38. Living Water: Jesus and John's Gospel Part 7

[00:00:03] [SPEAKER_00]: Thanks for listening to Stories of a Faithful God for Kids. To find out more, get in contact

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[00:00:23] [SPEAKER_01]: G'day, Dave here. Welcome to Stories of a Faithful God for Kids. How good are you at

[00:00:30] [SPEAKER_01]: seeing things? Are you good at seeing tiny letters? What about seeing things that are

[00:00:36] [SPEAKER_01]: really far away? How about seeing what people really need? Can you do that? It's a different

[00:00:43] [SPEAKER_01]: sort of seeing, isn't it? If you arrive at school tomorrow and you see a kid who you've

[00:00:49] [SPEAKER_01]: never seen before, they're looking kind of lost, they've got a tear in their eye, no

[00:00:54] [SPEAKER_01]: one's talking to them. Can you see what that kid needs most? What about if you're walking

[00:01:00] [SPEAKER_01]: down the street and you see a lady being chased by an angry flock of penguins? Can

[00:01:05] [SPEAKER_01]: you see what SHE really needs? What about someone who's jumped out of a plane? They

[00:01:11] [SPEAKER_01]: pull the cord to open their parachute, and that's when they realise that they've accidentally

[00:01:15] [SPEAKER_01]: put on their backpack that's filled with stuffed toy pandas instead of the backpack

[00:01:21] [SPEAKER_01]: with the parachute. Can you see what THEY really need? The people in those situations

[00:01:27] [SPEAKER_01]: may all need some things that are different, but there's actually something they all

[00:01:32] [SPEAKER_01]: need that's exactly the same. What's really sad is that lots of people don't see that

[00:01:38] [SPEAKER_01]: need. What's really great is that Jesus DOES see that need, and he's about to tell

[00:01:46] [SPEAKER_01]: his disciples to open their eyes and see properly so they can see people's need as

[00:01:52] [SPEAKER_01]: well. Get ready for our next episode of Stories of a Faithful God for Kids.

[00:02:26] [SPEAKER_01]: In our last episode we heard how lots of people were becoming followers of Jesus. The

[00:02:32] [SPEAKER_01]: Pharisees are starting to notice. People like Nicodemus. Jesus doesn't want to spend too much

[00:02:39] [SPEAKER_01]: time with them though, so he decides to leave the area around Jerusalem, which is

[00:02:44] [SPEAKER_01]: called Judea, and travel back to Galilee. If you look at a map of the area, Judea's

[00:02:50] [SPEAKER_01]: down the bottom, or south of the map, and Galilee's near the top, or north, around Lake Galilee.

[00:02:58] [SPEAKER_01]: In between there's an area called Samaria. Now there are lots of Jews or Israelites who

[00:03:05] [SPEAKER_01]: live in Judea. There are lots of Jews who live in Galilee, but in between are the Samaritans.

[00:03:17] [SPEAKER_01]: The Jews and Samaritans do NOT get on. They both say they worship the God of the Old Testament,

[00:03:24] [SPEAKER_01]: but they've got really different ideas about how to do that. And sometimes they get really angry

[00:03:30] [SPEAKER_01]: about it. Sometimes, not always, but sometimes they even fight each other about it. Anyway,

[00:03:38] [SPEAKER_01]: the easiest way to get from Judea to Galilee is through Samaria, and so that's the way that

[00:03:43] [SPEAKER_01]: Jesus and his disciples go. Remember, there aren't any cars in Jesus' day, no planes or buses or

[00:03:51] [SPEAKER_01]: trains. They walk. When they get to a Samaritan town called Sychar, they've been walking all morning,

[00:03:58] [SPEAKER_01]: and Jesus is really tired. His disciples go into the town to buy some food,

[00:04:03] [SPEAKER_01]: and Jesus sits down by a well outside the town. Another thing they don't have is taps.

[00:04:09] [SPEAKER_01]: If you want water, you either have to go to a river or a well. To get water from the well,

[00:04:15] [SPEAKER_01]: you need to lower a jar or a bucket on a rope to lift it out, which Jesus doesn't have. He's hot,

[00:04:23] [SPEAKER_01]: he's tired, he's thirsty, and he can't reach the water. After a while, a Samaritan lady comes

[00:04:31] [SPEAKER_01]: out of the town to get some water, and in John chapter 4 verse 7, Jesus says to her,

[00:04:37] [SPEAKER_01]: please give me a drink. It seems like a really normal question, but the woman nearly jumps out

[00:04:44] [SPEAKER_01]: of her skin. She's completely shocked, almost as if a nearby tree had asked her to tie up its shoelaces.

[00:04:52] [SPEAKER_01]: The reason she's so surprised is because of what I said before about Jews and Samaritans.

[00:04:58] [SPEAKER_01]: In verse 9 she says to Jesus, I'm surprised that you asked me for a drink. You are a Jew,

[00:05:04] [SPEAKER_01]: and I'm a Samaritan. And then John tells us, Jews are not friends with Samaritans.

[00:05:12] [SPEAKER_01]: Suddenly Jesus changes the conversation. Do you remember from the last episode how

[00:05:18] [SPEAKER_01]: Jesus changed the conversation really quickly with Nicodemus? Well he does the same sort

[00:05:23] [SPEAKER_01]: of thing here, because he really wants to teach the woman something. He says to her in verse 10,

[00:05:29] [SPEAKER_01]: you don't know what God gives, and he don't know who asked you for a drink. If he knew,

[00:05:35] [SPEAKER_01]: you would have asked me, and I would have given you living water.

[00:05:42] [SPEAKER_01]: Living water? What does that mean? Does it suddenly jump up and do a little dance? Can

[00:05:49] [SPEAKER_01]: I have a game of football? The woman doesn't know what Jesus is talking about either.

[00:05:54] [SPEAKER_01]: She thinks he's talking about regular old water. After all, you need water to live, right?

[00:05:59] [SPEAKER_01]: It's really strange though because first he asked her for some water, and now he's saying she should

[00:06:05] [SPEAKER_01]: ask him for living water. So she says in verse 11, Sir, where will you get that living water?

[00:06:13] [SPEAKER_01]: The well is very deep, and you have nothing to get water with.

[00:06:18] [SPEAKER_01]: Jesus explains he's talking about a different sort of water. A better sort of water.

[00:06:23] [SPEAKER_01]: In verse 13, he says, Every person who drinks this water will be thirsty again. But whoever

[00:06:30] [SPEAKER_01]: drinks the water I give will never be thirsty again. The water I give will become a spring of

[00:06:37] [SPEAKER_01]: water flowing inside him. It will give him eternal life. Whoa! Imagine never getting thirsty ever

[00:06:46] [SPEAKER_01]: again. Whatever Jesus is talking about is pretty amazing. Do you know that a huge amount of your

[00:06:54] [SPEAKER_01]: body is made up of water? We need water. Without it, we'll die. Here's the thing though. You drink

[00:07:03] [SPEAKER_01]: some water, that's good for a while, but then you need more. And then more. And then more.

[00:07:09] [SPEAKER_01]: And even then, if you have plenty of water your whole life, you still die.

[00:07:15] [SPEAKER_01]: Jesus is offering something much better. It's something that'll give you life forever, eternal

[00:07:22] [SPEAKER_01]: life. He's not actually offering her some wet stuff to drink. He's using picture language.

[00:07:29] [SPEAKER_01]: He's using the picture of water to talk about something much greater. Remember last week we

[00:07:35] [SPEAKER_01]: learned about how if you believe in Jesus, he'll give you eternal life. He'll save you into God's

[00:07:42] [SPEAKER_01]: family, forgive your sin and put God's Holy Spirit inside you. Water that gives life is a good picture

[00:07:49] [SPEAKER_01]: to talk about what we heard about in John chapter 3 verse 16. It says, For God loved the world

[00:07:57] [SPEAKER_01]: so much that he gave his only son. God gave his son so that whoever believes in him may not be

[00:08:04] [SPEAKER_01]: lost, but have eternal life. When Jesus is talking about the water, the living water,

[00:08:14] [SPEAKER_01]: Jesus is inviting her to believe in him. She's got no idea what he's talking about.

[00:08:21] [SPEAKER_01]: So Jesus changes the conversation again. He says in verse 16, Go get your husband and come back here.

[00:08:31] [SPEAKER_01]: Um, say what now? How come we're suddenly talking about her husband? She replies,

[00:08:37] [SPEAKER_01]: But I have no husband. Jesus said to her, You are right to say you have no husband. Really,

[00:08:43] [SPEAKER_01]: you've had five husbands, but the man you live with now is not your husband. You told the truth.

[00:08:50] [SPEAKER_01]: Hang on a second. Jesus has never met this lady before. He's never spoken to her. He's

[00:08:58] [SPEAKER_01]: never spoken to her. He's a Jew and she's a Samaritan. If Jesus was just a normal guy,

[00:09:06] [SPEAKER_01]: there's absolutely no way he could know this about her. But he is under normal guy, is he?

[00:09:13] [SPEAKER_01]: He is God the Son. He's come from God the Father. She doesn't fully understand that yet,

[00:09:20] [SPEAKER_01]: but she does realise that he could only know these things if he's come from God.

[00:09:25] [SPEAKER_01]: So she says in verse 19, Sir, I can see that you are a prophet. That's a messenger from God.

[00:09:33] [SPEAKER_01]: Do you see how clever Jesus has been? When he was first talking to her about eternal life,

[00:09:40] [SPEAKER_01]: she had no idea who he was. She'd never met him. She'd never heard about him.

[00:09:45] [SPEAKER_01]: Why should she listen? But now he's shown her that he's from God. Suddenly,

[00:09:51] [SPEAKER_01]: she realises that he's got something to tell her. Suddenly, she realises that maybe,

[00:09:58] [SPEAKER_01]: just maybe, he's got something really great to give her.

[00:10:03] [SPEAKER_01]: They talk some more and pretty soon the lady is getting really excited. She's thinking,

[00:10:11] [SPEAKER_01]: could it be? Is it possible that could I actually be talking to the Christ,

[00:10:16] [SPEAKER_01]: the King God promised to send? She says in verse 25,

[00:10:22] [SPEAKER_01]: I know that the Messiah is coming. Messiah is the one called Christ. When the Messiah comes,

[00:10:28] [SPEAKER_01]: he will explain everything to us. Then Jesus said, He's talking to you now. I am he.

[00:10:43] [SPEAKER_01]: Mind blown! It's actually him, the Christ. He's here. He's actually talking to her.

[00:10:49] [SPEAKER_01]: He really can give her eternal life. Just then the disciples arrive back with the food.

[00:10:56] [SPEAKER_01]: They're really shocked because in those days, men by themselves don't talk to women by themselves

[00:11:01] [SPEAKER_01]: unless they're married. They're like, oh, this is weird. What's going on here? Does Jesus know

[00:11:08] [SPEAKER_01]: what he's doing? The woman is so excited though. Remember that she came to the world to get

[00:11:15] [SPEAKER_01]: water? And remember that Jesus said he'd give her something much better than the water in the well?

[00:11:20] [SPEAKER_01]: Well now, she completely forgets about her water jug and the water in the well

[00:11:25] [SPEAKER_01]: because she's found something much better. She's found Jesus. She sprints back into the town so

[00:11:31] [SPEAKER_01]: others can come and meet him. John tells us in verse 28, Then the woman left her water jar

[00:11:37] [SPEAKER_01]: and went back into town. She said to the people, A man told me everything I've ever done.

[00:11:42] [SPEAKER_01]: Come and see him. Maybe he's the Christ. So the people left the town and went to see Jesus.

[00:11:50] [SPEAKER_01]: Jesus has seen what the woman needs most. Sure, she needed water, but much more than that.

[00:11:58] [SPEAKER_01]: She needs eternal life. And that's what he's given her. Now Jesus wants to give his disciples

[00:12:05] [SPEAKER_01]: something that they need. He wants to help them see better. He wants to help them see

[00:12:10] [SPEAKER_01]: what people really need. And just like he used the picture language of water to talk about eternal life,

[00:12:17] [SPEAKER_01]: now he uses the picture language of a farm crop. He tells them, You know how to look at a field

[00:12:25] [SPEAKER_01]: with grain growing in it and work out when it all needs to be picked or harvested. You can see

[00:12:31] [SPEAKER_01]: really well when you're looking at a field. Well now I want you to see really well with

[00:12:37] [SPEAKER_01]: something far more important. Let me read what Jesus says and you see if you can work out what

[00:12:44] [SPEAKER_01]: he's talking about. What does he want them to see that's so important? In verse 35 he says to his

[00:12:51] [SPEAKER_01]: disciples, You say four more months to wait before we gather the grain. But I tell you,

[00:12:58] [SPEAKER_01]: open your eyes. Look at the fields that are ready for harvesting now.

[00:13:04] [SPEAKER_01]: What do you think he wants them to see? Does he really just want them to see the grain in the field?

[00:13:11] [SPEAKER_01]: No. There's something far more important than that. If the disciples look around now as they're

[00:13:17] [SPEAKER_01]: eating their lunch, what are they going to see? They're going to see all the people from the

[00:13:23] [SPEAKER_01]: Samaritan town coming out to meet Jesus. Coming out to find if he really is the Christ.

[00:13:31] [SPEAKER_01]: Coming out to find if he can give them eternal life.

[00:13:35] [SPEAKER_01]: They're the crop that's ready to be harvested. They're the people who are ready to learn about Jesus.

[00:13:43] [SPEAKER_01]: Do you remember how the disciples reacted when they saw Jesus speaking to the woman?

[00:13:48] [SPEAKER_01]: They were surprised because they were just thinking about whether a man should be talking

[00:13:52] [SPEAKER_01]: to a woman alone. Do you remember how the woman reacted when Jesus spoke to her?

[00:13:58] [SPEAKER_01]: She was shocked because she was just thinking about how Jews and Samaritans don't speak to each

[00:14:04] [SPEAKER_01]: other. But Jesus spoke to her because he didn't just see her as a Samaritan,

[00:14:10] [SPEAKER_01]: he didn't just see her as a woman. He saw her as someone who needs eternal life.

[00:14:17] [SPEAKER_01]: Do you see people like that? Can you see people like Jesus sees people?

[00:14:23] [SPEAKER_01]: Sometimes we might see people like this. We might say,

[00:14:26] [SPEAKER_01]: hey there's the guy who's good at running. Oh she's the really tall girl. He's the one who

[00:14:31] [SPEAKER_01]: kind of smells funny. She's the one who doesn't like me anymore. But that's not how Jesus wants

[00:14:38] [SPEAKER_01]: us to see them. He wants us to see them as people who need eternal life. Who do you know

[00:14:50] [SPEAKER_01]: and help them get to know Jesus?

[00:14:54] [SPEAKER_01]: As soon as the woman realized who Jesus is, she couldn't wait to tell the whole town about him.

[00:15:00] [SPEAKER_01]: And John tells us in verse 39,

[00:15:03] [SPEAKER_01]: Many of the Samaritans in that town believed in Jesus. They believed because of what the

[00:15:08] [SPEAKER_01]: woman said. He told me everything I've ever done. The Samaritans came to Jesus and begged

[00:15:14] [SPEAKER_01]: him to stay with them. So he stayed there two days. Many more believed because of the

[00:15:19] [SPEAKER_01]: things he said. They said to the woman, first we believed in Jesus because of what you told us.

[00:15:25] [SPEAKER_01]: But now we believe because we heard him ourselves. We know that this man really is

[00:15:31] [SPEAKER_01]: the saviour of the world. And because they believe in Jesus, they have eternal life.

[00:15:40] [SPEAKER_01]: Jesus is about to meet someone else who believes in him. A man who's really scared and worried

[00:15:46] [SPEAKER_01]: who desperately wants Jesus to do something amazing. But that's a story for next time. Bye for now.

[00:16:21] [SPEAKER_02]: If you want more of a deep dive into these Bible stories,

[00:16:24] [SPEAKER_02]: make sure you check out the Sister Podcast, Stories of a Faithful God.