John 4:1-42 When therefore the LORD knew how the Pharisees had heard that Jesus made and baptized more disciples than John,… 1. The person here introduced was a member of a race specially hateful to the Jews; but Jesus was above the prejudice of His nation. 2. The Samaritan was a woman. "Never speak to a woman in the street, even if she be thy wife"; "Burn the words of the law rather than teach them to a woman," were current maxims in Jewish society. But Christ, in the unsullied purity of His manhood, brushed aside as cobwebs all social regulations which tended to perpetuate feminine servitude. 3. This woman lived in habitual sin. But Christ came to save sinners. Notice Jesus Christ — I. ENLIGHTENING THE WOMAN. He leads her from natural to spiritual subjects. 1. Observe His sweet courtesy. He opens the conversation, not with a sneer or opprobrious epithet, after the manner of a Jew, but with a request; and notwithstanding her ungracious rebuff, not one word of rebuke escapes Him. A most gentlemanly stranger. True religion teaches us to be courteous. This urbanity impressed her, and He became successively in her eyes Jew, Sir, Prophet, Christ. The truth must be spoken in love, and love will impress quite as much as truth. 2. Notice that the woman's lack of culture did not hinder Christ making the grandest disclosures. A radical mistake is made when the attempt is made to simplify the gospel beyond what Christ has done. The sublime will always awaken the corresponding consciousness. This is one reason why the words of Christ have more power and permanence than the systems of men. 3. The Lord made a discovery to this woman which He never made to any one else — His Messiahship. Why? Because that would not have been safe in Judaea or Galilee? Rather because of the different dispositions of those He addressed. II. RECLAIMING THE WOMAN. The object of His enlightening her was to save her. 1. Christ always aimed at doing good. (1) In ancient times men did good spasmodically; relief was the result of natural impulse. But in Christianity impulse has been dignified into a principle. (2) Plato and Aristotle teach you to love men for your own sakes; Christ for their sakes and His. The essence of the gospel is not self-interest, but self-sacrifice. 2. He sought to do the highest good by reclaiming the worst characters. There are three stages in history relative to this subject. (1) A state of well-nigh complete insensibility. The Iliad delineated heroes and cowards, strong men and weak, but not good and bad. (2) The next stage is marked by the awakening of conscience and of the idea of right and wrong. Virtue is applauded, vice censured. But the idea of justice taught men to sympathize with the man sinned against, not the sinner. (3) The last stage is that of full-orbed mercy in Christ, teaching us to compassionate both the injurer and the injured. Christ changed the attitude of the world in respect to its notorious sinners. 3. To accomplish these ends He threw into His philanthropic movements unprecedented zeal (ver. 34). (1) He had infinite faith in human nature. He saw its hidden potentialities. A lady, examining one of Turner's pictures, remarked: "But, Mr. T., I do not see these things in nature." "Madam," replied the artist, with pardonable naivete, "don't you wish you did?" Christ saw what none of His contemporaries saw. The age was pessimistic; Christ was the only optimist of His time. (2) According to the strength of His hope was the fervour of His zeal. III. INSPIRING THE WOMAN, inparting to her His own enthusiasm. 1. She at once set about converting her neighbours. She did not lecture them; she only related her experience. We can also "say" if we cannot preach. Despise not the day of small things. Her "saying" led to the evangelization of a whole city. 2. The success attending the woman's simple efforts filled the Saviour with holy joy. (J. Cynddylan Jones, D. D.) Parallel Verses KJV: When therefore the Lord knew how the Pharisees had heard that Jesus made and baptized more disciples than John, |
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