GOD Morning! Shut Up and Listen Up / December 28, 2016

GOD Morning!

Shut Up and Listen Up

December 28, 2016

John 4:1-30 AMP

4 Now when the Lord knew (learned, became aware) that the Pharisees had been told that Jesus was winning and baptizing more disciples than John—

2 Though Jesus Himself did not baptize, but His disciples—

3 He left Judea and returned to Galilee.

4 It was necessary for Him to go through Samaria.

5 And in doing so, He arrived at a Samaritan town called Sychar, near the tract of land that Jacob gave to his son Joseph.

6 And Jacob’s well was there. So Jesus, tired as He was from His journey, sat down [to rest] by the well. It was then about the sixth hour (about noon).

7 Presently, when a woman of Samaria came along to draw water, Jesus said to her, Give Me a drink—

8 For His disciples had gone off into the town to buy food—

 9 The Samaritan woman said to Him, How is it that You, being a Jew, ask me, a Samaritan [and a] woman, for a drink?—For the Jews have nothing to do with the Samaritans—

10 Jesus answered her, If you had only known and had recognized God’s gift and Who this is that is saying to you, Give Me a drink, you would have asked Him [instead] and He would have given you living water.

11 She said to Him, Sir, You have nothing to draw with [no drawing bucket] and the well is deep; how then can You provide living water? [Where do You get Your living water?]

12 Are You greater than and superior to our ancestor Jacob, who gave us this well and who used to drink from it himself, and his sons and his cattle also?

13 Jesus answered her, All who drink of this water will be thirsty again.

14 But whoever takes a drink of the water that I will give him shall never, no never, be thirsty any more. But the water that I will give him shall become a spring of water welling up (flowing, bubbling) [continually] within him unto (into, for) eternal life.

15 The woman said to Him, Sir, give me this water, so that I may never get thirsty nor have to come [continually all the way] here to draw.

16 At this, Jesus said to her, Go, call your husband and come back here.

17 The woman answered, I have no husband. Jesus said to her, You have spoken truly in saying, I have no husband.

18 For you have had five husbands, and the man you are now living with is not your husband. In this you have spoken truly.

19 The woman said to Him, Sir, I see and understand that You are a prophet.

20 Our forefathers worshiped on this mountain, but you [Jews] say that  Jerusalem is the place where it is necessary and proper to worship.

21 Jesus said to her, Woman, believe Me, a time is coming when you will worship the Father neither [merely] in this mountain nor [merely] in Jerusalem.

22 You [Samaritans] do not know what you are worshiping [you worship what you do not comprehend]. We do know what we are worshiping [we worship what we have knowledge of and understand], for [after all] salvation comes from [among] the Jews.

23 A time will come, however, indeed it is already here, when the true (genuine) worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and in truth (reality); for the Father is seeking just such people as these as His worshipers.

24 God is a Spirit (a spiritual Being) and those who worship Him must worship Him in spirit and in truth (reality).

25 The woman said to Him, I know that Messiah is coming, He Who is called the Christ (the Anointed One); and when He arrives, He will tell us everything we need to know and make it clear to us.

26 Jesus said to her, I Who now speak with you am He.

27 Just then His disciples came and they wondered (were surprised, astonished) to find Him talking with a woman [a married woman]. However, not one of them asked Him, What are You inquiring about? or What do You want? or, Why do You speak with her?

28 Then the woman left her water jar and went away to the town. And she began telling the people,

29 Come, see a Man Who has told me everything that I ever did! Can this be [is not this] the Christ? [Must not this be the Messiah, the Anointed One?]

30 So the people left the town and set out to go to Him.

Don’t you love it when folks feel the need to let you know the word on the street regarding you? And the facts are usually twisted, as it was in today’s scripture reading.

Jesus responded to this negativity by leaving Judea and returning to Galilee.  

“It was necessary for Him to go through Samaria.”

After traveling for awhile, He sat down at a well to rest.

He did the unthinkable. He asked a Samaritan woman for a drink.

She was obviously a brash, loud mouthed woman. It seems to me that she was looking for an argument. Most of us would have simply given a stranger a drink. And gone on our way.

I imagine this woman to be tired. Beaten down. I’m sure she had suffered years of abuse, possibly from childhood. On into adulthood. She was considered the lowest of the low. She had probably never once weighed her words before she spoke.

She also reminds me of myself in some ways. She was so caught up in the "facts" that she couldn’t see the miraculous. 

1.    The Jews have nothing to do with the Samaritans.

2.   You have nothing to draw with.

3.   The well is deep.

4.   How can You provide living water?

5.   Are You greater than our ancestor Jacob?

And then Jesus started speaking in His simple, yet deep, and easy to understand, yet hard to comprehend way.

What an amazing story that is so relevant for me. Today.

Jesus has living water for me and for you. Everything we can possibly ever need or hope for is found in Jesus Christ, God in the flesh.

“Dear Jesus, how I love you. I am much like this woman, much of the time. Looking at the cold, hard facts. Not even considering the most important fact. That I am talking to God in the flesh. You can do the impossible. You know everything about me. All of my failures, all of my shortcomings. You know the facts and You still want to sit down at the well and talk to me. And if I will shut up long enough, You will give me that Living Water that will transform me from the inside out. Thank You Dear Jesus for showing up to chat with me this morning. I pray this in Your precious name, the name of Jesus. AMEN.”