Good day dear friends. Please be in prayer for all who travel today and tomorrow for the gathering of the Southwest Texas Annual Conference in Corpus Christi. May indeed the "Body of Christ" receive an anointing of power to do God's business and to continue (or begin) to be the witnesses of the Lord Jesus in all the areas we serve.
We continue looking at the fourth chapter of John. The sermon series is entitled Encounters with Jesus in the Gospel of John. Here is today's passage:
5 So he came to a Samaritan city called Sy'char, near the plot of ground that Jacob had given to his son Joseph. 6 Jacob's well was there, and Jesus, tired out by his journey, was sitting by the well. It was about noon. 7 A Samaritan woman came to draw water, and Jesus said to her, "Give me a drink."
What good is a historical site? What good is a historic religious site? In Jesus' day, history was about all the Jews had left of the glorious days of power and influence. They had several historical "markers" of where God had acted on their behalf, with The Temple being perhaps the most famous of all. This particular day Jesus is near the site where one of the patriarchs of the faith, Jacob, namesake of the Jews for God had changed his name from Jacob to Israel. But now the land wasn't even of the Jews. It was in Samaritan hands. And the only thing that was "working" was the well also known as Jacob's well. It is at this well that Jesus had this encounter with this woman or vice versa. Being about noon time, in the heat of the day, Jesus asks this woman for a drink of water.
At this historical religious site, it was the presence of Jesus that made this site important. And so it is with all that we hold historical and significant. Unless Jesus is present at this religious sites, it is no more than a marker of something that happened long ago. Isn't that how many hold our churches? Sadly, it is a site of what happened long ago. I believe all of our churches should be a place of what CAN and SHOULD happen if we just let Jesus do what He does best: Share with us the power of God to change our lives and bless us. Then that site, wherever or whatever it is, can truly be a marker of what God did for us and can do for others.
PRAYER: Come, Lord Jesus, to those places we hold as special and holy and make them real again. Let those be the places where You are still present and can change us and all who gather there for Your work. We pray in Thy name. Amen.
Have a great and blessed day!
e.v.
