Dear Ones,

As we continue through Lent let us ponder on the following:

1                    The things of this world pale in the light of the Gospel.

2                    Each of us as long-time Christians are in danger of complacency.

3                    The call upon each of our lives is to tell the wondrous story.

Please read; John 4:27-39

This story of Jesus’ encounter with the woman at the well is a true miracle story.  The transformation of a human life is the most beautiful of God’s miracles.  And the reason we know that depth of this transformation is because most striking feature of this entire chapter,is found in verse 28: “Then, leaving her water jar…”  She leaves behind her life of fear and shame and goes out to those who shunned her to share the good news.  She leaves the mundane and the profane for the holy. 

She runs back to the very community that ostracized her to announce that she has met someone who could be the Messiah.  

“Then, leaving her water jar…” 

It brings us back to the beginning of John; how Jesus used those ceremonial watering jars filled with water to perform his first sign: Water into wine. It was there Jesus’ glory was revealed and his disciples believed him.

It takes us back to last Sunday and Jesus telling Nicodemus that he needed a new birth of water and Spirit because his being an Israelite was not sufficient.

When the woman meets Jesus her first question to Jesus: “Are you greater than our Father Jacob.”

It is as mind bending as Jesus’ statement, “A time is coming, and how now come, when you will worship the Father neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem.”

Or, “You will see greater things than this.”

The leaving behind of the water jar by this woman is a powerful parable.  It speaks volumes about the transformation in her life.  She moves from “Are you greater than our Father Jacob” to “He told me everything I ever did.  Could this be the Messiah?”

She left behind that which satisfied only physical need returned to the people, the people who evidently shunned her daily, and announced to them:

“Could this be?”

It is a reflection of what Philip said to Nathanael, what Andrew said to Peter, what John the Baptizer said to his disciples: We have found the Messiah!

This woman, this unnamed, Samaritan woman with a jaded, checkered past, of questionable character, involved in a dubious lifestyle is one of the first evangelists to announce the arrival of Messiah.

The way she just left her water jar and hurried back to announce to the people of Sychar that she had found Messiah.  It reflects Jesus refusing food when his disciples return.  The things of this world pale in the light of the Gospel. 

They disciples were very concerned about food. What this tells us is that they are stuck back in verse 15: “Sir, give me this water so that I won’t get thirsty and have to keep coming here to draw water.”  In spite of the fact that had been with Jesus all this time their minds are still on earthy things; they have yet to let go of their water jars: “Could someone have brought him food?” They are stood in stark contrast to this Samaritan woman who left behind her water jar and went back to town to announce the Messiah.

Have you ever known someone who all of the sudden has a revelation of the Gospel, the revelation of Jesus as Christ?  Don’t they seem really different from those insiders who have been walking with him for some time?  It is like the difference between newlyweds and long-time marrieds.  It is not that the love is less but there is a danger of complacency. 

This woman, left her jar for Jesus; the disciples left Jesus for food. I don’t want to put too fine a point on it, but it is true, isn’t it?  It is something to think about.  Do we as long-time Christians lose our zeal?

When Jesus says, “My food is to do the will of him who sent me and to finish his work.”  That had to have been so confusing to those disciples who had gone to get food. Remember in the beginning: Andrew went and found Peter, and this is what happened, “The first thing Andrew did was to find his brother Simon and tell him, ‘We have found the Messiah.’ And he brought him to Jesus.” We might readily assume that the first thing Philip did was find Nathanael.

In this morning’s passage they arrive in fertile territory, where barely any seeds had been planted, and they are concerned with food, disturbed that Jesus is talking to this woman, and worried because Jesus won’t eat. The woman starts off the same: Concerned about water. But as Jesus is revealed to her, her priorities shifted: Her job was to tell.

She went and proclaimed Christ. There was something in her testimony that provoked more than a passing interest. This crowd of Samaritans was the harvest of which Jesus spoke.  Nevertheless, Jesus says, all have a share in the harvest; all have a share in the joy. All receive the same day’s denarius.

Blessings,

Pastor D