4:15
The woman now wants the water, though her understanding is still very limited. She thinks it is still just natural water and will mean that she doesn’t have to come to the well everyday, something which was no doubt quite an arduous task. We need to realise that people are so very much focused on the here and now. Indeed, we can be so focused on the here and now that we miss what is really important. We are particularly prone to this when we are worrying or anxious about things, our mind and emotions will be all focused on the immediate matter in hand. It is not that the here and now does not matter. Here and now does matter, the wedding at Cana incident demonstrated that! But if we are just focused on the here and now we will both miss the more important things, and make a mess of the here and now. Jesus’ teaching in Matt 6:25-34 tells us how we should live. We should seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness. Then things will work out properly.
4:16
Jesus now changes the subject abruptly and the focus suddenly comes upon the woman herself. Jesus commands her to go and call her husband, knowing full well the truth of the situation she was in. We have a habit of going to one of two extremes. We will focus on sin only with the view of telling people what is right and what is wrong. Or we will focus only on reaching people, often to the extent of downplaying, or even condoning, sin. Jesus did neither. He was both completely clear about the reality and nature of sin, and was completely committed to reaching people. We need to be like Jesus!
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