John 4:10
“Jesus answered, ‘If you knew the generosity of God and who I am, you would be asking me for a drink, and I would give you fresh, living water.’”
“Jesus replied, ‘If you only knew the gift God has for you and who you are speaking to, you would ask me, and I would give you living water.’”
Our modern familiarity with Christ as living water has robbed this little verse of its punch. This woman must journey to a well to get water for each day. Imagine; no water faucet, no water heater, and having to raise and haul every drop you need for drinking, washing and cleaning. And this woman was an outcast who did her hauling in the heat of the day to avoid persecution by her neighbors. Her relationship with water was much different than ours. Christ enters her life with an offer of not just stagnant water but living, flowing, fresh water. How could she not inquire?
What analogy could we put to similar use today? Is Christ waiting for us in an internet café? Beside a gas pump? In the waiting room of the local public utility district? Certainly he is where our need is greatest. Let’s remember to look for him.
Lord, you know my need better than I. Open my heart to the healing I need, that I may ask and receive, living whole and generous for your sake.
John 4:4-6
“To get there, he had to pass through Samaria. He came into Sychar, a Samaritan village that bordered the field Jacob had given his son Joseph. Jacob’s well was still there. Jesus, worn out by the trip, sat down at the well. It was noon.”
“He had to go through Samaria on the way. Eventually he came to the Samaritan village of Sychar, near the field that Jacob gave to his son Joseph. Jacob’s well was there; and Jesus, tired from the long walk, sat wearily beside the well about noontime.”
In that heavily used piece of ground, the Middle East, names signify more than the idea of place, carrying meaning too. They are markers that reminded people of their faith and heritage. We can still benefit by naming that which reminds us of God and his faithfulness. For example, I named my car Miss Gracie because I believe it was an instance of God’s grace to me. After years of old, dirty, family cars I now enjoy a sporty, techy, zoom-zoom model that is lot of fun to drive, and I like to drive fast. I’m reminded of God’s delight in giving good gifts every time I settle into it. If we notice God at work in the ordinary, it should be easy to go on a naming spree.
Lord, how can I do this more in a way that draws other into the practice? If you would have me do this more, show me how. Thank you.
John 4:1-3
“The Message – Jesus realized that the Pharisees were keeping count of the baptisms that he and John performed (although his disciples, not Jesus, did the actual baptizing). They had posted the score that Jesus was ahead, turning him and John into rivals in the eyes of the people. So Jesus left the Judean countryside and went back to Galilee.”
“Jesus knew the Pharisees had heard that he was baptizing and making more disciples than John (although Jesus himself didn’t baptize them- his disciples did). So he left Judea and returned to Galilee.”
Jesus left the arena rather than be drawn into competition and damaging his relationship with John. I have more than my share of natural gifts and the upbringing that developed them. I often found the insecure intimidated and jealousy aroused when simply going about my business, exercising that which God made me to be. I wish I’d had the maturity to step away as Jesus did. But having the capacity to win meant I learned to enjoy winning and found my competitive nature developed. How many tender souls did my own tender soul, desperate for approval, unintentionally run over? Praise God he specializes in managing our social selves when we give him reign.
Lord, forgive me for allowing my competitive nature to run over others. Thank you for giving me parental wisdom to help my own children stay humble and sensitive to their less fortunate peers. I am relieved to find you have lifted the need to win from me in later years. Give me eyes to see those needing encouragement and the opportunity to give it. Make me love others as you love me.
John 3:34-35
“The One that God sent speaks God’s words. And don’t think he rations out the Spirit in bits and pieces. The Father loves the Son extravagantly. He turned everything over to him so he could give it away—a lavish distribution of gifts.”
“He speaks God’s words, for God gives him the Spirit without limit. The Father loves his Son and has put everything into his hands.”
God is a lavish giver, not a taker. He gives all that he is, and it’s poured out through Jesus. We need only open our arms wide. The longer I walk with him the more I experience it. There have been deep hills and valleys to travel and it is so good to be nearing home.
Lord, I love you.
John 3:31-33
“The One who comes from above is head and shoulders over other messengers from God. The earthborn is earthbound and speaks earth language; the heavenborn is in a league of his own. He sets out the evidence of what he saw and heard in heaven. No one wants to deal with these facts. But anyone who examines this evidence will come to stake his life on this: that God himself is the truth.”
“He has come from above and is greater than anyone else. We are of the earth, and we speak of earthy things, but he has come from heaven and is greater than anyone else. He testifies about what he has seen and heard, but how few believe what he tells them! Anyone who accepts his testimony can affirm that God is true.”
Christ told us what he heard and saw of the eternal, who God is. Many reject his personal witness yet are quick believe another’s. They care not to fairly examine Christ’s words. Believers do this too. We allow the world to distract us by overwhelming our senses. Hearing God’s word requires wrenching ourselves away from the tyranny of the urgent. It requires a violent assertion of our will to seek God. It is a war we fight every moment. Eternity is blessedly free of this theater and we can rest in God without fighting the urge to do it our way. We long for it! For now, victory in the many skirmishes with our self preach truth to the world. Some will notice and find rest in Christ’s witness of eternal truth.
Lord, please give me persistence in this fight. Strengthen my will to resist laziness in my soul. May my desire for you become a craving, ever reaching out for more of you.
John 3:29-30
“That’s why my cup is running over. This is the assigned moment for him to move into the center, while I slip off to the sidelines.”
“Therefore, I am filled with joy at his success. He must become greater and greater, and I must become less and less.”
John’s disciples have just heard of Jesus baptizing over the Jordan. They run to John with complaint that Jesus is competing with them. This quote is John’s answer. He was entirely fulfilled knowing he had done his job and content to step aside. Walking down the center of God’s will for your life is where joy and contentment live. John may have become less in 1st century Palestine, but he became eternally more himself and earned, “Well done,” from his beloved Lord. Less is more in God’s economy.
Lord, I crave this satisfaction. Guide me, please!
John 3:10-12
“Jesus said, ‘You’re a respected teacher of Israel and you don’t know these basics? Listen carefully. I’m speaking sober truth to you. I speak only of what I know by experience; I give witness only to what I have seen with my own eyes. There is nothing secondhand here, no hearsay. Yet instead of facing the evidence and accepting it, you procrastinate with questions. If I tell you things that are plain as the hand before your face and you don’t believe me, what use is there in telling you of things you can’t see, the things of God?’”
“Jesus replied,’ You are a respected Jewish teacher, and yet you don’t understand these things? I assure you, we tell you what we know and have seen, and yet you won’t believe our testimony. But if you don’t believe me when I tell you about earthly things, how can you possible believe if I tell you about heavenly things?’”
The pronouns used here are interesting. The NLT uses we, meaning Christ was speaking for the triune godhead. The Message uses I but develops it into Christ’s authority as a firsthand witness. Perhaps the link between them is miracles. God the Father’s power flowed through the Spirit validated Christ to do miracles. In them, the we empowered, and the I testified.
Both versions clearly take Nicodemus to task for his lack of spiritual sight. God reveals truth to us one step at a time. We only get to advance a space on the board when we fully map the one we are on. Could we jump further along, there would be no connection between our landings and we’d find ourselves disoriented and confused, the mysteries of God wasted.
I feel sorry for Nicodemus. It seems Christ was hard on him. We are not privy to Christ’s knowledge of Nicodemus’ heart, head, and recalcitrance. We must trust he knew what Nicodemus needed to move to the next space. Sometimes we also need a jolt to get us moving.
Lord, forgive my will-full blindness and self-orientation. Give me wisdom to fully explore what you give today, so I am prepared to move on tomorrow.
John 3:5-6
“The Message – Jesus said, ‘You’re not listening. Let me say it again. Unless a person submits to this original creation—the ‘wind-hovering-over-the-water’ creation, the invisible moving the visible, a baptism into a new life—it’s not possible to enter God’s kingdom. When you look at a baby, it’s just that: a body you can look at and touch. But the person who takes shape within is formed by something you can’t see and touch—the Spirit—and becomes a living spirit.”
“Jesus replied, ‘I assure you, no one can enter the Kingdom of God without being born of water and the Spirit. Humans can reproduce only human life, but the Holy Spirit gives birth to spiritual life. So don’t be surprised when I say, ‘You must be born again.’ The wind blows wherever it wants. Just as you can hear the wind but can’t tell where it comes from or where it is going, so you can’t explain how people are born of the Spirit.’”
Jesus is facing an uphill battle to widen this Israelite’s understanding of God’s character and the life he calls him to. Original sin perverted early human’s idea of who God ought to be. God spent 2,000 years developing monotheism in Hebrew culture and teaching of a god who was entirely other, not a reflection of self. Now he wants them to see beyond appeasement to relationship– from rules, the deserved, to grace, the undeserved. It was time for God to reveal his essential self and the closeness he desires with us. The only way was to tell us in person.
Lord, I am overwhelmed at your revealed persistence teaching us of yourself. Thank you for persisting with me. You are ever present in my life even when I am unaware. You are good. You are love. Miracle of miracles, you love me!
John 3:1
“There was a man of the Pharisee sect, Nicodemus, a prominent leader among the Jews. Late one night he visited Jesus and said…”
“There was a man named Nicodemus, a Jewish religious leader who was a Pharisee. After dark one evening, he came to speak with Jesus.”
Nicodemus, a man of conscience, was drawn to God’s word and therefore drawn to Jesus. The conflict between his Pharisee milieu and his own heart must have been agony, as he contemplated the cost to his family and himself if he reached out to Jesus. Seeking him late after dark was his solution. We believers share in Nicodemus’ dilemma every time we cave to social pressure. Yet Jesus still received Nicodemus and met him where he was, in the midst of his struggle. Regardless of the impurity of our motive, he is there for us too.
Lord, I am like Nicodemus at times, especially when my body plagues me or my mind is unclear. Forgive me for compromising my witness to all you have done for me. Make me able to speak of you, live you, to the world, regardless of my internal tensions.
John 2:23-25
“During the time he was in Jerusalem, those days of the Passover Feast, many people noticed the signs he was displaying and, seeing they pointed straight to God, entrusted their lives to him. But Jesus didn’t entrust his life to them. He knew them inside and out, knew how untrustworthy they were. He didn’t need any help in seeing right through them.”
“Because of the miraculous signs Jesus did in Jerusalem, many began to trust in him. But Jesus didn’t trust them, because he knew all about people. No one needed to tell him about human nature, for he knew what was in each person’s heart.”
Mass conversion is not the same as an individual’s choice to walk by faith with Jesus. The public event is designed and performed by men to glorify the institutional church. The individual is wooed by the Holy Spirit in a beautiful, intimate, unseen dance. The public church works correctly when filled with those who want to learn their life steps within God’s embrace.
Lord, show me how to dance. Teach me the steps. Help me to follow your lead. There is nowhere else I’d rather be than in your arms.
John 2:9-10
“When the host tasted the water that had become wine (he didn’t know what had just happened but the servants, of course, knew), he called out to the bridegroom, ‘Everybody I know begins with their finest wines and after the guests have had their fill brings in the cheap stuff. But you’ve saved the best till now!’”
“When the master of ceremonies tasted the water that was now wine, not knowing where it had come from (though, of course, the servants knew), he called the bridegroom over. ‘A host always serves the best wine first,’ he said. ‘Then, when everyone has had a lot to drink, he brings out the less expensive wine. But you have kept the best until now!’”
The wine gets better and better for those who persist in the walk of faith.
Lord, thank you for carrying me through life. I am, as C.S. Lewis was, surprised by joy!
John 2:1-5
“Three days later there was a wedding in the village of Cana in Galilee. Jesus’ mother was there. Jesus and his disciples were guests also. When they started running low on wine at the wedding banquet, Jesus’ mother told him, ‘They’re just about out of wine.’ Jesus said, ‘Is that any of our business, Mother—yours or mine? This isn’t my time. Don’t push me.’ She went ahead anyway, telling the servants, ‘Whatever he tells you, do it.’”
“ The next day there was a wedding celebration in the village of Cana in Galilee. Jesus’ mothers was there, and Jesus and his disciples were also invited to the celebration. The wine supply ran out during the festivities, so Jesus’ mother told him, ‘They have no more wine.’ ‘Dear woman, that’s not our problem,’ Jesus relied. ‘My time has not yet come.’ But his mother told the servants, ‘Do whatever he tells you.’ ”
This was the big day for the bridal couple and their parents. How surprised they would be to know their insignificance. The Eternal One was in their midst.
Again, God acts through the ordinary. It must have been a rip-roaring celebration because they ran out of wine, a loss of face. Jesus’ mother, sensitive to the host’s potential embarrassment, tells Jesus. She didn’t even ask. She just stated the need and left it with him.
The Message says Jesus responded by saying, “Don’t push me.” We mothers of the world sympathize with Mary’s desire to elevate her son. (She was human too!) After the reproof she repents her desire to see her son glorified and tells the servant’s to, “Do whatever he tells you.” Mary’s command is meant for us also.
Lord, I often resist your still small voice. Change my heart so I may not hesitate to do whatever you tell me.