Christ and the Woman of Samaria
Probably by a student, and retouched by Rembrandt
Metropolitan Museum of Art
Romans 5:1-11
The Way Forward
Since we are justified by faith,
We now have peace, through Christ, with God;
Can you believe that someone died
So you might know, though being odd,
You're even loved more than you thought?
I do not "get" we're saved from wrath;
But if some gratitude I learn,
Then that will do - and be my path.
Scott L. Barton
Therefore, since we are justified by faith, we have peace
with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have obtained access to
this grace in which we stand; and we boast in our hope of sharing the glory of
God. And not only that, but we also boast in our sufferings, knowing that
suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character
produces hope, and hope does not disappoint us, because God’s love has been
poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit that has been given to us.
For while we were still weak, at the right time Christ died
for the ungodly. Indeed, rarely will anyone die for a righteous person—though
perhaps for a good person someone might actually dare to die. But God proves
his love for us in that while we still were sinners Christ died for us. Much
more surely then, now that we have been justified by his blood, will we be
saved through him from the wrath of God. For if while we were enemies, we were
reconciled to God through the death of his Son, much more surely, having been reconciled,
will we be saved by his life. But more than that, we even boast in God through
our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received reconciliation.
+ + +
Exodus 17:1-7 and John 4:5-42
Three Drinking Limericks
(The limerick form probably comes from County Limerick in
Ireland; so I thought of the above style as we're near St. Patrick's Day.)
Cried the thirsty and quarreling tribe;
Thus when Moses told God,
The response, "Use the rod!"
Meant by striking the rock, they imbibed.
"Woman, give me some water to drink,"
Jesus, to the Samaritan said,
But if drink he received,
We can't tell, or perceive -
What we learn is, she drank in, instead.
Thus we hear that refreshment is giv'n,
When for water or love we might thirst,When we think it's our job
To prove how we love God,
We're supplied with good news quite reversed.
Scott L. Barton
From the wilderness of Sin the whole congregation of the
Israelites journeyed by stages, as the Lord commanded. They camped at Rephidim,
but there was no water for the people to drink. The people quarreled with
Moses, and said, "Give us water to drink." Moses said to them, "Why
do you quarrel with me? Why do you test the Lord?" But the people thirsted
there for water; and the people complained against Moses and said, "Why
did you bring us out of Egypt, to kill us and our children and livestock with
thirst?" So Moses cried out to the Lord, "What shall I do with this
people? They are almost ready to stone me." The Lord said to Moses,
"Go on ahead of the people, and take some of the elders of Israel with
you; take in your hand the staff with which you struck the Nile, and go. I will
be standing there in front of you on the rock at Horeb. Strike the rock, and
water will come out of it, so that the people may drink." Moses did so, in
the sight of the elders of Israel. He called the place Massah and Meribah,
because the Israelites quarreled and tested the Lord, saying, "Is the Lord
among us or not?"
+++
So he came to a Samaritan city called Sychar, near the plot
of ground that Jacob had given to his son Joseph. Jacob's well was there, and
Jesus, tired out by his journey, was sitting by the well. It was about noon. A
Samaritan woman came to draw water, and Jesus said to her, "Give me a
drink." (His disciples had gone to the city to buy food.) 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.) 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." The woman said to him, "Sir, you have no bucket,
and the well is deep. Where do you get that living water? Are you greater than
our ancestor Jacob, who gave us the well, and with his sons and his flocks
drank from it?" Jesus said to her, "Everyone who drinks of this water
will be thirsty again, 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." 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."
Jesus said to her, "Go, call your husband, and come
back." The woman answered him, "I have no husband." Jesus said
to her, "You are right in saying, 'I have no husband'; for you have had
five husbands, and the one you have now is not your husband. What you have said
is true!" The woman said to him, "Sir, I see that you are a prophet.
Our ancestors worshiped on this mountain, but you say that the place where
people must worship is in Jerusalem." Jesus said to her, "Woman,
believe me, the hour is coming when you will worship the Father neither on this
mountain nor in Jerusalem. You worship what you do not know; we worship what we
know, for salvation is from the Jews. 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. God is spirit, and those who worship
him must worship in spirit and truth." 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." Jesus said to her, "I am he, the one
who is speaking to you."
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?" Then the woman left her water jar
and went back to the city. She said to the people, "Come and see a man who
told me everything I have ever done! He cannot be the Messiah, can he?"
They left the city and were on their way to him.
Meanwhile the disciples were urging him, "Rabbi, eat
something." But he said to them, "I have food to eat that you do not
know about." So the disciples said to one another, "Surely no one has
brought him something to eat?" Jesus said to them, "My food is to do
the will of him who sent me and to complete his work. 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. The reaper is already receiving wages
and is gathering fruit for eternal life, so that sower and reaper may rejoice
together. For here the saying holds true, 'One sows and another reaps.' I sent
you to reap that for which you did not labor. Others have labored, and you have
entered into their labor."
Many Samaritans from that city believed in him because of
the woman's testimony, "He told me everything I have ever done." So
when the Samaritans came to him, they asked him to stay with them; and he
stayed there two days. And many more believed because of his word. 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."
No comments:
Post a Comment