"Ho, every one that thirsts, come you to the waters, and he that has no money; come you, buy, and eat; yes, come, buy wine and milk without money and without price" Isaiah:55:1
The Season of Lent of Lent, is a time to look at our lives in the light of who Jesus Christ is and our lives lived in Union with Him and his transformational power he so freely grants us and fulfills the deep unquenchable thirst which only Jesus can assuage.
The words from the Prophet Isaiah looked ahead
to the work of Jesus Christ, who offers to any and to all who will but freely
accept his saving work and all new life which quenches the thirst that all are
born with. This quenching water which is ours without money of price, it cannot
be bought.
As Jesus traveled throughout the Land
preaching the Kingdom of God, he was issuing that invitation which has come
down through the centuries, to come to the Great God who loves and wants
humanity to know him. Everything, and all things, that humanity has ever wanted
or needed can be found in Jesus and in Jesus alone. It is an offer of Grace for
any and all who will but freely receive it.
Passing Through Samaria
Jesus, after a successful preaching campaign
in Judea, and after baptizing many who respond to his message, is led to
return to Galilee and the road that is laid before him leads through
Samaria.
"The Pharisees heard that Jesus was
gaining and baptizing more disciples than John, although in fact it was not Jesus
who baptized, but his disciples. When the Lord learned of this, 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 the sixth hour." Jhn: 4:1-6.
This road that Jesus now traveled was the main
route to Galilee, yet some Jews avoided this way , the Jews had
the view that the Samaritan were "unclean" and the
Jews would take great pains to avoid them, as not to be ceremonially unclean
through contact with the Samaritans.
The people who lived in this area had been
brought here by the King of Assyria around 722 BC, and through inter marriage
were now half Jew and half Gentile and their culture and worship reflected this
as well.
The Samaritans had developed their own
traditions of worship and interpretation of the Books of Moses. The primary
place of Worship for these people was Mount Gerizim. The Jews and Samaritans
often had strained relations.
At Jacob's Well
Jesus now enters the village Sychar near the Mount Ebal. Here, in the village of Sychar was Jacob's
well. It was at this well that Jesus stopped to rest from his long journey.
Now the spring water which fed and filled this well came from a deep-water
flow within the Earth. The local people of Jesus' day called this
spring the Fountain of Life. This well was a cultural icon to the people
who lived in Sychar, it brought them a sense of identification to and with the
Patriarchs and the God whom the Patriarchs served.
As Jesus rested at the well a Samaritan woman
came to draw water.
This woman is engaged by Jesus in a
unprecedented breach of culture protocol as Jesus asked her for a
drink. Jesus' request amazes her.
" 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.)" Jhn: 4:7-9
In answer to her amazement Jesus replies to
her in a way that catches her attention. Jesus wants her to understand just
what he is offering. This is not water to quench the physical thirst, but
rather to quench the thirst all humanity has for him, even if they do
understand it.
"Jesus answered and said to her, If you
knew the gift of God, and who it is that said to you, Give me to drink; you
would have asked of him, and he would have given you living water." (10)
At first, at the woman can only see the
physical, she interprets Jesus' offer in a one-dimensional way, she cannot
yet see the depths of Jesus' words, that there is more here than she is able to
yet grasp.
"The woman said to him, Sir, you
have nothing to draw with, and the well is deep: from where then have you that
living water? Are you greater than our father Jacob, which gave us the well,
and drank thereof himself, and his children, and his cattle?” (12-13)
Living Water
In the Jewish culture of the day "Living
Water" was flowing and moving. The Jewish religious leaders
practiced baptism, and they preferred to preformed their baptisms ceremonies in
flowing bodies of water, that is "Living Water”, they held the idea
that "Living Waters”, were transformational.
The Jews believed that a person who was
baptized became a whole new person, that at their very center of their being
they would be altered into a new person, that they would be transformed, life
would change.
Now Jesus begins to open to this woman
the meaning of the "Living Water" that he is willing
to freely share with her.
"Jesus answered and said to her, Whoever
drinks of this water shall thirst again: But whoever drinks of the water that I
shall give him shall never thirst; but the water that I shall give him shall be
in him a well of water springing up into everlasting life". (13-14)
Jesus is making a new life available to
her, one that is transformed, a life for here and now and on into eternity.
Yet, again she is not fully aware of the depth of Jesus' offer.
"The woman said to him, Sir, give me this
water, that I thirst not, neither come here to draw." (15)
Who She Is
Jesus now moves the conversation to her own
life. Jesus is helping her to see the need for a new life which is being freely
offered to her. This new life, which Jesus offers will be different than
the way she has lived. She needs to see who she is.
Jesus said to her, Go, call your husband, and
come here. The woman answered and said, I have no husband. Jesus said to her,
You have well said, I have no husband For you have had five husbands; and he
whom you now have is not your husband: in that said you truly. (16-18)
I See
When Jesus shows her the truth about her
own life, then emerges the realization that Jesus is much more than she had
first thought he is no mere Rabbi. The woman then begins to consider own
relationship with God.
"The woman said to him, Sir,
I perceive that you are a prophet. Our fathers worshiped in this mountain;
and you say, that in Jerusalem is the place where men ought to worship" .(19-20)
Jesus now leads her a step further in her
thinking, and opens to her the understanding that God is calling
her into a new relationship, that is , God is offering "Living
Water", a whole new life , here and now and in eternity that she and
we all have thirsted for.
"Jesus said to her, Woman, believe me,
the hour comes, when you shall neither in this mountain, nor yet at Jerusalem,
worship the Father. You worship you know not what: we know what we worship: for
salvation is of the Jews. But the hour comes, and now is, when the true
worshipers shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth: for the Father
seeks such to worship him. God is a Spirit: and they that worship him must
worship him in spirit and in truth". (21-24)
The Messiah Comes
Now that this woman has faced her sins, and
through the leading of Jesus, her mind is now ready to receive what has been
there all along with her during the whole conversation with Jesus.
That place in her heart, and in all
humanities hearts, that are longing for, that searching for something
greater, is now awoken in this Samaritan woman. She is now
ready to see who Jesus is, that very one, this "Jew",
this one who has spoken to her, this one , which has reached out to her
and engaged her in conversation. This man who now offers her to
drink from the "Living Waters" that will change
her life forever.
This woman, or anyone who encounters Jesus can
never be the same after seeing Jesus for who Jesus truly is. They will never
thirst again; he is everything which they thirst for.
"The woman said to him, I know that the
Messiah comes, which is called Christ: when he is come, he will tell us all
things."
(25)
"Am He"
Jesus then reveals to her who he is.
"Jesus said to her, I that speak to you
am he."
(26)
With simple words Jesus discloses the truth to
her, all along he was there even before his self-revelation. Jesus has brought
her to that place, that she is now able to accept him and the "Living
Waters" that Jesus has so freely offered.
Tells Others
At this moment of revelation, that before
her was the one whom all peoples have sought and needed. She now returns
to those who knew her, and she shares her experience with Jesus with
others and then invites them to come to see Jesus as well.
This woman is transformed from a person
of questionable life style into a powerful messenger of Jesus. Her
personal transformation was so stark in contrast to her past and
genuine, that the people who knew her, are then moved and follow her to
Jesus and see for themselves.
"And on this came his disciples, and
marveled that he talked with the woman: yet no man said, What seek you? or, Why
talk you with her? The woman then left her water pot, and went her way into the
city, and said to the men, Come, see a man, which told me all things that ever
I did: is not this the Christ? Then they went out of the city, and came to
him".(27-30)
Our Story Too
This account of Jesus and
the Samaritan woman not just an isolated moment that occurred two
thousand years ago, it is more than that, it is ongoing, it is the story
of all who meet Jesus, to whom Jesus now offers the "Living
Waters" that will quench their thirsts.
We all humanity are this
Samaritan woman, we all lived, to one degree or another outside of the
realization as to who Jesus is. Jesus did not avoid us, as the Jews of that day
did the Sanitarians, instead, Jesus reaches out to us. Jesus starts
the conversation with us even when we truly do not recognize him for who he is.
Gently Jesus leads us to see our need for him, and offers freely that
"Living Water" which changes us forever as well.
This woman left her water pot behind; this
tells us that her thirst is finally quenched when she comes to see Jesus for
who he is.
When we see Jesus as that one who saves
us, we can do nothing else but to be transformed in to powerful messengers
of that one who offers that "Living Water" freely to
any and all will but drink, we will never thirst again our lives will be
transformed by Jesus through the "Living Water".
Jesus invites all of us to come to waters,
that we may freely dink and never thirst again.
"Ho, every one that thirsts,
come you to the waters, and he that has no money; come you, buy, and eat; yes,
come, buy wine and milk without money and without price" Isa:55:1
The Season of Lent reminds us that Jesus alone
can quench the thirsts that all humanity has with in us and transform us
through the flow of his "Living Water" and grant us that life
which only he can give us.
Benediction: May we each and all ever
drink from the "Living Water" that our Lord Jesus so freely offers
us, today, tomorrow and forevermore. Amen.
Rev. Todd Crouch, Pastor
Topinabee Community Church
Topinabee Michigan
If You Would Like to Know More About or to Support the Ministry of Topinabee Community Church You Can go to Our Web Site.
https://topinabeechurch.org/index.html
You Can Follow Topinabee Community Church on Face Book
“If Its Not About Jesus, Its Not About Anything!”
No comments:
Post a Comment