What you'll find in this week's email:
Family Movie Night: How to Train Your Dragon (This Saturday!)
This Week in Worship: Using a Different Script
Vacation Bible School (7/21-7/25)
Kids in Community (7/28-8/1)
Pancake Breakfast (7/12, 8:30-10:30am)
Faith on Tap (7/24, 6:30-8pm)
Adult Group (Sundays, 10am)
And yet, in 1988, under extreme international pressure (and influence by then Pope John Paul II), a referendum was held in order to determine if Pinochet would rule until 1997 or hold another set of elections. As the day approached, the vote was set…a majority of “No” votes would mean that free elections would be held, or a “Yes” majority would allow Pinochet to continue his place for another nine years.
Those in favor of a free election were faced with a real dilemma… how to encourage people to vote while they were under so much threat from Pinochet’s regime. While they could take the obvious approach which would be to impress upon people the gravity and seriousness of the situation, they feared that message would be lost amidst the already serious and grave reality that people lived with every day. What was needed, they decided, was to really show a different way… the way life could be again.
And so, they came up with this: watch video.[<iframe width="420" height="315" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/vkM5Dsk5RIQ" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>] An absolutely silly, light-hearted ad campaign full of catchy slogans and goofy actions, a commercial to show exactly the kind of care-free life that had been so noticeably absent for the past 20 years. A campaign that not only worked to convince people that the life could be different, but also a campaign that actually operated that way; in the here and now.
The campaign was a success! When people were reminded again of the way life should be and saw that different way actualized in front of them (even in a commercial), it was enough to motivate them to vote for change. The next year Patricio Aylwin became the democratically-elected president of Chile, and it all happened because in a grave and serious time, the silly and light-hearted was a prophetic sign of the way things could and should be.
This week we have the same opportunity to allow something similar to happen to us. Our next movie in the park is this Saturday evening and we’ll be showing the movie How to Train Your Dragon to 400 of our closest friends and neighbors. While it is a kids movie and, obviously, quite silly in places (Ok, VERY silly in places), I also realized this week just what a potent message it has for us. You see, in the middle of all its kidding and joking, there is also a real message and invitation to see life differently; An invitation to see ourselves not in the usual roles we’ve been assigned by the world, but instead to see ourselves in light of the script God offers us. A script where we really see and imagine a world without the violence and borders and boundaries that have become so commonplace. I invite you to come Saturday night to watch the film, and join us at 10:30am on Sunday morning as we use the movie to translate a message from Scripture that puts the vision of the Kingdom of God in front of us again.
See you Saturday, and if you’d like to read more of the passage before then you can find it here.(Pastor Brent)
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Scripture Text:
John 4:5-42
John 4:4-6 To get there, he had to pass through Samaria. He came into Sychar, a Samaritan village that bordered the field Jacob had given his son Joseph. Jacob’s well was still there. Jesus, worn out by the trip, sat down at the well. It was noon.
7-8 A woman, a Samaritan, came to draw water. Jesus said, “Would you give me a drink of water?” (His disciples had gone to the village to buy food for lunch.)
9 The Samaritan woman, taken aback, asked, “How come you, a Jew, are asking me, a Samaritan woman, for a drink?” (Jews in those days wouldn’t be caught dead talking to Samaritans.)
10 Jesus answered, “If you knew the generosity of God and who I am, you would be asking me for a drink, and I would give you fresh, living water.”
11-12 The woman said, “Sir, you don’t even have a bucket to draw with, and this well is deep. So how are you going to get this ‘living water’? Are you a better man than our ancestor Jacob, who dug this well and drank from it, he and his sons and livestock, and passed it down to us?”
13-14 Jesus said, “Everyone who drinks this water will get thirsty again and again. Anyone who drinks the water I give will never thirst—not ever. The water I give will be an artesian spring within, gushing fountains of endless life.”
15 The woman said, “Sir, give me this water so I won’t ever get thirsty, won’t ever have to come back to this well again!”
16 He said, “Go call your husband and then come back.”
17-18 “I have no husband,” she said.
“That’s nicely put: ‘I have no husband.’ You’ve had five husbands, and the man you’re living with now isn’t even your husband. You spoke the truth there, sure enough.”
19-20 “Oh, so you’re a prophet! Well, tell me this: Our ancestors worshiped God at this mountain, but you Jews insist that Jerusalem is the only place for worship, right?”
21-23 “Believe me, woman, the time is coming when you Samaritans will worship the Father neither here at this mountain nor there in Jerusalem. You worship guessing in the dark; we Jews worship in the clear light of day. God’s way of salvation is made available through the Jews. But the time is coming—it has, in fact, come—when what you’re called will not matter and where you go to worship will not matter.
23-24 “It’s who you are and the way you live that count before God. Your worship must engage your spirit in the pursuit of truth. That’s the kind of people the Father is out looking for: those who are simply and honestly themselves before him in their worship. God is sheer being itself—Spirit. Those who worship him must do it out of their very being, their spirits, their true selves, in adoration.”
25 The woman said, “I don’t know about that. I do know that the Messiah is coming. When he arrives, we’ll get the whole story.”
26 “I am he,” said Jesus. “You don’t have to wait any longer or look any further.”
27 Just then his disciples came back. They were shocked. They couldn’t believe he was talking with that kind of a woman. No one said what they were all thinking, but their faces showed it.
28-30 The woman took the hint and left. In her confusion she left her water pot. Back in the village she told the people, “Come see a man who knew all about the things I did, who knows me inside and out. Do you think this could be the Messiah?” And they went out to see for themselves.
It’s Harvest Time
31 In the meantime, the disciples pressed him, “Rabbi, eat. Aren’t you going to eat?”
32 He told them, “I have food to eat you know nothing about.”
33 The disciples were puzzled. “Who could have brought him food?”
34-35 Jesus said, “The food that keeps me going is that I do the will of the One who sent me, finishing the work he started. As you look around right now, wouldn’t you say that in about four months it will be time to harvest? Well, I’m telling you to open your eyes and take a good look at what’s right in front of you. These Samaritan fields are ripe. It’s harvest time!
36-38 “The Harvester isn’t waiting. He’s taking his pay, gathering in this grain that’s ripe for eternal life. Now the Sower is arm in arm with the Harvester, triumphant. That’s the truth of the saying, ‘This one sows, that one harvests.’ I sent you to harvest a field you never worked. Without lifting a finger, you have walked in on a field worked long and hard by others.”
39-42 Many of the Samaritans from that village committed themselves to him because of the woman’s witness: “He knew all about the things I did. He knows me inside and out!” They asked him to stay on, so Jesus stayed two days. A lot more people entrusted their lives to him when they heard what he had to say. They said to the woman, “We’re no longer taking this on your say-so. We’ve heard it for ourselves and know it for sure. He’s the Savior of the world!”
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John Wesley's Notes-Commentary:
John 4:5-42
Verse 5
[5] Then cometh he to a city of Samaria, which is called Sychar, near to the parcel of ground that Jacob gave to his son Joseph.
Sychar — Formerly called Sichem or Shechem.
Jacob gave — On his death bed, Genesis 48:22.
Verse 6
[6] Now Jacob's well was there. Jesus therefore, being wearied with his journey, sat thus on the well: and it was about the sixth hour.
Jesus sat down — Weary as he was.
It was the sixth hour — Noon; the heat of the day.
Verse 7
[7] There cometh a woman of Samaria to draw water: Jesus saith unto her, Give me to drink.
Give me to drink — In this one conversation he brought her to that knowledge which the apostles were so long in attaining.
Verse 8
[8] (For his disciples were gone away unto the city to buy meat.)
For his disciples were gone — Else he needed not have asked her.
Verse 9
[9] Then saith the woman of Samaria unto him, How is it that thou, being a Jew, askest drink of me, which am a woman of Samaria? for the Jews have no dealings with the Samaritans.
How dost thou — Her open simplicity appears from her very first words.
The Jews have no dealings — None by way of friendship. They would receive no kind of favour from them.
Verse 10
[10] Jesus answered and said unto her, If thou knewest the gift of God, and who it is that saith to thee, Give me to drink; thou wouldest have asked of him, and he would have given thee living water.
If thou hadst known the gift — The living water; and who it is - He who alone is able to give it: thou wouldst have asked of him - On those words the stress lies.
Water — In like manner he draws the allegory from bread, John 6:27, and from light, 8:12; the first, the most simple, necessary, common, and salutary things in nature.
Living water — The Spirit and its fruits. But she might the more easily mistake his meaning, because living water was a common phrase among the Jews for spring water.
Verse 12
[12] Art thou greater than our father Jacob, which gave us the well, and drank thereof himself, and his children, and his cattle?
Our father Jacob — So they fancied he was; whereas they were, in truth, a mixture of many nations, placed there by the king of Assyria, in the room of the Israelites whom he had carried away captive, 2 Kings 17:24.
Who gave us the well — In Joseph their supposed forefather: and drank thereof - So even he had no better water than this.
Verse 14
[14] But whosoever drinketh of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst; but the water that I shall give him shall be in him a well of water springing up into everlasting life.
Will never thirst — Will never (provided he continue to drink thereof) be miserable, dissatisfied, without refreshment. If ever that thirst returns, it will be the fault of the man, not the water.
But the water that I shall give him — The spirit of faith working by love, shall become in him - An inward living principle, a fountain - Not barely a well, which is soon exhausted, springing up into everlasting life - Which is a confluence, or rather an ocean of streams arising from this fountain.
Verse 15
[15] The woman saith unto him, Sir, give me this water, that I thirst not, neither come hither to draw.
That I thirst not — She takes him still in a gross sense.
Verse 16
[16] Jesus saith unto her, Go, call thy husband, and come hither.
Jesus saith to her — He now clears the way that he might give her a better kind of water than she asked for.
Go, call thy husband — He strikes directly at her bosom sin.
Verse 17
[17] The woman answered and said, I have no husband. Jesus said unto her, Thou hast well said, I have no husband:
Thou hast well said — We may observe in all our Lord's discourses the utmost weightiness, and yet the utmost courtesy.
Verse 18
[18] For thou hast had five husbands; and he whom thou now hast is not thy husband: in that saidst thou truly.
Thou hast had five husbands — Whether they were all dead or not, her own conscience now awakened would tell her.
Verse 19
[19] The woman saith unto him, Sir, I perceive that thou art a prophet.
Sir, I perceive — So soon was her heart touched.
Verse 20
[20] Our fathers worshipped in this mountain; and ye say, that in Jerusalem is the place where men ought to worship.
The instant she perceived this, she proposes what she thought the most important of all questions.
This mountain — Pointing to Mount Gerizim. Sanballat, by the permission of Alexander the Great, had built a temple upon Mount Gerizim, for Manasseh, who for marrying Sanballat's daughter had been expelled from the priesthood and from Jerusalem, Nehemiah 13:28. This was the place where the Samaritans used to worship in opposition to Jerusalem. And it was so near Sychar, that a man's voice might be heard from the one to the other.
Our fathers worshipped — This plainly refers to Abraham and Jacob (from whom the Samaritans pretended to deduce their genealogy) who erected altars in this place: Genesis 12:6,7, and Genesis 33:18,20. And possibly to the whole congregation, who were directed when they came into the land of Canaan to put the blessing upon Mount Gerizim, Deuteronomy 11:29.
Ye Jews say, In Jerusalem is the place — Namely, the temple.
Verse 21
[21] Jesus saith unto her, Woman, believe me, the hour cometh, when ye shall neither in this mountain, nor yet at Jerusalem, worship the Father.
Believe me — Our Lord uses this expression in this manner but once; and that to a Samaritan. To his own people, the Jews, his usual language is, I say unto you.
The hour cometh when ye — Both Samaritans and Jews, shall worship neither in this mountain, nor at Jerusalem - As preferable to any other place. True worship shall be no longer confined to any one place or nation.
Verse 22
[22] Ye worship ye know not what: we know what we worship: for salvation is of the Jews.
Ye worship ye know not what — Ye Samaritans are ignorant, not only of the place, but of the very object of worship. Indeed, they feared the Lord after a fashion; but at the same time served their own gods, 2 Kings 17:33.
Salvation is from the Jews — So spake all the prophets, that the Saviour should arise out of the Jewish nation: and that from thence the knowledge of him should spread to all nations under heaven.
Verse 23
[23] But the hour cometh, and now is, when the true worshippers shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth: for the Father seeketh such to worship him.
The true worshippers shall worship the Father — Not here or there only, but at all times and in all places.
Verse 24
[24] God is a Spirit: and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth.
God is a Spirit — Not only remote from the body, and all the properties of it, but likewise full of all spiritual perfections, power, wisdom, love, holiness. And our worship should be suitable to his nature. We should worship him with the truly spiritual worship of faith, love, and holiness, animating all our tempers, thoughts, words, and actions.
Verse 25
[25] The woman saith unto him, I know that Messias cometh, which is called Christ: when he is come, he will tell us all things.
The woman saith — With joy for what she had already learned, and desire of fuller instruction.
Verse 26
[26] Jesus saith unto her, I that speak unto thee am he.
Jesus saith — Hasting to satisfy her desire before his disciples came.
l am He — Our Lord did not speak this so plainly to the Jews who were so full of the Messiah's temporal kingdom. If he had, many would doubtless have taken up arms in his favour, and others have accused him to the Roman governor. Yet he did in effect declare the thing, though he denied the particular title. For in a multitude of places he represented himself, both as the Son of man, and as the Son of God: both which expressions were generally understood by the Jews as peculiarly applicable to the Messiah.
Verse 27
[27] And upon this came his disciples, and marvelled that he talked with the woman: yet no man said, What seekest thou? or, Why talkest thou with her?
His disciples marvelled that he talked with a woman — Which the Jewish rabbis reckoned scandalous for a man of distinction to do. They marvelled likewise at his talking with a woman of that nation, which was so peculiarly hateful to the Jews.
Yet none said — To the woman, What seekest thou? - Or to Christ, Why talkest thou with her?
Verse 28
[28] The woman then left her waterpot, and went her way into the city, and saith to the men,
The woman left her water pot — Forgetting smaller things.
Verse 29
[29] Come, see a man, which told me all things that ever I did: is not this the Christ?
A man who told me all things that ever I did — Our Lord had told her but a few things. But his words awakened her conscience, which soon told her all the rest.
Is not this the Christ? — She does not doubt of it herself, but incites them to make the inquiry.
Verse 31
[31] In the mean while his disciples prayed him, saying, Master, eat.
In the meantime — Before the people came.
Verse 34
[34] Jesus saith unto them, My meat is to do the will of him that sent me, and to finish his work.
My meat — That which satisfies the strongest appetite of my soul.
Verse 35
[35] Say not ye, There are yet four months, and then cometh harvest? behold, I say unto you, Lift up your eyes, and look on the fields; for they are white already to harvest.
The fields are white already — As if he had said, The spiritual harvest is ripe already. The Samaritans, ripe for the Gospel, covered the ground round about them.
Verse 36
[36] And he that reapeth receiveth wages, and gathereth fruit unto life eternal: that both he that soweth and he that reapeth may rejoice together.
He that reapeth — Whoever saves souls, receiveth wages - A peculiar blessing to himself, and gathereth fruit - Many souls: that he that soweth - Christ the great sower of the seed, and he that reapeth may rejoice together - In heaven.
Verse 37
[37] And herein is that saying true, One soweth, and another reapeth.
That saying — A common proverb; One soweth - The prophets and Christ; another reapeth - The apostles and succeeding ministers.
Verse 38
[38] I sent you to reap that whereon ye bestowed no labour: other men laboured, and ye are entered into their labours.
I — he Lord of the whole harvest, have sent you - He had employed them already in baptizing, John 4:2.
Verse 42
[42] And said unto the woman, Now we believe, not because of thy saying: for we have heard him ourselves, and know that this is indeed the Christ, the Saviour of the world.
We know that this is the Saviour of the world — And not of the Jews only.
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Our mailing address is:
Normal Heights United Methodist Church
4650 Mansfield Street
San Diego, Ca 92116 United States
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