John 4:49

The royal official can only utter in response, “Please, Sir, come to my house before my child dies.”  John 4:49 EFP

Try to imagine you are there when this exchange is taking place. I did, and it almost broke my heart.  Do you sense the anguish coming from this father’s lips?  Can you hear his brokenness as he responds to Jesus’ words with a simple, “Don’t let my child die!”?

The man does not defend himself in the face of Jesus’ indictment.  Perhaps he is one of those who does not give Jesus’ a second thought…until this moment.  Perhaps he hears plenty of news about Jesus and his miracles, but chooses not to believe.  He has no need for Jesus…at least, not until today.  But now…his child is slipping away and he is powerless to stop the advance of death’s cold grip on his weakened child.  “Sir, please come…before my child dies!” He is not ashamed to beg.  He is pressing in spite of the apparent rebuff by the Master.  He is not going to quit; his child’s life depends on his success in eliciting a miracle from the Man.

Not going to quit.  I have been struggling with my prayer life for some time now.  I have yet to tap into the next level of prayer’s power.  I believe in it.  I have seen prayer work.  But I want more!  I know that God hears, and I know he wants to give me good gifts.  But I want to be a prayer warrior who does not give up even when heaven seems closed for business.  I want to pray harder and longer and with a simple passion that I see in this man.  I want to learn to pray in such a way that I leave everything there.  I don’t know where that passion comes from—it is not in me.  I am an emotional cripple, I need to be healed.  Lord, give me passion for prayer.  I’m standing next to the man in the story, begging, “Please come to my house….”  It’s me who’s dying.

John 4:48

“All you people want is to see me perform miracles and demonstrate supernatural power,” is Jesus’ initial surprising response to his request. “If I don’t do this for you, you simply won’t believe.” John 4:48 EFP

  

What a strange way to open a dialogue.  Does it not sound a bit harsh to you as it does to me at first reading?  All the man does is approach Jesus with a request for his son.   It was not the first time, and it would certainly not be the last.  So why the sharp response to what appears to be a genuine request? 

Can it be that this reply is the end result of Jesus having to put up with the Galilean entourage that had come to “welcome” him home from his successful Palestinian miracle-making tour?  Does Jesus see beneath their welcoming veneer and discern nothing more than a mob in search of a “performance” from the Rabbi of Nazareth.  He comes home and all he finds is what he left behind in Jerusalem—people wanting to see a miracle for no other reason than to use it as the sole basis for believing in him or ammunition to accuse him further.  They don’t want what he has to offer in terms of genuine change in their lives; they just want a show!  But even if this were the case, why take it out on this man who is clueless to the continuous harassment to which Jesus is subjected.

Can it be that Jesus is simply expressing what his human side was feeling?  Had he simply had it with shallow people looking for a magic show?  Is this Jesus being human?  Or is there something I am missing?  What does Jesus see in this particular man that he finds it necessary to turn the tables on him as he did after Nicodemus’ opening salvo in chapter 3?  I have discovered over time that I take my chances any time I approach God with a request.  I may come thinking I can ask anything of Him, because he says I should, but God at times will impress me with a notion “out of left field” that cuts and hurts.  He sees things in me that I don’t see.  And he does not hesitate to point them out if He feels that I will be better off in the long run.  I’m curious to see where Jesus is going with this.

John 4:47

When this gentleman hears that Jesus returned from Judea and is now back in Galilee, he finds him and begs him to come with him to his house in Capernaum to heal his son, who is on the brink of death.  John 4:47 EFP

I don’t know if this man anticipates Jesus’ arrival in Cana; I am unclear whether he ran the twenty miles to Cana upon hearing he is back from his jaunt to Judea; in fact, I am uncertain if he meets him in Cana at all, although the passage seems to imply to me this is where the encounter takes place.  When I process the request, it really doesn’t matter how or where it takes place, the request is bold on face value.

The official has to have done his homework.  He probably has people on the lookout for Jesus.  Once he knows that Jesus is in the area, he has to anticipate where he is going to be at a certain time.  He has to find him.  Once he finds him, he has to ask, literally beg, Jesus to come back to his house and heal his son who is about to die.  They have never met, as far as I know.  The royal official is a man of stature in the community due to his connection to the royal family.  This may have been good for his pocketbook, but not to his reputation.  The royal families are not known for their high moral standards (e.g. Herod and Herodias).  That does not stop him from approaching the “holy man” to beseech him to save his son.  He sets aside his stature, any decorum, and pleads for his son’s life.  Nothing will impede his determination to ask.

I think more often than not I suffer from a lack of boldness when it comes to my requests of God.  Perhaps it’s timidity.  Maybe I don’t know how to approach the Almighty.  Perhaps it’s just a simple matter of lack of faith, but regardless, I struggle to act upon the invitation to approach and ask.  I need to be reminded that God, as revealed in Jesus, is totally approachable and open to the encroachments by the likes of me. Perhaps the reason some of my requests are not answered is because they are not bold enough.  Can it be that God wants to stretch me? —certainly my requests can’t stretch him!   Boy do I feel faithless in moments like this….  “Lord, help my unbelief!” (Mark 9:24)

John 4:46

Jesus also visits Cana in Galilee, the place where we turned water into wine.  A certain official of the king comes to town during his stay.  His son is very sick in the neighboring city of Capernaum (about 20 miles away). John 4:46 EFP

How interesting that Jesus returns to Cana, the site of his first miracle, only to be confronted with another opportunity to meet a need.  We are left to wonder if Jesus did any miracles in the days preceding his arrival in Cana.  There must have been an underlying expectation for him to “perform” some sort of feat, since many of the people who welcomed him back to his homeland had seen him do some amazing things in Jerusalem.

Knowing Jesus’ resistance to “performing” for anyone, perhaps he simply moves on to a city that brings back good memories of simpler times before the weight of being the Chosen One fell upon him like a lead yoke.  He is in the midst of defining his ministry with pressures mounting from all sides.  On the one side he is pushed to assert himself to the Romans.  On the other side he is pressed to be more compliant to the will of the religious authorities.  Perform!  Back off!  Who are you?  Even his siblings think him crazy!  Perhaps he returns to Cana in order to visit ground zero, and to be reminded of the reason he answered the call to cross the great divide and enter the human experience.

But even as he leaves behind his Galilean gawkers, for all we know, groaning in disappointment at his unwillingness to show off, he makes his way to an encounter pre-arranged by His Father.  This is no common man.  He is a royal official, although we do not know for whom he works.  All we know is that he journeys the 20 miles between the cities to be in Cana at the same time as Jesus.  How does he know Jesus is going to be there?  Who knows; anyone could have told him.  Jesus was on a lot of people’s lips in Palestine those days.  The curious masses did not need him however.  He was not auditioning.  He was seeking for the lost sheep of Israel…and beyond.  

John 4:45

When he arrives in Galilee, all his countrymen roll out the “red carpet” for him.  Many of them had been in Jerusalem for Passover and had been witness to the things Jesus did while he was there.  John 4:45 EFP

Well, let’s see…what events in Jerusalem could have elicited such positive feelings towards Jesus, if previously these same Galileans—at least the ones from Nazareth, had tried to kill him?  Other than a cryptic reference in John, chapter 2 that reads, “Now while he was in Jerusalem at the Passover Feast, many people saw the miraculous signs he was doing and believed in his name.” (Verse 23)   The problem is I cannot find a reference to any specific miracles Jesus performed in Jerusalem prior to this statement being made.

Yet here they are, his fellow Galileans, almost giddy with pride over Jesus renown due to his deeds in the big city. I notice there is no mention to any miracles performed in this passage of Scripture.  Of all the translations I compared, only the NLT translates the verse using the term “miraculous signs,” which is a stretch considering the original Greek text is “πάντα ἑωρακότες,” which literally means “all things they having seen.”  “Things”—what “things”?  Even John 2:23 is not clear in reference to the “miraculous signs” he is performing.  The only event clearly noted is the cleansing of the temple court of all the merchants and his standing up to the temple administration regarding his right to clean up the temple.  There isn’t even mention of the water to wine miracle in Cana—and that miracle took place in Galilee!

Can it be that Jesus, by standing up to the “higher-ups” in Jerusalem tugged on their Galilean heart strings?  Jesus literally ran ram shod over the lot of them by cleansing the temple and by doing so he defended the underdogs who were routinely oppressed not only by the Romans, but by their very own religious leaders.  Galileans were not the purebred stock.  They were the half-breeds in the eyes of the “true-blue” Judeans.  They may not have been comfortable with Jesus as the fulfillment of the Messianic prophecy, but they could handle Jesus the upstart voice of the people.  Let the Messiah throw out the Roman tyrants; they needed a voice to defend them against their snooty religious “hoity-toities” in Jerusalem—Jesus could fit that bill quite nicely.  Boy, that’s a sobering thought.  I am comfortable with Jesus, as long as he fits into my expectations.  I wonder how often I do that.  Perhaps it’s time for an attitude adjustment. They were in for one.

John 4:44

I should mention that Jesus had once made the statement, “A prophet is not respected as a prophet in his homeland.” John 4:44 EFP

The reference is interestingly enough not taken from John’s narrative.  The words are found in the three other Gospels, the Synoptic Gospels (Matthew 13:17; Mark 6:4; Luke 4:24).  A second interesting insight is that only John places these words before Jesus returns to his homeland, while the other three books mention Jesus making this statement concurrent or immediately after having gone to visit his family in Nazareth.  Are these two distinct references?  Does it matter?

Well, it seems to me there is a second reference.  Unlike the others which were made in response to the unbelief of his countrymen, this verse in the Gospel of John, appears to be a parenthetical statement made by the author himself referencing a prior time when Jesus had in fact made the comment after encountering resistance from his fellow Nazarenes.  Why John chooses this particular moment to make this allusion is unclear until we go on in the story line.

Jesus is returning to his homeland—Galilee.  That much we know.  Can it be that John remembers the previous time they had come when Jesus had barely survived a near-death experience? (Read Luke 4)  What is it about home that draws Jesus back for solace (Matthew 4:12) or relaxation (John 2:12), while at the same time bringing to mind the reality that “familiarity breeds contempt” even for a prophet?  If this is true for Jesus, the Sinless One, how much more difficult is it for me, with a litany of transgressions to my credit?  Why does God entrust the task of revealing the Heavenly Father to the likes of me with such a checkered past?  Yet he does.  It’s got to be all about the message, not the messenger. I am nothing but a “wounded healer” called to share the wonders of a God who uses brokenness as an asset and frailty as a strength. To God be the glory!

John 4:43

Jesus stays in Sychar for two days total and then leaves for Galilee. John 4:43 EFP

Two days.  That is what it took to change an entire city.  Two days.  What once was a city defined by its past now stands at the gateway to a whole new beginning.  The Messianic age has already begun in this small Samaritan hamlet.  Jerusalem is still in the dark, but Sychar is soaking in the glory of the Light of the World.

The entire conversation between Jesus and the Samaritan woman is summed up in 19 verses.  The woman is changed forever by this encounter and as a result her entire town in transformed.  Jacob’s Well is now the second-most famous source for water in town.  The Messiah has brought living water.  Hope is rekindled.  Genuineness is restored.  True worship is reestablished.  All this takes place in two days.  What an amazing two days in Samaria.  I would have immensely enjoyed being part of those unforgettable two days.

But now what?  The two days are up, and Jesus is leaving town.  What happens now?  The town eventually fades away as so many other towns in Palestine.  All that remains today is an earth-laden pile of rubble.  The well remains as a relic inside a Greek church.  Eternity will alone tell the results of those two days in Sychar.  All we know for certain is that the party town (Sychar sounds a lot like the Hebrew word for drunkard) becomes a proper town after their lone known encounter with the Christ.  Their story is still repeated long after the life-cycle of the town ends.  I want to meet the woman with a checkered past turned evangelist when I get to heaven.  I have some questions for her.

John 4:42

The townspeople approach the woman and say, “You know, at first we came because you told us about this amazing man you’d met; but now we believe he is truly the Messiah, the Savior of the world, because we have heard his words for ourselves.” John 4:42 EFP

This verse sums up what the previous verse leaves unstated.  Many of the woman’s neighbors are now believers in Jesus as the Messiah and Savior of the world.  The net result of the woman’s testimony is a generous harvest of souls for the Kingdom of God.  So how does this happen?

It begins with a Messianic initiative.  Jesus makes the first move, and then some.  He comes to town and finds a convenient spot by the well where he knows a special woman is about to make an appearance.  He initiates the conversation.  She is reluctant at first, but that reluctance turns to curiosity and morphs into interest that taps into a deep-seeded longing in her soul.  In the end she believes and immediately leaves her business aside and goes in search of her friends and acquaintances to invite them to meet this amazing man who she believes is the Messiah. 

That sequence is then duplicated in the people whom she invites.  Their reluctance or even initial rejection becomes curiosity in light of this woman’s passion.  Their curiosity becomes interest after initially hearing him; he awakens in them a desire to search deeper.  They invite him to stay longer.  He does, and in the end they experience the same conviction and passion of the woman.  What is the equivalent today?  What is the parallel in my life experience?  It is not enough for me to hear about Jesus from someone else.  It is not enough to be curious.  It is not even enough to sit and hear the words of Jesus.  The process is not complete until I acknowledge Jesus as my Messiah and my Savior.  But this cannot happen in me without my discovering, hearing, searching, and acknowledging the Gospel.  And what is the evidence that the Good News has taken hold in my life?  It is a burning desire to share the Good News with others.  I want more and more of that boldness in my life.  I want to experience the joy of that Samaritan woman when she sees her friends and family meet the Master.

John 4:41

As a result many more townspeople put their faith in Jesus Christ, because of the things he shared with them. John 4:41 EFP

What a perfect way to wind up this story.  Two days prior a solitary woman walks under the hot sun to draw water from the city well.  She is alone in more ways than one.  She is marginalized by the community and ostracized by the local women as a result some poor life choices.  Her life is as barren and parched as the Palestinian hills that surround her, with a horizon that looks desolate and offers little hope of change.

Now, two days later, she stands in the midst of the greatest revival in the history of Samaria.  The hamlet known best for the well dug by Jacob millennia past, now can lay claim to a visit from the Messiah as its greatest moment.  The least likely becomes the most fruitful evangelist.  The life-loser becomes the channel for life to her entire community.  She is the messenger—an angel to her people, and in spite of her checkered past she is emboldened by the words she hears from the stranger, who she now believes is the Messiah.

Now, two days later, her initial words of passionate appeal to “come see the man who told me everything” have faded and given way to an even stronger chorus of faith and fidelity by the townspeople who have come to believe in the one who sent her and who in turn sent them to meet the Master.  What a transformation.  The embattled becomes emboldened.  The fringe player becomes a fighter for the cause of Christ.  She drank the water—Living water from the author of life.  I need and want to be where the woman was when she felt the compelling desire to seek out her people.  I pray my words, personal or from the pulpit, cause many others to seek out Jesus and come to believe in the Jesus who has done everything possible to seek and save me.

John 4:40

The Samaritan townspeople come to Jesus; and after spending some time him they ask him to stay in town longer. He does just that.  In fact Jesus stays in town for two days.  John 4:40 EFP

A couple things strike me as I consider this text.  After the initial curiosity factor—after the people meet this mysterious man, the people stay longer.  In fact, it seems the people grow fond of Jesus pretty quickly.  I don’t know what they do for the remainder of the day.  Perhaps they just listen to him teach them things they have never heard before.  Perhaps they ask questions they have wanted to ask for years, but have been afraid of asking their religious leaders.  They spend the remainder of the daylight hours with Jesus, and when the day is done, they ask him to spend the night and talk some more the next day.

The townspeople fall in love with Jesus simply by spending time with Him.  It happens.  There is something about Jesus that elicits affinity the longer we spend time with him.  The townspeople were simply trying to understand the attraction to Jesus through the eyes of the woman who told them about him.  But now they wanted him to spend the night so they could hear more from Jesus the next day.

And the surprising thing (perhaps not too surprising) is that he accepts the invitation and spends the night and the next day in Sychar, with the colorful woman and her townspeople friends.  This must have been a colorful bunch of people.  The stuffy ones probably thought it below them to run outside of town to meet some wannabe-prophet.  Most likely not everyone came out, but those that did never regretted it. There is no record of what the disciples did all night.  But those that spent the time with Jesus discovered a truth about him, you come as you are but you never leave the same after you’ve had an encounter with the Messiah.  I wonder if I would have stopped what I was doing and run out of the city to meet this Man.  I am not even sure I do that often enough nowadays.  I bet if I ask him today to stay longer with me so we can talk some more he would in a second.  He does it every day.

John 4:39

As a result of the encounter Jesus has with the woman at the well, many of the Samaritans in town put their trust in Him solely on the basis of the woman’s simple testimony, “The Man told me everything about myself!” John 4:39 EFP

Talk about a harvest!  The clueless disciples are undoubtedly amazed as the reality of the events of the day become apparent.  All they saw earlier that day was an unsavory woman talking with Jesus who upon their righteous and pompous arrival run off as if on a mission.  She even forgot her water jar in her rush to escape from their threatening presence.

Now they see an avalanche of people, young and old, come out to meet the Man who “told [the woman] everything about her” without ever having met her before.  They come out in droves; it seems that way considering Sychar is just a little town!  This is the harvest Jesus has been talking about.  I don’t know what they are thinking, but it must have been a combination of elation and joy and amazement and awe.  They get a taste for what it means to sow souls for life.  They get a front row seat as the power of the Gospel makes an appearance.  It must have been a festive moment—a veritable party in Sychar.  The kingdom of God announced by John the Baptist has now arrived in the hamlet where Jacob had once dug a well, not knowing that one day springs of living water would gush from that very spot and flood the entire city.

There is something special about hearing words of love, compassion, and hope from someone who knows everything about you.  God, whom Jesus came to reveal, knows everything about me.  He has seen me at my worst.  He has heard the unspoken words that inhabit my mind and often escape into my conscious thoughts.  He knows my checkered past.  He knows my tortured journey.  He sees beyond the veneer of my soul.  But he also sees me through His divine eyes of love.  I am that soul baked underneath the sun of censure and failure.  I also bear that solitary semblance of shame.  I come to the well of promise but it does not deliver.  I keep coming back, but it only serves to remind me that I will have to come again—my parched soul demands it.  But I, as the woman at the well, am rescued from the coals of condemnation and given a taste of everlasting water.  I will come back for more, and bring others with me, not because I have to, but because I want to have and share more and more and more.  I pray my witness and testimony will also cause others to place their trust in Jesus—my Savior, and my Lord.

John 4:38

“I am the one who sends you to harvest what others have worked hard to prepare for you.  You didn’t do anything to get the fields ready.  All you do is reap the benefits of their hard labor.” John 4:38 EFP

No doubt Jesus sees things differently than me.  This statement is so typical of Him.  Think about it—hasn’t he been describing the path from the sowing to the harvest of souls for the kingdom?  Has he not strongly implied that in light of the events of the day with the Samaritan woman he is reaping what others have sown?  Is there not a strong hint that John the Baptist is the one who has prepared the way for the success of that specific day and many more to come?  And then this statement….”I send you to reap the benefits….”

I send you to reap the benefits.  Yes, Jesus is talking about the future, but he is throwing in the events of the day in the mix.  He is modeling the concept of “who gets the credit.”  In the previous verse we see the concept of “all the credit is God’s.”  Today we see Jesus model “the credit is everyone’s.”  The disciples were out foraging for bread!  They come back and wonder out loud what Jesus is doing with “the woman.”  What do they do?  Nothing!  But Jesus includes them in the reaping.  They are there—that’s it, but they share in the benefits of the reaping time.  They probably don’t totally get the concept that day, but in time they will.  If their Master could share the credit with them, when in fact they have had no substantive or direct impact on the results of the day, should they not also learn that the work is not about the credit, it’s about the harvest.  We all share the credit, and then we give it to God!

The disciples still have a lot to learn about sharing credit.  So do I.  They are still trying to figure out this kingdom where credit and position do not matter.  It’s not about temporal power or societal prestige or human recognition.  It’s all about God’s power, and His prestige, and His recognition. Jesus once said, “In the same way let your light shine for those around you as you do good works, so that those who see them will recognize the heavenly Father in you, and give him glory.” (Matthew 5:16 EFP)  I do well to internalize this example.  It is one of the occupational hazards of ministry.  He gets the credit.  He shares it with the church.  We give it back.  Only He deserves it.  I like that!

John 4:37

“So you see the adage is true—‘One person reaps what someone else sows. That’s just the way it usually goes!’” John 4:37 EFP
 
Although the adage quoted above is not a classic rhyme as is the example above, it is nonetheless a well-known verse Jesus quotes.  He is pointing out the obvious to his clueless disciples—this is not a new concept.  You may not have seen the process in its entirety, but it still is what is taking place.  Someone else sowed the seed that I am reaping today.

The disciples are confused because they only see what is before them.  They have not been paying attention over the past few weeks since they joined the band of Messianic brothers.  Had they been more observant they would have picked up the clues from John the Baptist’s preaching that he was setting the stage for something greater and more earth-shaking.  John had even said, “The One who comes after me will baptize with the Holy Spirit and fire.”  (Matthew 3:11)  That’s pretty specific.

But there is an added perspective here.  It refers to the insignificance of who gets the credit.  There is no “bean-counting” in the kingdom when it comes to credit.  There is no running tally on the souls ushered into the kingdom for the sake of providing earthly or heavenly recognition.  The credit is 100 percent God’s!  Who God chooses to use to plant the seed; to water the seedling; to weed the maturing plants; or to harvest the crop is meaningless because is it God who chooses and equips the workers.  The work is His. The souls are His.  The Spirit is His. The credit is His.  I simply ride the crest of the divine wave and rejoice that I can be witness to His life-giving reaping of souls for the Kingdom.

John 4:36

“Even as we speak the reaper of souls for life is drawing his wages.  He is now presently harvesting souls for eternal life.  This is reason to celebrate for both the one who sows the seed and the one who reaps the fruit of their labor!” John 4:36 EFP

I have always associated the reaper of souls with a negative connotation. The black-hooded and faceless character with a sickle in his hand (her hand?) doing the dastardly death duty.  It just goes to prove how twisted is the material that emanates from the demonic PR department.  Here Jesus is referring to himself as the “reaper of souls”, not for death but for life.  The disciples are out hunting for bread to eat while Jesus, the reaper of souls for life eternal, is busy at work doing what he has been called to do.

Jesus uses some very interesting language in describing this reaping.  For one he refers to the reaper “drawing his wages.”  What are the wages he draws?  If Jesus is the reaper of souls for life, what are the wages he receives?  I can only surmise from my limited perspective that he is referring to the woman, who even as they speak, is running to her village to share of the encounter she had with someone who appears to be the Messiah.  The harvest has already begun.  Every day of his ministry is reaping time.  By that definition John can be considered the sower.  He is the one who prepared the way for the Messiah.  He plants the seeds of repentance; Jesus comes and begins to reap souls for His Kingdom.  John never totally grasps the breadth of his work or the far-reaching impact of the ministry of the One who came after him.  He dies before the first-fruits are harvested.

The message given by Jesus to his disciples does not end with them.  It remains for me today.  It doesn’t matter who sows the seed or who reaps the harvest; what matters most is that there is a harvest.  The celebration is for those who take part in the labor that leads to the harvest.  Everyone has a part—large or small only from our perspective.  In God’s eyes the labor is equally valuable and the celebration for the souls saved is equally shared by all who experience the joy of seeking and saving the lost.  This is not a labor done to gain salvation or to earn God’s favor.  It is a labor of love done to share the salvation bestowed by God on us to others who are searching for more than the dry and desolate existence masquerading as the life they have endured.  Showers of blessings are upon us now!  Let’s get the word out.

John 4:35

“Haven’t I heard you say,” Jesus continues, “’the harvest is just four months in the future?’”  Well then, hear me when I say ‘Open your eyes and you will notice the fields are ready for the harvest today!’” John 4:35 EFP

The disciples, in what would soon become a pattern that would endure throughout Jesus’ ministry, have totally missed the point.  Jesus recognizes an opportunity to “seek and save” a lost soul and all the disciples see is a wasted trip into town.  Jesus anticipates the arrival of a woman who needs to hear good news amidst the arid landscape of a life lived in servitude to a series of men who literally possess her only to dispose of her when they have had their fill.  The latest in the series of men does not even consider her worthy or marriage.  She doesn’t care.  The woman is tapped out.  Jesus brings a sudden torrent of hope to her parched life.  The disciples only see the awkwardness of the moment—a Jewish man in proximity to a Samaritan woman.  What will people say?

Jesus gently rebukes them.  He points out the inconsistency in their ability to prognosticate the harvest long before it arrives, yet their failure to see the promise and potential of a soul ready for the Kingdom.  Their self-interest and prejudice keeps them from appreciating the spiritual landscape of souls waiting to be brought into the storehouse of God.  “Open your eyes!” he challenges his crew.  “You’re missing the opportunity to make a difference!  Open your eyes!”

I wonder how often I’ve needed to hear Jesus telling me to open my eyes.  How many times have I been so consumed by the expedient, that I overlook the important?  How many times while seeking my daily bread and have I missed out on a heavenly sustenance that makes the earthly variety pale into insignificance and irrelevance.  Lord, help me see the opportunities to be used by your Spirit to reach a person for your Kingdom in surprising settings.  May my soul be satisfied by the food Jesus made his daily bread on during his time on earth.

John 4:34

“My food,” Jesus continues, “consists of acting in accordance to the will of the One who sent me to finish the work he entrusted to me.” John 4:34 EFP

Jesus begins to fill out the gaps in the disciples’ understanding.  No need to get all flabbergasted.  “Listen,” he clarifies, “the food I am talking about is not something that is bought or sold. You don’t eat it on a plate and you don’t need a table to serve it up.  It’s a spiritual thing!”  Jesus is in the zone.  He is in a time and space where food doesn’t matter.  He is focused on the prize—on the goal.

Professional athletes and seasoned warriors are familiar with term “In the Zone.”  It’s as if they lose themselves in the competition or in the battle.  They describe it as if they have been raptured up in a dimension where reality is blurred by their complete engagement in the activity at hand.  In Jesus’ case the “zone” is the mission he has taken upon himself.  He knows the purpose.  He is familiar with the mission.  He is very much aware of the stakes.  He knows the plan has been designed in the highest levels of divinity.  Nothing matters more than completing the mission, winning the battle, and retrieving the sequestered race from the clutches of the enemy.

Do I echo the words of Jesus when referring to my purpose on earth?  Do I see my mission as clearly as he did?  Sometimes the thought as overwhelming!  How can I be so swallowed up in the things of God?  Do I even know the task he has assigned me?  Am I consumed by my desire to complete the mission?  I am certainly challenged by the scenario.  I know I want more than I have now!  There has to be more!  Perhaps there is a place where many sit and bask in the glow that comes from above; but few are those that pursue the light with a passion that consumes them until nothing is left but the evidence of their impact on those who were changed by their God-enlightenment.  I want that!  I want to learn to pursue the light and live out His will in me until it consumes me.

John 4:33

The disciples are confused.  They ask each other, “Do you think someone else brought him food while we were gone?” John 4:33 EFP

It’s quite clear that Jesus and his followers are on different planes.  Jesus is talking on a spiritual plane while the disciples are earthbound in their understanding.  Jesus has just finished letting them know that there is a sense of satisfaction that is lost on those who settle for the readily accessible and easily understood.  “You have no idea what I’m talking about, but I have food you haven’t tasted yet!” 

They would someday, but they certainly had no idea what he was talking about at that moment.  When he says he had food they immediately begin to wonder out loud who could have brought him sustenance.  I would not be surprised at all to discover they may have gotten more than a bit annoyed that someone had made their trip into town superfluous.  They may have gone through a number of scenarios, none of which made sense to them.  In the end it doesn’t matter, because they are dealing with the knowledge Jesus has just given them as mere information to be processed.

The apostle Paul would one day echo the sentiment when he says, “The man without the Spirit does not accept the things that come from the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him, and he cannot understand them, because they are spiritually discerned.” (1 Corinthians 2:14 NIV)  It is easy to fall prey to merely dealing with the crumbs of a flesh-anchored world when the banquet of the spiritual realm awaits us if we are willing to delve in completely and dig a little deeper into the Word.

John4:32

But Jesus is not interested in food at the moment.  “What you don’t realize,” he responds, “is I have access to food you don’t know about!” John 4:32 EFP

Well, I guess that settles that!  I give the disciples the benefit of the doubt; they are honestly concerned about Jesus level of hunger.  They went to town to find food for themselves and for the Master.  They probably ate already, so their hunger has already been satiated.  They have the food; Jesus is hungry.  Why not eat?  The pesky woman is gone.  There is no one to interrupt the moment. “Eat up, Teacher!” is their logical suggestion.

I wonder how Jesus says these words.  Is he frustrated by their insensitivity towards the woman?  Is he disappointed by their failure to seize the importance of the moment?  Is he saddened by their inability to grasp the reason he had come into the world?  Perhaps it is all of these emotions that are wrapped up in Jesus’ response.  I can see him saying through his melancholic eyes, “You don’t get it, do you? There are things that satisfy my soul more than food ever will.” 

There is a sense of satisfaction that overwhelms all other emotions and needs.  That sense comes from touching a life with the Good News.  Jesus knew it.  The apostle Peter and the preacher Paul both were acquainted with that passion.  Many laid down their lives convinced of this truth. It is a fire in the belly!  It is a deep-seeded passion for saving souls.  It is an unquenchable belief that God calls all his followers to press on, to endure, to persevere, and to give witness to the Way, the Truth, and the Life.  That is Jesus, who in the end valued the lost over his appetite, his safety, and his life. 

John 4:31

Meanwhile back at Jacob’s Well, the disciples approach Jesus.  “Eat something, Rabbi!” they insist.  John 4:31 EFP

Lost in the commotion of arriving disciples, fleeing woman, fast-approaching townspeople, and abandoned pottery, is Jesus.  He has not had a morsel of food to eat all day; and as far as we can tell, he never did get that cup of water from the now-absentee woman.

The disciples do the right thing—they suggest he have something to eat.  They know he probably has not had anything to eat, since that is the reason they went into town.  Now, setting aside their obvious curiosity about the woman at the well, they change the subject to a more palatable one.  They quickly redirect the focus from the woman—the Samaritan cast-off, to something they consider a priority.  Their approach is formal, “Rabbi,” they suggest, “why don’t you take a bite?”  They probably want to pepper him with all sorts of questions about the woman, but they resist.  Instead they go to a safe and more palatable subject—food.

I confess that there are times I overlook the important in favor of the expedient; the significant over the comfortable.  I wonder what I would have done if I found myself in that identical situation.  Would I have asked Jesus, “Hey, what gives?” knowing that I might not want to hear the answer to the question?  Or would I have meandered into the default level-one question in order to avoid having to deal with a matter that may require I actually be interested.  There are things more important and pressing that the things I can see and touch.

John 4:30

The townspeople make their way out of town to meet the stranger.  John 4:30 EFP

I have to hand it to the woman—she is one very convincing lady.  I have no idea what she says.  I do not know who speaks to.  I do not know how many people turn her down.  All I know is that the narrative simply states, “They came out of town and made their way towards him.” (NIV)

There again, this is not just an example of an incredibly convincing woman; this is also a case of a town willing to take a chance on the word of a marginalized woman.  After all, they come out of their homes to meet with a total stranger on no the basis than the rants of a woman of questionable social fiber.  What possesses them to leave their comfort zone in the heat of the afternoon sun?  Is it pure curiosity?  Is it just a slow day in Sychar?  Is the woman that convincing?  Or is there a latent sense of need in their hearts?  Is there something in their souls that resonates with the needs of the fallen woman?  Did they long for the Messiah?  Had their longing been beaten down over the years of disappointments with false teachers and pseudo-spiritual leaders? 

I have to believe that even the most ardent opponent of God has a sliver of longing for something divine.  There is something in all of us that cannot be filled with anything or anyone else other than God.  Life can bash and bruise it.  Disappointment with God because of ignorance, misinformation, or familiarity that breeds contempt shows up in shades of virulent opposition and ritualism—even resignation to a life lived in virtual and vicarious experiences with a feel-good deity of fairy tales and horror stories.  The result is a need that remains unmet until the moment when we hear, feel, experience, or otherwise encounter the Good News of Jesus.  Sometimes that moment is made possible through the mostly unlikely source, even the personal testimony of an unlikely woman with a checkered past.

John 4:29

“Hey, check it out!” she shouts out, “Come meet a man who just told me everything I ever did without my telling him anything about me.  Do you think this could possibly be the Messiah?” John 4:29 EFP

I wonder who the woman approaches first when she goes back into town.  Does she knock on random doors?  Does she go looking for her estranged family members?  Does she find her ex-husbands?  Who does she share this news with?  Just that morning she was the pariah of Sychar—the woman whose existence was hardly acknowledged.  Now she becomes an evangelist? 

A more intriguing thought is, “What do people say back to her?”  How to they react?  Do they think she’s “lost her marbles?”  Do some people slam the door on her?  Do some reply, “Who cares?” Or “Everybody knows everything about you, woman!  Be gone!”  I only know that this woman has some serious “chutzpah.”  Apparently she doesn’t care what they think or say.  She is so blown away with the encounter she has just experienced that she is lost in the moment and she wants everyone else to experience it as well.

The outcast becomes the center of attention.  The marginalized one becomes the one who reaches out.  It’s interesting to note that she doesn’t tell people she has just met the Messiah, she simply invites them to come and find out if perhaps this is the Messiah.  The Messiah can speak for himself—literally.  Where is my passion?  Where is the out-of-my-mind desire to tell everyone I know about the One!  I am being challenged these days to move beyond the often safe and sanitized expressions of faith to which I have become accustomed and into the risky, unpredictable, and maybe even perilous life in the Spirit.  If I am wrestling with God, there is only one outcome possible—He wins!

John 4:28

The woman drops her water jar and runs back to her village carrying only some very exciting news to share. John 4:28 EFP

The woman who arrives every day about noon to the well to draw water goes home without water, and without her water jar.  We are not told whether she suddenly drops it as the significance of the words Jesus utters to her sink in.  She could have carefully put the jar down and then run off, but that seems unlikely.

After all, she just heard the most extraordinary thing she had ever her in all her life!  She just spent time speaking with the Messiah.  More importantly, the Messiah took the time to sit and talk to her.  The conversation she has with Jesus would have been an extraordinary conversation on its own had it just taken place with an interesting Jewish man sitting at noon by the well.  She had learned some thought-provoking concepts, after all.  But the realization that she is in the presence of the Messiah shakes her world.  Nothing matters anymore…or does it?

She does the most extraordinary thing—she runs!  I don’t know, my first reaction would have been to sit down with the Messiah not to run from him.  I have so many questions to ask; stories to enjoy; advice on life to receive; insights into the future to ponder.  But no, not this woman, there is one thing more important to her than sitting with the Master—telling her people about what she just discovered.  In essence, she leaves Jesus in order to tell others about Jesus.  I don’t know if I would have taken the risk.  I probably would have asked Jesus to come with me into town.  The woman takes a big risk.  What if the Messiah is gone when she returns!  I have a sense the woman is right—this Messiah is not going anywhere anytime soon.  He had come to talk to her.  He would be there waiting when she came back with her friends and neighbors. 

John 4:27

It so happens the very moment when Jesus tells the woman he is the Messiah the disciples arrive on the scene.  Finding their Master talking to the woman, they choose not to question either Jesus or the woman with questions such as, “What do you want, woman?” or, “Jesus, why are you talking with this woman?” John 4:27 EFP

I had almost forgotten the disciples were even around at all.  Last time we heard from them they were on their way into town to find something for all of them to eat.  But now they appear at what appears to be the most inopportune moment.  Jesus has just told the woman that the person she is speaking to is the Messiah.  Now the moment appears to be short-circuited from an outsider’s point of view.

To the disciples’ credit, they resist the temptation to question either the woman or the Master as to the reason they are talking at all.  The questions are quite telling, with the potential question aimed at the woman being much more aggressive than the less-threatening question they felt like asking the Master.  I am curious what happened?  What do they do when they see Jesus speaking to the woman?  Are they still speaking?  Does the woman notice the band of brothers approaching?  Does she notice any unwarranted stares from them?  Is she fearful?  Is the comfort elicited by Jesus replaced with a flight reflex?

All I know from this verse is that the flow is broken.  That’s life.  Even in Jesus’ life experience there are examples of his purposes being interrupted by forces outside his control.  This seminal moment has come to a pinnacle and the moment is ruined by events he does not set in motion.  My immediate reaction would be disappointment that such a wonderful opportunity has been derailed.  Satan uses people and circumstances to negatively impact God’s purposes.  For the record, I do not believe Jesus was flabbergasted or unsettled by this interruption.  He knows God works through every circumstance or situation to accomplish his purposes.  I want to be there in my life.  I have a way to go, but I want it bad.

John 4:26

Jesus can hardly wait to say the words, “Woman, you are speaking to the Messiah.” John 4:26 EFP

Ding!  Ding!  Ding!  Ding!  The bells are ringing as the words she has been waiting to hear all her life are uttered in her presence.  Had Jesus led off by saying, “I am the Messiah, give me a drink of water, woman!” she may not have remained long enough to learn anything about the mysteries Jesus is sharing with her.  But because Jesus engaged her from a position of need and used a combination of gentle tugs and less-than-subtle revelations, she is still there in a state of total vulnerability longing to hear more from the Messiah.

“I am the Messiah!” Let the words resonate as they do with the woman.  She needs answers—the Messiah has them.  She needs someone to trust—the Messiah is trustworthy.  But Jesus has let her know the Messiah is much more than that.  The Messiah is the life-giver, the thirst-quencher, and the truth-revealer.  The Messiah is the conduit for salvation for everyone who is confused, thirsty, and death-bound. 

“Like the woman at the well I was seeking…” are the opening words of on old gospel song by Richard Blanchard.  I have either sung or led others in singing the song hundreds of times over the years, yet somehow today they ring as they have never done before.  I find myself at times like the woman at the well—living, but not quite alive; doing, but not really being; full of answers, but not in touch with the truth; going through the motions hoping deep-down for an encounter with the Messiah, so that he can make sense of it all.  Misguided and misplaced faith causes me to live this way. It is not a God problem—it is a “me” problem.  He is longing for the moment when he can finally break through and say the words, “I’m here—let’s talk.  I’ve been waiting for this moment all your life.”  To which I say, “Fill my Cup, Lord!”

John 4:25

The woman responds, “I have been taught the Messiah is coming soon, and when He comes He will make all these things clear to us.” John 4:25 EFP

The story is now at its apex.  The dramatic anticipation is thick as butter.  Jesus has by now destroyed all the woman’s previously misconceived notions about God, truth, worship, even the Jews. She has no place to hide, as she no longer can find refuge in arguments that have no validity.  She is left without her religious safety net—she is falling hard.

The she throws out her last salvo—the Messiah.  It’s as if she is saying, “You sound pretty convincing, sir, but when the Messiah comes….”  She is either pushing any decision into the future or fishing for a confirmation.  She either needs more information, more clarity of the issues, or she is hoping that she gets the answer she is hoping to get.  “If only the Messiah were here, he’d explain it to me….”

Even as I am tempted to ask, “What more proof does she need?” I am also reminded that I can also be quite obtuse when I don’t really want to make a decision that I know to be right, but that is to unsettling an option to consider.  I ask for more clarity, when it’s already there.  I require more proof, when the evidence clearly confirms it.  I stand convicted again in the presence of my Master.

John 4:24

 “God is spirit,” Jesus sums it up, “So it is necessary that those that worship Him do so in spirit and in truth.” John 4:24 EFP

Jesus repeats the previous statement for emphasis.  But I also believe there is more to it than that.  Remember, Jesus is talking about what is at the core of worship.  He is separating the act of worship from the location where worship takes place.  Jesus is further clarifying that it is what is inside the worshipper that matters to God and not so much the setting in which the worship takes place.

The reason for this emphasis on the intangible is clearly stated here—God is spirit.  He exists in a spiritual realm.  We obviously spend most of our time in the material world, where things, objects, and possessions are admired and valued.  Churches, mosques, temples, and cathedrals are monuments to the inability of man to capture God.  God cannot be contained.  Even the desert tabernacle that exhibited his presence, did not house the Almighty.  He once again repeats the dual elements of worship: spirit and truth.

Without annulling the previous statements regarding the spirit of seeking The Truth being at the center of worship, Jesus expresses it differently here.  Worship is my spiritual search for something—actually someone greater than me.  It is the opportunity for me to be lifted above the mundane and ordinary of life into the extraordinary realm of the divine and supernatural.  Only as I am willing to lose myself in a spiritual experience that seeks to connect with a Truth greater than what I can grasp through natural means can I truly experience worship.  Worship is not a theory to be understood, it is an encounter to be experienced.  I have to chew on this for a while.  Is there a whole other dimension that God is inviting me to enter where I can experience God and not just learn about Him?    I wonder what the woman is thinking right about now.  She’s still listening.  So am I.