The Living Water: Lesson Twenty-One

"When He had said these things, He spat on the ground

and made clay with the saliva;

and He anointed the eyes of the

blind man with the clay.

And He said to him, 'Go, wash

in the pool of Siloam' (which is translated, Sent).

So he went and washed, and came back seeing."

John 9:6-7

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Hello again! Let's seek the Lord...........

"Father, thank You for this day that we may see. Thank You that You endured death and shame for us and our sins that we may have sight in this dark and wicked world. Thank You for being the Light of this world.

I seek forgiveness of my sins. Forgive me for sometimes preferring the dark. Forgive me of the sins I know and the hidden sins of my heart. I pray that You will wash me and give me sight.

I pray for each lady here today. I pray that she will seek Your face in scriptures. I pray that You will reveal to her some new insights into Your word and give her hope.

In Jesus' name..........amen."

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John 4:27

"And at this point His disciples came, and they marveled that He talked with a woman; yet no one said, 'What do You seek?' or, 'Why are You talking with her?'"

Jesus had left behind His physical desires to sit by the well and wait for the Samaritan woman to come and draw water. Yet His disciples decided to leave and find food to satisfy their physical desires.

There is such a contrast between the two experiences. We, as mortal beings, can learn a lot from reading and studying Jesus' ways of evangelizing. How often do we put our physical needs ahead of the works of the Lord? It is humbling, isn't it??

The disciples return from gathering food to find Jesus talking to a woman. In the first century, it was unheard of for men to speak to women...especially Jewish men to Gentile women....yet here was Jesus talking to the Samaritan woman. The scripture claims that no one said anything of it. Wise choice!

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The disciples' response to Jesus' conversation with the woman shouldn't surprise us. It should convict us. How many times do we allow our prejudices to deter us from spreading the gospel message?

Please read:

Ps 25:8-11

It is easy for us to forget why Jesus came and what our condition was when He saved us.

Matt 9:1-8

Here we see such strong faith in men who brought their paralyzed friend to Jesus. How did Jesus respond to the act? How did the scribes respond?

Matt 9:8-13

Why would Jesus choose to eat with the most despised of all people? Why would He enter into this man's house? How did Jesus respond? How did the Pharisees, men of God, respond?

Hosea 6:6

Is 1:12-17

Micah 6:6-8

John 17:3

What was the mission of the Christ? Was it to speak only to the men of the Law or to heal the sinners and forgive them their sins?

Remember the Irresponsible Shepherds:

Ez 34:1-10

"Woe to the shepherds of Israel who feed themselves!"

Contrast that with the Good Shepherd:

Ez 34:11-24

"I will seek what was lost and bring back what was driven away, bind up the broken and strengthen what was sick; but I will destroy the fat and the strong, and feed them in judgment."

Is 10:16

Jer 10:24

The prejudices of the scribes and Pharisees was so cruel in contrast to the compassion of Jesus that it should convict us of our sins. We need to remember from where we came:

1 Tim 1:15

For Jesus to forgive sins was his claim to divine authority:

Is 43:25

Is 1:18

Jesus chose the poor Samaritan woman of ill repute to reveal Himself for the first time in His earthly ministry as Messiah. He chose to wash her and open her eyes. Perhaps the disciples did not spealk nor question Jesus because they sensed this authority or they may have overheard Jesus' "I AM" statement and were in awe.

One thing we can know, Jesus came to save sinners not to eat with the righteous. If He did, He would have been totally alone in the world. It was easy for the disciples to forget from where they had come and to were they were going.

But we have the Bible to remind us daily. We can have our eyes washed and come back seeing.

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Life Application

"Why are you talking with her?"

Heading into the prison was hard on me at first. I had worked in the courts for many years up to that point, so I wasn't afriad (although hearing those doors slam shut behind you makes you shudder...) of what I would face. I was a little proud of myself in the ol' "I am better than they are" mold even though I had no right to feel that way. I was letting my prejudices get the best of me.

That ego I had was soon put to rest after I spoke to each inmate and heard their stories. I will never forget listening to one young woman aged 21 yrs. tell me how she lost all 3 of her children to foster homes because of her drug habit and the dangers she put them in. With tears streaming down her face she wondered if the Lord could ever forgive her for losing her kids. She signed over her parental rights to the courts and knew she would probably never see her 3 young children again.

As I sat holding her hand, my mind went to my little boy who was about 6 yrs. old at the time. I wondered how I could handle losing him because of the foolish mistakes I had made. Could God forgive me?

Please read:

Matt 1:21

The name "Jesus" means "Savior".

John 1:29

Who did Jesus come to save? This young woman in prison. "Yes," I told her. "Jesus can forgive you your sins." He came to "bind up the broken and strengthen what was sick."

Together we cried and the Lord really spoke to my heart. I realized then and there I was no better nor worse than any of these inmates. It was by the grace of God that I wasn't in prison with them. God chose a different path for me to take.

1 Tim 1:9-11

Heb 7:26

We are ambassadors of Jesus now. We wear His cloak on our backs....His name on our hearts...His identity as much as we bear the names of our husbands and the wedding rings on our fingers. "I am my beloved's and my beloved is mine..."

2 Cor 5:20-21

Now we are the righteousness of God in Him.

So, go and take that Light, that knowledge, and give it to the world. There are so many who need to hear the words of Christ and the gospel of God. So many sinners need the washing and the healing of Christ. That is what we are here to do.

Ask them, "What do you seek?" and show them the way.

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Until next time............

"Christ puts strength and a principle of new life into the weary soul that comes to Him. The sinner, before he comes to Christ, is a sick man who is weakened and brought low, and whose nature is consumed by some strong distemper: he is full of pain, and so weak that he cannot walk nor stand. Therefore, Christ is compared to a physician. 'But when Jesus heard that, He said unto them, 'They that be whole need not a physician, but they that are sick'' (Mark 2:17). When He comes and speaks the word, He puts a principle of spiritual life and the beginning of eternal life....So that the fainting, sinking spirits are now revived, and this principle of spiritual life is a continual spring of refreshment, like a well of living water."

-Jonathan Edwards (Altogether Lovely, 1997. p. 106)

Blessings,

Ruth