May 25, 2021
Please use the comment section on this page to share insights from today’s reading OR your own personal Bible reading.
Reading along with us in John? Here’s today’s reading:
John 4 (NIV)
Jesus Talks With a Samaritan Woman
1 Now Jesus learned that the Pharisees had heard that he was gaining and baptizing more disciples than John— 2 although in fact it was not Jesus who baptized, but his disciples. 3 So he left Judea and went back once more to Galilee..........Continue Reading
I love that Jesus reminds us that we are to love all through His ministry. He minister, taught, and helped everyone not just Jews. He showed through His example that we are to show God’s love to ALL not just the people we are comfortable around or the people we identify with. Word of His teaching and signs and miracles spread through so many so quickly because He made Himself known to ALL people not just a select few!
John 4
It seems like everytime Jesus shares something with his followers, he would subtly encourage them to look beyond the surface – to look at things with spritual lenses. In my life, I have to do the same.
“God is spirit, and his worshipers must worship in the Spirit and in truth.””
John 4:24 NIV
https://www.bible.com/111/jhn.4.24.niv
Only Christ can give us the living water to feed our souls, we have the living word that can satisfy us and keep us close to our Lord.
Jesus tells the woman at the well that He is changing the way that the Jews and mankind relate to God. Worship is no longer at a specific location by a specific people group, but through the Spirit and in truth.
“Jesus said to her, “Woman, believe Me, the hour is coming when you will neither on this mountain, nor in Jerusalem, worship the Father. 22 You worship what you do not know; we know what we worship, for salvation is of the Jews. 23 But the hour is coming, and now is, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth; for the Father is seeking such to worship Him. 24 God is Spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth.”
25 The woman said to Him, “I know that Messiah is coming” (who is called Christ). “When He comes, He will tell us all things.”
26 Jesus said to her, “I who speak to you am He.”
In the section about the nobleman’s son, again belief is emphasized. First, the man believes what Jesus tells him, then he BELIEVES in Jesus. We also need to believe both, what God tells us in His word AND believe in the Lord Jesus.
46 So Jesus came again to Cana of Galilee where He had made the water wine. And there was a certainnobleman whose son was sick at Capernaum. 47 When he heard that Jesus had come out of Judea into Galilee, he went to Him and implored Him to come down and heal his son, for he was at the point of death. 48 Then Jesus said to him, “Unless you people see signs and wonders, you will by no means BELIEVE.”
49 The nobleman said to Him, “Sir, come down before my child dies!”
50 Jesus said to him, “Go your way; your son lives.” So the man BELIEVED the word that Jesus spoke to him, and he went his way. 51 And as he was now going down, his servants met him and told him, saying, “Your son lives!”
52 Then he inquired of them the hour when he got better. And they said to him, “Yesterday at the seventh hour the fever left him.” 53 So the father knew that it was at the same hour in which Jesus said to him, “Your son lives.” And he himself BELIEVED, and his whole household.
I love this chapter. The Samaritan woman is so unassuming and Jesus just subtly reveals progressive truth to continue the interaction, all the while breaking some fundamental customs that Jews don’t engage with Samaritans (they would walk around Samaria rather than through it actually), and men wouldn’t normally talk to women…especially not to teach them something. Jesus uses the example of physical water as an analogy to spiritual water in the same way He used physical birth as an analogy to spiritual birth in chapter 3. And His analogy still rings true. If we think physical water can really satisfy us, it can’t. As we seek satisfaction in the things of the world, we will never be filled. But when we seek fulfillment in the things of Christ, we will be satisfied and it will continue to fulfill until we enter eternity and enjoy the fullness of God’s presence forever.
Jesus also reveals our hearts and lives like He does hers if we will let Him. And without condemning her, He leads her to the truth. She has called Him a prophet, but we know that is only partially true. It is when she describes what Messiah will do that He culminates the conversation by saying “I who speak to you is he.”
And the disciples are probably getting used to not questioning what Jesus is doing but just don’t get the point that doing God’s will is more filling than food is….and a harvest is reaped from the Samaritans after Jesus in love and understanding stays with them 2 days….
34 “My food,”said Jesus, “is to do the will of him who sent me and to finish his work.