Tag: Jesus

Forgiveness, New Testament, Sin, Sunday School

Sin-opsis ~ Sunday School Lesson ~ 10-26-14

Michelle Lesley

Sinopsis

These are my notes from my ladies’ Sunday School class this morning. I’ll be posting the notes from my class here each week. Click here for last week’s lesson.

Through the Bible in 2014 ~ Week 43 ~ Oct. 19-25
Matthew 15-18, Mark 7-9, Luke 9:18-11:54, John 7-10
Sin-opsis

Sin. That word can cause us to think of a lot of different things, from our sin, to people who have sinned against us, to forgiveness. Today, we’re going to hear what Jesus has to say about five different aspects of sin.

Matthew 18

Causing Another Believer to Sin (1-5, Matthew 20:20-24)
Have you ever noticed that the disciples asked a lot of interesting questions? Why do you think they wanted to know who would be the greatest in the kingdom of heaven? Pride? A desire for clout or recognition? The disciples and Jesus lived in a society in which people were acutely aware of who had rank, recognition, and power (the Pharisees, scribes, Saducees, lawyers, priests, and Levites), and who did not (everybody else, including Jesus and them), when it came to the way Judaism was structured. We talked last week about what people, even the disciples, expected the Messiah to be: a conquering king who would overthrow Rome and restore Israel to prominence and prosperity. Here, as in the case of Mrs. Sons of Thunder asking if her boys could sit on either side of Jesus’ throne (Matt. 20), they were likely thinking of their offices in the new government they imagined Jesus would head up once He reestablished the kingdom.

Once again, Jesus had to set them straight. “It’s not about how high on the power ladder you can climb, Boys. It’s about how humble you can be, as humble as a little child.” And why did Jesus have to set them straight? Because they had been, skandalizo, “entrapped” or “tripped up” as verse 6 puts it, by faulty teaching from those who were responsible to rightly handle God’s word. The disciples would soon be in the position of teacher and preacher themselves. It was imperative they had a correct understanding of God’s word and God’s ways so they could accurately teach the new “little children” coming into the church.

When we share the gospel with others, teach the Bible, offer others advice or counsel, etc., we must make absolutely certain we have a correct understanding of what God’s word says. Otherwise, we might be tripping others up by leading them to believe things that are in conflict with the Bible. Jesus takes that very seriously saying (7) “it would be better for him to have a great millstone fastened around his neck and to be drowned in the depth of the sea.” Pretty strong words.

Recreation of a millstone used for pressing olives in Nazareth, Israel.
Recreation of a millstone used for pressing olives in Nazareth, Israel.

When I Am Tempted (7-9)
What about when someone else tempts me to sin? Again, Jesus has strong words for anyone who entices someone into any kind of sin: “woe.” What are some ways we can cause people to sin or be drawn into someone else’s sin, even in the church? Gossip, adultery, inciting other church members against the pastor or other leaders, playing “politics”, etc.

But whether tempted by a church member or the world, Jesus paints a serious picture of how we should respond to that temptation. Now, Jesus isn’t suggesting we literally maim ourselves, because, if you think about it, even a blind person can lust. Sin is an issue of the heart. Jesus is saying that we are to get away from temptation to guard our hearts, whatever the cost. Your relationship with Christ is worth it.

What might “gouging your eye out” or “cutting your hand off” look like for someone facing a certain temptation? For a person tempted to drunkenness, it might mean not drinking at all or not going to certain social events where they know the booze will be flowing freely. A person tempted to lust and adultery might need to make certain she is never alone with a man she’s not married to. She may even have to avoid spending any time with certain men she’s attracted to. Sin is serious, and we sometimes have to take big, inconvenient steps to stay out of it, but our relationship with Christ is completely worth it.

When Another Christian Sins (10-14, Romans 8:1)
Our brothers and sisters in Christ are going to sin. There’s just no way around it. How should we respond to a fellow Christian who has wandered off into sin? Ignore it and hope she’ll stop? Stop speaking to to her? Castigate her? No. We are to respond to her the same way Jesus does with the lost sheep:

10– We are not to treat any of our brothers or sisters unkindly; we are to treat all with kindness and love.

12– We remember that Christ came to save the lost from their sin. Of course, He does not want those He has saved to wander off back into their sin. Jesus goes after the wandering sheep to bring it back into the safety of the fold. We are to do the same. If someone wanders off, we don’t just let her go. We go after her in love and concern to bring her back to where she needs to be.

13-14– “If he finds it…” If is kind of an interesting word to use here, since Jesus is the shepherd in the story. Will there ever be a case in which Jesus can’t find someone who has wandered off? No. God is sovereign over all things. He knows where we are, what we’re doing, and the state of our hearts at all times. These verses are referring to the lost sheep who is willing to be found and return to the fold with Jesus. When a Christian repents and returns to Christ, Christ rejoices over her. While there may be consequences of the sin to face, “There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.” (Rom.) Isn’t that awesome? When that repentant sheep comes back to the fold, we are to have the same loving, embracing, and forgiving attitude towards her that Christ has. Christ’s desire is always restoration and reconciliation, and that should be our desire as well.

When Another Christian Sins Against Me (15-20)
One of the most important things we can focus on in this passage is the word “sins”. In the church body, there are going to be times when things happen to us that we don’t like. That doesn’t necessarily mean these things are SIN. Maybe we don’t like the style of music, or a particular mannerism of the pastor. Maybe somebody tells us a truth we need to hear that stings a little, or someone is annoying or inadvertently hurts our feelings. Our feelings don’t determine what sin is, the Bible does. When deciding whether to confront the person, we first need to determine if what she did is sin according to the Bible (not according to our opinion), or if it’s a non-sinful offense, and we can overlook it and extend grace, realizing that people have probably done the same for us on many occasions.

On the other hand, if the person IS sinning, we can’t shy away from an awkward conversation with her about it. Remember the wandering sheep? We need to have the same love for that wandering brother or sister and try to restore and reconcile him/her. First, we go to the person privately -not in front of a group, not on Facebook- one on one, and, remembering the way we would want someone to approach us, kindly and lovingly, yet firmly, talk to her about her sin. If she repents and returns, let the rejoicing and forgiving commence! If she persists, we take a couple of other Believers with us to kindly, lovingly, and firmly approach her again. If she still persists in her sin, the next appropriate and required step is to take the matter before the church body for disciplinary action. If the person still refuses to repent, we are to treat her as “a Gentile and a tax collector.”

What does that mean? Are we supposed to shun her? Hate her? No. Look how Jesus treated Gentiles and tax collectors (like Matthew and Zacchaeus). He loved them, shared the gospel with them, and called them to repent and believe in Him. In other words, He treated them like the unbelievers they were. People who persist in unrepentant sin show us that they are not Believers. When we have exhausted all attempts at restoration, we agree with their behavior that they are not Believers and treat them that way. We remove their names from church membership and remove them from any positions of leadership or responsibility in the church, but we keep loving them, keep sharing the gospel with them, and keep praying for their salvation.

Why We Forgive (21-35, Ephesians 4:32)
This parable can be summed up in the words of Ephesians 4:32:

Be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ forgave you.

Who is the king in this parable? Jesus. Who is the first servant? Me. How big is our sin debt to Jesus? Verse 24 describes it as ten thousand talents. One talent was a unit of money equal to twenty years’ wages for a laborer. Therefore, ten thousand talents would have equaled 200,000 years’ worth of wages, an impossible amount to even begin to repay, just like our sin debt. But when we throw ourselves on the mercy of Christ and repent, He forgives us that enormous debt. Just wipes it right out. Any sin that anyone can commit against us, no matter how egregious, is peanuts (verse 28 calls it 100 denarii, or 100 days’ wages) compared to the grief and agony we put Christ through on the cross. How can we, knowing how hugely we have sinned against Christ, refuse to forgive others anything they might do to us?

The “Sin-Opsis”
There’s an old Carman song that contains the line

“Black is black, and white is white.
And Hell is hot, and sin ain’t right.”

It’s a pretty good “sin-opsis” of the what sin is. It is Christ’s desire that we stay out of sin ourselves, not lead others into sin, rescue others who have fallen into sin, and forgive those who have sinned against us.

Wednesday's Word

Wednesday’s Word ~ Acts 1

Michelle Lesley
10624842_773638779349560_23824209767270553_n

Acts 1

In the first book, O Theophilus, I have dealt with all that Jesus began to do and teach, 2 until the day when he was taken up, after he had given commands through the Holy Spirit to the apostles whom he had chosen. 3 He presented himself alive to them after his suffering by many proofs, appearing to them during forty days and speaking about the kingdom of God.

4 And while staying with them he ordered them not to depart from Jerusalem, but to wait for the promise of the Father, which, he said, “you heard from me; 5 for John baptized with water, but you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit not many days from now.”

6 So when they had come together, they asked him, “Lord, will you at this time restore the kingdom to Israel?” 7 He said to them, “It is not for you to know times or seasons that the Father has fixed by his own authority. 8 But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.” 9 And when he had said these things, as they were looking on, he was lifted up, and a cloud took him out of their sight. 10 And while they were gazing into heaven as he went, behold, two men stood by them in white robes, 11 and said, “Men of Galilee, why do you stand looking into heaven? This Jesus, who was taken up from you into heaven, will come in the same way as you saw him go into heaven.”

12 Then they returned to Jerusalem from the mount called Olivet, which is near Jerusalem, a Sabbath day’s journey away. 13 And when they had entered, they went up to the upper room, where they were staying, Peter and John and James and Andrew, Philip and Thomas, Bartholomew and Matthew, James the son of Alphaeus and Simon the Zealot and Judas the son of James. 14 All these with one accord were devoting themselves to prayer, together with the women and Mary the mother of Jesus, and his brothers.

15 In those days Peter stood up among the brothers (the company of persons was in all about 120) and said, 16 “Brothers, the Scripture had to be fulfilled, which the Holy Spirit spoke beforehand by the mouth of David concerning Judas, who became a guide to those who arrested Jesus. 17 For he was numbered among us and was allotted his share in this ministry.” 18 (Now this man acquired a field with the reward of his wickedness, and falling headlong he burst open in the middle and all his bowels gushed out. 19 And it became known to all the inhabitants of Jerusalem, so that the field was called in their own language Akeldama, that is, Field of Blood.) 20 “For it is written in the Book of Psalms,

“‘May his camp become desolate,
and let there be no one to dwell in it’;

and

“‘Let another take his office.’

21 So one of the men who have accompanied us during all the time that the Lord Jesus went in and out among us, 22 beginning from the baptism of John until the day when he was taken up from us—one of these men must become with us a witness to his resurrection.” 23 And they put forward two, Joseph called Barsabbas, who was also called Justus, and Matthias. 24 And they prayed and said, “You, Lord, who know the hearts of all, show which one of these two you have chosen 25 to take the place in this ministry and apostleship from which Judas turned aside to go to his own place.” 26 And they cast lots for them, and the lot fell on Matthias, and he was numbered with the eleven apostles.

The Holy Bible, English Standard Version Copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a division of Good News Publisher

Questions to Consider

1. What is the purpose of the book of Acts? Which genre(s) of biblical literature (prophecy, epistle, narrative, wisdom, etc.) is the book of Acts? What is the historical backdrop for this book?

2. What is the “first book” referred to in verse 1? Who is the author of both books? How do these two books fit together? How does the book of Acts, especially chapter 1, show us the transitional period between Jesus’ earthly ministry and the church era?

3. Why did the apostles ask Jesus the question in verse 6? (Hint: Use your cross-references.) Why were they expecting the Messiah to build an earthly kingdom? What was Jesus building instead? (7-8). When will Jesus build His earthly Kingdom? (6-7,11)

4. How do verses 12-14 demonstrate the apostles’ obedience to Jesus’ command in verse 4? To Jesus’ admonition in Matthew 26:41? Why do you think the main activity they were engaged in was prayer? Jesus is about to set up His church through this little group. Explain why it was crucial for the church to be born out of a) obedience to the word of Christ, and b) prayer. Why are these still crucial for the church, and Christian individuals, today?

5. Explain how Peter and the apostles followed Scripture as they went about replacing Judas with Matthias. (15-26) Were they following Old Testament or New Testament Scripture? Why is it important, when making decisions in the church today (or as individuals), to search the Scriptures and find out how they apply to the situation? Why don’t we still cast lots (26) to make decisions in the church, or as individuals, today?

New Testament, Sanctification, Sunday School

Persecution 101 ~ Sunday School Lesson ~ 10-19-14

Michelle Lesley

persecution101

These are my notes from my ladies’ Sunday School class this morning. I’ll be posting the notes from my class here each week. Click here for last week’s lesson.

Through the Bible in 2014 ~ Week 42 ~ Oct. 12-18
Matthew 8:14-11:30, 12:22-14:36, Luke 8:1-9:17, 11, Mark 4-6, John 6
Persecution 101

Last week we took a look at this pattern:

God—>God calls and trains His people—>God’s people minister the gospel to others

We saw it across various contexts of the Bible: the “macro,” or overall theme from Old Testament to New, the “micro,” or the way God works in our personal lives, and the “messianic,” or the way this pattern applied to Jesus’ own life. This week’s reading was another example of this pattern, the “ministerial,” or the way it applied to Jesus’ and the disciples’ ministry.

In this week’s reading we saw that Jesus’ ministry started with Jesus, Himself. Next He called out and trained His disciples through many parables and healings. Today, we will be looking at the passage where He sends them out to minister the gospel to others. In His final training session before Jesus sends out the twelve, He wants to make sure they’re ready for what they’re about to face.

Matthew 10:16-39

Go Ye Therefore- 5-13 (10:7-8, 5-6, Mark 1:14-15, Isaiah 35:5-6)
Jesus is sending out the disciples. What is He sending them out to do? Verses 7-8 tell us that their ministry was two-fold: first, they were to preach, just as Jesus did (Mark 1):

the kingdom of God is at hand; repent and believe in the gospel.

Second, they were to perform various signs and wonders. Notice that the signs and wonders are secondary to the message of the gospel. Wasn’t the gospel enough? What was the purpose of the miracles? When Jesus perfomed miracles, the miracles were both a fulfillment of prophecy (Is.) to help the Jews to understand that He was the promised Messiah, and they also authenticated His message of the gospel to the gentiles and others who weren’t familiar with the prophecies. Street cred, in other words– if He can do that, what He says must be true, and we’d better listen. The miracles the disciples were to perform were to serve the same purpose– to point to Jesus as the Messiah and to give credibility to the gospel message.

Who were the disciples sent to? Jesus told them not to go to the Samaritans (half Jew, half gentile, as we studied last week) or the gentiles, but “rather to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.” Why? Because He didn’t love gentiles and want them to hear the gospel? Not at all. We saw last week that He had already been to a Samaritan village to preach the gospel. And, of a Roman centurion (a gentile) whose servant He healed, Jesus said, “Truly, I tell you, with no one in Israel have I found such faith,” and went on to say- to an audience of Jews- that there were many gentiles who would make it to Heaven while many Jews would not.

Jesus sent the disciples to the Jews because that was the order God had ordained- first the Jews, then the gentiles. Why?

1. His promise was to the Jews, not the gentiles. God had promised that the Messiah would come through the Jews and to the Jews. All of Jewish history and ceremony had been pointing to this moment in time. God had been laying the ground work through types and shadows and prophecy for millenia. It was only right that Messiah should be revealed to them first.

Imagine if you’ve been promising your child since the day he was born that when he turned 16 you’d buy him a car. Over the years you talked about it together, looked at pictures, visited car lots, and finally picked out the perfect one. Then, on the day of your son’s 16th birthday, you run into a random 16 year old on the street and buy him a car first. Even if you immediately thereafter drove your son to the car lot to buy him his car, would that be the right way to do things?

2. At this point in history -Jesus’ earthly ministry through the birth and spread of the church- we’re looking at very rapid Kingdom growth. Teachers and preachers are going to be needed, like, fast, to shepherd these thousands of new Christians, most of whom are clueless gentiles.

If you work at a computer company and you’re launching a completely new type of software that you want to make accessible to as many people as possible as fast as possible, are you going to hire field representatives who have a professional background in computers or someone who’s never used a computer before?

Same idea here. The Jewish people already had a background in “messiah-ology.” Once saved, they could be up and running as teachers and pastors much faster than your average gentile.

Good News, Bad News- 14-25 (John 3:19)
God is sending out His people (the disciples) to tell His people (the Jews) that He has kept His promise and sent Jesus, the long awaited Messiah. Plus, they’re going to heal a bunch of people and do other miracles. What Jew in his right mind wouln’t be overjoyed at this awesome news, right?

So, what’s all this stuff about the disciples being hated and persecuted and charged with criminal activity? That’s not the way people usually respond to someone who’s bringing them good news. But God’s news isn’t good news when you don’t love God, and these Jews didn’t. That’s why Jesus referred to the people He was sending the disciples to as “lost sheep.” They were just as lost as any gentile.

1. They loved darkness rather than light (Jn.). The good news of the gospel is bad news when you love your sin and don’t want to give it up, because the gospel requires us to forsake our sin -all of it- actually admit that we’re scum, and fling ourselves on the mercy of Christ for forgiveness. It’s only by the gift of God’s grace that we’re able to do that.

2. They wanted the idol-messiah they had fashioned in their minds, not the Messiah of Scripture. Many in Israel were expecting and/or hoping for a messiah who would come in, conquer Rome, sit on David’s throne, re-establish the theocracy of Israel, and bring them back to prominence and prosperity. In other words, just like the woman at the well from last week, they wanted the temporal stuff, not the eternal. A Christ who would set them free from Rome and poverty, not a Christ who would set them free from sin.

That’s why, to many people the disciples preached to, the good news was bad news.

Fear Not- 26-39
Jesus is delivering a pretty sobering message here. When the disciples preach the gospel (now, and in the early church era), they’re going to be: shunned (14), turned over to the courts (17), flogged (17- and they’re not too far from seeing this happen to Jesus), dragged in front of kings and governors (17), betrayed to the enemy by family members (21), hated by all (22), fleeing for their lives (23), slandered (25), executed (28), and alienated from their closest family members (35-36). That’s a tough row to hoe, but Jesus wants them to understand that what many of the Jews are expecting -Messiah will re-establish the kingdom of Israel and bring peace (34)- isn’t reality, and when they tell people that, things are going to get ugly. He hasn’t come to bring earthly peace, instead, standing with Christ will be the hardest thing they’ve ever done.

But what is their response to this persecution supposed to be? Are they to give up, retaliate, cower? No, Jesus tells them to do two things:

1. Don’t be afraid of them (26). The worst thing they can do is kill you. If you’re going to be afraid of something, fear God and fear denying Him (28).

2. As long as you’ve got breath in your body, you preach the gospel. You preach it loud and you preach it long (27). Do. not. stop. no matter what.

Why? Because God loves you. He values you. He’s going to take care of you. And He’s in control.

The Demands of Discipleship Today
There are Christians today in countries like North Korea, Syria, Iraq, Nigeria, and other areas, who understand all too well what Jesus was warning the disciples about. They experience the same things on a daily basis. Those of us born in America have very little grasp of just how blessed we are to be able to worship God openly, freely, and without much real persecution.

But the times, they are a-changin’. Fast.

If you’ve been paying attention to the news over the last couple of years, you’ve seen stories about the Bible, prayer, and Christianity being systematically removed from and prohibited in public places. We’ve seen Christian bakers, photographers, and t-shirt company owners sued for declining to provide their services for homosexual “weddings,” rallies, and other events. Just last week, we saw Houston officials subpoena sermons and other materials from pastors in an effort to bully them into silence about their homosexual agenda.

Real persecution is coming to America at breakneck speed. And in the same way that the disciples were persecuted by both gentiles and the “lost sheep of Israel”, we will face persecution by both the world and those who claim the name of Christ, but actually follow a messiah-idol of their own making. Those of us who stand with the true Christ of Scripture and His word will be shunned and rejected by our closest family members- even those who claim to be Christians. We will be hated and slandered. We will be arrested, prosecuted, and even executed by both lost people and church people.

But Christ’s message to us is the same as it was to the twelve. Keep preaching the gospel. Preach it loud, preach it long, and preach it with your dying breath. Love Me more than your family, more than your reputation, more than your very life, because I care for you. How could we fail to stay true to Him after all He has done for us?

Faith

Being Slaughtered by Terrorists Isn’t the Worst Thing that Can Happen to You

Michelle Lesley

Everybody seems to be walking around scared these days. I’m a little scared, myself. It’s understandable. There’s a lot of scary stuff happening. Boko Haram. Ebola. ISIS. The persecution of Christians abroad, and, increasingly, here at home.

Terrorism, suicide bombers, the seemingly daily acts of violence that take the lives of innocent bystanders– that all used to happen over there. Thousands of miles across the ocean. And all we had to do to make it go away was turn off the TV, click over to Farmville, or put down the paper. Problem solved. It was unfortunate, but didn’t really touch our lives in any meaningful way.

Until now.

Now we know that there are terrorists living among us right here in the United States, as well as those trying to infiltrate our country by stealthily crossing our borders. When will the next beheading or 9-11 take place on U.S. soil? Who will the next victim be? Will it be you? Will it be me? Will it be thousands of us in one fell swoop?

Any reasonable person would be afraid of that.

Don’t.

That’s what Jesus said. Just don’t.

We’ve got bigger fish to fry in the fear department. Even though it would be awful, the worst thing that could happen to someone is not being killed or even tortured by a terrorist. The worst thing that could happen is for someone to spend an eternity in Hell because she has rejected Christ (which should tell you something about how horrific Hell is).

If you have never turned from your sin and placed your faith in Christ’s death, burial and resurrection as payment for the penalty for your sin, how you’re going to die is the least of your worries compared to what’s going to happen to you after you die. That should scare the living daylights out of you.

If you have never turned from your sin and placed your faith in Christ, how you’re going to die is the least of your worries compared to what’s going to happen to you after you die.

The good news is, Christ offers to forgive you today. His goodness for your badness. His purity for your sinfulness. His grace for your gross. He will set you free from your sin so you’ll no longer fear standing before Him on the day of judgment.

Christ offers to forgive you today. His goodness for your badness. His purity for your sinfulness. His grace for your gross. He will set you free from your sin.

And, if you belong to Christ, you have nothing to fear in this life or the next. Take a look back at that verse. It says to “fear him who can destroy both soul and body in hell.”  But if you’re in Christ, you no longer have to be afraid of Him. And the first part of the verse says not to be afraid of people who can kill your body but not your soul. Nothing to fear now. Nothing to fear later.

So what’s left to fear? Nothing.

What must I do to be saved?

Christian women, New Testament, Sunday School

Well Aware ~ Sunday School Lesson ~ 10-12-14

Michelle Lesley

well aware

These are my notes from my ladies’ Sunday School class this morning. I’ll be posting the notes from my class here each week. Click here for last week’s lesson.

Through the Bible in 2014 ~ Week 41 ~ Oct. 5-11
Matthew 4-8:13, 12:1-21, Luke 4-7, John 1:15-John 5, Mark 2-3
Well Aware

This week, we looked at the beginning of Jesus’ ministry. First, with Jesus’ baptism and temptation in the wilderness, we saw God prepare Jesus for ministry. Next, we saw Jesus call his disciples -all good Jewish boys- and train them for ministry. And, finally, we saw the disciples assisting Jesus as He minstered to both Jews and gentiles. This pattern:

God—>God calls and trains His people—>God’s people minister the gospel to others

was a great picture of where we’ve been (the Old Testament) and where we’re going (the church era). 

Where We’ve Been– In the same way Jesus’ ministry started with Jesus himself, the Old Testament starts with, “In the beginning, God…” (Genesis 1:1) Next, God makes Himself known to His chosen people (Israel), and trains them in His ways. In the New Testament, He uses His chosen people to minister the gospel to the gentiles.

Where We’re Going– As we get further into the New Testament, we’ll see that the way God deals with us is mirrored in the structure of the passages we read this week about Jesus’ early ministry. It all starts with God, who calls each of us out, saves us and prepares us for ministry. We then minister to both God’s people -through our service in the church- and to those who are outside of God’s family -through evangelism.

All of which brings us to where we are, a story that follows this same pattern. We are all on one side of today’s story or another: the people of God, or the people God is calling out to. The woman at the well, or the well woman. And, of course, everything starts with Jesus.

John 4:1-42

It All Starts with Jesus
1-3 (John 3:30)- Although John had just said, “He [Jesus] must increase, but I must decrease,” John’s ministry was still going pretty strong at this point, and Jesus’ brand new ministry was exploding. Two large and growing groups with unconventional ideas did not escape the notice of both the Jewish and the Roman officials, who would have been all too familiar with the Maccabean Revolt (as well as lesser uprisings). In order to ward off any official attempt to clamp down on either John’s or Jesus’ ministries to preclude a perceived impending revolution, Jesus took some of the heat off by traveling north to Galilee.

4-5 (2 Kings 17)– This is where knowing your Old Testament comes in handy. Do you remember anything about Samaria from the Old Testament?

When the nation of Israel split into the northern kingdom (Israel) and the southern kingdom (Judah), Samaria became the capital of the northern kingdom. Second Kings 17 describes how, due to Israel’s idolatry, God allowed the northern kingdom to be overthrown by Assyria, and most of Israel to be taken into captivity. Afterwards, “the king of Assyria brought people from Babylon, Cuthah, Avva, Hamath, and Sepharvaim, and placed them in the cities of Samaria instead of the people of Israel.” (2 Kings 17:24) Eventually, some of the exiled Jews (as well as some Jews who had been left behind in northern Samaria at the time of the exile) returned and intermarried with these gentiles. The “pure” Jews of the southern kingdom (Judah/Judea) considered the Samaritans unclean half-breeds. Judeans hated Samaritans, wouldn’t have anything to do with them, and even went out of their way, when traveling north, to go around Samaria instead of through it, even though that was a much longer route.

So, Jesus’ simple act of passing through Samaria on His way north was actually a fairly weighty statement that would have raised some eyebrows even among His disciples. He didn’t hate the Samaritans and didn’t consider Himself unclean for passing through their area.

6-7– “The sixth hour” was noon. Jesus and the disciples had likely been traveling -on foot, of course- since early morning when it was cooler, and stopped during the heat of the day to rest and eat. John indicates Jesus’ humanity here by telling us that He was physically tired.

7– Drawing water was woman’s work, but noon was an unusual time to draw. All of the women usually came out around the same time in the morning and/or early evening (when it was cooler), so it was a time to socialize as well as get a chore done. Maybe this woman was so ashamed of her lifestyle that she wanted to avoid the other women, or maybe she just needed some extra water that day. Whatever the reason, it was God’s perfect timing.

The Woman at the Well
7-27– This was a woman who knew which rung she occupied on the social ladder, and it wasn’t anywhere near the top. Not only did the Jews hate the Samaritans, and would sooner have died of thirst than drink water their dirty hands had handled, but Jewish men did not speak to women of any sort in public. Furthermore, a rabbi (or teacher of Scripture, which Jesus was considered to be) would never have defiled himself by conversing with an adulterous woman (which Jesus already knew her to be). So this woman probably jumped out of her skin when Jesus asked her for a drink. He didn’t hate her. He didn’t look down on her. He didn’t think she was untouchable. How many people in this woman’s life do you think treated her that way? Do we treat people the way Jesus treated her?

Never one to waste time on chit chat, Jesus immediately transitions (10) from His temporal, physical need, to her spiritual need. He might be thirsty, but she needs a Savior, and that’s more important to Him. Can we say the same as we interact with lost people from day to day?

Jesus begins to talk about spiritual things, but she’s still focused on the physical. “How can I get this magic water so I won’t be physically thirsty or have to come haul water anymore?” (15) She doesn’t get it. All she wants is for Jesus to make her earthly life better. She wants her physical needs taken care of and she doesn’t want to have to work. And that’s all many people today want, too, and what they’re promised by hucksters masquerading as Christian pastors and teachers. “Come to Jesus and you’ll be wealthy and everything will go your way,” they promise.

But that’s too small for Jesus. Does He provide for our needs? Yes. But, all too often, that’s where our desire stops. He wants infinitely more for us, just like He wanted for this woman.

There was one thing standing in the way of that, though. Her sin. Since she wasn’t grasping the water metaphor, Jesus goes for the direct approach and calls her on the carpet. She’s had five husbands, and it’s not because she’s been widowed five times. Now, she’s cohabiting with someone. Jesus just lays it out there and lets it hang in the air. Her secret from this stranger is out in the open. She’s convicted. She doesn’t know what to say. Why not change the subject to a religious debate? That doesn’t hit quite so close to home. But Jesus puts her questions in perspective and brings her back around to the real question at hand. Forget all these unimportant questions about which mountain is the right one to worship on. God wants true worshipers, and if you want to be one of them, you have to worship Him in your spirit -not just with outward actions- and in truth -in agreement with Scripture. (24) And what was the truth? She needed forgiveness and only He could offer it. She was a sinner, and He was the Savior. She got it.

The Well Woman
28-42– The woman at the well had been transformed. No longer sin sick, she was now a well woman. One of God’s chosen people. And what do God’s people do when Jesus makes them well? They go out and tell others so those people can be made well too. And that’s exactly what this woman did. She told them about Jesus.

And what did she tell them? Jesus made all my dreams come true? Everything in my life is going to be great now? No, she said, “Come, see a man who told me all that I ever did.” (29) What had He told her? He had told her about her sin, and here she was, boldly and shamelessly telling others about it. There’s only one way that sin has no more power to shame us, and that’s when Jesus sets us free from it. When we turn from our sin and trust that the death, burial and resurrection of Christ paid the penalty for our sin, we are clean before God, and there is no more reason to be ashamed. She had been set free, and she wanted others to be set free, too.

And this is exactly what Jesus was trying to tell the disciples. (31-38) Quit worring so much about food and other temporal things, guys! Open your eyes! Don’t you see that there’s a field full of souls out there -just like this woman- ready to receive the gospel and be harvested into the Kingdom? Let’s get to work!

So they did. The woman told the people about Jesus and brought them to him. For two days, He taught the people, assisted by the disciples. Many of them believed and were saved. And now we’ve come full circle, because, for these people, too, it all started with Jesus.

Well, Women?
This week we’ve seen Jesus minister to a number of people who were outcasts: a leper, the man with the withered hand, the paralytic, the demoniac, and the prostitute would all have been considered unclean people to avoid in Jewish society. The centurion was a hated Roman, a gentile. And here is an adulterous Samaritan woman. What is Scripture telling us as Jesus ministers to these people? Jesus loves the unloveable. He will touch the defiled, the untouchable. We don’t have to be clean before we come to Jesus. He cleanses us. We don’t have to be good before we come to Jesus. He gives us His righteousness if we repent and trust in Him. This is Scripture’s message to all the women at the well.

To the well women, the disciples, those who have trusted Christ and been forgiven, the message is GO. Boldly, unashamedly, tell everyone of the Savior who has the power to set them free from the shame of sin. Look around, the fields are white unto harvest. Go out and bring them in, that they, too, might be set free. GO.