It is perhaps worth looking back over the encounter of Jesus with the Samaritan women.
What was the woman's view of life like before she met Jesus?
What was the woman's view of life like before she met Jesus?
She had had a varied life, probably quite tough. It is easy just to view her as an immoral woman, but there was probably more to it than that. She maybe just saw life as a matter of getting through it with no great prospects. On the day she met Jesus she was just going about her daily business, with no great expectations.
How did she react when she met Jesus?
She didn't realise who she was meeting. Then he started to intrigue her. She started to withdraw and try and hide behind a religious argument.
How did Jesus breakthrough?
His initial request for her to get Him some water was both mundane and yet challenged generally accepted social conventions. Jesus then built on that and started to give her spiritual truths. The key breakthrough point was when He revealed that He knew all about her. However, this was not the end of the matter. After He had gained her trust/belief with personal insight into her life, He then went on to tell her more general truths of who He is (21-26). The focus changed from who she was to who He was.
What was her response?
She went to tell people. Her understanding was far from perfect, but her witness was still effective.
Worshipping in spirit and in truth
The woman tried to hide behind religious arguments. When the gospel comes in power it gets to the heart of people's lives (Hebrews 4:12). Jesus did not come so that we could have formulaic religion (and charismatic churches are just as prone to this as more traditional churches), but to give us new life.
No comments:
Post a Comment