Brown's Daily Word 3-29-11

Good morning, Praise the Lord for this new day. It is going to be another brilliant and beautiful day. Thank you Jesus. Let us start by looking at the transaction that took place between our Lord and the woman of Samaria as it is recorded in John 4. Jesus must love women; He made so many of them. This woman from Samaria, who had been offered contempt, shame, and judgment was being offered the living water of God’s grace. She was being given the fullness of Christ’s entire purpose and mission in this world, but she didn’t quite understand yet, how this could be. Her response showed no depth of understanding as she said, “Sir, give me this water, so that I will not be thirsty or have to come here to draw water.” It surely was an exhilarating moment for her. But in the next instant, she must have felt that it would all unravel, as her past once again intruded on any hope she might have for the future. Jesus said to her, “Go, call your husband and come here.” This gently spoken command must have felt like a punch in the stomach as this man with so much to offer her asked her to do something she was incapable of doing. Then Jesus did something troubling to her as he spoke to that place within that she wished so badly to keep hidden. She knew that the line, “I have no husband” didn’t tell the whole story. Jesus words revealed that he that he knew it too. “You are right in saying ‘I have no husband’; for you have had five husbands, and the one you now have is not your husband. What you have said is true.” As the woman stood there, in one stroke Jesus dismantled anything she could have hidden or left out, or any half-truths she could have gotten away with telling; he exposed her sin. He named the demon that was haunting her for so long. What would he have said to us in a similar confrontation? What secret sins would be identified by Jesus? It is a wonder that this woman did not run away. Jesus’ disciples would come back and they would all move on, and no one would ever know what had happened. Yet, despite her discomfort, she stayed. In fact, she confessed her sin, “Sir, I perceive that you are a prophet.” With this statement, we see that this sinful Samaritan woman, even in her ignorance about Jesus, knew something very important. She perceived that He is full of mercy and that He is full of grace. She knew that from the second he saw her he knew all about her sinful past and her shameful present, but he didn’t run from her as so many Jews would have done. Instead, He talked to her, He asked for a drink, and He offered her living water. As she confessed who she is, a sinner, one who has not lived up God’s commands, Jesus confessed to her who He is, the Messiah. “The woman said to him, ‘I know that the Messiah is coming (he who is called the Christ). When he comes, he will teach us all things.’ Jesus said to her, 'I who speak to you am he’” This is the essential Christ and his mission. He did not come to run away from sinners. He did not come to shun, scoff, and whisper. He came to do that which no one else can do, or is willing to do. He came to save the world, though it was utterly and helplessly lost in sin and degradation. He came to save sinners. He came to be with those who have no business hoping to be part of God’s kingdom and offer them the Living Water of eternal life. Jesus came to this woman in the hour of her greatest need, and He comes to us in ours. We read in Romans"For while we were still weak, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly. For one will scarcely die for a righteous person—though perhaps for a good person one would dare even to die— but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” This is what He tells us from the cross, and from the empty tomb. He is not running away from us, or shunning us, and He doesn't desire to break us. Just the opposite, He came to be broken, to be shunned, and to be crucified in order to give us life. “God shows his love for us in this, that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” AMEN In Christ, Brown http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s4l2yY2r95g Saturday evening worship service. Location: First United Methodist Church 53 McKinley Avenue Endicott Sponsored by the Union Center United Methodist Church, 128, Maple Drive, Endicott Saturday, April 2, 2011 6 PM Coffee Fellowship 6:30 PM Worship Service Worship Music: Aric Phinney and the worship team Speaker: David Hettinger