Memorize: Need of Samaritan woman
Key Verses: 4, 10, 23-24, 48
Samaria was off limits to strict Jews, kind of like certain places around military bases. Off limits! But Jesus talks to this woman, another off limits transaction. Strict Jews don’t talk to unattached females. But this is not just any woman. This is a woman with a ‘reputation’ for doing certain types of things with men.
And yet, Jesus talks with her and offers a gift and a relationship, but a very different kind of relationship with men than she has ever had. He asks a series of questions that draw her in closer, closer and yet safe than she has ever been with a man. She tries to sidetrack the conversation with questions of her own, but he keeps bringing her back to deeper and deeper issues. From living water to who we worship where, Jesus draws her in. But he doesn’t just draw her in, he uses her to draw in her whole town to Himself. And they believe because they knew her reputation! And then when they hear Jesus for themselves, they believe Him.
This woman is very much like many of us. We recognize that we have a need, but when we are faced with the solution we run the other way. We have just as much need of Jesus as this woman did almost two thousand years ago. We might not have as sordid a past as she did, but our life still has its sordidness. We need Jesus. We were rejected by God. Our sin separated us from God and from each other. But Jesus met her right where she was and brought her to a place she could never imagine going. He met her in order to transform her and use her to transform her world.
Jesus meets a government official, also a bad thing for a strict Jew, whose son is at the point of death. This official seeks out Jesus. He believes and his son is healed. Jesus will meet us at the point of our need and take us to a new place in relationship with God, ourselves and others. But we must believe. Are you ready to let Jesus transform you? Are you ready to believe?
REVIEW: Acrostic Theme & each chapter’s phrase.
The Arnold Journey 