Reaching the Most Cynical Heart With the Undeniable Truth

Reverend Leo H. McCrary II

Are you wrestling with God in your heart? God can breakthrough to the most cynical heart with an undeniable truth.

Introduction

Are you cynical about God and having faith in one that you cannot see? Well, even the most cynical heart can be opened to the Lord.  So, I hope you take a moment to join me for this week’s lesson as Jesus has a chat with a Samaritan woman.  This week’s Sunday School commentary covers John 4:5-19, 28-29.

A Meeting at Jacob’s Well

Our lesson this week opens with Jesus sitting at Jacob’s well, in a city of Samaria called Sychar (John 4:5).  John tells us that this plot of ground was ground that Jacob gave to Joseph.  

Before his death, Israel (Jacob) told Joseph that he had given him a portion of land above his brothers, which he took from the Amorites (Gen. 48:21-22).  As someone who loves Joseph’s story, I find this reminder a nice reminder.  It is also a reminder that helps to set up the conversation that was about to take place at Jacob’s well.   

As explained in John 4:5-8, Jesus met the Samaritan woman while sitting at the well.  As she came to the well to draw, Jesus requested that she get Him some water to drink.  Now, what some of us may not realize about this meeting is that it was no coincidence that Jesus met this woman at the well.  Let me explain what I mean by this.

John 4 opens with Jesus having left Judea, departing to Galilee.  We are told in John 3:22 that Jesus had been in Judea and His disciples had been baptizing many that came to Him.  John 4:46-47 tells us the end destination of His journey from Judea, as He was going to Cana of Galilee—the location where Jesus had turned water into wine at the wedding.  Waiting for Him in Cana of Galilee would be a nobleman whose son was greatly sick with a fever.  

Now, for Jesus to get to Cana, He could take three different routes.  One route would have taken them across the Jordan, through the region of Perea.  The more popular route would have taken them along the coast of the Mediterranean.  Both of these routes would have been much safer for a Jew to travel.  

However, John 5:4 makes it clear that Jesus needed to go through Samaria, which for the Jews.  This route was the shortest route to take to get to Cana of Galilee, but it was also the more dangerous route to take for the Jews.  You see, the Samaritans and the Jews despised one another.  

The Jews despised the Samaritans because they came from the breeding of the tribes of the northern kingdom of Israel with the Gentiles.  The Jews frowned upon the Samaritans, essentially seeing their existence as a result of sin.  

So, with that hostility in mind, Jesus still chose to go through Samaria.  Jesus needed to go through Samaria not because it was the shortest route to get to Cana but because it was the Father’s will.  In John 4:34, Jesus said, “My food is to do the will of Him who sent Me, and to finish His work.” 

This statement and Jesus’ actions ought to be a lesson for anyone who would say they are a Christian.  God’s will couldn’t care less about our hostilities and animosities with one another.  His will is for one to be uplifted unto salvation, not bogged down in our triffling behavior. 

Jesus and a Cynic

With the hostility of the Jews and Samaritans in mind, we can somewhat understand the Samaritan woman’s responses to Jesus.  This woman was going to be cynical of Jesus from His first words.  

For many of us who are of faith, it sounds crazy that one would be cynical of Christ, thinking He was up to something mischievous.  However, I do think it’s important for us to see things from her perspective.  I think seeing this lesson from her perspective helps us to see what Jesus did even more special.

 You see, something we are facing today and will forever face, I believe, especially after the works of bad-faith actors, will be cynical hearts towards Christianity.  I think you and I will have to understand the cynical heart if we are to minister the gospel to them.  So, let us pay close attention to how Jesus handled the cynical heart of the Samaritan woman

Meeting force with greater force

To Jesus’ request the woman responded, “How is it that You, being a Jew, ask a drink from me, a Samaritan woman?” For Jews have no dealings with Samaritans (John 4:9).”   As you can see, her response is cynical.  It doesn’t sound like she would be giving Jesus any water, does it?

Let’s keep in mind that her response comes from a place of the history between the Jews and the Samaritans.  Let’s also keep in mind that she had no idea who had asked her for water, as Jesus will even point out.  When we think someone despises us, for whatever reason, we would also be cynical and untrusting.  Cynicism is often a defense mechanism, protecting one from someone they don’t know or trust.

However, I do believe there is a lesson one can learn from this.  We have to be careful about how we treat strangers. There are times when you ought to listen to a stranger.  For example, if you end up in an emergency room, you would listen to those strangers who are trying to help you, right?  We have to leave space in our cynical hearts to give people a chance.

Now, pay close attention to Jesus’ response to her.  Jesus said “If you knew the gift of God, and who it is who says to you, ‘Give Me a drink,’ you would have asked Him, and He would have given you living water (John 4:10).” 

The Samaritan woman had judged Him based off His race/nationality, and for His part, Jesus stood firm in His identity.  In this firmness, Jesus meets her attitude by chiding her.  Jesus responds in a manner to draw a response from her, chiding her by saying, “If you knew the gift of God.”  

Now, this woman wasn’t much of a religious person, but her elders were. However, with a Jew making such a statement to her, she was not going to lie down and let a Jew knock her identity.  You see, the Samaritans and Jews also shared an ongoing feud over who served God the right way.  In fact, later in this conversation, you will can see where she asked Jesus a question about the right way to worship God (John 4:20-26).

So, she asked Jesus, saying, “Sir, You have nothing to draw with, and the well is deep. Where then do You get that living water (John 4:11)?”  To me, her addressing Jesus as “sir” comes off more witty than it does honorable, especially with the question.  I think this may have made her feel good because she was now looking at a Jew look like He was a fool.

She then asked, “Are You greater than our father Jacob, who gave us the well, and drank from it himself, as well as his sons and his livestock (John 4:12)?”  Her cynical heart really gets to shine in this moment, as she gets to tell the Jew that he’s not so great.  The Samaritans could lay claim to Jacob through their blood; even though they were mixed with gentile blood, they were still of Jacob’s blood.

Now, we know, that Jesus indeed was greater than Jacob.  Jesus was God in the flesh–the God who created the heavens and the earth, all things known and unknown, chose to walk the earth in the flesh.  Moreover, in Genesis 32:22-32, the preincarnate Christ came face-to-face with Jacob.

Scripture tells the story about how the Angel of the Lord wrestled with Jacob and dislocated Jacob’s hip.  It was after wrestling with the preincarnate Christ that He gave Jacob the name Israel because Jacob struggled with God and men, and prevailed.  That is not to say that Jacob beat God in a wrestling match, but a good change happened in him.  

Jacob, like many of us, had to be ‘broken in’ as a trainer breaks in a horse.   You see, for all his life, Jacob was as a trickster, who often schemed and lied to prevail. After all, he tricked his brother Esau in order to get the blessing of the birthright.  However, after he wrestling with the preincarnate Christ, he had to learn to lean on God and he did.  As Israel, he began to prevail through faith and trusting the Lord.

So, Jesus, in a manner of speaking, was training the Samaritan woman However, unlike Jacob, Jesus was not going to physically wrestle her and dislocate her hip.  Jesus was going to hit her with the great force of the undeniable truth in her heart, as this was a wrestling match of the heart.  

The hard-hitting force of the undeniable truth

Jesus said to her, “Whoever drinks of this water will thirst again, but whoever drinks of the water that I shall give him will never thirst. But the water that I shall give him will become in him a fountain of water springing up into everlasting life (John 4:13-14).”

Jesus was comparing earthly water to spiritual water, speaking spiritually to her.  This puts me in mind of when after He fed multitudes with a few pieces of fish and bread, Jesus said to them, “I am the bread of life. He who comes to Me shall never hunger, and he who believes in Me shall never thirst (John 6:35).”

Because the Samaritan woman wasn’t much of a spiritual person, she failed to understand what Jesus said.  To me, her cynicism comes through as she says to Jesus, “Give me this water, that I may not thirst, nor come here to draw (John 4:14).”  

You see, her heart was set on the idea of not having to ever work for water again!  She was still being witty.  Now, pay attention what Jesus says next.

Jesus said to her, “Go, call your husband, and come here (John 4:16).”  At first glance, one would wonder why does Jesus say this.  This statement from Jesus is so out of the blue, right?  It’s a statement statement that would catch her off guard!

You see, the woman’s cynicism was blocking her from recognizing who she was sitting with!  So Jesus had to throw her offguard.  But, not only does He throw her off, Jesus takes a powerful swing at her cynicism to crack its shell because this is a touchy subject for her.

This time, she responded, “I have no husband (John 4:17).”  Notice how sharp and pointed her answer is.  This is no longer a laughing matter to her, as things have gotten serious.  

Jesus has now put Himself in the driver’s seat and will now reveal Himself – the undeniable truth – to her.  Jesus responded, saying to her, “You have well said, ‘I have no husband,’ for you have had five husbands, and the one whom you now have is not your husband; in that you spoke truly (John 4:18).”

The cynic’s heart is opened

Notice her response, “Sir, I perceive that You are a prophet (John 4:19).”  This time around, her “sir” rings with a different tone.  Why do you think that was her response?  Because Jesus has spoken a truth that she had not shared with Him, but He knew about her.

This, again, reminds us of how David said that God knows his sitting down and his rising up (Ps. 139:2).  This reminds us of Jesus telling Nathanael that He saw him when he was in his secret place (John 1:47-48).

Throughout this conversation, we’ve seen where the woman viewed Jesus as just another Jew, who she may have felt was being an annoyance.  However, things have taken a sudden change as this Jew knew an intimate detail.  As I said, things had gotten serious.

The Lord knows how to get our attention, when He wants it.  The Lord will hit us with an undeniably truth that we will know has come from Him.  Many of us preachers, when we got our call to preach, tried to run from it and you better believe God got our attention.  

God’s undeniable truths are why I am so adamant in preaching about how we as Christians conduct ourselves in the world today.  I believe that with everything we’re seeing happen in the world today, God is permitting it to happen, so that our eyes are opened.  

I am reminded of what is said in Hebrews 4:12 about the word of God.  “For the word of God is living and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the division of soul and spirit, and of joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.”

After this, Jesus and the Samaritan woman had a more warm conversation as they spoke about worshiping the Lord, and Jesus revealed Himself as the Messiah.  Her heart had did a complete change as she then ran and told the people in the city to meet the Christ (John 4:28-29).

A Harsh Reality About Cynicism

Now, there is a truth that must be said about cynicism and the undeniable truth.   The reality is that many cynics can become completely stubborn and unchanging, no matter how hard the truth hits.  In fact, I believe we’re seeing a lot of that kind of stubbornness today.

The question a believer must answer is what do we do when we meet such stubbornness?  The honest answer is that we ought to do nothing more and move on.  When Jesus first sent out the twelve, Jesus told them that some would reject them and the message of salvation.  To that, Jesus advised the disciples to shake the dust off their feet and move.

If one rejects God, we ought not try to force God upon them.  Leave them to the Lord and let God continue His work with them.  For us, we must continue to move forward in our calling.