it's a great privilege for me to be here I'm grateful for the opportunity to speak to you first of all for the opportunity to preach the gospel and also for the opportunity to share something about our work and our church in Milan, Italy And before we turn to the Word of God, I would like to bring you the greetings of the Evangelical Reformed Church, Philadelphia, in the city of Milan, in Italy. Let's turn to the Gospel of John, chapter 4. We shall read from verse 1 through verse 29. Now Jesus learned that the Pharisees had heard that he was gaining and baptizing more disciples than John. Although, in fact, it was not Jesus who baptized, but his disciples. So he left Judea and went back once more to Galilee. Now he had to go 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 noon. When a Samaritan woman came to draw water, Jesus said to her, Will you give me a drink? His disciples had gone into the town to buy food. The Samaritan woman said to him, You are a Jew, and I am a Samaritan woman. How can you ask me for a drink? For Jews do not associate with Samaritans Jesus answered her If you knew the gift of God And who it is that asks you for a drink You would have asked him And he would have given you living water Sir, the woman said You have nothing to draw with And the well is deep Where you can 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. 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. What you have just said is quite true. Sir, the woman said, I can see that you are a prophet. Our ancestors worshipped 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 worshippers will worship the Father in the Spirit and in truth. For they are the kind of worshippers the Father seeks. God is spirit, and his worshippers must worship in the spirit and in truth. 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. 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? Thus far, the reading of the word of God. With God's help, we'll concentrate our attention on this brief sketch of the life of the Samaritan woman. And before we look in some details at the life of the Samaritan woman, there are a couple of things we should keep in mind as we read this story in the larger context of the narrative of the Gospel of John. First of all, we should keep in mind that what we have before us is only a brief sketch which is included in the larger story about Jesus. We know what we know about the life of the Samaritan woman because her life is included in the history of the life of Jesus. Therefore, as we consider the main features of the life of this woman, we must remember that this is not really a story about the woman herself, but rather this is a story about Jesus. Secondly, another important preliminary observation is that in the flow of the narrative of the Gospel of John, the meeting between Jesus and the Samaritan woman comes after the meeting of Jesus with Nicodemus. And Nicodemus and the Samaritan woman were very different people, very different persons. Nicodemus was religiously orthodox, well grounded in scriptures. He was an important person and well respected in society. The situation of the Samaritan woman, as we will see, is very different. The Samaritan woman was uneducated. Socially insignificant and also religiously mistaken, she was a Samaritan. And moreover, beside that, Nicodemus was a Jew. He was a man in a patriarchal culture. He was a guide, a religious guide of the people, while the Samaritan woman was a Samaritan. And she was a woman in a patriarchal culture. And as we just read, she lived a reproachable life. And yet, yet, this is the lesson we learn as we read through the Gospel of John. Both Nicodemus and the Samaritan woman were badly in need of Jesus and forgiveness of sin. Both of them. John's Gospel shows us that Nicodemus and the Samaritan woman needed one and the same thing. As we read their stories, we see that Jesus speaks to them about the same reality. To Nicodemus, Jesus tells that he needs a spiritual washing to enter the kingdom of God. And to the Samaritan woman, Jesus tells that she needs living water. So even the words Jesus uses to speak with these two very different persons are very similar. So, let's consider now the story of the life of the Samaritan woman, which is really not so much a story about this woman, but a story about another, even Jesus. And as we consider the life of this woman, let us remember that all men before God share in one and the same need. In spite of all our differences, all of us have the same spiritual need. All of us need to be born again by water and spirit. And all of us need that living water in order not to be thirsty again. This is the gospel. This is the story of the gospel. For all of us, religious and moralistic Nicodemuses, There is the need of a spiritual transformation. And for all of us, insignificant and messy Samaritan women, there is hope of a spiritual transformation. John, therefore, in this context, speaks to us about Jesus Christ. As he meets the Samaritan woman. And as I told you, the evangelist gives us a sketch, a brief sketch of the life of this Samaritan woman. And the first thing we understand, the first thing we learn about the life of this woman is that it is a sinful life. It's a very simple consideration. At first, as we read from verse 7 through verse 15, at first, the way in which the Samaritan woman responds to Jesus' request makes her to appear quite normal and respectful. We read that as she talks with Jesus, she listens attentively And she answers politely. But when Jesus asks her to call her husband, she cannot hide the truth about her own life, her own sinful life, the truth about her transgressions of God's law. Jesus' words reveal that the Samaritan woman is a sinner. And the sin, the sinfulness of this woman is great. And as a commentator observes, It was already an indecent extravagance for a woman to have been married successively to five husbands. And now, living with another man means that every claim to the honor of being a married woman had been totally abandoned. This Samaritan woman did the same as the adulterous and unfaithful woman spoken of in the book of Proverbs. She broke the covenant of her God. I would like to read with you this reference in the book of Proverbs chapter 2 verses 16 and 17. where the wise man speaks about the adulterous woman. Wisdom will save you also from the adulterous woman, from the wayward woman with her seductive words, who has left the partner of her youth and ignored the covenant she made before God. The Samaritan woman forgot, did not consider the covenant of her God. And therefore, this is the first thing we consider as we think about the story of this woman. The life of this woman is a sinful life. And we have to remember the purpose of the evangelist in showing us the sinful life of this woman. The main goal of the evangelist is to tell the story of Jesus. And therefore, the greatness of the sin of the Samaritan woman serves to magnify the greatness of the salvation in Jesus. If our sin is great, God's love and mercy in Christ are far, far greater. But beside being a sinful life, the life of this woman is also a miserable life. We know from the Bible and also from our own experience that a sinful life always brings to a miserable life. And the story we have before us is not only a story of the breaking of the covenant of this woman. But also it's a story of the misery that death brought to her life. We see that the life of this woman is unstable. Confused. The life of the woman is characterized by frailty. There is no stability. Everything is in constant change. This is the kind of life that contemporary sociologists describe as a liquid life. A life which is uncertain. A life marked by insecurity. And even though we don't have many details in the narrative, we can at least say with certainty that the life of this Samaritan woman is disordered, unbalanced and problematic. And there are two things in particular that show us the misery of this woman. We note that the Samaritan woman goes to draw water alone and at noon. And this is a strange thing. Usually, this is not the case. Because women used to go to draw water with other women, and certainly not when the sun was burning most hot. I grew up in Italy, I was born in the north of Italy, and I still remember in towns and villages big pools of water. And years ago, women used to go to that pool to wash clothings or to draw water. And it was not the case that women were alone in washing or in drawing water. But this Samaritan woman is by herself. She is not with other women. And this is strange. And also the time when she goes to draw water at the well is strange, is uncommon. I spent a number of years in the south of Italy, in Sicily, where the climate is very similar to Southern California. And I remember I was a young man of 18 years of age and it was harvest time and I had to labor in order to gain something gathering, collecting grapes. And because of the warmth of the sun we began very early in the morning around five or six and we worked in the early morning until 10 or 11 and then we stopped because the warmth of the sun was too much and after a time of rest late in the afternoon when the sun was not burning anymore we used to go forth again to continue to gather grapes until evening so it was not normal the behavior of this woman she was alone she went to draw water at noon and this reveals the misery of her life she was afraid uncomfortable to be with other people she tried in some way to hide herself and the misery of this woman is also shown in the fact that when Jesus invites her to call her husband the way in which she answers betrays shame and a sense of uneasiness she is very short in her reply to Jesus I have no husband she wants to change the subject she doesn't tell a lie but she doesn't tell the truth either and this behavior this uneasiness shows us the misery of this woman she experienced Misery In her relationships with other people Because she was alone She was hiding herself And she experienced misery In her own soul Outside and inside Her life Her sinful life Was Full of misery And as I thought about this woman recently, I thought also to another woman, another young woman, a very famous singer from London, England. Her name was Emmy Winehouse, very famous, very rich, a beautiful voice, much success, money. But the life of this young lady, this London singer, was a sinful life, a miserable life. And last year, maybe some of you are aware of this. Last year, when she was only 27 years of age, she died. She died. And I would like to read to you a couple of stanzas from a couple of her songs. One song is entitled, I Know That I Am No Good. And the song says, I cheated myself like I knew I would. I told you I was trouble. You know that I am no good. And another one, speaking about human relationships, the title of this song is Love is a Losing Game. And the song says, why do I wish I never played? Oh, what a mess we made. And now the final frame, love, is a losing game. And very similar to the life of the Samaritan woman. The broken covenant, the misery, sin brings to people's lives and a sense of despair. But the sketch of the life of the Samaritan woman doesn't end with despair. Yes, her life is a sinful life, her life is a miserable life, but we also see at the end that the story of John's Gospel tells us about a transformed life. The life of this woman is transformed by the power of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. After Jesus' invitation to call her husband, the Samaritan woman makes a sort of profession of faith. Sir, we read in verse 19, I can see, I perceive, I understand in some measure that you are a prophet. So, something is changing in the way in which the Samaritan woman speaks with Jesus. Up to this point, her speech has been very superficial. Her mind was concerned with earthly things. She was not, as we used to say, heavenly minded, as she spoke with Jesus. And she was only concerned not to be bothered again in order to go to the well and to have to labor for some water. But things change. And the woman understands that Jesus is a prophet, a prophet of God. And as she thinks, listening to Jesus, the subject of her conversation with Jesus becomes the worship of God. Sir, I can see that you are a prophet. Our ancestors worshipped on this mountain. But you Jews claim that the place where we must worship is Jerusalem. So the woman understands, perceives that Jesus is a prophet of God. She begins to be concerned, not about the things of this life, but about the chief end of man. And she inquires Jesus about how, or about the proper way to glorify and enjoy God. She asks about the true worship of God. And then, after Jesus replied, the woman expresses her hope and her faith in the coming of Messiah. I know that Messiah is coming. And when he comes, he will explain everything to us. And at this point, Jesus reveals himself as the true Messiah of Israel, the promised one. And at the end of the passage, we read, we see the Samaritan woman forgetting about the water. She forgets her jar of water. She is not concerned with the water of the well anymore. And she is more concerned about the living water. And she goes back to the Samaritans giving expression, in some measure, to the belief that Jesus is the Christ. Come, says the Samaritan woman, see a man who told me everything I ever did. Could this be the Messiah? And her witness was so persuasive that we read in verse 30 that the Samaritans came out of the town and made their way toward Jesus. And they recognized that Jesus came to be the Savior of the world. So the life of the Samaritan woman. A very sinful life. A life full of misery, of loneliness, of sadness and despair. But also a life which has been transformed by the power of the Lord Jesus Christ. And all of us, this morning, need to hear once again the message of the gospel. We need once more, it doesn't matter if we are more similar to Nicodemus or to the Samaritan woman, our need is one and the same. We need once more to look to the story of Jesus Christ. To consider the Son of God who became a man like us. We need to think seriously about the life, the perfect life of the Lord Jesus Christ. We need to think about his sacrifice, his death on the cross. We need to look at his resurrection and ascension and exaltation. And put our trust, our hope, like the Samaritan woman, in spite of ourselves, fully into this person. This man, as the Samaritans recognize, this man who really is the savior of the world. Thank you.