That Jesus, He’s A Nice Guy!
First of all, read John 4:1-54.
Answer this question. Do you think any other person (who was ’Jewish in His day), but Jesus, would be willing to strike up a conversation with a ‘Samaritan, and a ‘Samaritan woman at that?
Probably not. Jesus was a man with no barriers and no prejudice. He did something that was not “the norm”. ’Jewish folks and ‘Samaritan folks did not like each other (see www.biblestudytools.com and type in ’Samaritans in the bible dictionary tool). This women (verse 9) was very surprised that Jesus was willing to even converse with her. But Jesus chose to to teach her of His divine message. He converted her, by revealing her sinfulness and her need for Him…..for a Savior and the “living water” He offers. This woman took what Jesus said in verse 10 literally (verse 11). Then Jesus illustrated to her exactly what He meant. “Whosoever drinketh of this water (from Jacob’s well) shall thirst again (verse 14), but the water I am speaking of shall be in him a well (‘Greek~Pege: Metaphorically of life-giving doctrine) of water springing up into everlasting (‘Greek~Alonios: eternal life; the life which is God’s and hence not affected by the limitations of time) life (‘Greek~Zoe: life in the spirit and soul: expressing all of the highest and best which Christ is…see also day 4 of ‘The Teacher’).”
The commentaries that I have read, all say this….the living water means the Spirit. The Matthew Henry commentary says this, “The graces of the Spirit, and his comforts, satisfy the thirsting soul, that knows its own nature and necessity.”
This woman then plainly says, “give it to me” (verse 15). Then Jesus reveals to her that He knows her sin and (if I understand it correctly) reveals this: God is the Father of all believers, not just the Jewish people. We that believe, worship Him in spirit and in truth, worship Him infulenced by the Holy Spirit, ”for this is what the Father seeks” (thru verse 24). And Then, Jesus tells this women that He is the Christ, whom she speaks of (verses 25,26).
One thought I have at this point is this…..”The Teacher” teaches (illustrates) through the moment at hand. We should pray that in those “moments at hand” that we would be influenced by the Holy Spirit. So many times, the Lord uses the “moment at hand” for us to give perhaps just a small bit of our own personal testimonies to convey the Gospel message….which provides the opportunity for the Holy Spirit to infulence another. We should pray that the Lord would help us to pass through any barriers or prejudices we might have.
Enter In, The Disciples
John 4:27-42
Jesus’ disciples re-enter the scene and are marvelled that He is having a conversation with this woman, but they did not speak their thoughts. The Samaritan woman leaves to tell of what just happened to her. The disciples try desperately to get Jesus to eat something, but Jesus takes the opportunity (moment at hand) to teach….again…doing his Father’s will… conveying the message. Jesus says to the disciples, “my meat (sustenance; what feeds me), you don’t know about. My meat is to do the will of God and to finish his work.” Jesus compares his work to harvest-work. The time for harvest is short and you must do the work at that time. When the gospel season (moment at hand) is here, seize that moment. This woman went out and spread what Jesus had just taught her to the whole town.
If you read on through verse 42, The Word says, “many of the Samaritans of that city believed on Jesus because of this woman…..the town’s people besought Him to stay a while longer…..and many more believed because of His own word…and they knew that He is indeed the Christ, the Savior of the world.” They BELIEVED!
Healing of The Official’s Son
John 4:43-54
The fact that the father of the sick son was an official, speaks to me. Our status in life does not give us immunity to sickness and death. We all must go to the Lord for healing. In verse 48, Jesus points out weakness in the official’s faith (I think)…”unless you see signs and wonders, you will not believe”. The official says to Jesus, “come before my child dies”. And Jesus says, “go, your son lives”. Time and space are no barrier to the power of Christ. If Christ says it is so, it is so. The Word says that the official believed and so did his whole house.
Thought to ponder: May the message of Christ spread through our families, so that souls will find healing and salvation.
I’m Finding Something Beautiful!
Tomorrow: Chapter 5
This entry was posted on Monday, February 15th, 2010 at 9:02 pm and is filed under Bible Studies. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
