Screenshot That! John Four, Part 1

This month in youth group, we’ve started a series called “Screenshot That!” A series in John’s Gospel.

Have you ever been scrolling through your phone and come across something you really want to remember? Have you ever taken a screenshot of that for later? I have – many times!

That’s what we want to do with the Bible. We want to take a mental screenshot of vibrant images and scenes in the life of Jesus.

For the first session, that was John 4.

Our scene begins with the Samaritan woman. She goes through five stages in her relationship with Jesus; five different ways she sees Jesus.

It’s noontime. It’s hot. The sun is burning down. Jesus stops at a well outside of a town called Sychar, and His disciples go to get food for their travels.

A Samaritan woman comes from the town of Sychar to draw water. It’s noon. It’s hot. She’s alone.

Jesus strikes up the conversation. “Give me something to drink.”

That was really weird. Men and woman weren’t meant to be alone in that culture – and definitely not at a well, the first date location of the Bible!

What is more, Jesus is a Jew, and she’s a Samaritan. Let’s just say these weren’t people who were accustomed to chitchat. These two people groups didn’t like the other at all. Yet, Jesus still does the unexpected.

She reacts, “You shouldn’t be talking to me, Jewish man!”

This is stage 1 – In her mind, Jesus is just another man, just another Jew. He’s just a guy.

Jesus then responds with an offer of living water. If you know your Bible, you’ll be thinking in terms of the Holy Spirit and spiritual life. That’s not what she’d be thinking.

She’d have thought of clear, cool, flowing spring water. Water from a well can get stagnant, and it’s hard to pull up. She says, “Sure Jewish man, I don’t understand how you’re going to get this living water from, but if it makes my life easier so that I don’t have to come here everyday and draw water, count me in!”

This is stage 2 – In her mind, Jesus can make her life materially, superficially better. He’s a useful guy.

Jesus isn’t satisfied to leave her there, though. He isn’t willing to leave her in lifeless triviality. So, He gets even more awkward and personal. “Go, call your husband.”

Reflexively, defensively, she snaps back, “I have no husband.”

“I know. You’ve had five, and the man you’re living with isn’t your husband.”

Now, she’s got to stage 3, and it’s uncomfortable.

Stage 3 – Jesus is a good teacher with spiritual insight… and that’s uncomfortable. He’s a wise guy.

She’s feeling the tension. Her mind is racing, “How do I get the focus off me! I know, compliment Him and talk about a controversial religious question!”

“Sir, I perceive you’re a prophet. Teach me, do we worship on this mountain or in Jerusalem?”

And Jesus goes along with her question. And I think, at this point, He blows her mind. He moves her from thinking about this physical location or that physical location, and talks about her need for true spiritual life in order to be right with God. It’s a level of theology — thoughts about God — that she’s never encountered before. It’s unlike anything she’s ever encountered.

And she says, maybe in a kind of daze, “I know that when the Messiah, the Christ, comes, He will tell us all things.”

Then Jesus says, “I, who speak to you, am He.” “I am, the who is speaking to you, the Messiah.”

This is when I think she gets to stage 4. She’s a believer!

Stage 4 — Believer: Jesus is the Messiah. He’s the guy.

Adrenaline bloods her body. She goes into fight or flight mode as 12 random men show up and start asking questions, and she leaves her jar and heads straight to the most familiar place to her – her hometown of Sychar.

Our story doesn’t end here, though. When she gets into town, she gets to stage 5.

You may be asking, “What could stage 5 possibly be? Doesn’t she believe? Isn’t she saved? What else can she need?”

When she gets to town, what does she says to her neighbours? “Come, see a man who told me all that I ever did. Can this be the Christ?” And then, the result, “They went out of the town and were coming to him.”

Stage 5 — Believer on mission; “Jesus is my Messiah, and I want others to know Him as their Savior too!”

In this conversation, Jesus takes her from thinking of Him as just a guy, to just a useful guy, to just a wise guy, to THE guy, the Messiah.

Yet, we’re still not done with this story. We still need to look at where the disciples come in – because of Jesus doesn’t bring them in too, their missing out on fantastic joy!

Read part 2 here!