The Well and The Bride

Welcome to Tribe's podcast. Hey, we just wanna say thank you for making this message a part of your week. Our prayer is that these messages will inspire you to make the name of Jesus famous in your life and to the uttermost bounds of the earth. If you're ever in Jackson Hole, we'd love for you to visit our Tribe fam in person. To learn more about us, you can find us online or at Facebook by searching tribejh.com.

Welcome to Tribe's podcast. Hey, we just wanna say thank you for making this message a part of your week. Our prayer is that these messages will inspire you to make the name of Jesus famous in your life and to the uttermost bounds of the earth. If you're ever in Jackson Hole, we'd love for you to visit our tribe fam in person. To learn more about us, you can find us online or at Facebook by searching tribejh.com.

Good morning. So good. Thank you, Katie and Ben and Lizzie. The a picture that I got in my mind's eye as you were leading worship and really as the first time you prayed during worship is I saw, like a cedar branch. You know how cedar smells like it's really odiferous, and you're like, smells good.

And you bring it into your home, and it fills your home with the smell of cedar. But if you've noticed after a while, it like, can put your nose, like, you could put cedar up your nose, and you're like, I don't know. It kinda smells like wood. I don't know. But if you get it wet or if you, like, carve off the slice, all of a sudden, like, fresh new odor is released.

And I felt like your your worship was great, but there was a fresh release of the presence of the lord when you prayed. The first time you prayed, it was like, I work to enter into the presence of the Lord, and some days I'm more successful than others. But it feels like this is all, like, just just metaphorically speaking, like, there's a distance. Sometimes I feel like I gotta travel a great distance to get into the presence of the lord. When you prayed, it was like the distance went from here to, like, here.

And and even though I press in for the aroma and fragrance, when you prayed, it was as if, like, a fresh did anybody else feel that was that was that was very special. Great job. Okay. We're gonna go on a little bit of a journey through the bible today. And we are going to start in Genesis, but we're not gonna go, like, you know, every book.

Don't don't don't know. Don't don't tempt me. Don't tempt me. We're gonna we're gonna look at at three different stories and then in the Old Testament, and then we'll, like, flash over to the New Testament. Okay?

And sometimes I share with you the title of the conversation towards the end. Sometimes it's in the middle. It's gonna be right up front at the beginning. And so if you are taking notes this morning, you can write the title of the conversation that we're gonna have at the top of your notes, and it's called the well and the bride. The well and the bride.

That's where we're going today in our conversation and I do use that word intentionally on purpose. I really do want this to be a conversation as most of you in this room know. I want us to go on this journey together. So if you have thoughts, questions, connections, let's talk about it. Alright?

If you want if you have specific questions about the denomination or the governance structure, just just send your dad up to me after service, and I'm happy to answer all those questions. Okay. The first place that we're going to turn is Genesis chapter 24. And, Keisha, my I left my glasses right over there by you, and thank you. I need those.

Oh, that's so much better. Genesis chapter 24.

There we go. And would somebody please read verses 12 through 22? Genesis chapter 24 verses 12 through 22 and Kat has a mic in the room and so the reason why we don't obviously need a mic just for you and I to talk but we use the mic in the room for all the people that are watching the livestream so you can practice your reading out loud voice and in your microphone voice. Gretchen's got it.

Read this first story for us 12 through 22.

Then he said, oh lord god of my master Abraham, please give me success this day and show kindness to my master Abraham. Behold, here I stand by the well of water, and the daughters of the men of the city are coming out to draw water. Now let it be that the young woman to whom I say, please let let down your pitcher that I may drink. And she says, drink, and I will also give your camels a drink. Let her be the one you have appointed for your servant Isaac.

And by this, I will know that you have shown kindness to my master. And it happened before he had finished speaking that behold, Rebecca, who was born to Bethuel, son of Milkah Milkah Yeah. The wife of Nahor, Abraham's brother, came out with her pitcher on her shoulder. Now the young woman woman was very beautiful to behold, a virgin. No man had known her.

And she went down to the well, filled her pitcher, and came up. And the servant ran to meet her and said, please let me drink a little water from your pitcher. So she said, drink, my lord. Then she quickly let her pitcher down to her hand and gave him a drink. And when she had finished giving him a drink, she said, I will draw water for your camel camels also until they have finished drinking.

Then she quickly empty emptied her pitcher into the trough, ran back to the well to draw water, and drew for all

Yeah. Yes. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.

Because they're they're immediate family. But, Rebecca is going to marry Jacob. Okay. I do. Yes.

Exactly. Thank you. See how easy this is? Alright. Let's look at let's look at the the the next story, which is in Genesis chapter 29.

And let's read one through 20 so we can see this story unfold. Oh, I do. Yeah. Let's do six through twelve. Six through twelve.

And who has the mic? Six through twelve.

He said to them, is it well with him? They said, it is well. And see, Rachel, his daughter, is coming with the sheep. And he said, behold, it is still high day. It is not time livestock to be gathered together.

Water the sheep and go pasture them. Am I reading the right thing?

Yes. Yes. But they I'm like, how is this?

But but they said, we cannot until all the flocks are gathered together and the stone is rolled from the mouth of the well. Then we water the sheep. While he was still speaking with them, Rachel came with her father's sheep for she was a shepherdess. Now as soon as Jacob saw Rachel, the daughter of Laban, his mother's brother, and the sheep of Laban Laban, his mother's brother, Jacob came near and rolled the stone from the well's mouth and watered the flock of Laban, his mother's brother.

Quick pause. For thousands of years, feats of strength have been known to attract the eye of young maidens. Men, don't forget that. Mhmm.

Okay.

Then Jacob kissed Rachel.

Oh. Wept aloud. Yeah. The the the stone rolling away really worked. Better than a muscle tank top.

Way better. And Jacob told Rachel that he was her father's kinsman and that he was Rebecca's son. And she ran and told her father.

Ephesians five

of you and Brady. Yes. Okay. Alright. So so far, here's what we're building, and I'm I'm building somewhere with this.

If you're like, okay. I mean, I'm with you sort of. I'm with you to the best that I can be. Good. Just just hang in there.

We're going somewhere. Yeah. We're we're yes. Literally, the next generation. Yes.

So now we have Jacob and Rachel at the well. And another story of a the first story was a servant coming to the well. Second story was of the young man himself. But there's an encounter at a well that leads to marriage. And some would even say love at first sight.

Certainly, obviously, with the second. I mean, he rolls the stone away with his veins bulging and full of amazing virile masculinity. He just sweeps the woman off her feet with a kiss, and she runs away. Sounds sounds about right. Sounds about right.

In the first story, even though it was the servant, he still was like, oh my gosh. Here she is. She's the one. And something about meeting at a well that leads to marriage that is that the compilers of the bible, the authors, and the when I say compilers, what I mean by is those under the inspiration of the holy spirit who brought all of these stories together and what we know of as the Bible today, there is a theme that is developing that as readers we should pay attention to. One more example.

Let's go to the book of Exodus. Exodus chapter two. So keep hanging to right.

We have a well on the cross. Yes.

We we yeah. So there you go. Okay. Exodus chapter two, a few verses here, not as long as others, but would somebody please read verses 15 through 21? Exodus two fifteen through 21.

Guess what? It's about a well.

Then Pharaoh, the king of Egypt, gave this order to the Hebrew midwives.

Wait a second. Two fifteen.

Oh, I'm in one. I was about to try and pronounce those names. It was gonna

strike you. Lead up.

Long lead up. 15. 215. Perfect. And sure enough, Pharaoh heard what had happened, and he tried to kill Moses.

But Moses fled from Pharaoh and went to live in the land of Midian. When Moses Moses arrived arrived in at Midian, Midian, he he sat down beside a well. Now the priest of Midian had seven daughters who came as usual to draw water and fill the water troughs for their father's flock. But some other shepherds came and chased them away. So Moses jumped up and rescued the girls from the shepherds.

Then he drew water for their flocks. Okay.

So, well, let's keep reading because there's there's some adventure here.

Here's the adventurous part. When the girls returned to Ruel, their father, he asked, why are you back so soon today? An Egyptian rescued us from the shepherds, They answered, and then he drew water for us and watered our flocks. Then where is he? Their father asked, why did you leave him there?

Invite him to come and eat with us. Moses accepted the invitation, and he settled there with them. Settled there with him. In time, Ru'aul gave Moses his daughter Zipporah to be his wife.

Okay. Third story of a divine encounter at a well that leads to marriage. To tie a thread for a couple of these stories. The women who come to the well, number one, they are not royalty. They are doing manual labor, hard work.

Have any of you ever watered a camel? No. Joe has. Oh, Joe has Joe has watered a camel. Wait for real though?

Oh, okay. I was like, did like like, well, let's let's find out some more about this. Yeah. So so so it's it's none of them are royalty. None of these women are royalty.

If they had royalty, then they would have the means to have somebody else do that for them. It's a lowly task. So we can know through inference and sometimes by description. It even says on one of the descriptions, she was a shepherdess. She was a shepherd.

She just did she did hard work with sheep and goats. Here's another thing about all three of them. They were all toiling with hard work and labor. They faced two of them faced harassment, like, hey. Let's roll the stone away from the lid of the well so that we can water the sheep.

And she's like, well, no. We can't. We get in big trouble, and people get after us if we try to roll it away and water some of our sheep before everybody else gets here, which is great classic Middle Eastern thinking. Let's not be efficient and stagger the watering of the animals. Let's all just wait until we're all here around one well, and then I'll try that makes a lot of sense considering what little I know of Middle Eastern culture.

This the third thing the third thing is that they all could, through a family tree connecting of dots. They could all trace their lineage back to Abraham. Three important things for for us to know. Not royalty. Nothing special about them.

They didn't have affluence, influence. I guess we're at four things. Their their work was hard, and sometimes they faced harassment. And then they all could connect through their family tree back to Abraham. Okay.

We have one more story to read about a well. Can you guess where we're going? And I know. I know. I know.

You're already racing ahead of me. You're already connecting dots. It's so great, but just indulge me as we slow roll our journey there. Let's go to the story of the woman at the well. John chapter four.

John. Alright. I have one verses one through 30. That's a lot to bite off and chew, so if you don't want to read all of that, somebody please start reading, and then you can hand it off, and we can take turns, reading. John chapter four verses one through 30.

Whoever would like to start. I really like that you told us your end point.

And then somebody's gotta rescue me.

Okay. Okay.

The Pharisees heard that Jesus was gaining and baptizing more disciples than John. Although, in fact, it was not Jesus who baptized but his disciples. When the lord learned of this, he left Judea and went back once more to Galilee.

Quick pause. Wonder why that footnote is in the text. Why did the author of the gospel of John feel like it was important for us to know that Jesus himself wasn't baptizing, but his disciples were? That's a separate sermon for a separate time. But when you read little details like that, you're like, why is that in there?

It is an invitation from the Holy Spirit for you to, like, go on a treasure hunt. Because there is there there there's a beautiful answer. You're like, oh, yeah. That's really cool. But I'll let you search that out.

I just wanted to point that out. Let's keep going.

Continue on. Now he had gone through Samaria, so he came to a town in Samaria called Sychar near the plot of ground Jacob had given to his son Joseph. Jacob's well was there and Jesus, tired as he was from the journey, sat down by the well. It was about the sixth hour. When a Samaritan woman came to draw water, Jesus said to her, will you give me a drink?

His disciples had gone into town to buy food. That was a little side note in the bible. Yeah. The Samaritan woman said to him, you are a Jew, and I am a Samaritan woman. How can you ask me for a drink?

Another side note here, so Jews do not associate with Samaritans. Jesus said to her, if you knew the gift of God and who it is that asks you for a drink, you would have get asked him, and he would have given you living water.

Sir, the woman said, you have nothing to draw with, and the well is Where can you get this living water? Are you greater than our father Jacob, who gave us the well and drank from it himself as did also his sons and his livestock? Jesus answered, everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again, but whoever drinks the water I give them will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give them will become in them a spring of water welling up to eternal life. The woman said to him, sir, give me this water so that I won't get thirsty and have to keep coming here to draw water.

Quick pause. She wants the water that Jesus is offering for what purpose? Why? It says it right here. Ease.

Ease. So she doesn't have to keep going back to the well. What is she thinking? Is she thinking deeper about water, or is she thinking about h two o? Okay.

Yes. Good. That's important for us. Like, wait a minute. Like, you're here you are, like, selling some sort of magic snake oil.

Like like, you've got some water that I don't need to come out here to this well for, okay, bro. I'll take some of that water. There is some, perhaps, sarcasm that that you can use you can use your imagination to read into that part, like like, what does she say? Then please, sir, give me some of this water, then I'll never be thirsty again, and I won't have to come here to this stinking well to draw water. How many of you have ever drawn water from a bucket in a well?

Okay. It's hard work, isn't it? So I went to do some relief work in Haiti sometime ago after there was a big earthquake there long time ago, and the compound in which we were staying, there was still no electricity. There was no running water, but the compound had an open well just like how you would think. It wasn't like in the in the desert in the middle of nowhere, but it was in this compound.

The walls were built up, and it had it had, like, a rope that went over, like, a pulley for a mechanical advantage, and it was a five gallon bucket. Anybody any engineers in here probably knows the weight of water per gallon and how much five gallons weighs. 40 pounds. 44. Alright.

We got

40. We got 42.

This, like, five or six pounds a oh my gosh.

It's

It's heavy. It's heavy. So you you drop the you drop the bucket down into the well, and it was 20 feet at least down into this well. It was one of the only uncontaminated well sources in multiple, multiple city blocks. And we were told, hey, let's not tell people where we're getting our fresh drinking water.

Well, there you go. So we have this five gallon, like, you know, paint bucket that you throw down into the well, but if you, like, drop it bottom first, it it hits the surface of the water, dink, and then it kinda tips over, and, you know, It's it's no good. The when I was there the first few times and I was watching these, like, Haitian girls pull water from the well, they had this precise angle at which to throw the bucket opening side down so it go, and it would hit in there. And then as you pull on the rope, it would swing, and it would just scoop up that, and then they would just hand over hand over hand over, pull that up, get it to the lip, pour it into the various containers, and then off they would go. I was like, hey.

Let me like, here I am, like, the gringo missionary, like, here. Let me help. I'll try this. Like, by, like, the second bucket, I was like, I grip strength. Failing.

Forty one forty one pounds. Like like, that's that's that's not nothing. And these, like, 13 year old girls are like bucket after bucket after bucket. I did too, and I was like, oh, wait. Hold on.

I'm getting a phone call. There's no cell service in the whole country. It is a it is a lot of work. So when this woman says, give me some of this water so that I won't be thirsty again and I won't have to come here to get water, I can feel her pain in this. So let's continue to read.

He told 16.

He told her, go. Call your husband and come back. I have no husband, she replied. Jesus said to her, you are right. When you say you have no husband, the fact is you have had five husbands, and the man you now have is not your husband.

But you have just said what you have just said is quite true.

Quick pause. So Jesus was filled with the Holy Spirit, filled him, and the life and person of the Holy Spirit not only filled him, but it came out through him exhibited in the gifts of the spirit, and there's a list of gifts of the spirit in first Corinthians chapter 12. But if we were to match up what just happened with first Corinthians 12, what gift of the spirit would this be? Word of knowledge. It should be a word of knowledge.

They had he met this woman before? There's no evidence of it. How how would he know this without divine revelation? There's no there's no evidence to suggest that this is anything other than a word of knowledge. And her surprise is evidence like, how did you know that about me?

So Jesus operating in a word of knowledge, super cool. You're doing great, Stephanie. I love hearing your voice read.

Sir, the woman said, I can see that you are a prophet. Our ancestors worshiped on this mountain, but you Jews claim that the place where we must worship is in Jerusalem. Woman, Jesus replied, believe me, a time is coming when you will worship the father neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem. You Samaritans worship what you do not know. We worship what we do know.

For salvation is from the Jews. Yet a time is coming and has now come when the true worshipers will worship the father in the spirit and in truth. For they are the kind of worshipers the father seeks. God is spirit, and his wor worshipers must worship in the spirit and in truth.

That's great. If you haven't underlined in your bible yet, salvation comes through the Jews might be a good verse for you to know and to use as a a a screen or a filter for watching the news unfold around you. Jesus himself said it. Salvation comes from the Jews, specifically one Jew in particular, and his name is Jesus. Alright.

Steph, you're doing great. You can hand it off if you'd like. I'm blessed man. Okay. Stay Stay strong.

The woman said, I know that messiah call 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. Wow. Just then, his disciples returned and were surprised to find him talking with a woman.

But no one asked, what do you want? Or why are you talking with her? Then leaving her water jar, the woman went back to the town and said to the people, come see a man who told me everything I ever did. Could this be the Messiah? They came out of the town and made their way towards him.

Wow. Okay. Let's yes.

How how many times have we read this scripture? Are you familiar with it? I've never thought about her connection that the one fact about her life, like just one fact that she had been married how many times and the man she was with was wasn't her husband. Like, that's the only thing we know that he said. But then when she went back, she said to the village, he knows everything I've ever done.

Like, that was the one thing that she knew that he knew would speak to her like, I know everything about you. Because she could have said, he knew somehow he knew who I was married to. But she just like, when he said that, there was revelation that he knew everything about her. I'm just putting that together. Like, her translation of what happened at the well was he knows everything about me.

I don't know. That just was a connection I've never made. And how about the the

connection that's intended for the reader that if Jesus knew that thing about her, what else does he not know?

Yeah. And what does he know about me?

What does he

know about

me? And why did he pick that detail to point out to her? Was that

Like her darkest secret.

Right. Her darkest secret secret or an area connected to the greatest area of shame in her in her life, disappointment, failure. It is a long period of time, and did he point out in her how it how he knew how she identified as. That one area of identity, for better or for worse, that she assumed or was given to her. I'm going to speak to what you think of as your identity, and it unlocks so much.

So this book was written by the apostle John.

Yes.

And so he wasn't there. So did he have a chat with Jesus? Right. So what there might have been more spoken. I mean, they just maybe that communication wasn't fully recorded.

And maybe you didn't you know what I'm saying? Maybe they did talk about more.

Oh, just They very I I like you know you know how I like us to use our imagination, not to develop doctrine from, but to to to picture. That's why we all like The Chosen so much, is somebody use their imagination and put together that scene. Oh, wait. That scene is in The Chosen, isn't it? Yeah.

Yeah. Is it at the end of season one? I can't remember. But, like like, maybe there was a whole lot more said. I love that.

Okay. Let's let's look at some of the details about this woman. She comes to the well at noon alone. What does that tell us? You can just shout it out.

She's an outcast. I literally have that in my notes. And say more about why is she an outcast because she's coming to the well at at noon alone.

Because I believe normally they would go not at like the highest point of the sun. So they would all go to all the women would go together in the mornings and then like in the later evenings if they needed to. So that they were and so her going by herself and not in the community is she's an outcast at the highest point of the sun too.

Yes. I'm gonna go either by choice or by social pressure when no one else is there. Yeah. That's a huge deal. Great observation.

She is here's another observation. She's not wealthy. Otherwise, she'd have a servant do that. She's coming herself. She's not popular because she's coming by herself.

Again, not with other women of the village. And consider this. Who is the woman at the well? What's the title of the story? She is a Samaritan.

Now this is important for us that we, as, like, American Gentile Christians, like, easily overlook. What we can tell from the text is, like, ugh. Like, something's up with these Samaritans because it tells us a a a little bit. Because she herself says, aren't you a Jew? Don't you know I'm a Samaritan?

Why are you talking to me? There was a disconnect. They didn't speak to one another. But we need to have to get the most out of the story, we need to have an understanding of ancient Judean culture. So what do you know about Samaritans in bible times?

What do you know? And if you're like, I don't know anything, it's okay. Okay. Ruthless murderous Okay. Let yeah.

Let's hold on to that. Okay. Yes. Yes. Now yes.

Yes. Yes. Yes. Okay. So the Assyrians come in, ruthless, murderous conquerors, take Israel into captivity, remove them from the land, leaving only the rabble, the the the the the outcast, the despised, the the the, you know, like, the vagabonds, the ones that aren't very valuable, and they are left in ancient Judea.

The the weak the weak, the ones that are easily overlooked. And then here's what Assyria did. Assyria repopulated the land of ancient Judea by through all of their kingdom and all of their the conquering that they did. What they wanted to do was create this uniform Assyrian culture, and they did that by diluting any one people's strong culture, and so export the Jews once again, and then import people from other conquered territories in Assyria, in the Assyrian Kingdom. So just mix and match everybody.

So now you have the the rabble left over in Judea, and then you have an importation of people from other Semitic countries and cultures into region. And the people remaining there who were Jewish began to marry and have children and create families with these people from other cultures that were brought in. So, yes, part Jew. Now when the Jewish people came back to the land, what did they think of the Samaritans that remained? Unclean.

Unclean, impure, traitors, cheaters, half breeds. And they looked down upon Samaritan people because they were not fully and completely from the line and lineage of Abraham. So that was the historical biblical context of why Jews did not like Samaritans. Where were those Samaritans concentrated in? What part of Israel or Judea were they concentrated in?

And your answer can come in the form of a a a modern term that geographical term. Okay. Yes. You're onto it. So Palestine today would like to be known as what two regions in Israel?

Gaza and the West Bank. Now does that, either you could say racism, or prejudice, I think prejudice would be a better word, prejudice against Samaritans exist today. This was so long ago. We're talking two thousand years of history. Does that prejudice exist today?

And we will now give the microphone to Lissa for an anecdote. No. I

know what you're going for.

Time. Yeah.

So when and the answer is yes. It does still exist because when we were there in Israel, we stayed with some friends who are not practicing Jews. They they are Israelis who are Jewish, but they aren't religious Jews. And they lived North Of Jerusalem, and we were staying with them on their kibbutz, and they're lovely and wonderful. And we said, okay.

We're gonna we said goodbye, and we were gonna head down to Jerusalem, and he must have asked us 15 times what route we were gonna take to Jerusalem. There's one clear highway from where their kibbutz was to Jerusalem, and they use Waze. They don't use Google Maps. It's called Waze. And they're like, get open your Waze.

Open Waze. Open Waze. We kept saying, we're just gonna take the shortest route. And he kept saying, you cannot go on this route because it goes through and he called it the he I think he even called it Samaria or so he's well, you know it as the West Bank. And we said, why can't we go through there?

And he said, because if something happens to your car, I cannot come and help you there. And he was being very thoughtful. He was just thinking, well, I want my friends to get travel safe, but we don't go there. I can't even cross that highway line. And you wouldn't even know it.

I mean, we we drove it on the way there and didn't I mean, there was no not a thing. But mentally, a Jew would never ever cross over into the West Bank on even on a highway. Because if he got stopped or he needed gas or whatever and someone knew he was Jewish, there's just such tension between them. And we were like, that's still happening?

Y'all are still doing

that? You're still doing that? And you're not even a practicing like Observant. Observant Jew, and that's still such a thing. So it is still a thing.

Still to this day.

And I don't think it was because he had hatred. I just think he knew that that that tumultuous relationship exists. Because he's, like, super kind, super loving

Yeah.

Guy. So

It still to this day. So we're learning a lot about this woman. The picture is not that great. She has no claim to pedigree because if she were to try to point out any of her Jewish roots, any other Jew would be like, yeah, but this and this and this and this dilute dilute dilute. So she has no claim to pedigree.

Now let's get to some specifics of her history which includes her history of past relationships. Now if all you if if any of you have been through a divorce, you know awful and icky and messy that is, and I do not want you to hear what is not being said about judgment on you. That's the dirty devil trying to lie to you right now in this moment. Just tell him to shut up. We're looking at this woman.

She has had five previous husbands, five failed marriages. There's no mention of children in any of marriages, and something about her or about her pick in husband is not good. She has been rejected and discarded. In that day and age, a woman could not tell her husband, I want a divorce because you're a loser. Only a man only a man could divorce her.

And so time and time again, this woman has pledged herself to this man. And whatever brokenness in her or in him or in both of them, it has resulted in the man being like, I am out. Five different times, she's been rejected and discarded. And now she has resigned herself to just I'll take what I can get even if that means just living with a man without entering into the marriage contract. There's a verse in let let's just turn there real quick.

And then we're gonna tie all these things together. In Song of Solomon, if you can if you can keep up, turn there. If not, just write it down. Song of Solomon chapter one verse five. This is just coming to me.

I am dark. So Song of Solomon chapter one verse five. I am dark but beautiful. O women of Jerusalem, dark as the tents of Kendar, dark as the curtains of Solomon's tents. Don't stare at me because I am dark.

The sun has darkened my skin. My brothers were angry with me. They forced me to care for their vineyard, so I couldn't care for myself, my own vineyard. And the idea in this book of the Bible, Song of Solomon, it's a beautiful allegory between a young woman and a young man who desires this young woman. And when she says, dark am I yet beautiful, don't stare at me because I'm dark.

The sun has darkened my skin. The idea is that she has been out in the system of the world as represented by the sun beating down like giving her a nasty farmer's tan. In those days, just like like, you know, like in the Victorian era, like, desirable skin tone was that of alabaster skin. Only people with with suntans and with sunburns and who were dark from the sun were people that worked out in the fields and manual labor, had a lower class and status. And here she's saying, I have been beat up by the world system, and it's evident by my skin color is what Song of Solomon is saying.

And we can see that metaphorically overlaid on this woman here who is now going out. Okay. Considering all the strikes against her, the woman at the well, let's examine how Jesus treats her. Couple observations here that I will make. Number one, he speaks to her.

Jews did not speak to any Samaritans, let alone a man to a woman. She was shocked. If you've ever been on the town square for, one of the rallies or gatherings that the Jewish community has at the beginning of every month in calling for continued calling for the release of the remaining hostages held in captivity in Gaza and or their remains. If you've ever met rabbi Zelman, he is great and wonderful and warm and eager to shake your hand and give you a hug if you're a man. If you're a man.

And, like, I I should warn you. If you ever want to, like, come to one of the gatherings, please come to the gatherings. Like like, check it out. Alright? Your your attendance in your own mind doesn't mean your complacence with all of the actions of Israel.

Like, you don't need to be a 100% to come. If you're 2%, come and, like like, check it out. But if you're a woman, I I I usually forget to tell you this. Don't offer your hand to like shake his hand as you're introducing yourself to him. He won't shake your hand.

He's being polite. Yeah. And catch yourself. Yeah. Yeah.

I bow to you in respect of what he says. So so so today, we can see how an Orthodox Jewish rabbi would treat a woman. And in this story, we see this woman is shocked. Like, you're speaking to me? So he speaks to her.

She is a woman. She is a Samaritan, and he knows that something's up because she's coming to the well at noon in the heat of the day. Oh oh, alright. Yeah. Yeah.

Go.

I just had an observation I wanted to share, and I hope I don't take it from you, but maybe a clarification. So she had five husbands. She's with a sixth man, and then now Jesus is the seventh man to offer her life. And I thought that was pretty interesting from a number and scriptural standpoint.

With every with every eye closed and every head bowed, the worship team will come up. That is awesome.

This is not for me. I'm not as awesome as Chris. This is in my this is a note in my bible though. But like she she spends most of the time baiting him. Like she tries to kind of bait him with Yeah.

My like, am a descendant of Jacob. Like and that's something that they would usually fight over. And then, like, trying to keep it on physical water when he's, like, sharing. Like, she's trying to go back to that, and he just stays true to where he is. But in verse 21 when he says, woman believe me, my note is in John two four, he calls his mother woman.

It's the same word that he uses to call his mother, which was like super meaningful. It's not just, like, woman, like how we think of it. It was like a term of, like, respect.

Woah. So he speaks to her in a respectful manner. What if she had said, oh, He would have touched his lips. I don't know. Maybe there was a dipper cup.

I don't know. But he would have touched his lips to a jar of, like the these are all culture shattering what Jesus is doing, which is why this story makes it into the word. And he engages with her on a discussion of ethnicity. He treats her with respect, and he engages with her on a matter of theology, talking about the Messiah and worshiping. And this there's there's so much.

People like to paint a broad brush stroke over Christianity and Jew and Jesus as a narrow minded racist, bigoted, you know, whatever other buzzwords you want to use. Look at how Jesus smashes traditions and long held stereotypes and norms and empowers women, engages with women, treats them with value entrusts her. He gives her this incredible gift by saying, I am he. I am the messiah. He tells her.

Disciples all around him, and he's like, who do you say I am? And, like, well, some say John the Baptist, some that and they, you know, they talk about all of this, and and he allows things to, like, hang in suspense. But to this woman, he just speaks directly, plainly, and the truth. I am the Messiah. He gives he sees a lot in this woman that perhaps we don't see.

It's not on the screen, but I wrote this in my notes. At the well, the rejected becomes the redeemed. At the well, the rejected becomes the redeemed. In the same way that the patriarchs met their wives at the well, Jesus met a picture of his wife at the well. Now I looked this up and I really wanted it to be true, and and the text doesn't bear the weight of this statement, but it would be really, really cool if all of these well were the same well.

It's not. It's not. But it would be really cool. But but consider this. The stories that we just read were pictures or stories of the patriarchs meeting their betrothed, the one that they were gonna commit their life to.

And it is intentional for literary purpose to for us as the reader, by the time we get to the story in the gospel, to be like, uh-oh, we have another man meeting a woman at the well. Now we know about Jesus, king of kings, lord of lords. You know, the the stones would cry out if the people didn't keep silent. And who is selected for him to be his bride? Her, who is a picture of the church, who is a picture of who else?

Last verse. Last verse. First Corinthians one twenty six through 29. Paul is speaking, and he says, remember, dear brothers and sisters, that few of you were wise in the world's eyes or powerful or wealthy when God called you. Instead, God chose the things this world considers foolish in order to shame those who think they are wise, and he chose things that are powerless to shame those who are powerful.

God chooses things despised by the world, things counted as nothing at all, and use them to bring to nothing that what the world considers important. As a result, no one can ever boast in the presence of god. He chose us as his bride as the the the church of Jesus universal and triumphant, but also me. Also, you. Maybe you can identify with the story of the woman at the well having toiling under the labor of the sun, having been rejected and abandoned, having your past follow you around.

And day after day, you come to the well to draw water out in the system of the world. And then one day, a strange man is sitting at the well that you walk up to. That's Jesus, and he knows that he is going to betroth himself to you. The question is, the abiding question, and maybe you said this when you invited Jesus into your heart, made him the leader of your life, but again, fresh today, will you receive a drink from the living water of relationship with Jesus? So many people refuse that drink because they put up barriers of, well, I've done this and I've haven't done and I miss it and and and you wanna throw out theological barriers, ethnicity barriers, barriers of your past, what Jesus already knows all of that.

And despite that, he chose you. He chooses you. He has a bracelet for your wrist, rings for your ears, a ring for your nose. Those have significance that we have time to talk about. So today, with just a few moments that we have left for this part of worship, will you just You're at the well Will you take a moment to acknowledge who is also at the well?

Not a suitor, not a, an abuser, but a redeemer, a champion, one who sees great beauty and value in word in you. Holy Spirit, just speak to us.