what is personal to national from what is clear and obvious to the obscure and complicated from personal accountability to Unresolvable problems. Can you see the modus operandi of shame? Can you see the fingerprints are everywhere in this passage? I'm friends it would be so easy for us to sit here smugly on Easter Sunday Thinking to ourselves what a disappointment this woman has I Can't believe how many husbands she's had and Till we remember That all of us are only a single sentence away from shame All of us seated here this morning are only a single sentence Away from shame in this passage as woman is kind of leading the conversation Until Jesus simply says go call your husband Friends, we look very respectable here this Easter Sunday But if the truth be told we are only a single sentence away from feeling shame Friends what is clear from this passage and what is told in the Bible is that God knows everything about our lives No, no, no, not simply our actions, but our inner thoughts and our inner motives Which means at any moment in our lives He could just whisper a single sentence into our ear that would cause us to instantly feel shame and Want to drop our heads Friends kind of ask you this morning What are you ashamed about? What is the thing that Jesus could whisper into your ear that would cause you to instantly feel shame? I know that for me Jesus would just have to whisper two words Two words being the name of a person a person that I don't think I've seen for Over 40 years a person who attended the same Junior school as I did a person who would regularly rock up at school age 11 Smelling of urine and in an all-boys school We were cruel and Unkind and Relenting to this individual At times I was a willing pot-taker in the abuse I'm ashamed of my behavior What are you ashamed about What is the thing in your life that the passing of years Cannot erase What is a thing that Christ could whisper into your ear Friends our challenge this Easter Sunday isn't a challenge simply of thirst But it's also a challenge of guilt We have also Fallen short of the glory of God so firstly first secondly shame and Finally hope is there any hope for our thirst and our shame in this passage and the answer is an infatic yes Notice that it is to the concealing deflecting minimizing woman who has got five husbands and the woman she's now living man She's now living what isn't her husband that Jesus says I who speak to you am he I who speak to you And he if we had to gather a list of all of the people that Jesus encountered in his earthly life And then rank them as the people that were least likely To be the people that would get this incredible self-revelation that Jesus is the Messiah I would suggest that that this woman was right near the top of the list Why didn't Jesus communicate his true identity to Nicodemus to the teacher to the one who studied the word to Israel's teacher Well, why why this woman well, I think there are many reasons but at least one reason is is to show us that there is nobody who is outside of the reach of the grace of God. Jesus Himself says in Mark 2, 17, "Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick. I come not to call the righteous, but sinners. Jesus is very clear that the reason and the purpose of His mission is to gather people who are aware of their thirst and aware of their shame. He hasn't really come for the spiritual elites. He hasn't really come for the Mary Poppins types, the people that are practically perfect in every way. I guess maybe Jesus is helpful. He could enhance me. He could get me from like my 98% to 200. Thank you. Thank you very much. No, no, Jesus has come for the broken, for the thirsty, for those for whom shame isn't far away." And friends, the staggering thing about this passage in John chapter 4 is that the way that Jesus deals with our thirst and our shame isn't by pointing to a philosophy or ideas or words, but He points to Himself. Notice His promise in verse 14, "Whoever drinks the water that I give Him will never be thirsty again." The water that I give Him will become in Him a spring of water walling up to eternal life. And Jesus doesn't just make this promise in private to a woman in Samaria, but He makes it publicly into Ruslim in the temple in John chapter 7 and verses 37 and 38. On the last day of the feast, the great day, Jesus stood up and cried out, "If anyone thirst, let him come to me and drink." Whoever believes in me, as the scripture has said, out of his heart, will flow rivers of living water publicly at HQ in Jerusalem on the last and greatest day of the feast. Jesus stands up and says, "If anybody is thirsty, let him come to me and drink." Jesus knows that He is the only source of pure water. He alone is the only one that isn't salt water. He is the only one who can truly and fully satisfy our thirst forever. And friends, what is true of thirst is also true of shame. Jesus unquestionably points to Himself as the source of dealing with the shame in this passage, but we see this in verse 21 where He uses the phrase, "The hour is coming." We know from the gospel of John that the hour is a reference and code for the hour of Christ's death on the cross. Jesus is able to engage this woman and offer hope to this woman because He knows that an hour is coming and the hour that is coming is the hour where He is going to die on the cross for her, where He is going to take her shame upon Himself and pay the penalty that should have fallen on her is going to fall on Him. He knows that this is His mission, which is why He can own in verse 26. The fact that He is the Messiah, He is the Messiah that is coming to ransom, heal and restore and forgive us. And the way that He does that isn't through military might, but rather through becoming the sacrificial lamb and dying on the cross for her son and my son and your son, He becomes the sacrificial lamb who takes our shame upon Himself so that we can be ransom, healed, restored and forgiven. And so what difference does this make? It makes all the difference. Friends, this truth, the fact that Jesus meets our thirst and meets our shame is a transforming, has a transforming effect on us. And we see the transforming effect on this very woman because in verses 28 and 29, which we're going to look at next week, show us the transformation of encountering Jesus as the true source of satisfaction and the one who deals with the shame. Because in verse 28 we read, "So the woman left the water jar and went away into the town and said to the people, 'Come and see a man who told me all that I ever did.' Can this be the Christ? They went out of the town and were coming to Him." And then verse 39, "Many Samaritans from that town believed in Him, believed in Jesus because of the woman's testimony. He told me all that I ever did." Friends, this is staggering. What we discover here for this woman is that to encounter Jesus was to have a transforming effect. To encounter Jesus was to have her thirst finally dealt with and to encounter Jesus had her shame ultimately dealt with. We know this to be true because she actually leaves her water jar behind. The very reason that she was coming to the well was to get water, but to encounter Jesus, man, she didn't need the water anymore. And more than that, her shame was dealt with. And we know that her shame was dealt with is because the very first thing that she does have encountered is Jesus is that she wants to go back to her town. And she wants to square up the very people that had chunder, the very people that had isolated her, the very people that had turned their back on her. She goes back to those very people and she doesn't go back self-righteously. No, she goes back and says, "Come and see the man who told me all that I ever did. Could this be the Christ?" This town had had so many experiences of this woman, minimizing and deflecting and excusing and not only the stuff, but the single encounter with Christ and her shame being dealt with meant that she was free, free not just to worship God, but free to re-engage with the very people that had turned their back on her. And friends, what we incredibly see is not only is this woman's sin forgiven, but her earthly relationships are restored. Incredibly, the town that were least likely to believe her. If we made a list of who which testimony would this town not believe she would be number one on that list. You know, we used to believe her, but then she got divorced and then it was the second marriage. And you know, by the third marriage, we were just done with the lies and excuses and the things that we shame, we don't believe a word she says anymore. "Come and see the man who told me everything I ever did." What? What? And they go check out for themselves and many believe because of her testimony. Now we're going to see next week others believe because they hear her from Jesus himself, but there's a transforming effect. This woman's shame is dealt with, so dealt with that she can go to the people that are very, that are actually shunning her and testify to the goodness of Christ. And more than that, they're here's our open, because they know that they're who shame's dealt with. They see something different, you know, something has transformed that makes all the difference. Are you thirsty this morning? Are you willing to admit it? More saltwater is not going to do it. What are you doing with your shame? Friends, bring your thirst and bring your shame to Jesus. Only Jesus can deal with it, but he can so deal with it in an incredible, majestic and wonderful way.