Skip to main content

Strange...

             God is spirit, and his worshipers must worship in the Spirit and in truth. (John 4:24)

 

            This is a strange verse from a strange conversation between two strangers. One of the strangers was a Samaritan woman. Different stories have been told about how she came to a well in the middle of the day. What we know is that she was there, and she had had five husbands. The man she was living with wasn’t her husband. No whispering behind hands, folks – she could have been a slave or a concubine with little choice about her status. If she was a slave, she might well have started out as something far better and fallen on hard times. That might bring a woman to the well at a time when other women wouldn’t be around just as readily as her shacking up with some loser.

            The other stranger was a Jewish rabbi who had not attended any of the accredited rabbinical schools. As a rabbi, he shouldn’t have been in Samaria. He shouldn’t have talked to a woman, especially not a Samaritan woman. And, if he had to speak to a Samaritan woman, apparently, he extra-especially should not have been talking to this woman.

            Then, to make matters worse, when she tries to side-track the conversation into a safe dispute about where one should worship, he brushes the issue of location, location, location aside, though that was one of the big disagreements between the Jews and the Samaritans. Since God is a spirit, it doesn’t matter where one worships Him.

            But, the Samaritans had a second problem. They contended that Abram bound and sacrificed Isaac on Mt. Gerizim (in Samaria) not Mt. Moriah. They accepted the Pentateuch (the first five books of the Old Testament) but rejected everything after that. Because of that, they would be forever unable to know the truth about who the Messiah was.

            This is the problem when we take our religion into our own hands, when we decide we are wise enough to decide for ourselves what is true and what isn’t. When we start leaving out the Old Testament, or the New Testament, or voting to decide what words of the “Lord’s Prayer” Jesus might have actually said (and coming up with “Father.”)

            And we all do it, which means we should be grateful when a stranger shows up and reminds us that it’s about Him. 

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

The List

              Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ,   through whom we have gained access by faith into this grace in which we now stand. And we boast in the hope of the glory of God. Not only so, but we also glory in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance;   perseverance, character; and character, hope. And hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit, who has been given to us. (Romans 5:1-5)           Think about it. We have been justified. At least, we could be justified if we stopped insisting that our justification be based on our merits. We have peace with God, or could have peace if we stopped throwing temper tantrums. We have gained access into grace i...
Post a Comment
Read more

Listen!

  While he was still speaking, a bright cloud enveloped them, and a voice from the cloud said, “This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased. Listen to him!” (Matthew 17:5)            Do you like roller coasters? I don't. You spend forever climbing a hill. You get to the top and have half a second, then you race down to a low point. Sometimes the racing down involves tying your insides into knots. At the bottom, you either have to be dragged up another hill or you get off the ride. Peter's life was a roller coaster from the time he met Jesus. There would be miracles, and then Jesus would teach things that didn't always make sense, and then they'd go out and perform miracles, and return to be taught. Peter was praised for giving the right answer to "Who do you say that I am?" Jesus said that said answer came from God. Peter was at the top of the hill.            ...
Post a Comment
Read more

Prayer Lists

                 Like newborn babies, crave pure spiritual milk, so that by it you may grow up in your salvation, now that you have tasted that the Lord is good. (I Peter 2:2-3)   In connection with what I wrote yesterday about the possibility that I’m wrong, I’m feeling the need to go back to basics - craving spiritual milk because somehow, I missed something. It’s a little embarrassing, craving milk like a newborn, but the truth probably is that we are newborns many times in many ways in our lives. From God’s perspective, we may never be anything more than newborns, forever needing that milk. On the other hand, being a newborn can also be exciting because so much is new. My mind is playing pinball - ricocheting from one idea to the next and through six more before it happens to hit the third again. The main topic is prayer. I have at least seven organizing structures all somewhat influenced by the movie War Room , which I’v...
Post a Comment
Read more