John 4:5-42
5 So he came to a Samaritan city called Sychar, near the plot of ground that Jacob had given to his son Joseph. 6 Jacob's well was there, and Jesus, tired out by his journey, was sitting by the well. It was about noon. 7 A Samaritan woman came to draw water, and Jesus said to her, "Give me a drink." 8 (His disciples had gone to the city to buy food.) 9 The Samaritan woman said to him, "How is it that you, a Jew, ask a drink of me, a woman of Samaria?" (Jews do not share things in common with Samaritans.) 10 Jesus answered her, "If you knew the gift of God, and who it is that is saying to you, "Give me a drink,' you would have asked him, and he would have given you living water." 11 The woman said to him, "Sir, you have no bucket, and the well is deep. Where do you get that living water? 12 Are you greater than our ancestor Jacob, who gave us the well, and with his sons and his flocks drank from it?" 13 Jesus said to her, "Everyone who drinks of this water will be thirsty again, 14 but those who drink of the water that I will give them will never be thirsty. The water that I will give will become in them a spring of water gushing up to eternal life." 15 The woman said to him, "Sir, give me this water, so that I may never be thirsty or have to keep coming here to draw water." 16 Jesus said to her, "Go, call your husband, and come back." 17 The woman answered him, "I have no husband." Jesus said to her, "You are right in saying, "I have no husband'; 18 for you have had five husbands, and the one you have now is not your husband. What you have said is true!" 19 The woman said to him, "Sir, I see that you are a prophet. 20 Our ancestors worshiped on this mountain, but you say that the place where people must worship is in Jerusalem." 21 Jesus said to her, "Woman, believe me, the hour is coming when you will worship the Father neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem. 22 You worship what you do not know; we worship what we know, for salvation is from the Jews. 23 But the hour is coming, and is now here, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for the Father seeks such as these 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 proclaim all things to us." 26 Jesus said to her, "I am he, the one who is speaking to you." 27 Just then his disciples came. They were astonished that he was speaking with a woman, but no one said, "What do you want?" or, "Why are you speaking with her?" 28 Then the woman left her water jar and went back to the city. She said to the people, 29 "Come and see a man who told me everything I have ever done! He cannot be the Messiah, can he?" 30 They left the city and were on their way to him. 31 Meanwhile the disciples were urging him, "Rabbi, eat something." 32 But he said to them, "I have food to eat that you do not know about." 33 So the disciples said to one another, "Surely no one has brought him something to eat?" 34 Jesus said to them, "My food is to do the will of him who sent me and to complete his work. 35 Do you not say, "Four months more, then comes the harvest'? But I tell you, look around you, and see how the fields are ripe for harvesting. 36 The reaper is already receiving wages and is gathering fruit for eternal life, so that sower and reaper may rejoice together. 37 For here the saying holds true, "One sows and another reaps.' 38 I sent you to reap that for which you did not labor. Others have labored, and you have entered into their labor." 39 Many Samaritans from that city believed in him because of the woman's testimony, "He told me everything I have ever done." 40 So when the Samaritans came to him, they asked him to stay with them; and he stayed there two days. 41 And many more believed because of his word. 42 They said to the woman, "It is no longer because of what you said that we believe, for we have heard for ourselves, and we know that this is truly the Savior of the world."
Reflection - Water!
I am so glad! So glad, that Jesus comes to me, the one deserving death, the unclean one. Yes, Jesus comes to me as he came to the Samaritan woman at the well to give living water, abundant water, water that brings everlasting life. If it weren't for Jesus, I surely would be on the path to eternal and everlasting death. I would be on may way to hell. It's that simple and that plain.
But Jesus did come to me. Jesus comes to all. Jesus comes for you as well as anyone to grant eternal life. God bursts into our fleshly, sinful, materialistic, power-hungry, greedy world, in flesh, to show us another side of life. God is Spirit and in this Spirit, Jesus brings God in flesh and in Spirit.
It's easy to see what we can observe. In some ways, science is easy. Science is a gift from God that permits us to observe all that God has created in the natural realm of this universe. We can joyfully and wonderfully submerse ourselves for an earthly lifetime on the science and observation of this universe and the way it works. Yes, Jesus, as God came in the flesh, but Jesus, also came as Spirit. God comes to us in the science of the flesh and also the mystery of the Spirit of God.
And in this Spirit we receive something that we cannot observe. We receive through the gracious actions of God, eternal life in Jesus. We are introduced to something new. We are shown the Spirit of God. I can get a drink of water and quench my thirst. I get that. But Jesus gives us a drink, in the Spirit, of water that springs up to eternal life. That's the mystery of God! That's the love of God in what God has done for us, for you, for me, for anyone.
So, will you trust Jesus? Will you believe Jesus? Will you take a drink of THIS water that Jesus has? This water that gushes and overflows in a spiritual way? This water of life from Jesus himself that leads to eternal life?
We come to Jesus as Nicodemus did under the cover of night, yet Jesus comes to us in the bright light of the noon day sun. We come to Jesus seeking the answers to questions both physical and spiritual, yet Jesus comes to us with answers to questions that we never even asked. Some come to Jesus with the power and prestige of a Pharisee, yet Jesus comes to us that are in the mundane tasks of life that seem to never end. We come to Jesus thinking we know the way to God, yet Jesus comes to us knowing we are lost in our sin and offers eternal life. We come to Jesus in doubt and Jesus comes to us in love to save us from all of our doubts.
Yes, Jesus is a contrast in flesh and Spirit. Jesus is a contrast in death and life. Jesus is God and the One. God both as flesh and Spirit who comes to save us, rich and poor, big jobs, little jobs, powerful, abused, healthy, sick, and in whatever state of being we happen to be, to offer to us the life giving gift of this everlasting and eternal water of life that can only come from God. Jesus comes to us to be in a relationship with us that lasts throughout and beyond all time and all space.
What else can I say... Thanks be to God!
Here is a link to You Tube that expresses Thanks to Jesus.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SB0p8L-PCu4
Prayer
Thank you Jesus for coming to me in the midst of the noon day heat of my sin and saving me from certain death. Thank you Jesus for showing me your Spirit. Thank you Jesus for your suffering, your dying, your resurrection, your healing, your teaching, your leading and your guiding. Thank you, Jesus for life... today... tomorrow... and forever. --- Amen
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