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Everyone who has a pet is out and about which gives us ample opportunities to meet and greet as we walk Mr Pips. Most dog owners here are cheerful people and open to a good chin wag while the furballs sniff each other back, front, and side…up, down, and all around. Mr Pips is the happiest and friendliest evangelism tools I have ever encountered. He will insist on stopping if the other furball is amenable which gives us time to get to know every owner in the area. We get to practice our Dutch and, when the conversation gets beyond the weather, we can tell them a little about who we are and what we do. This either leads to an interesting conversation or a quick decision to beat a hasty retreat, but it does open doors, even if only one crack at a time.
untries as well as from an excellent Hebrew and Old Testament scholar from Oxford and others. We certainly never dreamed we would ever be on a retreat in Beatenberg, Switzerland! It was a good opportunity to talk through issues arising in the Church of England with our Diocesan bishop as well as with other like-minded colleagues. It is never easy to navigate through turbulent theological waters, but it is always good to know that we have a number of able-bodied folk with us in the lifeboat. 
lievers attended but I spoke to at least five ladies that are non-church goers or non-believers. By the end of the day (and they stayed all day) they could not stop talking about how much they enjoyed it and what stood out to them in the teaching sessions. We pray that the seed that were sowed will grow and produce much fruit.” 
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Saturday, May 27, 2023
Summer Newsletter
Thursday, May 25, 2023
Narrowing Horizons
Psalm 67 Acts 2:1-6, 37-42 John 4:43-54
Narrowing Horizons
I had the most wonderful father-in-law one could wish for. Oom Corrie, as we called him, was not only a very deep and godly follower of Jesus, but he was also a great storyteller. One day, as we were walking through one of his orchards, he told me about his method of pruning. He claimed that many farmers made the mistake of pruning the trees at the highest possible point because they thought that more branches would produce more fruit. But, he said, too many branches placed a greater demand on the tree, sucking up all the energy and restricting the development of the fruit. So, in the end, the farmer would end up with an inferior harvest. Rather have less branches, he said, that would give you a higher yield of quality fruit.
Now, have you ever noticed in the Gospels how often our Lord seemed to pass by crowds of people to reach out to an individual? In the past two sermons, we saw him do that with the Samaritan woman, and today, we saw him doing it once again with the nobleman from Capernaum.
Verses 44 and 45 are interesting as they seem to suggest that the Galilean welcome was spiritually shallow. Verse 44 points back to an incident recorded in Matthew 13:53-58 where the Galileans were offended at Jesus as he taught in their synagogue. “Where did this man get this wisdom and these mighty works? Is this not the builder’s son? Is not his mother called Mary? And his brothers James, Joses, Simon, and Jude? And his sisters, are they not all with us? Where did this man get all these things?” At that time Jesus responded by saying what John repeated here: “A prophet is not without honour, except in his own country and in his own house.”
So, what was this welcoming all about? Why did the Galileans welcome Jesus on his return from Judea? It was, John tells us, because of what Jesus had done in Jerusalem. You see, the Judeans looked down in the Galileans like city dwellers often look down on country folks…and remember Jerusalem was known as the Holy City whereas Galilee was known as Galilee of the Gentiles. The Galileans were exposed to more Gentiles than the Judeans, so the possibility of spiritual contamination was higher. They also had a distinct non-Judean Aramaic accent rather than the more refined southern accent. So, when Jesus cleansed the Temple during the Passover Festival, the Galileans claimed him as their hero, because, in their eyes, he had exposed their stuck-up southern cousins. But that was all. Their welcome had nothing to do with faith in him as the Messiah. When Jesus said, “unless you people (plural) see signs and wonders, you will never believe”, he was addressing more than just the nobleman, as we shall see.
Now, it is interesting to note that we have closed a circle here. At the beginning of John chapter 2 Jesus performed his first ‘sign’ in Cana. Here at the end of John chapter 4, Jesus was back in Cana where he performed his second ‘sign’. In both cases, what Jesus did was for the benefit of those who believed in him. Also, in both signs, Jesus simply gave a command that required an obedient response of faith even though what he required seemed ludicrous. “Fill six purification jars with water.” Seriously? “Go, your son lives.” No way!
After the first sign, no one other than the disciples seemed to have believed in Jesus. After this second sign, it is the nobleman’s household that believe in Jesus, not the Galileans. The principle seems to be reaching a few to reach many.
We see the same principle at work when we compare the Samaritan woman with this nobleman, only here we see Jesus’ method of disciple-making even more clearly. Through both individuals, Jesus reaped a higher quality harvest. Through the Samaritan woman Jesus reached an entire village. Through the nobleman he reached, not only this man’s household, which would include all those who worked for him, but perhaps it was this nobleman’s witness that brought some of the household of Herod Antipas to faith as well, like Joanna, the wife of Chuza who was the household steward of Herod Antipas (Luke8:3)…or even a man by the name of Manaen, a man, we are told in Acts 13:1, who grew up with Herod but later became one of the leaders of the church in Antioch.
Can you see what Jesus did? He intentionally singled out two unlikely lower branches…a Samaritan woman and a man who was either a Gentile or a collaborator with Herod, both of whom bore much fruit. Both more than likely did not comprehend the truth about Jesus in the beginning, but their respective suffering and their need had prepared them for the revelation of his Person. Unlike the Galileans, the foreigners, if indeed the nobleman was a foreigner, responded in faith.
In many ways, the nobleman may have been seen as an unwelcome party gate crasher. Imagine, if you will, a man from Real Madrid stumbling into a Manchester fans celebration. Oops! But Jesus did not treat the man as an outsider, did he? He included everyone around him in his rebuke. “Unless you all see signs and wonders…” You see, Jesus knew that faith founded on and rooted in marvels is an inferior faith and often shrivels in the heat of pressure. But note in this story, the only one who responded positively was the nobleman.
I think he had made up his mind before he left Capernaum for Cana. Jesus was the only solution…his only hope. So, unlike the Galileans, he was not offended…rather he was persistent in his request. He kept asking…he kept seeking…he kept knocking…for him there was no backing down. Jesus was the only one who could heal his dying son.
And I believe it is this determination that reveals him to be the right branch to prune…he would bear much fruit. So many were passed by for this one, unlikely man. But there was one final check. “Go,” Jesus said, “your son lives” (not “he will live” as NIV but "he lives" 2nd person present indicative). A simple instruction…like filling purification pots with water…but an instruction that appears to defy logic.
We know the story so well that the full force of this command is lost on us. Put yourself in this man’s sandals. Your child is dying…you walk (or more than likely run) about 40 kilometres…a day’s journey to find the only healer you know that could help you…and this healer tells you to turn around and go straight back home without him. All you have is his word.
Now, let me say that last line again. All you have is his word. Is that enough?
In her book, Prayer in the Night, Tish Warren tells the story of friends of hers whose infant son had to have surgery. She writes: “Like any parents whose child is going under the knife, my friends were anxious. Before the nurses wheeled their infant son into the operating room, (my friend) looked at (her husband) and said, ‘We have to decide right now whether or not God is good, because if we wait to determine that by the results of the surgery, we will always keep God on trial.’”
Dearest beloved brethren, we cannot determine the character of God based on our experiences. Job was right. God has given. God has taken away. Blessed be the name of the Lord. If you believe this in your heart…if you take God at his word and believe that he is who he says he is…then when the inexplicable, incomprehensible, unfathomable, gut wrenching, heart tearing event explodes in your life, you may be shaken, but not shattered.
All we have is his word. Is it enough?
Have you noticed that Jesus never made it easy for people to believe in him? I think some in the Church make a huge mistake when they think that compromise or concession or diluting or altering of the Gospel to suit the whims and fancies and demands of unbelievers will bring people to faith in Jesus. That is so contrary to anything Jesus would do. The message of the cross will always be an offense to those who are perishing…the cross will always be a stumbling block. The cross speaks of sacrifice…not my will but yours be done. And those who wish to claim the benefits without repentance or obedience will always fall over it.
Now, it is equally important to note that the miraculous recovery of the nobleman’s son does not happen because the father responded positively. No, rather his son was already healed when Jesus spoke the words, “your son lives”. In fact, I think that the miracle we see unfolding in this story is not so much what happened in Capernaum with the child as it is what happened in Cana in the heart of his father.
There is no miracle greater than the turning of the human heart to God. This is something only God can do. Medical science has come a long way and we can do many things today that would have been impossible in Jesus’ day, but to bring someone to faith in Jesus is something only the Spirit of God can do.
But notice what happened next. On his return and after hearing the report of the servants, the man believed…but not only him…his whole household believed. Like with the Samaritan woman, one seed was sown in the right place and a whole field was harvested. A dear friend in India once told me that his entire Hindu and partially Maoist family came to faith in Jesus when his dying mother was healed through the prayers of a small, local, persecuted church. One seed, but oh what a harvest.
Now, John tells us that this was the second sign…please note, not the second miracle. This is the second sign. These were signs that served as pointers along the way which would inevitably lead the disciples to the conclusion that Jesus really was the Son of the Living God. They were signs written so that those reading might come to the same conclusion. It is interesting to note that in both the changing of water into wine and the healing of the nobleman’s son, Jesus was not physically involved. Others simply responded to his command and what happened, happened.
Many branches do not mean abundant fruit. Like the fruit trees in Oom Corrie’s orchard, it was the severe pruning that brought forth a good quality harvest. The Galileans rejoiced in Jesus’ actions in Jerusalem, but they did not believe in him. But two unlikely people did, and their witness to Jesus brought in a whole host of souls.
At the end of his earthly life, Jesus had lost most of the crowds because they said his teaching was too demanding. In fact, only John and the women were with him as he died on the cross. A harsh pruning to be sure. But Jesus had poured himself into the lives of twelve men (minus one) and a small group of women for three years.
After what I believe is the final sign in John, namely the resurrection, this small and timid band of followers increased numerically to one hundred and twenty, a number that included his siblings who had at one time not believed in him. At Pentecost, the promised Holy Spirit so worked in and through them that about three thousand believers were added. These men and women later returned to their own countries and told their friends and families. And so, within one generation, the Gospel had been heard throughout the known world. One man invested his life in twelve men and a few women…and today, Christianity is considered the largest religious group in the world.
If the Church is to continue to reach the world, we too will need to be pruned…there is nothing attractive about lukewarmness or lily-livered compromise. There is nothing quite so distasteful as bland food. It doesn’t help to fill the seats of the church with half-hearted people. It is the otherness of the Church that causes those who live in darkness to see the light. Darkness only begets darkness. We must be salt and light, Jesus said. Different, not like. The bride of Christ is to be holy, pure, spotless, without blemish, and faithful to his word.
So, will you join me as I pray for the divine vinedresser to do what needs to be done in his orchard?
Shall we pray?
© Johannes W H van der Bijl 2023
Thursday, May 11, 2023
Expanding Horizons (2)
Psalm 42:1-7 (11) Isaiah 55:1-7 (13) John 4:27-42
Expanding Horizons (2)
A highly respected General was once traveling by train with a number of his officers. At one station, a poorly dressed elderly woman, entered the coach. Having no seat offered to her, she shuffled down the aisle towards the rear. Immediately, the General got up and gave her his seat. One officer after another rose offering their seat to the General. “No, gentlemen,” the General said, “If there is no seat for this lady, there can be none for me.”
Last Sunday, we saw Jesus do something similar for another woman who had been pushed aside, not only by the people of God, but also by her own people, apparently through no grievous fault of her own. But Jesus gave her more than a seat on a train…he gave her a seat at his table in the Kingdom. In a dignified manner, without cultural condescending tones, he humbly and lovingly and irresistibly drew her ever closer to the place she needed to be in order to comprehend the revelation of his Person.
Jesus knowingly flaunted all societal rules and regulations to reach a community rejected by the religious establishment of the day through a woman rejected by her own people because of the cultural customs of the day. But the disciples, who are in many ways a picture of all followers of Jesus, seemed to have been stuck in established convention. The text tells us that they were amazed that Jesus was talking to a woman, but Jesus had a special lesson for them and, through them, a lesson for us as well.
Did you notice in the reading that the woman, who had come to the well to fill her water jar, now left without it. I don’t believe that John included this small detail for nothing. There is a parallel here between her no longer needing physical water and Jesus no longer needing physical food. In many ways, this woman had become a water jar. Remember Jesus had said to her that the living water he had to offer would become within those who drank thereof a spring of water welling up to eternal life. She could not but speak out in spite of the fact that the ones she spoke to, were more than likely the source of her past hurt and humiliation. But it is instructive to note that she did not try to persuade them herself. Rather she told them simply to ‘come and see’, a low-level commitment to come evaluate the evidence for themselves. But I do believe that the way she delivered this invitation was so exuberant and exciting that her hearers were enthused and energized into action. I can’t help but wonder if the reason why the world is not attracted to the Church today is because they are not sure if we actually believe the Gospel ourselves.
But not so with this woman! The radiant transformation of a downcast outcaste – someone who had been so wounded that she had largely withdrawn from public discourse – was too great to resist. And so, they came to see…
As the villagers made their way to Jesus, John takes us back to the well to see how the disciples were progressing. While revival was bubbling up in town, what were they doing? They were still very much in their practical material world, trying to get Jesus to eat practical material food. But Jesus’ need for physical sustenance had long since passed. He was feasting on the anticipation of knowing that what was about to transpire was the fulfilment of the sovereign will of Almighty God.
For the disciples and, indirectly, for us this was a lesson about priorities. Jesus used a well-known proverb about the timing of the physical harvesting of the fields to draw their attention away from the physical toward the spiritual. This is a not so gentle rebuke similar to one he levelled at the Pharisees on another occasion. “You hypocrites!” Jesus scolded. “You know how to interpret the appearance of earth and sky, but why do you not know how to interpret the present time?”
At this point, I think, John would want us to ask the obvious question. What is more important to us today? We spend so much of our time in physical mode, don’t we? Buy more, get more, eat more, drink more, collect more…we are so concerned with what we eat, what we drink, what we wear. Now, an unhealthy preoccupation with these types of physical things may be a warning signal that all is not well on the spiritual front. Wealth and possessions are not always a sign of blessing…in and of themselves, they may very well be a curse. Jesus indicated in the sermon on the mount that the state of the human heart could be known by the location of the person’s treasure.
Be that as it may, Jesus redirected his disciple’s focus to see what he saw…an approaching harvest of eternal value…and he invited them to participate in reaping a harvest they had not sown.
Now, it seems clear that the villagers were making their way to Jesus because of what the woman had said…not the disciples. Remember, they had been in town, but there is no indication that they had told anyone about Jesus…they had not invited anyone to come and see. It was, in many ways, a typical man’s way of shopping. Go in, get what you want, and leave. Quite possibly, they had spoken to some of the same people, but not about spiritual things. They had spoken to them about physical things. They had bought perishable food and drink with money…the woman, in stark contrast, gave them imperishable food and drink that could not be bought, by inviting the villagers to come to the free source of living sustenance. “Why spend money on what is not bread,” Isaiah asked, “and your labour on what does not satisfy?”
And so, the disciples participated a harvest not of their own making. Why is it that she succeeded while they failed? I think it is because she had not yet lost sight of the amazing grace extended to her. The disciples were so bound by their societal prejudice and their sense of spiritual superiority as the “chosen people” that they had forgotten the mercy of God.
But it is important to note that while the testimony of this woman had a great impact on her people, it was as they spent more time with Jesus themselves, that they were directly confronted with the same truth, and consequently made their faith personal. “We have heard for ourselves,” they said, “and we know that this man really is the Saviour of the world.” Biblical faith is always personal faith…it is always first hand, never second-hand.
So, if we find that we tend to be like the officers of the General on the train, or like the disciples in Samaria, perhaps we need to ask our Lord for a lesson in humility, painful as that might be. We all need to realise that we are not in the Kingdom because of merit…it is the sacrificial love of God that brought us to the table. And from that lowly position of unpretentiousness and true humility, we will be more able to see what Jesus sees…the fields all around, white unto harvest…and we will be more willing to share the spring of water bubbling up within us with others.
Shall we pray?
© Johannes W H van der Bijl 2023
Thursday, May 4, 2023
Expanding Horizons
2 Corinthians 5:14-21 John 4:1-42
Expanding Horizons
One Sunday, a minister began his sermon this way: “I’d like to make three points today. First, there are millions of people around the world today who have never heard about Jesus. Second, most of us sitting here today don’t give a damn about that.” After a lengthy pause, he added: “My third point is that you are more concerned that I said the word ‘damn’ than you are about the millions of people who have never heard about Jesus.”
Now, in the passage we have before us, Jesus used similar shock tactics to firstly bring an estranged woman and the inhabitants of her village into the kingdom, and secondly to bring home to his disinclined disciples their responsibility in making disciples cross-culturally.
The apostle John wrote this account in two parallel sections, first dealing with the Samaritan woman and then dealing with the disciples and the other Samaritans. It is a passage filled with contrasts, as a woman who was shunned by all because of her challenging circumstances, became the unlikely means Jesus used to reveal himself to the villagers. It is instructive to note that at that time and in that culture, women were not allowed to divorce their husbands, while husbands, on the other hand, were allowed to divorce their wives for just about any reason, like if she burnt his breakfast. (1) Now, while we don’t really know why this woman had five husbands and why she was not married to the man she was living with at the time, we do know that had she committed some sexual offence as a married woman, she would have been executed, so we can be sure that she was not cast aside because of sexual impropriety. Maybe she was simply a bad cook or not as pretty as the other girls in town or perhaps, sadly, she was unable to have children, we just don’t know, but whatever her misfortune, she had been ostracised by her own community to such a degree that she no longer participated in the most basic part of village life. She came to the well alone at a time of day when most were avoiding the hot sun. How amazing then that this excluded, scorned, and rejected person became the first witness to Jesus in that Samaritan village.
The disciples, on the other hand, who should have played her role as witnesses to Jesus, were rendered mute because they were more concerned with religious rules and cultural conventions…and with filling their empty bellies.
And herein lies our first lesson. Focus on anything other than Jesus…whether the focus is set on rules regarding the length of skirts, hair styles, clothing, music etc, or whether the focus is set on popular modern fads and fashions or if the focus is set on other people…focus on anything other than Jesus results in us missing the point of the Gospel entirely.
Yet, as is so often the case, the purpose of God was still achieved despite the racial and ethnic bias of the disciples and their callous self-centredness. They were apparently more concerned about eating than about fulfilling the kingdom agenda…especially when it came to people historically loathed and despised. Interestingly, this event more than likely opened the way for Philip’s later mission as recorded in Acts 8.
Be that as it may, the passage begins by telling us that our Lord was forced to retreat to the relative safety of Galilee because of the hostile behaviour of the Pharisees in Judea. His time had not yet come and so he simply left. However, John tells us that Jesus needed to go through Samaria. Now, to us this does not seem like a big deal, but at the time, religious Jews concerned with ritual purity, preferred to take the longer route along the Jordan valley. They regarded the Samaritans as ‘unclean’ as they were a mixed race with a mixed religion.
John seems to indicate that the ‘need’ here was not one of human necessity, but of divine compulsion…it is as if Jesus was being driven into Samaria to fulfil a divine appointment revealed to him by the Father. Later in John, Jesus said that he only did what the Father told him to do, so we can safely assume that this was the case here too. Jesus needed to go as love compelled him to do so. As Paul said later in his letter to the Corinthians: “…the love of Christ compels us, because we are convinced that one died for all, and therefore all died. And he died for all, that those who live should no longer live for themselves but for him who died for them all and was raised again.” This is other-person-centred-love in action.
In the first letter to the Corinthians, he said something similar: “For if I preach the Gospel, I have nothing to boast about because necessity is laid upon me. Yes, woe is me if I do not preach the Gospel!” And herein lies our second lesson. Do we sense that same compulsion to tell others about Jesus? Do we move with divinely determined direction? Or are we more like these disciples than like Jesus or Paul?
The location where Jesus met this Samaritan woman is historically significant. At the foot of the Samaritan’s most holy mountain, lay Jacob’s well. Like with the Qur’anic switch from Isaac to Ishmael, the Samaritan Pentateuch switched from Mount Ebal to Mount Gerizim. According to the Masoretic text, in Deuteronomy 27:5 Moses commanded the Israelites to build an altar on Mount Ebal. But the Samaritan Pentateuch changed the name “Ebal” to "Gerizim", therefore stating that Moses commanded the building of the altar on Mount Gerizim. While it is possible that a later, post-exilic redactor purposefully changed the names because of the location of the Samaritan altar, the fact remains that Jesus met the Samaritan woman on Samaritan holy ground.
The Samaritans had built a temple on Mount Gerizim during the Persian period, but this was destroyed by the Jews in 128 BC, complicating relationships even further. And then to muddle things up even more, the Samaritans only considered the Pentateuch as divinely inspired Scripture, thus any reference to Mount Moriah, Mount Zion, or Jerusalem was disregarded.
The area itself was rich in history. Here Jacob had dug a well for his family and flocks. On his deathbed, he gave the land to Joseph and eventually Joseph’s body was carried back from Egypt and buried there. Accordingly, the Samaritans considered themselves offspring of Manasseh and Ephraim, the sons of Joseph and his Egyptian wife, but they were also mixed with other conquered races brought there by Syria after they conquered the Northern Kingdom of Israel. In short, it was a monumental mix up of places and spaces and races.
But the most important reason for the choice of this well, was that God had an appointment with a human being in desperate need of love and salvation. The whole scene is divinely orchestrated as Jesus gently leads her to life.
It all began with a need. His need.
Jesus was wearied from the journey. He was tired and thirsty. The ostracised woman also had a need. A need to be wanted for who she was, not for what she could do or produce. She was, no doubt, tired of being an object of gossip or whispering and, I can only imagine her guard going up as she approached the well she had thought would be unoccupied.
But instead of homing in on the possible causes of her misery, Jesus elevated her to a position above himself by stating his need. He simply asked her, “Will you give me a drink?”
Just as an aside, verse 8 tells us that the disciples had gone into town to look for food. How they wangled their way out of the dietary and purity laws, the text does not say, but the important thing to note here is that their absence seems to have been divinely planned. Too many men or unkind racial remarks may have ruined Jesus’ method. It is equally important to note the word ‘food’ as it is used again in the later section dealing with the disciples.
Jesus’ request seemed to disarm the woman completely. Her initial seemingly sarcastic objection to the request may have been based on the historic tension I mentioned before. No Jew, much less a Jewish Rabbi, would ever speak to a woman, especially a Samaritan woman, and they would most certainly not have accepted something from her hand. But by flaunting cultural and societal taboos, Jesus opened a way to introduce the whole village to the Gospel.
His statement in verse 10 is interesting. Usually living or moving or running water stood in contrast to standing or pooled or contained water. Of course, we know that Jesus was referring to the Holy Spirit, but she seemed blinded by her harsh material world. How she may have dreamed of never having to come to this well again…never having to risk being humiliated or humbled again. To be free from all that shamed her.
But the point is that throughout this passage Jesus indicated that the old way of doing things was about to give way to the new way. The “lifeless” was going to be replaced with the “lifegiving”. The standing water was about to move aside as the living water was poured out. Temples, altars, mountains, wells, national or racial division…all would end as the Kingdom of God burst onto the scene of human history and brought an end to all things used to divide. In Jesus, all would be one.
The woman, like Nicodemus, at first did not understand. Jesus had no container with which to draw water. Was he mocking her? Her reply appears to be defensive. “Who do you think you are? Do you think you’re better than us? We are the descendants of Jacob, and you are standing on our holy ground here.” As they would say in the southern states of the US, them’s fighting words! And here’s the next lesson for us. When talking to someone about Jesus, don’t take the bait…they will bait you will all sorts of side issues…sexual issues, social issues, and so on. But Jesus did not go down that rabbit trail.
He zeroed in on the great difference between man-made rules, ritual, and religion on the one hand, and true worship on the other. While the former demands more and more effort from the person, the latter demands an awareness of powerless inability. Without living water poured into us, we will remain stagnant and dead.
In parabolic fashion, Jesus basically told her that if she continued to drink from the well of human tradition, she would simply never be free from her misery. Whatever her need might have been, it would remain unfulfilled. However, if she would drink from the living water, her restless search for fulfilment would come to an end. The Spirit of the living God would quench every kind of thirst in her.
Now, while there are many similarities between this woman and Nicodemus, Jesus’ response to her was different. Did you notice that he did not chastise her for her apparent ignorance? Instead, he gently yet persistently and irresistibly drew her to the deeper matters of life.
But what he then said must have been a bit of a disappointment. By asking her to bring her husband, he was exposing the very reason why she was an outcaste. Her reply appears to be flat and dismissive, like someone who has been so deeply wounded that they would rather not talk about the subject. “I have no husband.” A sad sentence on so many levels.
Imagine now her shock when Jesus revealed her whole miserable past…how she had been passed on from one wretch to another and how with every passing on, her dignity was eroded in the eyes of her society. She wasn’t even married to the last man…who knows why…but in that culture she needed a man if she was to survive without sons to take care of her. This last one could not have been an honourable man, otherwise he would have married her, so who knows what she had to live with.
Her reply in verse 19 has often been interpreted as a last stand of defiance…but I think that her opening remark reveals someone who is willing to explore an alternative to her own narrative. She concedes that he must be a holy man as he spoke like a prophet. This may have been her way of asking for guidance. Should she abandon her people and become a Jew?
But Jesus showed her that the visible vestiges and material elements of the past were but shadows of a greater spiritual reality. There was no longer a place to worship as much as a person to worship. So, what she needed was a change of heart…not a change of status, or location, or nationality, or even ability. She did not need an altar, a mountain, a temple, or a well. She needed the one who stood before her.
I think she understood that, at least in part, as with apparent surrender, her next statement laid bare the cavernous nothingness she must have been aware of all her life…a void within her that only God could fill. This stranger…this Jewish man…this possible prophet had exposed the raw pain that was her life. Could it be that he was the promised one?
It is astounding to note at this point, that this is the first time Jesus revealed his messianic identity. He had not even told his disciples yet…in fact he never really did. True, he accepted statements made by his disciples to that effect, but it was the ostracised outcaste of Samaria that heard the declaration clearly, “I am he.”
And herein lies the final lesson for today. What book have you judged by its cover? Is there someone you avoid because they are of a different social standing or of a different nationality or of a different persuasion? Next week, we will look at how Jesus dealt with his disciples who were shocked that he was speaking to this woman, but before we examine them, perhaps we need to examine ourselves first. Where are we right now? Are we standing with Jesus, or are we off with the disciples? Are we concerned enough about the lostness of the people around us that we would be willing to step out of our comfort zones and swallow our pride, so that we could come alongside those who need to hear a loving, gentle, persistent word of hope?
There are many very unfortunate and unfulfilled people in our world today, who are tirelessly yet unsuccessfully striving to fill their sense of emptiness with several unreliable options that have absolutely no lasting value. This unhappiness is evident in the rising number of anger related violence, mental health issues (such as debilitating depression and anxiety), alcohol and drug abuse (including prescription medication), suicides, protests, riots, and wars. Many are victims of this discontent and despondency as they are used, abused, and exploited to satisfy the insatiable desires of those who are more influential and powerful.
This is very similar to the reality of life in the Ancient Near East during the 1st Century. Despair gave rise to unrest and rebellion and, in turn, to crushing defeat. People cried out for deliverance, but as is the case today, they often looked for release in all the wrong places. Their Messianic dreams and yearnings were clouded by their hunger for vindication and revenge. Many had simply given up hope.
So, may I exhort you all to prayerfully consider Jesus’ method in his approach to one such form of emptiness and to ask the Holy Spirit to lead you in the same way…to engage people intentionally and purposefully as you lovingly uncover the void and gently yet firmly present them with the better way to living life?
Shall we pray?
“Lord Jesus may the living water of your Holy Spirit lead us as you were led to those who in their pain seek solace and isolation at the proverbial wells of this world, so that we too might experience the compulsion to speak the lifegiving Gospel into the emptiness of their souls. Amen.”
© Johannes W H van der Bijl 2023
(1) The Mishna on Gittin 90a states: [He may divorce his wife] even if she burned his dish, as it is stated: “Because he has found some unseemly matter in her”. Rabbi Akiva says: even if he found another woman who is prettier than her, as it is stated “And it comes to pass, if she finds no favour in his eyes” (Deuteronomy 24:1).
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