The Sychar Crusade

Jesus was well into a fast when he encountered the woman at the well as told in John Chapter 4. No, the scripture does not indicate that he was fasting, as it does in Luke 4 and Matthew 4. Those chapters give the account of a 40-day fast Jesus engaged in after His baptism and before His public ministry began.

The reason I claim that He was fasting in John 4 is that His disciples recognized that He needed to eat something. His rejoinder to them seems to indicate a refusal: “I have food you know not of.” They wondered if someone else had brought him food, but He said, “My food is to do the will of My Father, and to finish it.” To me, that indicates that He was on an assignment from His Father, and He would eat earthly food at the completion of that mission.

The Emptying
We sometimes forget the ramifications of Jesus’ “emptying,” (Greek word = kenosis)as told in Philippians 2:

5 Make your own attitude that of Christ Jesus,
6 who, existing in the form of God, did not consider equality with God as something to be used for His own advantage.
7 Instead He emptied Himself by assuming the form of a slave, taking on the likeness of men. And when He had come as a man in His external form,
8 He humbled Himself by becoming obedient to the point of death—even to death on a cross.

Jesus voluntarily limited himself so He could live in the skin of a human. He could have, at any time He chose, reclaimed His heavenly power. In the garden of Gethsemane Jesus prayed “not My will, but Yours be done.” A short time later, when confronted with His captors, he said “do you think that I cannot call on My Father, and He will provide Me at once with more than 12 legions of angels? (Matthew 26:53).” He didn’t pray that prayer, because His Father had already given Him the most important mission in the history of mankind: crushing the devastation of sin by dying on the cross!

Jesus made it clear in John 12:49:
I have not spoken on My own, but the Father Himself who sent Me has given Me a command as to what I should say and what I should speak.

In the same way, I can see that His Father had given Jesus a mission to reveal His deity to the woman at the well. The overall mission was to bring many in the village of Sychar to faith (John 4:40-41: “Therefore, when the Samaritans came to Him, they asked Him to stay with them, and He stayed there two days. Many more believed because of what He said.”).

I consider God’s strategy to be brilliant: rather than having a band of Jewish men move into town and hold a tent meeting, He sent a woman of questionable morals screaming down the street, “Come, see a man who told me everything I ever did! Could this be the Messiah?” (John 4:29)! Which method would have captured YOUR attention?

So, based on the above arguments, we assume that:
1. Jesus was fasting.
2. He was on a specific mission from God.
3. He would end His fast at the completion of His mission.

Next post: God's Chosen Fast

You Share Jesus Like A Girl

My son, a veteran blogger, has commented and reposted my blog on his site, www.churchethos.com. But he titled it "You Share Jesus Like A Girl!"

During a recent re-reading of John Chapter 4, the account of Jesus and the woman at the well, God captured my attention with several observations that I had previously missed. In this space in the weeks to come I will share some of these observations with you.

Disciples' reaction
One of the first things that struck me was the reaction of the disciples when they returned to the well from their quest to get food. They looked at the woman. They looked at Jesus. Then they said...nothing:

John 4:27 Just then the disciples arrived, and they were amazed that He was talking with a woman. Yet no one said, "What do you want?" or "Why are you talking with her?"

Undoubtedly they were viewing the conversation between Jesus and the woman with disapproval. She was:
1. a woman.
2. a Samaritan woman.
3. most probably a Samaritan woman whose morals caused her to be ostracized by the other Samaritan women who knew her. The mention of the time of day and the fact that she was fetching water alone has led many bible commentators to make this assumption. Also, Jesus had revealed to her that He knew that she had been married 5 times and was currently living in adultery.

Witnessing Like the Disciples
I had gone to John chapter 4 to get a text for a sermon on "Witnessing Like Jesus." I ended up being convicted by the fact that I and other Christians too often witness like the disciples! We look at the people around us and then decide whether we want to talk to them or not. Too often it ends up being "not."

Several months later I was bringing out this fact to my congregation in one of the many sermons I have since preached from John chapter 4 (!). In the congregation was a bona fide "snow bird" from Wisconsin. He had popped his head in the door a few minutes before the evening service was to begin and said "Where am I?"

I said, "Concord Baptist Church in Havana Junction, Alabama, and you are welcome to join us."

Being from a different culture, he didn't know that one is supposed to keep quiet as the preacher preaches his sermon (I say this facetiously--I often long for more participation). He offered his opinions several times during the sermon. As I was closing the service, I again publicly thanked him for his presence and his contributions, and he said, "The Lord has laid it on my heart to share this:"

"The other day after I had parked my RV down at the river landing in Akron, I saw two young girls there. Both had multiple facial peircing, which I immediately commented on to them. They dismissed me with 'Oh, you're just out of date.' The Lord convicted me that I needed to keep quiet about their appearance. Later we got into a conversation and God granted me favor with them. I was able to share my faith with them without being rejected further."

Maybe he was from Wisconsin. Maybe he was sent from heaven directly to Havana to confirm a crucial truth to us.

Witnessing Like the Woman
I discovered from this biblical passage that I would rather witness like the woman than to witness like the disciples. She went back to the village and said "Come, see a man who told me everything I ever did! Could this be the Messiah?" (John 4:28)

Witnessing Like Jesus
I originally went to this passage assuming that Jesus' method of witnessing involved taking advantage of situations that might present themselves during the course of one's daily activities. I am now convinced that Jesus was not witnessing just as an opportunity presented itself: He was on a mission from His Father to bring the whole town of Sychar to faith. More on this later.

Witnessing Like the Post-Pentecost Disciples
Keep in mind that the behavior of the disciples was colored by their society, race, experiences, cultural norms, etc., etc. In Acts chapter 4, after the Holy Spirit had come to dwell in them, Peter and John found themselves being ordered by the leaders of the Sanhedrin to keep their mouth shut! In John 4, keeping their mouth shut was easy, in Acts 4, they couldn't keep it closed:

"Whether it is right in the sight of God [for us] to listen to you rather than to God, you decide; for we are unable to stop speaking about what we have seen and heard" (Acts 4:19).

After their release, they went to the other disciples and prayed for God to give them boldness to speak. John 4:31 says, "When they had prayed, the place where they were assembled was shaken, they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and they began to speak God's message with boldness."

Lord, give us boldness. Do whatever shaking is necessary.