April 29, 2012
We read in Psalm 22 about the feelings of the Lord when He suffered at the hand of man and God. We know about His sufferings, but do the feelings of the Lord touch our hearts? If we go to a funeral, we see people weeping over a lost loved one. We should feel similarly about the Lord’s sufferings for us. We shouldn’t read about it and have no feeling; We should take it personally, and realize that He died for me. How does it touch your heart?
Hymn 259 - Rock of Ages, cleft for sin
Prayer
Last time, we talked about Jesus’ conversation with Nicodemus. Often in the gospel of John, we find Jesus having a conversation with an individual. In today’s story, Jesus talks to another individual: but this time, it’s a sinful woman, not a religious man.
John 4:1-14
Vv. 1-4: Jesus was going to Galilee and we read that He had to go through Samaria. The reason this is interesting is that the Jews didn’t like the Samaritans and avoided going through Samaria as much as possible. Jesus has a reason for going through Samaria, though: there was a woman there that needed his help. It is precious to see Jesus going to meet someone who needed Him. Ultimately, He came to earth because we all needed Him to save us from sin.
Vv. 5 & 6: Jesus stopped at a well—Jacob’s well—in Samaria; there were no taps or pumps in those days, and the people would get water by drawing from the well with a pot. Jesus came to the well at the 6th hour, or twelve o’clock noon. He had been walking all day, and Jesus was tired and thirsty.
V. 7 & 9: While Jesus was waiting at the well, a woman came to draw water. It was unusual for someone to come to the well for water at noon: they usually came in the evening, when it was cooler. This woman came when no one else was around because she was embarrassed about her behaviour in life; as we’ll see, she had quite a few marriage problems. Jesus asked the woman for a drink of water. This surprised her, because normally the Jews didn’t speak to the Samaritans.
V. 10: Where was Jesus taking this conversation? He started by asking her for something, but now He was telling her about what He could give her. He told her about the “gift of God”; this might be better worded “the willingness of God to give.” God is not a taking God, as many suppose; he is a giving God, and He is willing to save.
Vv. 12 - 14: This Samaritan woman thought highly of Jacob and his well, but this well would only satisfy her thirst for a short time. Jesus was offering to make her a spring of water that would never run dry. He offers this to us as well: by accepting God’s offer of salvation, which He is so willing to give, we will find that our spiritual thirst will be quenched forever. By the end of this story, that woman had become one of Jesus’ wells, a spring bursting forth with his love and grace.
Luke 11:33-44
Last time we saw that the people of Nineveh believed Jonah without a miracle, and that the Queen of Sheba believed Solomon without a miracle; but the Lord’s generation required a sign. They were an evil generation.
We saw in the parable of the Good Samaritan that his two pence could represent the word of God and prayer, and here in verse 33 we get another image of the word of God: light. Jesus came to speak the words of God, and He wasn’t going to be put under a bushel. John tells us that He came as the light. Now you can have decorative light, or you can have light which illuminates and exposes. Jesus illuminated and exposed.
Light illuminates, but there needs to be an eye to receive that light. We have the light of God’s word, but many people turn a blind eye to it. They aren’t blind, but they don’t want the light. Why? Because their deeds are evil (John 3:19).
There are two sides to this issue. We can have an open or closed eye to the light. We can also have either a single eye, or an evil eye. This should speak to all of us, because we might have eyes that are open to the light of the word of truth; but are we walking in that truth? If not, then that light becomes darkness to us. We need to receive the truth with an open eye and an open heart. Then when we read the word and walk in it, our eye will be single. We still need to be careful, though, because verse 36 implies that we can have dark corners in our lives; even though we walk in the light.
Some people don’t believe in Creation because they don’t want to have a Creator to be accountable and responsible to. Their eye is double. They choose darkness, but they don’t realize how terrible the darkness is that they’re headed to!
At about this point, Jesus gets an invitation to dinner at a Pharisee’s house. The pharisees over-emphasized the law (especially to other people), and embellished it. This Pharisee found fault with the Lord because He hadn’t washed His hands before dinner. Now this is something that we’ve talked about before. The Pharisees cleaned the outside, but not the inside; both with cups and plates, and then with their lives. They were hypocrites; they were just putting on a show of good works. Our testimony is important, but it should adorn our doctrine.
While the Pharisees were concerned with the outside, Jesus knew that the inside was more important. Romans 12:17 tells us, “Provide things honest in the sight of all men,” so both are important. Either this Pharisee uttered his thoughts, or Jesus just knew them; because Jesus rebuked him and told him that he was mixed up. Sometimes it’s easier to make our outside look good than it is our inside. However, the inside is what has communion with God, and so that needs to be clean.
Hymn 375 - O soul, are you weary?
Prayer