Good morning,
Praise the Lord for this new day in His Kingdom. The Lord blessed us with a wonderful Wednesday evening gathering. The food that was prepared with so much love was sumptuous. The fellowship was sweet. The study of the Word of the Lord was provoking and powerful. We looked at John 4.
In John’s Gospel the Samaritan woman at the well is the first person to whom Jesus openly reveals himself as Messiah. This is also the longest private conservation Jesus had with anyone as recorded in the New Testament (John 4:7-26). This woman also became the first evangelist in the gospel of John. She went and told her people about Jesus and brought them to him, so they could see and hear for themselves. This is story of our Lord's holy encounter with a woman of Samaria whose name we do not know.
Jesus met a women at a well. You could meet her in the inner city or the suburbs. You can find her in the countryside; she might have moved there to get away. You could meet her at church, where brokenness, hurt, mistakes, and marriage problems are no strangers. Jesus met her at a well at noon. He did the unthinkable. He talked to her! In a society where women had virtually no right to divorce or legal recourse against a brutal or even unfaithful husband, she had been married five times. She couldn’t keep a man or, rather, for some reason a man wouldn’t keep her. She always managed to find another husband, each situation no better than the last. So this time she didn’t even bother with the formalities of a permanent commitment. She was living with a sixth man to whom she wasn’t married.
Why would a woman do such a thing? Why would a woman keep making the same mistake over and over again? Two times, maybe, but five? Why do women we know go back home after the visit to the ER or the domestic violence shelter? Why does she call the police, but refuse to press charges? Why does she go from one alcoholic to another? Furthermore, it is not just “dumb” women; it even happens to college educated women, doctors, and lawyers, and marriage counselors! She could have been the poster girl for Dr. Laura Schlessinger’s book "Ten Stupid Things Women Do to Mess Up Their Lives".
Why would a woman do such a thing? Why would a woman keep making the same mistake over and over again? Two times, maybe, but five? Why do women we know go back home after the visit to the ER or the domestic violence shelter? Why does she call the police, but refuse to press charges? Why does she go from one alcoholic to another? Furthermore, it is not just “dumb” women; it even happens to college educated women, doctors, and lawyers, and marriage counselors! She could have been the poster girl for Dr. Laura Schlessinger’s book "Ten Stupid Things Women Do to Mess Up Their Lives".
Jesus met a women. How her life became such a mess we will never really know. Jesus talked to a woman that most people only talked about. Jesus spoke of God’s gifts and of living water, that didn’t run out, and that satisfied, really quenching the thirst of her spirit. She instinctively knew that the conversation had taken a spiritual turn. She knew that he wasn’t talking about wells and water and dry parched throats. Sometimes the problem at hand isn’t the root problem at all. The real problem is deeper. Some jump from job to job, or relationship to relationship, looking for something they never find. Some eat or drink, trying to satisfy a hunger or thirst that never gets filled. Sometimes the problem is a God-sized hole in the soul.
Jesus met a woman who asked a religious question, “Where is the right place to worship?” In a sense, Jesus’ answer was: “it’s not where. It’s who!” “Yet a time is coming and has now come when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for they are the kind of worshipers the Father seeks. God is spirit, and his worshipers must worship in spirit and in truth."
That day in Samaria, Jesus met a this woman with a deep spiritual thirst. She listened. She believed. She was never the same again. Two surprises follow in the story. The disciples returned from an errand to the village and were surprised that Jesus was actually talking to THAT woman. Sometime later the villagers were surprised to find THAT woman inviting them to come meet the one who had changed her life, but many of the people of Samaria believed in Jesus because of the woman’s testimony.
Jesus met a woman who asked a religious question, “Where is the right place to worship?” In a sense, Jesus’ answer was: “it’s not where. It’s who!” “Yet a time is coming and has now come when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for they are the kind of worshipers the Father seeks. God is spirit, and his worshipers must worship in spirit and in truth."
That day in Samaria, Jesus met a this woman with a deep spiritual thirst. She listened. She believed. She was never the same again. Two surprises follow in the story. The disciples returned from an errand to the village and were surprised that Jesus was actually talking to THAT woman. Sometime later the villagers were surprised to find THAT woman inviting them to come meet the one who had changed her life, but many of the people of Samaria believed in Jesus because of the woman’s testimony.
In Jesus who changes lives,
Saturday Evening Worship Service:
Location: First United Methodist Church
53 McKinley Avenue
Endicott, NY
Sponsored by: Union Center United Methodist Church
Time: 6:00 PM gathering for Coffee Fellowship
6:30 PM Worship Service
Date: Saturday, February 25, 2012
Speaker: Rev. William Turner,
Special Music by Laureen Naik, Emma Brunson. Information : call 607-748-6329
No comments:
Post a Comment