President Barnes preaches on John 4:27-30, 39-42 | September 29, 2022

Princeton Theological Seminary

Seminary Chapel Jesus and Our Insatiable Thirst The purpose of this brief series of homilies on the Woman at the Well is to help us move beyond thinking about Jesus’ encounter with a Samaritan woman who had a difficult time with relationships, to consider our own deep thirst for something more. This is striking because we’re supposed to know the Jesus is the living water, and yet we continue to search for something more… Scripture: John 4:27-30, 39-42 The way John writes the gospel, “Just then” the disciples return to encounter this amazingly profound declaration about Jesus as the Messiah, and their response is to be concerned that he is talking to a woman. (??!!??) Like the worship wars this preoccupation with social norms helps us stay distracted from God’s argument with us – that we keep trying to satisfy our thirst with things other than the Messiah who knows us. The core of the woman’s testimony to Jesus' messianic status was that he told her everything she had done. We can only be saved by the only one who really knows us and is dying to love us.