Do You Respond?
Jesus was walking down the road when he looked up and said, Zaccheus
come down out of that tree and walk with me. Then on the journey there
was a man who came to Jesus in the dark to ask him questions.
Nichodemus saw the light of Jesus Christ in his life and realized he no
longer had to walk in the dark.
On Jesus’ journey, John 4: 1-6
Now when the LORD knew that the Pharisees had heard that
Jesus was making and baptizing more disciples than John
(although Jesus himself did not baptize, but only his disciples)
Jesus left Judea and departed again to Galilee. Jesus had to
pass through Samaria, called Sychar, near the field that
Jacob gave to his son Joseph. Jacob’s well was there, and so
Jesus, wearied as he was with his journey, sat down beside
the well, it was about the sixth hour (just about noon).
After walking for hours and endless miles Jesus was tired and decided to
sit down and rest at the well.
Have you ever traveled through somewhere familiar and decided to pull
off to rest and have something to drink? Maybe you didn’t like the place
as the Jews did not like the Samaritans but you meant no harm by
stopping. Just a desire to rest up before you moved on.
John 4: 7- 9
There came a woman of Samaria to draw water, Jesus said to
her, “Give me a drink.” For his disciples had gone away into
the city to buy food. The Samaritan woman said to Jesus,
“How is it that you, a Jew, ask a drink of me, a woman from
Samaria?” For Jews have no dealings with Samaritans.”
How do you react when someone different than you approaches you?
“Hiiiiiii, my name is Davviddd, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha ….” Silence. Do you
respond: “HEY DAVID WHAT’S HAPPENING BROTHER?” “My name
izzzzzz Davvidd and I’mmmmmmmm kna, kna, kna, not yor broderrrr.”
Or do you respond: “Hi David, my name is Walter, it is nice to meet you.
How are you doing?” To which you may hear, “HIIIIIII Valter, it is neyes
to meat u tooValter. “
How do you respond to someone who is different than you? “Hi, I have
been asked to stop by and visit you while you’re in the hospital.” “Did they
tell you I’ve got AIDS and I’m actively dying? That there is nothing else
they can do for me?” Do you respond,: “Oh, you’ve got Aids”, while
stepping away, “and you’re dying? Don’t touch me; I’VE GOT TO GET
AWAY FROM YOU! HOW DISGUSTING!!” Then you run out of the room.
Or do you respond: “I respect your diagnosis and cannot even begin to
imagine what you must be feeling. I am not here to judge you but to take
the journey with you for you do not deserve to die alone”. To which you
may hear, “Thank you for caring, I gave up on anyone caring about me.
WHY SHOULD ANYONE CARE ABOUT ME OF ALL PEOPLE?”
John 4:10
Jesus answered her, “If you knew the gift of God, and who
it is that is saying to you, “’Give me a drink,’ you would have
asked him, and he would have given you living water.”
What if Jesus would have answered, “OF ALL THE STUPID, DUMB
QUESTIONS” would the woman at the well listened or if she had any
self-respect walked away from such emotional abuse?
What if you answer in a non-threatening way? What could happen?
John 4: 11-15
The woman said to Jesus, “Sir, (notice she spoke with
respect to a non-Samaritan) “Sir, you have nothing to draw
with, (to obtain water from the well with) and the well is
deep; where do you get that living water? Are you greater
than our father Jacob, who gave us the well, and drank
from it himself, and his sons, and his cattle?” Jesus said to
the woman, “Every one who drinks of this water will thirst
again, but whoever drinks of the water I shall give him will
never thirst; the water I shall give him will become in him
a spring of water welling up to eternal life.” The woman
said to Jesus, “Sir give to me this water, that I may not
thirst, nor come here to draw.”
John 4: 16-22
Jesus said to her, “Go, call your husband and come here.”
The woman answered, “I have no husband.” Jesus said
to her, “You are right in saying ‘you have no husband;’ for
you have had five husbands, and he whom you have is
not your husband; this you said truly.” The woman said to
Jesus, “Sir, I perceive that you are a prophet. Our fathers
worshipped on this mountain; and you say Jerusalem is
the place where men ought to worship.”
While the conversation between Jesus and the woman at the well had
began to focus upon water it turned to the heart of the matter. It’s not
about coming to the well for water it’s about parched souls broken by life.
It’s about people, who feel small in a great big world: 'Zaccheus was a
wee little man, a wee little man was he, who climbed up in a great big tree,
to see what he could see'. Jesus told him, Zaccheus come down out of
that tree and walk with me. Nichodemus came to see Jesus and ask him
questions in the dark of the night. In the darkness of his life Nichodemus
saw the light of Jesus Christ right before his very own eyes.
The woman at the well is a woman who has been rejected by five men,
who is an outcast among those whom she lives among. Who is trying to
get by living with internal pain, coming to the well at noon when nobody
else would be there for she was shunned.
On this third Sunday in Lent there are many like the woman at the well,
feeling alone, hurt, barren and our Lord and Savior wants to get to the
heart of the matter so that one can receive living water to their barren and
parched soul. The word for today is Obedience, when you meet one who
is different, who may not live as you would, do you respond in obedience
to the world, shunning, name calling, or do you respond as Jesus?
You see there was a huge disagreement between the Samaritans and the
Jews as to where God was to worship, in the local hills of Samaria, or
only in the temple in Jerusalem. Where do you worship? Do you come to
worship expecting to be fulfilled or does worship fulfill you? Do you come
to worship expecting a musical high or do you worship our Lord and Savior
Jesus Christ and receive a spiritual high irrelevant of where you maybe?
Even though the Samaritans could not agree on where God was to
worship many Samaritans believed that Jesus was the Lord and Savior
and Jesus was always ready to share the Good News with everyone.
John 4: 23-26
But the hour is coming, and now is, when the true worshipers
will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for such the Father
seeks to worship him. God is spirit and those who worship in
him must worship in spirit and truth.” The woman said to Jesus,
“I know that the Messiah is coming (he who is called Christ);
when he comes, he will show us all things.” Jesus said to her,
“I who speak to you am he.”
What Jesus was saying to the woman at the well, which is still true at this
very moment in our lives, is that we should all worship in spirit and in truth,
meaning in our hearts. Not dependent upon external stimulation.
The King is coming, the King is coming and now his face I see.
Oh the King is coming, the King is coming PRAISE GOD HE’S
coming for me. Every knee shall bend, every tongue confess
that Jesus Christ is Lord.
In our lives the only thing harder than forgiveness is the opposite. How do
you want to live and to die? Feeling like a wee little man Zaccheus,
sneaking about in the darkness seeking an answer Nichodemus, coming
to the well alone, feeling shunned and ashamed? Be obedient to the word
of God and know the Good News this Lenten Season. One does not have
to live in a barren, parched, isolated world for Jesus is here at this very
moment offering to each and every one of us water that will never leave
us thirsty. Living water that will nourish a dried, barren, parched, painful,
thirsty soul.
Matthew 25:35
“…for I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty
and you gave me drink…”
Let us pray, Father, forgive me for my sins. Even more Father, please
give me the strength to quit hiding my brokenness, weakness,
and sin. I want Jesus in my life; I want to feel that living
water to my parched soul and broken areas of my
soul and heart. I no longer want to be blind,
lost, alone, but to see, to belong, to
know where I am and to live
in eternity.
Amen
02/26/05 JWM
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