2002-01-01
Good Morning Dear Ones,
Before I write these messages each morning to you, I pause in prayer. Each day I ask God to make me a good witness to you of His love, to give me the words to write that He wants to convey, and to thank Him for His presence in my life. Of course, those are not the only things for which I pray, but they are the ones that make it possible for me to write to you this way. God has made it clear to me that He wants me to show you why I am so deeply grateful for His presence and action in my life, to encourage each of us to have an increasing hunger for His word, and to convey the understanding that He has given me of my Jewish culture in which our Lord and Savior was reared during His incarnation. Today, we continue to examine Christ’s examples which reveal to us how to become one with His divine nature.
Having grown up as a minority, I have personally experienced the pain of prejudice. Christ teaches that His way is the opposite, tolerance. The quintessential example of this is found in his interactions with a Samaritan women whom He encountered at a well found in JN 4: 1-42. In Christ’s time, Jewish people had nothing to do with Gentiles or even those who were partly Jewish like the Samaritans. A rabbi never spoke directly to a woman alone, particularly one who was not Jewish. Thankfully, these intolerant practices are no longer the case today. That is part of the reason why the story of the Samaritan woman’s encounter with Christ is so remarkable. The valuable lessons in this incident are the other part of the reason. Christ asks the Samaritan women to give Him a drink of water in (7). His disciples have gone into town to secure food. The separation between Jews and Samaritans even extends to refusal on the Jews’ part to use the same cups and bowls that the Samaritans use. The woman asks why a Jew would even make such a request in light of that (9). Christ’s response in (10) is, “If you only knew what God gives and Who is asking you for a drink, you would ask Him, and He would give you life-giving water.”
The Samaritan woman’s reply was to question Christ to see if He felt He was greater than Jacob, who she knew had dug this well. She really didn’t understand Who she had encountered at this point. Christ’s response in (13-14) was, “Whoever drinks this water will get thirsty again, but whoever drinks the water that I will give him will never be thirsty again. The water that I will give him will become in him a spring which will provide him with life-giving water and give him eternal life.” It is then, that the Samaritan woman begins to understand. Her response is a lesson for each of us. JN 4: 15, “Give me that water, and I will never be thirsty again, nor will I have to come here to draw water.” If Christ were being legalistic in his practice of Judaism, He would have refused to speak to the Samaritan woman for starters. If He were not full of love and willing to demonstrate that with His actions, He would have not been God-led to give her the understanding that was dawning on her or the faith to follow through on it. The great lesson here is for each of us to remember from whence comes our faith!
One might ask why the Father directed Christ to engage in this interchange with the Samaritan woman. Her response just above is one reason. The other is revealed in (16-18) in which Christ asks her to call her husband. The lady tells the truth that she has no husband, but had been married five times and was now living with another man to whom she is not married. The Father Who directs Christ’s actions knew that this woman was capable of honesty and of recognizing Who is Lord. Christ reminds her that the Jews know Who to worship and that it is from them that salvation comes (22). He goes on further to say in (23-24), “But the time is coming and is already here, when by the power of God’s Spirit people will worship the Father as he really is, offering Him the true worship that He wants. God is Spirit, and only by the power of His Spirit can people worship Him as He really is.” There is a repeated pattern in the Scriptures (OT and NT) in which the Lord reveals crucial information to those who demonstrate real faith. Christ does so in (25-26). “The woman said to Him, ‘I know that the Messiah will come, and when He comes, He will tell us everything.’ Jesus answered, ‘I am He, I Who am talking with you.’” I can’t speak for you, but I know that I want to be one of those people who is rewarded with this kind of knowledge for having faith like the Samaritan woman did.
Christ’s teaching on tolerance here reveals the benefit of His omniscience. The Father and thus, the Son, judges people not by the color of their skin, their ancestral heritage, or their culture. They are judged by the content and capabilities of their hearts. It is for this reason that Christ knew that even though this woman was not Jewish and not accompanied by others, that He could trust that He was doing the right thing in talking to her as He did. Because His actions, as always, were in line with the Father’s will, much spiritual fruit would come out of this encounter. Many of the Samaritans came to faith in Christ as a result, as we are told in JN 4: 39, 41-42. Critical lessons also came to Christ’s disciples too. These can be found in (31-38), particularly 34 and 37, which I hope you will read. A story like this of Christ’s tolerance helps us to break down man-made barriers and is God’s way of asking each of us to examine our individual lives for prejudice and eradicate it.
PRAYER: O Lord, we thank You for giving us this marvelous story of Christ’s encounter at the well with the Samaritan woman. There are so many lessons in it that will allow us to see that His way is for us to be tolerant of those different from us. We are reminded that just as You trusted Daniel with the vision of the seventy weeks for his faithfulness and directed Christ to trust the Samaritan woman with the fact that He is our Messiah, You have blessed us by bringing us to faith in Christ and allowed us to have the discernment that comes from the Holy Spirit. These are privileges beyond measure that come with balancing responsibilities to convey our faith and Your word to others with accuracy and sensitivity. When we trust and obey You, You allow us to see much spiritual fruit produced in our lives. You have told us in JN 7: 37-39 that “whoever comes to Christ will have streams of life-giving water pour out of his heart.” This is the very same promise that Christ gave the Samaritan woman. How grateful we are that Your magnificent blessings are available to all who have faith! Your teaching, through the Son, that “one person plants and another person reaps” gives us Your perspective on why we must be patient when we don’t see immediate results of our work for You. We can have the faith, from the peace You give us, when we do our work well that the task will be finished successfully in Your way and in Your time. For all these blessings, particularly the death of Your Son so He could redeem us, we offer thanks and praise. In humility we pledge You our adoration, worship, trust, obedience, loyalty, glory, honor, and lives as Your servants. In Christ’s name, amen.
Tomorrow, our examination of how to become one with Christ’s divine nature as a part of our participation in the Covenant of Grace continues in seeing how Christ demonstrated agape love directed by the Father. With every lesson we learn from our time in God’s word and prayer, we are reminded of the profound love He has for each of us. That love is the reason we need never feel alone or abandoned, even at times of suffering when our faith is being sorely tested. Reflect on that today and know that God loves you and so do Peter and I.
Grace Be With You Always,
Lynn