A message for all - Samaritan woman
A message for all, Jesus & the Samaritan woman – John 4:1-26
(If you’re able to go through the study before the meeting please choose what you’d like to focus on. This passage has a lot to it, so you might want to skip some of the questions. Whole books have been written only on this passage, I tried to keep it short as there is so much more one could look into with this passage)
Icebreaker
Q– What do you think ‘Worship’ means for someone who doesn’t attend Church regularly? What would non-Christians say worshipping is?
Q- If you joined a service this Sunday, do you remember anything from the sermon? What struck you from the talk?
Study
This is one of the best-known encounters with Jesus, a simply fascinating story.
Please read John 4:1-26
Verses 1-6
Q- Jesus was on his way somewhere else when he met the Samaritan woman, what can we learn from this? Do we see ourselves as missionaries in our daily lives?
Verses 7-9
Jews didn’t speak to Samaritans because they saw them as gentiles, even though they have a Jewish heritage and worshipped the same God. They had mixed with other tribes and were therefore not pure enough in the eyes of the Jews.
Q- What message is Jesus giving by speaking to her? Are there any groups of people today that might resemble the Samaritans of the first century?
Verses 10-15
Q- What does Jesus mean by giving her ‘living water’ (v.10-15)?
Q- How does He give living water today? How can we access it? Do we search for that ‘living water’?
Verses 16-26
In verse 22 Jesus talks about knowing and understanding who God is, God is revealing himself not only to the Jews but to the Samaritans as well. We then find these very well-known verses in 23-24 “Yet a time is coming and has now come when the true worshippers will worship the Father in the Spirit and in truth, for they are the kind of worshippers the Father seeks. God is spirit, and his worshippers must worship in the Spirit and in truth.’”
Q- What does it mean to worship the Father in “Spirit and in truth”?
Q- Do you feel like someone who tries to worship the Father in Spirt and truth?
Q– What does Jesus mean by “true worshipper”?
Q- Do you aim to be a “true worshipper” (v.23)? Is this something you try to be?
My understanding of worship is that it is a decision, a choice, we are worshippers when we choose to give God the place He deserves in our lives. We are people who worship God, a bit like loving God, it’s who we are. We then do ‘acts of worship’ like singing or joining in a service, but it comes out of who we are as worshippers. Worship isn’t mainly an act, but it’s a way of living, it’s recognizing the amazing God who created us. After hearing Jesus, encountering his love and his recognition of her a person, a daughter of God, and not seeing her for her mistakes, she says “ ‘I know that Messiah’ (called Christ) ‘is coming. When he comes, he will explain everything to us.’” (v. 25) That’s her act of worship, but internally she has already become a worshipper when she recognized who Jesus is, the object of her worship.
Q– In what way do you see yourself as a worshipper?
Please read verses 39-42
The woman becomes the first missionary to the Samaritans, sharing her faith that ends with others believing and becoming worshippers. She ends with another act of worship “‘We no longer believe just because of what you said; now we have heard for ourselves, and we know that this man really is the Saviour of the world.’ (v.42)”
Q– What acts of worship do we offer God individually? (i.e. other than corporate worship)
Q– What rhythm of personal worship could we incorporate into our daily or weekly lives?
This is an amazing story, in many ways the heart of the gospel. A non-Jew, an outcast, a woman with a doggy past understands the message, worships, has a drink of the “living water”, then shares the good news with others. It’s the story of every disciple, it is our story and it is a great reflection of who Jesus is.
Q– As we discover Jesus once again as the lover of the outcast, the sender of ‘improbables’, the one that brings dignity and self-worth to the rejected. What is our response? What is it that we want to do? Why?
Prayer
As we rediscover the story of this true worshipper in Spirit and truth, let’s spend some time in prayer together worshipping God, recognizing who He is and asking Him to mould us to be humble and amazed like the Samaritan woman.