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He HAD to go through Samaria (John 4:4). Well, geographically he didn’t HAVE to go through Samaria. In fact, the more politically correct route for any self-respecting Jew would be to go on the east side of the Jordan River. It was a longer route but avoided Samaria all together. If you did choose to go through Samaria you certainly wouldn’t stop for lunch, or talk to a woman.
But Jesus did.
He had to go through Samaria because someone was ready to hear his message. That someone was a woman that had gone through five divorces. Five. One is devastating enough. Two raises eyebrows. Five? There are words for women like this but none of them are appropriate for this space.
Take a moment to put yourself in the woman’s place. Hopefully you will have a hard time with this, but imagine how rejected you would feel. Remember the first time you broke up? The first time you were dumped for better pasture? Multiply by five! And now, the guy she was ‘with’ didn’t even respect her enough to marry her.
That’s why she went to the well during the hottest part of the day. She no doubt suffered in silence and this was her coping mechanism.
But Jesus went out of his way to meet her in her comfort zone, on her terms to share the one thing she needed above all else…acceptance and true life.
He does the same today. You don’t need to suffer in silence. He wants to hear from you. He wants us to see those who may be suffering and offer the fresh water of his grace. Silent sufferers never escape the notice of Jesus.
It’s a frosty morning here in the northland. As I took the dog out to do his morning duties I noticed that shadow of our house neatly outlined with the morning frost.
The difference? The warmth of the sun had not yet risen high enough to melt the coldness from the night before. It was the warmth of the rising sun that made all the difference. It was the warmth of the riding sun that dissolved the darkness and brought life.
Tomorrow is Easter Sunday. The day we remember when another SON rose from the darkness. He too dissolves the darkness and melts the coldness of our hearts. The more he rises in our lives the less coldness and darkness have a chance!
Hallelujah for the RISEN SON!
She was lonely. She most likely had a real problem with self-image and commitment. She’d learned something about men and relationships through the years: they don’t last. Men used women and tossed them away like an old sock.
That’s why she found herself at the well at midday. Her plan worked most days. There was no one at the well. But not today. Today, of all things, a man was there. This time was different. This man was different. He didn’t judge her event though he knew her deepest secrets. He didn’t get caught up in the arguments that she’d learned to use to alienate others. Instead he offered her life!
The world seeks for satisfaction in the physical. When Jesus fed 5,000 men that day on the mountain, the Bible says they were filled….satisfied…content…perhaps uneasily comfortable like I am after Thanksgiving dinner.
But once the food wore off they sought Jesus for more. Not more of Jesus, not more of the spiritual food he offered, but of physical comfort. Many were disappointed when he explained to them that the food he offered was food from heaven and not earth. They were more interested in the temporal filling rather than the eternal fulfillment Jesus had to offer.
You can find temporary comfort in many things. Relationships. Money. Status. Friendships. Entertainment. The list goes on. But nothing satisfies like Jesus.
Wait for the Lord; be strong and take heart and wait for the Lord. Psalm 27:14
It amazes me how many times the challenge to be patient and have courage occurs in the Bible. It’s almost like our Heavenly Father is trying to tell us something!
When you think about it, the two go hand in hand. When we are impatient we tend to react instead of act. We lash out verbally. We take action without seeing all the possibilities or ramifications of our actions. We take unnecessary actions and later need to suffer the consequences. Think about it. It was one act of impatience the forced Moses to flee into the wilderness after his outburst of anger killed an Egyptian. It was one act of anger (impatience) that led him to strike the rock rather than speak to it as God commanded him. One forced him into the wilderness, the other forced him to stay in the wilderness.
While impatience can be thought of as acting too quickly, fear keeps us from acting at all. God often seems to link patience and courage together for a reason. One (patience) allows us time to listen to him. The other (courage) requires action! We don’t serve a stagnant God. He doesn’t change in character but if you’ve ever noticed a sunset you realize he rarely does things the same and always does them with excellence.
Courage is waiting for God’s timing and moving forward as he moves us.
Patience and courage. One gives us time to seek God’s wisdom, the other moves us forward with his blessing.
“Don’t forget to do good…”
I’ve often heard people misquote this verse and others with a similar message to justify their social activism and political agendas even though their ‘actions’ are completely contradictory to the context and whole of the Bible message.
‘Good’ can not be defined in human terms because ‘good’ in human terms is relative to the situation at hand and the mindset of the person or group defining it. Is the good you are doing helping the good of the majority of people who think like you do?
On the other hand, ‘good’ defined by God’s standards is impossible to attain without the presence and guidance of the Holy Spirit. The guidance of the Holy Spirit will never contradict God’s word. It is what empowered Jesus during the wilderness temptations to stay true to his mission and resist satanic influences. Each of the things Satan tempted Christ to do were not wrong in and of themselves but the motive behind them was!
When we consider our ‘good’ actions measure them according to the standards God instituted. Then thank him profusely for grace because even at your best you can’t do everything perfect. Thank him for his inner peace too because if you stand with God, you will ultimately stand against culture and society.
You’ll fair better in the long run when you stand with the one who holds your eternity in his hand that you will standing with those whose future is limited to this world. Your good deeds should be done according to God’s standards, not the whims and fickle ways of culture.
