explanation in the post below
Friday, May 15, 2009
Living Water
Kees Kraayenoord dutch song writer wrote this song after reading the story of the Samaritan woman meeting Jesus at the well
John 4
Now he had to go through Samaria. So he 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 about 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 the 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.)
Jesus answered her, "If you knew the gift of God and who it is that asks you for a drink, you would have asked him and he would have given you living water."
"Sir," the woman said, "you have nothing to draw with and the well is deep. Where can you get this living water? Are you greater than our father Jacob, who gave us the well and drank from it himself, as did also his sons and his flocks and herds?"
Jesus answered, "Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again, but whoever drinks the water I give him will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life."
The woman said to him, "Sir, give me this water so that I won't get thirsty and have to keep coming here to draw water."
He told her, "Go, call your husband and come back."
"I have no husband," she replied.
Jesus said to her, "You are right when you say you have no husband. The fact is, you have had five husbands, and the man you now have is not your husband. What you have just said is quite true."
"Sir," the woman said, "I can see that you are a prophet. Our fathers worshiped on this mountain, but you Jews claim that the place where we must worship is in Jerusalem."
Jesus declared, "Believe me, woman, a time is coming when you will worship the Father neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem. You Samaritans worship what you do not know; we worship what we do know, for salvation is from the Jews. Yet a time is coming and has now come when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for they are the kind of worshipers the Father seeks. God is spirit, and his worshipers must worship in spirit and in truth."
The woman said, "I know that Messiah" (called Christ) "is coming. When he comes, he will explain everything to us."
Then Jesus declared, "I who speak to you am he."
The woman to whom he spoke was an adulteress, a woman who had really made a mess of her life. Culture at the time meant that Jesus should not be talking to her on both the grounds that she was a woman and the grounds that she was "living in sin". But he did talk to her. He recognised the pain in her life that caused her to seek love from man after man. He knew the inner depths of her soul without her having to say anything and his words to her were words of comfort, that struck her deep within. She recognised that he spoke with authority and she took on board his calling.
Later in the reading we read:
Many of the Samaritans from that town believed in him because of the woman's testimony, "He told me everything I ever did." So when the Samaritans came to him, they urged him to stay with them, and he stayed two days. And because of his words many more became believers.
They said to the woman, "We no longer believe just because of what you said; now we have heard for ourselves, and we know that this man really is the Savior of the world."
I remember being at senior school and the Christian Union there was supported by one of the teachers Val Fotherby. She was a member of the Prison Christian Fellowship. One day she invited a guy called Michael Tony Ralls (I think) to talk to us. His was a story of drugs and gangs and yet in prison he received a copy of the living bible and read it. The truth of Jesus spoke to him and changed his life around.
I sin too. I make mistakes in my life that hurt my very essence and effect those around me and yet Jesus takes my imperfection if I allow him to and uses me. And he can use you too.
If perfection was a requirement of being used by God then there is not one of us on this planet good enough for him. But because the grace of God is Forgiveness and he gives everyone who want it the living water he handed to the Samarian woman at the well.
John 4
Now he had to go through Samaria. So he 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 about 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 the 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.)
Jesus answered her, "If you knew the gift of God and who it is that asks you for a drink, you would have asked him and he would have given you living water."
"Sir," the woman said, "you have nothing to draw with and the well is deep. Where can you get this living water? Are you greater than our father Jacob, who gave us the well and drank from it himself, as did also his sons and his flocks and herds?"
Jesus answered, "Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again, but whoever drinks the water I give him will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life."
The woman said to him, "Sir, give me this water so that I won't get thirsty and have to keep coming here to draw water."
He told her, "Go, call your husband and come back."
"I have no husband," she replied.
Jesus said to her, "You are right when you say you have no husband. The fact is, you have had five husbands, and the man you now have is not your husband. What you have just said is quite true."
"Sir," the woman said, "I can see that you are a prophet. Our fathers worshiped on this mountain, but you Jews claim that the place where we must worship is in Jerusalem."
Jesus declared, "Believe me, woman, a time is coming when you will worship the Father neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem. You Samaritans worship what you do not know; we worship what we do know, for salvation is from the Jews. Yet a time is coming and has now come when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for they are the kind of worshipers the Father seeks. God is spirit, and his worshipers must worship in spirit and in truth."
The woman said, "I know that Messiah" (called Christ) "is coming. When he comes, he will explain everything to us."
Then Jesus declared, "I who speak to you am he."
The woman to whom he spoke was an adulteress, a woman who had really made a mess of her life. Culture at the time meant that Jesus should not be talking to her on both the grounds that she was a woman and the grounds that she was "living in sin". But he did talk to her. He recognised the pain in her life that caused her to seek love from man after man. He knew the inner depths of her soul without her having to say anything and his words to her were words of comfort, that struck her deep within. She recognised that he spoke with authority and she took on board his calling.
Later in the reading we read:
Many of the Samaritans from that town believed in him because of the woman's testimony, "He told me everything I ever did." So when the Samaritans came to him, they urged him to stay with them, and he stayed two days. And because of his words many more became believers.
They said to the woman, "We no longer believe just because of what you said; now we have heard for ourselves, and we know that this man really is the Savior of the world."
I remember being at senior school and the Christian Union there was supported by one of the teachers Val Fotherby. She was a member of the Prison Christian Fellowship. One day she invited a guy called Michael Tony Ralls (I think) to talk to us. His was a story of drugs and gangs and yet in prison he received a copy of the living bible and read it. The truth of Jesus spoke to him and changed his life around.
I sin too. I make mistakes in my life that hurt my very essence and effect those around me and yet Jesus takes my imperfection if I allow him to and uses me. And he can use you too.
If perfection was a requirement of being used by God then there is not one of us on this planet good enough for him. But because the grace of God is Forgiveness and he gives everyone who want it the living water he handed to the Samarian woman at the well.
Wednesday, May 6, 2009
The passing of friends
Over the last two years, I've felt privaledged to have known two women who have been taken by cancer, both of them far too young.Both their funerals had elements of joy in them. Yes there was sadness, but also happiness for their release from suffering and their meeting with the Lord.At one of the funerals, a passage was read that was written by one of the women and I'd like to share that with you. It was how she imagined meeting with God would be.
"I was at an airport once to neet a friend. There were a lot of people there and a lot of noise. A tall man carrying a heavy suitcase walked through from the luggage pick up area into the main concorse. His wife and three year old son were standing right at the back of the crowd of waiting people.
As soon as his son saw him he shouted "daddy" and raced through the crowd at full sprint and launched himself into his dad's arms.They said nothing, but gazed at each other and laughed and laughed.
The busy-people noise had stopped and everyone turned to see what the laughter was all about. I had a lump in my throat and quite a few people had tears in their eyes.
Ever since then, that's how I have imagined what meeting God will be like: to hug each other tightly, look into each others eyes and laugh our heads off."
What a wonderful image. I only hope that when I meet with Jesus it will be just like that!
"I was at an airport once to neet a friend. There were a lot of people there and a lot of noise. A tall man carrying a heavy suitcase walked through from the luggage pick up area into the main concorse. His wife and three year old son were standing right at the back of the crowd of waiting people.
As soon as his son saw him he shouted "daddy" and raced through the crowd at full sprint and launched himself into his dad's arms.They said nothing, but gazed at each other and laughed and laughed.
The busy-people noise had stopped and everyone turned to see what the laughter was all about. I had a lump in my throat and quite a few people had tears in their eyes.
Ever since then, that's how I have imagined what meeting God will be like: to hug each other tightly, look into each others eyes and laugh our heads off."
What a wonderful image. I only hope that when I meet with Jesus it will be just like that!
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