Wednesday, June 6, 2012

Jesus and the Woman at the Well: A lesson in cross-cultural ministry (Conclusion)


Introduction

In Part Two of our lesson, we considered the content of vv. 16-30. Therein we took a close look at the "Perceived Obstacles to Mission." We saw that sin does not erect an insurmountable obstacle to a missionary effort. We saw how Jesus used incorrect belief or incomplete understanding as a starting point to begin the process of forming proper belief and a more complete understanding of God and God's ways. Jesus also demonstrates to his disciples that they must change their long held presuppositions if they are going to successfully fulfill Jesus' command to reach all the world with His salvation message. We continue now with the conclusion of our lesson by looking at the remaining verses within the greater context of John 4:1-42.

John 4:31-42

31 Meanwhile his disciples urged him, “Rabbi, eat something.” 32 But he said to them, “I have food to eat that you know nothing about.” 33 Then his disciples said to each other, “Could someone have brought him food?” 34 “My food,” said Jesus, “is to do the will of him who sent me and to finish his work. 35 Do you not say, ‘Four months more and then the harvest’? I tell you, open your eyes and look at the fields! They are ripe for harvest. 36 Even now the reaper draws his wages, even now he harvests the crop for eternal life, so that the sower and the reaper may be glad together. 37 Thus the saying ‘One sows and another reaps’ is true. 38 I sent you to reap what you have not worked for. Others have done the hard work, and you have reaped the benefits of their labor.”
39 Many of the Samaritans from that town believed in him because of the woman's testimony, “He told me everything I ever did.” 40 So when the Samaritans came to him, they urged him to stay with them, and he stayed two days. 41 And because of his words many more became believers. 42 They said to the woman, “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 Savior of the world.”


A Lesson for Missionaries (vv. 31-38)

This section of the text might best be described as a mission to missionaries. Like the Samaritan woman, the primary focus of the disciples is on physical needs—in this case, food. And in a striking parallel with Jesus’ discourse with the Samaritan woman where water was used as a metaphor for the spiritual truth of belief in Jesus as the “Living Water,” Jesus uses food as a metaphor with his disciples. Like the woman, the disciples don’t immediately grasp Jesus’ meaning about having already received food. Instead they wonder if someone else has brought him something to eat during their absence. There is, however, a distinct difference in their respective misunderstandings. “She [the Samaritan] did not grasp what Jesus had to give her; they [the disciples] did not grasp what Jesus himself lived by—the satisfaction of doing his Father’s will and carrying out to the finish the work given to him.”[1] Jesus instructs them in v. 34 that the thing that provides him with sustenance that is far more important than food or water is to do the will of the Father.

As is often the case in Jesus’ other teachings, he makes use of his immediate cultural context to illustrate his point. Beginning in v. 35 Jesus uses the illustration of sowing and reaping crops to clarify his lesson to the disciples. Jesus’ reference to harvest time in v. 35, and the fact that it would not be unusual for the people who were employed to plant crops to be different from those employed to harvest them in v. 37, contextualizes his teaching. Jesus envisions a time between sowing and reaping but Jesus has already sowed the seed with the woman at the well and now the approaching villagers signals that the time for the harvest has arrived. This would explain what Jesus meant in v. 36 when he says that the sower and the reaper may rejoice together. In this instance, “Some wonder if he is reflecting on the approaching Samaritans (dressed in white?), who will become a crop for eternal life. Jesus is in the world, God has invaded the field with seed, and it is bearing fruit already.”[2] Jesus has done the hard work of planting the seed with the woman at the well and now he and others will reap the benefits of that work over the coming days as the villagers come to faith as well. This is an important principle for Christian missions in general and cross-cultural missions in particular. “Christian labor is not a solitary effort, divorced from the labor of God. Christians are called to go to where God has already ‘done the hard work’ and in this place reap the harvest.”[3]

One last point must be made before we leave this exchange between Jesus and his disciples. There is one significant difference between the Samaritan woman and the disciples—To some degree, they already knew who he was. “Because she epitomizes the socio-religious traits the disciples could hold in aversion, Jesus’ encounter with her provides a most fitting context for bringing to the surface this attitude of the disciples and instructing them.”[4] This exchange demonstrates that even missionaries must regularly be challenged to examine their own presuppositions and motivations to determine if their mission work is being done for their own benefit, with an exclusivist or arrogant attitude or if their work, like that of Jesus, is based strictly on doing the will of the Father.

The Payoff (vv. 39-42)

Like all good missions, there must be an ultimate goal. Some realize that goal within their own lifetime while others pass away long before their goal is realized. This final portion of the text demonstrates the mission and the mission’s goal. The mission of the Samaritan woman was to tell her fellow villagers about Jesus with the ultimate goal that they would believe her. In this case, she sowed the seed and reaped the harvest. However, the woman doesn’t stop there. Instead, she takes a final and crucial step in the mission process, she removes the spotlight from herself and her message and shines it on Jesus to whom she directs the villagers. After all, the encounter was not really a revelation about her, everyone already knew her (and perhaps knew far too much about her). Jesus’ encounter with the Samaritan woman was an opportunity to reveal himself to the Samaritans. Much like the ministry of John the Baptist, this woman’s role in the faith trajectory of her village is reaching its final destination as she introduces Jesus.

Jesus continues his ministry among the Samaritans as recorded by John in a very specific and intentional fashion by remaining with them for two days.

“By accepting the invitation of the Samaritans and remaining with them two days, Jesus himself proves to be non-discriminating (for remember, it was the Jews who kept aloof from the Samaritans, not the other way around). His two days’ stay also lends practical weight to his teaching that his mission is for all…According to Didache (11, 5), two days was the traditional length of stay in any one place expected of the genuine missionary/prophet.”[5]

Verse 41 shows us that the missionary effort continues to bear fruit throughout the village during Jesus’ stay there. However, v.42 is the crucial element in any confession of faith. The villagers no longer believed based merely on the woman’s testimony but because of their own observation and interaction with the Truth that is Jesus. This is an important understanding for anyone in cross-cultural missions—those to whom we have been sent must, at some point, reach a point of belief based on the truth and not based on someone else’s faith. The confession by the Samaritans that Jesus “Is the Savior of the world” demonstrates the universality of Jesus’ mission. The title of “Savior of the world” is found in only one other place in the New Testament (1 John 4:14). However, there is a very strong parallel in John 3:17 where John writes that “God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him.” “His self-revelation has taught the Samaritans that the true savior sent by God does not belong to one people alone, does not set up a special form of worship in Samaria or Juda but bestows salvation on the whole world.”[6] In other words, Jesus is the fulfillment of the hopes and dreams of the entire world—Samaritan and Jew alike!

Application

Throughout this particular encounter with the Samaritans, Jesus models some very important principles that apply generally to all cross-cultural missionary efforts. The first element is dialogue. The missionary must seek the opportunity to dialogue with those to whom he or she has been sent—understanding, of course, that cultural differences mean that there is a possibility for misinformation and misunderstanding. Therefore, careful dialogue and understanding cultural idiosyncrasies is essential in minimizing any confusion. Additionally, dialogue develops relationship and relationship is essential in any setting where a missionary wants to be effective in conveying the Good News.

The second important element of any missionary effort is the method and manner in which the missionary interacts with those to whom he or she has been sent. Jesus demonstrates that even when he seems to be reprimanding the woman for her incomplete understanding of worship, he does so with humility and respect. Jesus further demonstrates this attitude when he allows the woman to direct the path of their conversation. Instead of forcing his agenda upon her, he simply uses her course of action to eventually intersect with his own. In this way, the woman hardly seems offended by anything Jesus has to say since it was, after all, her line of questioning that prompts Jesus’ response and eventually his self-revelation. He doesn’t beat her over the head with it. The message comes as a result of the natural ebb and flow of their conversation.

Finally, and perhaps most importantly, understanding the missionary’s own motivation is essential to the success of any cross-cultural missionary effort. The disciples’ actions when they returned to find Jesus talking to a woman demonstrate that their motivations in following Jesus were not yet fully conformed to do the will of the Father. To this point, it seems that their goals were not the same as those of the One they were following. As a result, Jesus used this opportunity to teach them as well as the Samaritans. The lesson—Jesus is not a respecter of gender, race or nationality. Instead, Jesus is the Savior of the world. Furthermore, it is not Jesus’ intention to pass judgment on the Samaritan woman based on her sinful life even though he has the authority to do so. The time will come when everyone will kneel before him in judgment. But for now, the mission is to reveal Jesus to the world as Savior not as Judge. This should be the missionary’s attitude as well. It is not until the missionary can fully grasp this reality that he or she can claim to be obedient to the will of the Father in the same way that Jesus was obedient to the will of the Father. The missionary must understand that the Father is looking to send those whose hearts are open to the possibility that anyone is a candidate to come to faith in his Son.



[1] George R. Beasley-Murray, Word Biblical Commentary-John, (Nashville, TN, Thomas Nelson Publishers, 1999), p. 63.
[2] Gary M. Burge, The NIV Application Commentary, (Grand Rapids, MI, Zondervan Publishing House, 2000), p. 149.
[3] Ibid., p. 150.
[4] Teresa Okure, The Johannine Approach to Mission, (Tubingen, Germany, Gulde-Druck GmbH, 1988), p. 139.
[5] Ibid., p. 179.
[6] Rudolf Schnackenburg, The Gospel according to St. John, v. 1, (New York, NY, Crossroad Publishing Co.), p. 457.

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