Jesus is travelling through Samaria. And he arrives at the town of Sychar, and it's about noon. He‘s thirsty, so sits down by the town well, the well that Jacob, the father of Joseph, had dug.
There’s an awful lot of detail here.
And the detail continues. The words of both Jesus and the woman he meets are recorded, in great detail.
It’s a really detailed record of who said what, and in what order.
But there’s one detail that is missing. One detail that in the midst of this story of what happened, when it happened, where it happened,
One detail missinghave you spotted what it is?
It’s a detail that any half-decent recorder of events would have included in the narrative to add to the voracity of the account.
We have the what
We have the when
We have the where
But only half of the who
We know it was Jesus
And we know it was a Samaritan woman.
We know it was a Samaritan woman who lived in Sychar
But
There is no record of her name.
I think that’s important And I think it's intentional.
I think it’s important, because it's meant to make us think about why we don’t know who this woman is by name. There seems to be an awful lot of personal information, but only if you knew her or came from Sychar would you be likely to identify her.
And I think it's intentional.
Not that John is trying to diminish the role of the woman, But is actually trying to emphasise the role of Jesus, and the person he was in conversation with. This is the first time that Jesus is recognised as the Messiah in John's Gospel. It’s Chapter 4 there’s another 17 to go. There’s no slow build up in the plot there‘s no warning it’s coming Just straight in character
Chapter 4
Jesus declares that he is the Messiah to the woman. He makes a very clear and plain statement.
The woman said, ‘I know that Messiah’ (called Christ) ‘is coming.
When he comes,
he will explain everything to us.’
Then Jesus declared,
‘I, the one speaking to you – I am he.’
Really plain for everyone to hear And a good journalist, a good story-teller would really want to include the name of the woman, The first person to hear Jesus make this declaration about himself. And the first person to respond to the fact that Jesus is the messiah.
A pivotal moment in the overall story that John is telling, because everything else in John’s gospel, now happens with the reader knowing full well who Jesus is.
He is the Messiah
So why don’t we get the name of the woman? Why don’t we have her name? She is the first recorded person outside of the Jews to meet the Messiah
And the first person to whom he declares he is Messiah after all.
I think it’s because we, the modern day friends of Jesus. The modern day disciples, we might find it easier to relate to her if we don’t know her name, and therefore find it a bit easier to relate to Jesus.
This woman should be an absolute celebrity in scripturethe first person to hear from Jesus that he is the messiah.
And yet we don’t know her name,
Instead we often focus on the details of her life, rather than her response.
And beacsue we don’t know a name,
it’s a little easier to relate to her And receive the message of Jesus
How often do we do things, take actions, speak out, share the love we have received from Jesus with others.
And yet feel that they don’t recognise it. Or feel like God hasn’t noticed it, that it may not have made the difference that we wanted it to have.
We could feel a little de-personalised
But Jesus knows
Here he is in the story interested in holding a conversation, and making a difference with the woman.
And he knows her name-
Its not recorded, but he knows it. And she knows his- Messiah.
When we share the love of God,
we often know the name of the person who is receiving Sometimes in a shop, or workplace it's literally on a name badge!
We know the name of the person receiving God’s love, but they don’t necessarily know ours.
Just that the kingdom of God has been brought near,
That they feel uplifted, brightened, loved.
They may not have the vocabulary or experience to express it.
But they know they have received from God.
And God sees what has happened. God sees the interaction, hears the words used,
sees how we as believers gather in Spirit and Truth Live in Spirit and Truth, and share God’s love.
We may not feel anything. We often don’t even recognise that we’ve had a spiritual encounter. We just carry-on with our lives.
And sometimes feel that God doesn’t know our names, God doesn’t know who we are.
But this story shows that he does. Jesus knew things about the woman that showed he really knew her. And he really knows us.
He knows us and has called us by name. He knows us, even when we don’t recognise or remember it, or feel that we’ve been forgotten, or that things are just going on and nobody has noticed.
But Jesus does.
He knows us He recognises and remembers what we doin a good way
And he will never forget us
Jesus knows who each and everyone of us is.
He has called us each by name. We all have something that is specific to us that he wants and needs us to be, to share God’s love.
And that’s why in the midst of all this detail in the gospel, there appears to be one detail missing. But it's not missing.
It’s held between Jesus and the woman, they each know the other.
Jesus knows the woman
She knows him Jesus knows us, and we know him
And he calls us by name
And in a world where we face all sorts of pressures All sorts of concerns
All sorts of worries
All sorts of questions
Jesus is there with us Jesus is the Messiah. And he’s there with us in the details.
now it's no coincidence that some of the details that are recorded in this story are about food and drink.
No coincidence that there is a parallel with how Jesus will choose to be remembered during his last meal with friends, his interaction with the woman, and the interaction we’re about to undertake in communion.
So let us draw near to Jesus as we prepare for communion
Let us declare our faith in the God we know and love The God who knows and loves us
