Be My Vision

Here we have a man of vision- a man who can see more clearly, can see behind the obvious and behind the world of culture and prejudice. Jesus was not afraid to challenge the cultural and religious norms when he thought it necessary-he had spent quite a time with this woman- something which ran counter to what the rabbinic leaders had taught for any years Here are some of the things they said “each time that a man prolongs converse with a woman he causes evil to himself, and desists from the Law, and in the end inherits Gehinnom [hell]” by rabbinic standards Jesus was shatteringly unconventional in talking to this woman at all but he never shrank from destroying any of the barriers that stood in the way of a personal intimacy with God. If you ever get to visit Rome you must, I am reliably told, visit the Sistine chapel in the Vatican- there you will see the work of Michael Angelo who spend weeks on his back painting the ceiling- one of his works is about the creation of Adam – it is a picture of God reaching out to his creation to bring him life- God wants you and he wants me to have an intimate relationship with him- hence his initial creation and the enormous lengths that he has gone to win us back to fellowship- he has brought forgiveness and new life and given them to us at the cost of his own life. Perhaps you have experienced the pain of being ignored! When the disciples returned from getting the food for the hungry, thirsty and weary Jesus, they must have seen him talking to the woman but they passed no remarks- they just ignored her and they did not even criticise Jesus- v27 “But no one asked, “what do you want [speaking to the woman]? Or “why are you talking to her? [Speaking to Jesus] This was true to form as good Jews who refused to pay any attention to Women, Gentiles or Samaritans. The pain of being ignored is much worse than open hostility- by ignoring her they were refusing to acknowledge her value as a human being. But it was very different with Jesus- he not only spoke to her, he opened the conversation- something which was against Rabbinic principles- “let no one talk with a woman in the street, no, not even his own wife” Maybe you know the pain of being ignored? Have you ever been somewhere whre you were just ignored? Have you ever felt left out of the conversation or experienced one of those handshakes where there was no eye contact or warmth at all? What would you do if you went to a church where no one ever spoke to you? Eventually you would walk out the door and never return and all too often that is how outsider feel when they are made to feel like outsiders. Part of our mission statement is to be “attractive to our community” so we need a love which is like charity, it begins at home but doesn’t stay there. When the disciples returned the woman vanished. Had she experienced the hostility of the disciples she would have just taken the hint and vanished but she experienced the acceptance and affirmation of jesus and so she fled, leaving her water pot sitting at the well, and returned later with a crowd of people. Jesus saw a woman who needed him but he also saw an OPPORTUNITY TO SERVE God. V32,34 “I have food that you know nothing about.” “My food is to do the will of him who sent me and to finish his work” This was beyond the understanding of the disciples- they wanted him to eat something but he saw his real food as serving God. Just as the woman found it difficult to understand about the spiritual water so they find it difficult to understand what he was assaying about the bread of life. For Jesus this service meant going to the cross and to death to die for you and me Serving God meant reaching out to all men and women- Jews, Gentiles, and Samaritans and even Samaritan women! This woman was marginalised by reason of her birth and lifestyle but Jesus was not willing that she should know only rejection- he wanted her to know life. Our calling is to reach out to all people also- not just to those who agree with us not just to the respectable and the respected but also to the publicans and the sinners. As Jesus looked at the scene before his eyes he saw that the harvest was ready for bringing in. We know that the woman went away with much to think about and later we see that she went and talked to her friends and told them all about Jesus- so many of them made the journey back to see for themselves. It is just possible that when Jesus looked in front of him he could see them making their way back and to complete the picture they were all dressed in white- that is the way they dressed and so when he said the “fields are white and ready to harvest” he had this literal picture in his mind. Here then is a window of opportunity- they wanted to know more about Jesus and so the disciples were being given an opportunity to reap where they had not sown- the time would come when the followers of Christ would once again experience what it was like to sow and have someone else do the reaping but for now this arising of Samaritan interest called for reaping. At first it was because she believed that they believed but then that faith became their own faith So Jesus spend a few days with them teaching and instructing them. Jesus was a man of great vision and that is why the woman responded to him And that is why we respond to him but just think for a moment What would have happened if she had only met the ignorance of the disciples- in fairness they were men of their time and culture and we too are people of our culture and time but Christians are called to be DIFFERENT. Peterson says that when they returned the woman “took the hint” and went away In response to Jesus she went away to tell others all that she had experienced.- she was so excited that she forgot her water pot and Jesus was so excited that he forgot all about His hunger and thirst and weariness- Can we get excited about doing God’s will? Do we want to live our lives as God would have it? Do we long to engage with people about the gospel message? Are we so excited that we care little what a person is theologically? Are we going to be different to the culture of our time? Do we long for an intimacy with God which will result in better relationships with other people? Jesus had a vision which allowed him to see beyond class and culture- we need to pray for this kind of spiritual eyesight.