Study 21: November 20th - 26th 2006

Readings from the Gospel of John

Reading – John Chapter Ch 4:4-9.

“So Jesus came to a town in Samaria called Sychar, near the plot of ground Jacob had given to his son Joseph. Jacob’s well was there, and Jesus, tired as he was from the journey, sat down by the well. It was the sixth hour. When a Samaritan woman came to draw water, Jesus said to her, “Will you give me a drink? (His disciples had gone into town to buy food). The Samaritan woman said to him, “You are a Jew and I am a Samaritan woman. How can you ask me for a drink?” (For Jews do not associate with Samaritans).”(John Chapter 4 verses 4 to 9 (New International Version).

Recently six of us went to Japan and shared in the hospitality of the Japanese people, their churches and helped to support their golf ministry. Hospitality was one of the essential ingredients of the church that Jesus established and as Jesus visited many towns and cities, he sometimes stayed in homes. This will happen in Samaria as we follow Jesus’ conversation with a woman at the well in the next few studies.

I have been fortunate to travel to many countries and on each occasion have been able to stay with people in their homes. It is a wonderful experience to be part of others culture their lives and to find new friends.
Golf is a great game to make friends, and many golf clubs become places where friendships are formed and hospitality develops.
It is important that we all share hospitality in life to people we meet. As we open our homes, our hearts and lives to others, there is often a return blessing that comes to us. Try it and see if it works.

Jesus Christ is a bit of a mystery to many people. We call him the Son of God, but in this reading Jesus shows his real humanity. He is tired and thirsty from a long journey and rests by a well, with no way to get a drink. A Samaritan woman comes along with a bucket, but she is someone Jews, whom Jesus is, don’t associate with. We will talk about the reasons for this later in another study. That Jesus is tired and thirsty shows that he was fully human as well as being God’s Son who comes with all the authority and power of God. That he was desperate for a drink is one reason why he asks the Samaritan woman for one, and the other reason is that he came to help Samaritans as well. Samaritans and Jews are like ½ brothers and sisters who split into two nations after the reign of Solomon in the Old Testament. More about this later, as Jesus brings healing to this split.

We do not understand how the mix of Jesus’ humanity and being the Son of God works but it is important to affirm both. That Jesus is tired and thirsty means that he experienced life as we do with all the limitations that being human is. He also suffered, was beaten and put to death on a cross as our representative. As another writer of the New Testament says this means that Jesus understands our temptations, struggles and hurts because he has experienced them.
Jesus is able to understand when we are tired and thirsty, but he also has the authority to lead us into God’s favor and presence.

This is why Christianity is Christ centered and not a “earn your own salvation type” of faith. Jesus came into the world as our representative to lead us to God.

Prayer. Gracious God, we thank you that Jesus is truly human and understands our what it is like to be tired and hungry. Help us to see this as the extent to which you love us, that you walk with us through life. Amen.