The Heartbreak of Alienation

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The Heartbreak of Alienation John 4.1-27,
39-42
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• Barriers of Alienation
• Social 2. Ethnic
• 3. Religious 4.
  Generational

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Evangelism involves bridge-building
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Galilee
Sea of Galilee
Why was it necessary for Jesus to go through
Samaria?
Nazareth

1. Not everyone seeks Jesus out with their needs.
2. He gives value to people who think they are too
   bad for God.
3. Jesus is driven by compassion
4. He sets the pattern for the churchs evangelism.

Samaria
Sychar .
River Jordan
Jerusalem
Dead Sea
Judea
Route of orthodox Jews
Route Jesus took
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Why did Jesus sit out in the sun?

• He sent his disciples off so
• he could be there alone.
• He knew why a certain woman would come at that
  time of the day.
• He was determined to speak with her
• He was prepared to experience discomfort to win
  others.
• To leave us a pattern for mission.

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Why was Jesus prepared to be misunderstood?

• Think of the three religious
• and social barriers he broke.
• He spoke to a Samaritan
• He spoke to a woman
• He spoke to a woman with a bad reputation.
• He knew that it is our reputation before God and
  not men that really matters
• He has left an example for the church. Are we
  willing to be misunderstood?

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How did Jesus capture the womans attention?

1. He asked for her help. He did what no one else
   did he made her feel important because she was
   important.
2. People who have been crushed by the rejection of
   others long to feel valued. They long for
   dignity.
3. The graciousness of Jesus approach disarmed her
   and opened her heart.
4. Is this approach something that we can build into
   evangelism?

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Jesus identified the womans real need!

• What lay behind her sin?
• Her restlessness of spirit.
• She tried to fill her spiritual appetite through
  a string of failed relationships.
• Augustine wrote
• Oh God, my heart was restless until it
  found its rest in you

God
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Understanding the human predicament.
Just as the combustion engine has been made to
run on petrol so man has been created so that he
only works correctly when fuelled by God.
How would Jesus bring this woman to see her need?
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Jesus appealed to her curiosity.

1. Living water!
2. He needed her to think outside of material
   categories.
3. She thought if the physical discomfort of
   collecting water could be bypassed then her
   difficulties would be over.
4. Jesus wanted to provide her with much more than
   she was looking for.
5. Curiosity can be used in evangelism today.

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Shattered dreams

1. Just when the woman was excited about the future
   Jesus faced her with the reality of her
   situation.
2. He confronted her with her sin go call your
   husband
3. He addresses her conscience. He wants to restore
   her broken relationship with God. And that cannot
   be done without an awakened sense of guilt and
   need.
4. Jesus wounds only in order to heal.

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Looking to escape

1. A short answer I have no husband
2. She is now on guard.
3. She immediately wants to change the subject.
4. A good theological debate it diverts attention
   from very personal needs.
5. People continue to react in this way today when
   Gods word makes them feel uneasy they try to
   turn the spotlight away from themselves.

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The conversation is refocused

1. It is our heart relationship to God that is
   important.
2. The identity of Jesus disclosed. One of the few
   occasions in the gospels where Jesus makes his
   identity so clear.
3. Overwhelmed by Jesus self-disclosure the woman in
   anxious to share that news with others v29.

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The fruit of Jesus ministry
By persevering with one woman whom society had
discarded and devalued, Jesus not only
transformed her life but used that transformation
to bring a whole village to faith in
himself. This passage has application for 1.
those who see themselves as too bad for God. 2.
the church encouraging us to break down barriers
that might prevent us from reaching out to others.