SCRIP-BITS

John 4:10.     Jesus answered and said unto her, If thou knewest the gift of God, and who it is that saith to thee, Give me to drink, thou wouldest have asked of him, and he would have given thee living water.
 
Oh Friends, the ole fella doesn’t have a catchy, tantalizing intro for us today as the edicts of writing dictate. But I have something even better: a free gift of living water in a land of broken dreams. I have Good News Friends, the best news ever! That the Creator of the universe came to earth as a man and dwelt amongst us here on earth for approximately thirty three years, during which time He taught us about our heavenly Father; what He expects of us. Then this God-man sacrificed Himself on a rugged wooden cross, so that we could be reconciled with the righteous and just God, from whom we’d been long estranged by the abomination termed sin, because of the disobedience of our first parents Adam and Eve. And my people, if that ain’t Good News, then I don’t know what is! Anyway, today we’re going to check out an interesting story between an earthly woman and this God who came to earth as flesh and took the name of Jesus: Salvation, Saviour. One day, as this Jesus journeys overland, note by foot (P2), from Judea to Galilee, He eschews the circuitous route usually taken by other Jews, and instead passes by the city of Sychar (old Shechem) which belonged to the Samaritans. Now the Samaritans were looked down on by the Jews because though originally Jews, they had been bastardized by intermarriage with the pagan tribes that inhabited the land when they originally conquered it. On this particular day, Jesus is tired from walking a long distance in the daytime heat, for though He is God, He has taken on all the attributes of man, except sin. So He sends His disciples to buy food and sits down near this well on a plot of land that the Jews’ forefather Jacob had given to his son Joseph, many generations back. (Gen.33:19; 48:22) Now while Jesus is sitting at the well, waiting for His disciples to return, this Samaritan woman from the nearby town comes to fill her pitcher at the well, whereupon Jesus asks her for a drink since He had no utensils to use for that task. Obviously the woman was shocked, and asked how come He, a Jew, asked her, a Samaritan for water, when the Jews looked down on the Samaritans as scum, and had no dealings with them whatsoever? That brings us to our Bit. ‘Jesus answered and said unto her, If thou knewest the gift of God, and who it is that saith to thee, Give me to drink, thou wouldest have asked of him, and he would have given thee living water.’ Wow! Can you imagine the further shock the poor Samaritan woman must have experienced? Not only was a Jewish man actually having a civil conversation with her, but was also talking about giving her ‘living water’! Thus, ‘The woman saith unto him, Sir, thou hast nothing to draw with, and the well is deep: from whence then hast thou that living water? Art thou greater than our father Jacob, which gave us the well, and drank thereof himself, and his children, and his cattle (livestock)?’ (John 4:11-12) That was rather perceptive on the woman’s part, but she hadn’t really understood Jesus’ words. ‘Jesus answered and said unto her, Whomsoever drinketh of this water shall thirst again: But whosoever drinketh of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst; but the water that I shall give him shall be in him a well (fountain) of water springing up into everlasting life.’ (John 4:13-14) Mama Mia! Imagine that nuh people! Water that will cause you to never thirst again, that would instead keep bubbling up in you forever, like a fountain! Now, I believe if that scene took place today, the woman would laugh the man to scorn, consider him mad or simply a scam artiste, because we have so much intelligence, education and technological savvy at our fingertips, and the laws of nature says that sort of thing just is not possible. But note Friends, this woman two thousand years ago didn’t even bat an eyelash, didn’t miss a beat; ‘The woman saith unto him, Sir, give me this water, that I thirst not, neither come hither to draw.’ (John 4:15) Ah mih people, despite all our supposed advances, we’ve become a very cynical society, and if something isn’t completely logical, or can be scientifically proven, we tend to ignore it, or look on it with scorn and distaste. But that woman back there was smart. She wasn’t sure what Jesus was offering, but what ever it was, she wanted it, at that time, primarily because she figured it would cut out the laborious task of coming to the well to fetch water.  But then Jesus unexpectedly changed the subject, telling her to go and bring her husband, to which she replied she had none. And when Jesus told her about her unusual lifestyle – five previous husbands, and a current common-law one, she realized that He was a prophet, otherwise He could not have known about her unconventional situation. (John 4:16-19) Oh Friends, I wonder if we know what Jesus was talking about, re ‘the gift of God, and living water’? I’d surely like to get into it now, but time and space have run out, and I don’t want to give us too much to ponder all at once.  So like all the drama and suspense shows we like to watch, I’ll just keep us dangling on a string till tomorrow, when I’ll reveal it all in living colour. (smile) Seriously though, the rest of stuff I want to talk about would just make the Bit way too long, and I’m very aware of our short attention spans. So till tomorrow, God in favour, please walk safely, and may He bless us and make His countenance to shine on us and give us His everlasting peace. Much LOVE!…not because something doesn’t sound logical…means it isn’t possible…through the eyes of faith…