Samuel D. High
sdhigh@aristotle.net
-----Original Message-----
From: Apostle Tom <pressingon@hotmail.com>
Sent: Fri, 14 Nov 2008 14:27:50 -0600
To: <pressingon@hotmail.com>
Subject: Morning Manna (Nov. 15); BP: Jn. 4:1-29; RBTTY: Heb. 11:1-19;
November 15 “Grace In Action”
“The woman said unto Him, ‘I know that the Messiah is coming, which is called the Christ; when He is come, He will tell us all things.’ Jesus said unto her, ‘I that speak unto you am He’.”
John 4:25-26
Wherever He is, we find it and discover He/it is all we’ll ever need.
Redeeming Grace.
Only a sculptor can look at a block of marble, granite, wood or clump of clay and “see the unseen” (II Cor. 4:16-18). To us, they’re simply pieces of materials, suitable for more practical purposes like stepping stones, firewood, potting soil, etc.
But, not so with the Stranger who sat on Jacob’s well that day near the Samaritan city of Sychar (vv.4-6).
Like Michelangelo, who was asked by a visitor what he saw in a block of granite in his studio and replied, “I see an angel yearning to be free,” so does Jesus look at us and see a sinner yearning to be free of our shackles of sin.
Instead of condemning the “woman at the well” for having been divorced five times and living with a man in an unmarried estate (vv.16-18), the Man from Galilee “looked beyond her faults and saw her needs.” He knew she’d been to the “dry wells” of racial differences (v.9—Samaritans vs. Jews), religious differences (vv.19-20—places of worship, Jacob vs. Abraham, Pentateuch vs. entire Old Testament) and relationships.
Yes, Jesus knew she was a sinful, guilt-ridden, filled-with-shame woman.
That’s why she fetched water at 12:00 noon. . .the hottest part of the day. . .when no one else would be around. She already was the “talk of the town”—the Elizabeth Taylor of Sychar, if you will—and didn’t want to endure any more idle gossip or leering stares than she already did. We would have drawn water at noon, too, if we’d been in her position.
But, Jesus knew she’d be there that day at that moment. That’s why He purposely chose to go to Samaria that day (v.4) and sit on that 100’ deep, 7 ½’ across, historic well of Jacob. He had a “Divine Appointment” with a woman, whose motto was “If Only I Could Find,” wanting to substitute His instead (“If Only You Knew”—v.10). Hallelujah!!
Yes, dear Pilgrim, the all-seeing Savior always knows who we are, where we are, what we’ve done and what we need. But, He never uses that foreknowledge to condemn us; instead, He is redeeming Grace-in-Action. . .a “Man on a Mission”. . .Whose whole purpose in coming was/is “to seek and to save that which was lost” (Lk. 19:10).
Isn’t it interesting that God’s first Foreign Missionary chose to reveal Who He really was/is to a sinful, adulterous woman like her (v.26)? Isn’t it interesting that this touchy (vv.9, 11-12, 19-20), thirsty, tired Samaritan woman immediately went to her five ex-husbands and live-in lover and said “Come see a Real Man” (v.29) after being loved on by Jesus? Glory!! May the Holy Spirit help us today to be just as loving and accepting of others as He has been of us. So many are living in total hopelessness, visiting dry wells and yearning for “living water.” May we meet them where they are and tell them what/Who they need.
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