The Disciples Get Schooled! -- John 4:27-42
The Disciples Get Schooled! -- John 4:27-42
By Pastor Lee Hemen
November 30, 2014
The Get Schooled Foundation (also Get Schooled or getschooled.com) is a non-profit organization dedicated to using the power of media, technology and popular culture to motivate and inspire young people, their families and teachers to improve high school graduation rates and college-going rates. Get Schooled combines powerful national content and programming (on-air, on-line and on the ground), with school-based engagement strategies to ensure both a broad reach and a measurable impact. Sounds good doesn’t it, yet we learn it is founded and funded by Viacom and Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, with significant support from AT&T. Why is this important? Before receiving assistance in getting kids to learn parents and guardians need to be aware of the social and political philosophies some of these organizations have and how they use programs like these to reprogram your children.
Getting schooled is an old term which often meant the person was on the receiving end of someone else who knew their stuff whether in sports, education, or politics. Here in John’s gospel we find Jesus’ disciples getting schooled, so-to-speak, by Jesus about what and who the gospel message is and meant. Let’s discover how the disciples get schooled…
READ: John 4:27-42
We discover here that…
I. People get schooled when they are spiritually clueless! (Vv. 27-38)
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 Christ?” They came out of the town and made their way toward him. Meanwhile his disciples urged him, “Rabbi, eat something.” But he said to them, “I have food to eat that you know nothing about.” Then his disciples said to each other, “Could someone have brought him food?” “My food,” said Jesus, “is to do the will of him who sent me and to finish his work. 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. 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. Thus the saying 'One sows and another reaps' is true. 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.”
1. Jesus’ disciples were spiritually clueless because their focus was wrong. They are more concerned about Jesus eating something and making sure he doesn’t eat with the woman he was talking to! Interestingly they go into the very town the woman goes to but each of them comes away with something quite different! The disciples return just as she is leaving. They “were surprised to find him talking with a woman.” However, none of them ask Jesus, “What do you want?” or “Why are you talking with her?” Instead they immediately urge Jesus to eat something! Folks can get so concerned for themselves or the world and become spiritually clueless. They were supposed to be Jesus’ disciples. Jesus who came to seek and save the lost but they were more concerned for food and societal restrictions. Jesus begins to try to bring them back to what they need to focus on by telling them, “I have food to eat that you know nothing about.” Instead of asking Jesus about what he meant by his statement, they wonder, “Could someone have brought him food?” Here is a teachable moment. Jesus responds by telling them, “My food is to do the will of him who sent me and to finish his work.” God had begun a wonderful plan to rescue mankind and now Jesus would complete the task by his death and resurrection. Jesus did not want them to continue to be so spiritually myopic. Being Jewish they only thought God had come for them but Jesus came to finish God’s work! “Do you not say, ‘Four months more and then the harvest’? I tell you, open your eyes and look at the fields!” They had been so caught up in asking God for deliverance they could not see it right in front of them! But more than that, God had provided a way for the whole world to be saved! The harvest was now! Jesus instructs them, “I tell you, open your eyes and look at the fields! They are ripe for harvest. 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. Thus the saying 'One sows and another reaps' is true. 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.” The disciples had received the blessings of God because they were Hebrews, but they personally had done nothing to earn it. The woman would shortly return from telling everyone she met, “Come, see a man who told me everything I ever did. Could this be the Christ?” She was busy harvesting while the disciples were busybodies. Because of her testimony many in the town “made their way toward” Jesus. People get schooled when they are spiritually clueless!
EXAMPLE: The movie Clueless was a 1995 American comedy loosely based on Jane Austen's 1815 novel Emma. Charlotte "Cher" Horowitz is a good-natured but superficial girl who is attractive, popular, and extremely wealthy. A few months shy of her sixteenth birthday, she has risen to the top of the high-school social scene, and is happy and self-assured in her insular, fashion-obsessed world. When she can't get a teacher to give her a better grade, she and friend match him up with another teacher to make him happier and perhaps laxer on his grading. When a girl named Tai transfers to Cher's school, she gives her a makeover and attempts to find her a boyfriend. Cher soon realizes that she wants a boyfriend herself, but no one seems right. She goes through a superficial “spiritual” makeover and realizes that there's more to life than clothes and popularity before she finds the boy of her dreams. It exemplifies how spiritually clueless many Americans are today. Like the disciples with the woman at the well, many on our day and age get schooled when they are spiritually clueless.
We also discover that…
II. The unsaved get schooled when they finally accept Christ! (Vv. 39-42)
Many of the Samaritans from that town believed in him because of the woman's testimony, “He told me everything I ever did.” So when the Samaritans came to him, they urged him to stay with them, and he stayed two days. And because of his words many more became believers. 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.”
1. Jesus’ testimony becomes the woman’s testimony. Here’s what I mean, we wonderfully discover that “Many of the Samaritans from that town believed in him because of the woman's testimony, ‘He told me everything I ever did.’” Now Jesus did not necessarily tell her everything she did however she learned that Jesus could not be fooled. Most folks who know Christ often can’t be fooled by those who claim Christ but who do not truly have a relationship with him. The reason goes back to what Jesus shared with her earlier when he told her that “Yet a time is coming and has now come when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for they are the kind of worshipers the Father seeks. God is spirit, and his worshipers must worship in spirit and in truth. (John 4:23-24 NIV)” Those who do not have personal relationship with Jesus cannot worship him in spirit and in truth because the Spirit does not live in them and they do not know the truth! She now knew who Jesus was and she now knew that he knew her as well! It is because of this relationship that she was changed enough that the folks in the village who once had perhaps shunned her now “urged him to stay with them, and he stayed two days.” I am certain Jesus’ disciples were shocked at first when Jesus related they would be staying in Samaria to teach the folks there about the kingdom of God. “And because of his words many more became believers.” This is the beautiful truth of the gospel message. The simple truth is that it is all about Jesus. I am sure Jesus had to go over some of the teachings of the prophets because the Samaritans did not use anything but the first five books of the Old Testament, the Pentuach. Now the old schooled get reschooled about the Messiah and who he is. In fact, we learn that they now tell 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.” The unsaved get schooled when they finally accept Christ!
EXAMPLE: There are those who think they know God but who actually have no understanding of who God is and how he works within his creation. There are those who think God loves them no matter what they do or think. There are those who think God is not actually involved on our world today. Some say there is no God while others think God is in everything. Then there are those who assert that God the Father “has a body of flesh and bones as tangible as man’s” and that as we are God once was and we can become gods ourselves. Some think God has evolved along with man and was once more primitive then grew into a more evolved ideal of Jesus. These ideas are as convoluted as what the Samaritans thought or what the Hebrews held to during Jesus’ day. I have discovered that when someone does not have the spirit of God living in them it is very difficult for them to understand who God is. Like the townspeople, the unsaved get school when they finally accept Christ!
Conclusion:
People get schooled when they are spiritually clueless! And, we discover that the unsaved get schooled when they finally accept Christ!
—
This article is copyrighted © 2014 by Lee Hemen and is the sole property of Lee Hemen, and may not be used unless you quote the entire article and have my permission.
By Pastor Lee Hemen
November 30, 2014
The Get Schooled Foundation (also Get Schooled or getschooled.com) is a non-profit organization dedicated to using the power of media, technology and popular culture to motivate and inspire young people, their families and teachers to improve high school graduation rates and college-going rates. Get Schooled combines powerful national content and programming (on-air, on-line and on the ground), with school-based engagement strategies to ensure both a broad reach and a measurable impact. Sounds good doesn’t it, yet we learn it is founded and funded by Viacom and Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, with significant support from AT&T. Why is this important? Before receiving assistance in getting kids to learn parents and guardians need to be aware of the social and political philosophies some of these organizations have and how they use programs like these to reprogram your children.
Getting schooled is an old term which often meant the person was on the receiving end of someone else who knew their stuff whether in sports, education, or politics. Here in John’s gospel we find Jesus’ disciples getting schooled, so-to-speak, by Jesus about what and who the gospel message is and meant. Let’s discover how the disciples get schooled…
READ: John 4:27-42
We discover here that…
I. People get schooled when they are spiritually clueless! (Vv. 27-38)
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 Christ?” They came out of the town and made their way toward him. Meanwhile his disciples urged him, “Rabbi, eat something.” But he said to them, “I have food to eat that you know nothing about.” Then his disciples said to each other, “Could someone have brought him food?” “My food,” said Jesus, “is to do the will of him who sent me and to finish his work. 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. 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. Thus the saying 'One sows and another reaps' is true. 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.”
1. Jesus’ disciples were spiritually clueless because their focus was wrong. They are more concerned about Jesus eating something and making sure he doesn’t eat with the woman he was talking to! Interestingly they go into the very town the woman goes to but each of them comes away with something quite different! The disciples return just as she is leaving. They “were surprised to find him talking with a woman.” However, none of them ask Jesus, “What do you want?” or “Why are you talking with her?” Instead they immediately urge Jesus to eat something! Folks can get so concerned for themselves or the world and become spiritually clueless. They were supposed to be Jesus’ disciples. Jesus who came to seek and save the lost but they were more concerned for food and societal restrictions. Jesus begins to try to bring them back to what they need to focus on by telling them, “I have food to eat that you know nothing about.” Instead of asking Jesus about what he meant by his statement, they wonder, “Could someone have brought him food?” Here is a teachable moment. Jesus responds by telling them, “My food is to do the will of him who sent me and to finish his work.” God had begun a wonderful plan to rescue mankind and now Jesus would complete the task by his death and resurrection. Jesus did not want them to continue to be so spiritually myopic. Being Jewish they only thought God had come for them but Jesus came to finish God’s work! “Do you not say, ‘Four months more and then the harvest’? I tell you, open your eyes and look at the fields!” They had been so caught up in asking God for deliverance they could not see it right in front of them! But more than that, God had provided a way for the whole world to be saved! The harvest was now! Jesus instructs them, “I tell you, open your eyes and look at the fields! They are ripe for harvest. 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. Thus the saying 'One sows and another reaps' is true. 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.” The disciples had received the blessings of God because they were Hebrews, but they personally had done nothing to earn it. The woman would shortly return from telling everyone she met, “Come, see a man who told me everything I ever did. Could this be the Christ?” She was busy harvesting while the disciples were busybodies. Because of her testimony many in the town “made their way toward” Jesus. People get schooled when they are spiritually clueless!
EXAMPLE: The movie Clueless was a 1995 American comedy loosely based on Jane Austen's 1815 novel Emma. Charlotte "Cher" Horowitz is a good-natured but superficial girl who is attractive, popular, and extremely wealthy. A few months shy of her sixteenth birthday, she has risen to the top of the high-school social scene, and is happy and self-assured in her insular, fashion-obsessed world. When she can't get a teacher to give her a better grade, she and friend match him up with another teacher to make him happier and perhaps laxer on his grading. When a girl named Tai transfers to Cher's school, she gives her a makeover and attempts to find her a boyfriend. Cher soon realizes that she wants a boyfriend herself, but no one seems right. She goes through a superficial “spiritual” makeover and realizes that there's more to life than clothes and popularity before she finds the boy of her dreams. It exemplifies how spiritually clueless many Americans are today. Like the disciples with the woman at the well, many on our day and age get schooled when they are spiritually clueless.
We also discover that…
II. The unsaved get schooled when they finally accept Christ! (Vv. 39-42)
Many of the Samaritans from that town believed in him because of the woman's testimony, “He told me everything I ever did.” So when the Samaritans came to him, they urged him to stay with them, and he stayed two days. And because of his words many more became believers. 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.”
1. Jesus’ testimony becomes the woman’s testimony. Here’s what I mean, we wonderfully discover that “Many of the Samaritans from that town believed in him because of the woman's testimony, ‘He told me everything I ever did.’” Now Jesus did not necessarily tell her everything she did however she learned that Jesus could not be fooled. Most folks who know Christ often can’t be fooled by those who claim Christ but who do not truly have a relationship with him. The reason goes back to what Jesus shared with her earlier when he told her that “Yet a time is coming and has now come when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for they are the kind of worshipers the Father seeks. God is spirit, and his worshipers must worship in spirit and in truth. (John 4:23-24 NIV)” Those who do not have personal relationship with Jesus cannot worship him in spirit and in truth because the Spirit does not live in them and they do not know the truth! She now knew who Jesus was and she now knew that he knew her as well! It is because of this relationship that she was changed enough that the folks in the village who once had perhaps shunned her now “urged him to stay with them, and he stayed two days.” I am certain Jesus’ disciples were shocked at first when Jesus related they would be staying in Samaria to teach the folks there about the kingdom of God. “And because of his words many more became believers.” This is the beautiful truth of the gospel message. The simple truth is that it is all about Jesus. I am sure Jesus had to go over some of the teachings of the prophets because the Samaritans did not use anything but the first five books of the Old Testament, the Pentuach. Now the old schooled get reschooled about the Messiah and who he is. In fact, we learn that they now tell 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.” The unsaved get schooled when they finally accept Christ!
EXAMPLE: There are those who think they know God but who actually have no understanding of who God is and how he works within his creation. There are those who think God loves them no matter what they do or think. There are those who think God is not actually involved on our world today. Some say there is no God while others think God is in everything. Then there are those who assert that God the Father “has a body of flesh and bones as tangible as man’s” and that as we are God once was and we can become gods ourselves. Some think God has evolved along with man and was once more primitive then grew into a more evolved ideal of Jesus. These ideas are as convoluted as what the Samaritans thought or what the Hebrews held to during Jesus’ day. I have discovered that when someone does not have the spirit of God living in them it is very difficult for them to understand who God is. Like the townspeople, the unsaved get school when they finally accept Christ!
Conclusion:
People get schooled when they are spiritually clueless! And, we discover that the unsaved get schooled when they finally accept Christ!
—
This article is copyrighted © 2014 by Lee Hemen and is the sole property of Lee Hemen, and may not be used unless you quote the entire article and have my permission.
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