Good day everyone. I trust on this Memorial Day we will honor the war dead. This day is dedicated to the memory of those who died during battle. We pray the comfort of God be with those families who remember loved ones who fell during wars and conflicts while serving the US military forces. May those who are wounded be healed completely and may the causes of conflict be healed as well so that peace may reign in the world.
I share a joy as I start this day. Yesterday, I chose to worship with the brothers and sisters at our sister church, El Buen Pastor UMC here in San Marcos. I had two purposes in going. First, I wanted to hear Rev. Antonio Silva preach before he leaves on a medical disability. Second, I wanted to sing in Spanish. It was still a joy to hear a guest preacher. She is the wife of my high school pastor. The Rev. Arturo Mariscal was pastor of El Buen Pastor UMC in Houston when I felt the call from God into ministry. His wife, Raquel, brought the message on Children's Sunday. It was still a joy to sing old favorites, all in English. This gives me a reason to go back on another day off. It was a historic Sunday for them as there were five (5) UM pastors in attendance. Counting Rev. Silva, Rev. Mariscal, The Rev. Teresa Peña retired local pastor and associate at EBP-SM, The Rev. Lydia Martinez, and myself. Rev. Martinez is a retired pastor from our conference and she chose to visit the church on this same Sunday as Nellie, Carli, and I. The church was decorated by the children, the special music was done by seventeen kids who did a great job, and a small party was celebrated in honor of the children. We were blessed.
I know that Pastor Rob preached on the woman at the well. Here is that text:
7 A Samaritan woman came to draw water, and Jesus said to her, "Give me a drink." 8 (His disciples had gone to the city to buy food.) 9 The Samaritan woman said to him, "How is it that you, a Jew, ask a drink of me, a woman of Samaria?" (Jews do not share things in common with Samaritans.) 10 Jesus answered her, "If you knew the gift of God, and who it is that is saying to you, "Give me a drink,' you would have asked him, and he would have given you living water." 11 The woman said to him, "Sir, you have no bucket, and the well is deep. Where do you get that living water? 12 Are you greater than our ancestor Jacob, who gave us the well, and with his sons and his flocks drank from it?" 13 Jesus said to her, "Everyone who drinks of this water will be thirsty again, 14 but those who drink of the water that I will give them will never be thirsty. The water that I will give will become in them a spring of water gushing up to eternal life." 15 The woman said to him, "Sir, give me this water, so that I may never be thirsty or have to keep coming here to draw water." 16 Jesus said to her, "Go, call your husband, and come back." 17 The woman answered him, "I have no husband." Jesus said to her, "You are right in saying, "I have no husband'; 18 for you have had five husbands, and the one you have now is not your husband. What you have said is true!" 19 The woman said to him, "Sir, I see that you are a prophet. 20 Our ancestors worshiped on this mountain, but you say that the place where people must worship is in Jerusalem." 21 Jesus said to her, "Woman, believe me, the hour is coming when you will worship the Father neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem. 22 You worship what you do not know; we worship what we know, for salvation is from the Jews. 23 But the hour is coming, and is now here, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for the Father seeks such as these to worship him. 24 God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth." 25 The woman said to him, "I know that Messiah is coming" (who is called Christ). "When he comes, he will proclaim all things to us." 26 Jesus said to her, "I am he, the one who is speaking to you."
Most of last night we were treated to a sound and light show in the heavens. It started for us in north Austin while at a theatre. Nellie, Carli, Caty, and I were watching a recently released remake of an old movie. These days it could any number of movies given the track record of Hollywood just remaking old movies. This one was the old Burt Reynolds movie, "The Longest Yard." Yet, about fifteen minutes from the end, the storm brought the movie to a halt. The emergency lights came on immediately, and the ushers came quickly to say it would be a couple of minutes before the movie started again. I might add we were at an Alamo Draft House, where one can eat supper while watching the movie, which is what we did. So the interruption came at a time that almost all the audience got up to go to the bathroom. We waited thinking "a couple of minutes" would be a couple of minutes. After about 45 minutes of waiting and the ushers/waiters wanting to keep us entertained, they passed out tickets for us to return if we wanted or to wait until the power came back on. The folks in front of us said it for us. "This was a cute movie but I don't think I can stand sitting through it again just to see the end!" Amen. I've seen the original so I know the ending, just wanted to know what twists they put in. But it was not to be. The ushers finally announced that nothing was coming back on. The area around the theatre reflected the power outage. No traffic lights in the area were working and our best bet was to get back on 183 as soon as possible to come home. We arrived safely home and went to bed only to be awakened by the thunder and flashes of lightning. Physically we were satisfied by the meal. In terms of entertainment, the sudden end of the movie made us unsatisfied.
What satisfies? This woman mentioned in the above text had sought out meaning and purpose for her life in a series of marriages and untold number of relationships. Five marriages and one live-in relationship tell us a lot about what this woman had sought. We don't know if she was the breakup of the five marriages or not. It just indicates she was searching for what she could call love. It hadn't come. Today she was face to face with "the gift of God" as Jesus referred to himself in this passage. Today she was face to face with He who could give her the water that satisfies forever. She didn't understand. She thought Jesus had a special water that would satisfy physical thirst forever. She thought that this one drink of water would mean no more trips to the well! That would have been great. But Jesus was speaking spiritually to this woman who had been seeking for spiritual meaning all her life. Her faith had not satisfied her life, and so she sought meaning in love relationships. This hadn't satisfied. She perhaps married the first time thinking, "This is it! I've found Mr. Right and together we'll be happy forever!" We don't know if Mr. Right I died or if he and this woman divorced. That marriage ended. Along comes Mr. Right II, III, IV, and V, and all these marriages end. Then comes VI, but not in a marriage just a live-in relationship. And she was still looking for satisfaction and meaning.
This woman declares Jesus to be the Messiah. And because of her testimony we know that several in that Samaritan community came to believe in Jesus as "the savior of the world." This is where I know many wish the Bible would fill in the details or as Paul Harvey says, "The rest of the story." We don't know it. We know the big story, that salvation, that is meaning and purpose came to the lives of those who knew this woman and who because of her testimony came to faith themselves. What else do we need to know? Cannot this satisfy us?
What are you looking for? Where are you looking? Can't we know we've found the Well that satisfies? What is keeping us from becoming the people the Lord wants us to be?
PRAYER: God satisfy our thirst. You know what that thirst is and where we've sought quenching. Pour our the living water of Jesus into our lives so that we could indeed quit seeking and start living as You intended. We pray in Jesus' name. Amen.
Have a safe Memorial Day! Please be in prayer for the members of the annual conference that travel to Corpus Christi to be at our conference and later this week for our brothers and sisters of the Rio Grande Conference who come to join us for some special joint events.
Blessings!
e.v.
