Enticing Gift

Jesus answered and said to her, "If you knew the gift of God, and who it is who says to you, 'Give Me a drink,' you would have asked Him, and He would have given you living water." She said to Him, "Sir, You have nothing to draw with and the well is deep; where then do You get that living water? You are not greater than our father Jacob, are You, who gave us the well, and drank of it himself and his sons and his cattle?" (John 4:10-12)

What are the main things in this part of their dialog?

It started out with a request for physical water to satisfy physical thirst on the part of Jesus from a woman who could have given it to Him without resistance or even comment.

Because she chose to bring up the issue of the expected prejudices that would normally exist between them, especially from His side, Jesus suddenly begins to talk on a completely different level, a much more spiritual-oriented level that causes her to think deeper and raises questions in her mind.

This woman knew nothing about Jesus except that He looked like a Jew, He was a man and He was obviously tired and thirsty.

Now He begins talking about God which very likely brought up another whole set of prejudices she would expect from both sides. In fact, since she initiated the discussion about prejudice to start with, this allowed Jesus to take the discussion right through that open door that she had made and begin to talk about the real issues behind those prejudices and challenge the false assumptions that she had about them. For the real point of contention that lay at the root of the deep hatred the Jews had for the Samaritans was their beliefs about each side's relationship with God and their perceptions about how God viewed them or valued them.

For Jesus to launch His discussion about God by talking about a gift is significant I believe. This strikes at the root of most of our false ideas about God. Humans tend to view God as one who is demanding something from us much more than offering us kindness or bringing us a gift. Even if our religious teachings use all sorts of words and phrases to the effect of God as a gift-giver, our hearts still have pictures of God that view Him much differently than our words often portray.

Secondly, Jesus brings up the issue of His own identity. He challenges her assumptions about Him, not allowing them to just stand without opportunity to show her the real truth about Himself. But instead of protesting or defending His true identity, He guides the conversation by the use of baits for her curiosity. He refers to things that are important to her to draw her into thinking more into the open about things that are real and that will cause her to begin thinking about things that are unresolved much deeper in her heart. Jesus wants to take her to the deepest places of the soul where she has the most intense need for real healing and satisfaction.

I wonder if the idea of a gift was a natural trigger word that would connect with her particula personality. Maybe she was the kind of person who especially enjoyed gifts, who liked to give gifts to others and who communicated through the use of gifts more than the average person. If so, then Jesus' use of a reference to a gift, especially coming from God, would really grab her attention and maybe even cause her face to light up with anticipation and curiosity.

Closely connected with the idea of gifts is the identity of the gift-giver. The meaning of gifts is closely linked to the identity of whoever it is who offers them. Secret gifts can create an enormous amount of interest in people's imagination wondering who it is who is trying to impress them and draw out their attentions. The use of gifts has always been a means by which people try to soften others up, to change their opinions about them, to prepare their heart to be more open to viewing the gift-giver in a more positive light.

The more I consider this aspect of the story the more intriguing it is and full of potential insights. I want to think more about this idea of a gift and why Jesus wanted to connect it with God and with Himself. In fact, that is exactly what He was doing in this sentence. He starts out by talking about a gift, an offer of kindness designed to induce a much deeper level of friendship, and then immediately puts Himself into the picture as possibly one and the same with the gift-giver Himself. It also resonates with the recent conversation recorded here that Jesus had with Nicodemus.

From my perspective of this conversation after the fact, I can read much more into these words than the woman would have initially. I look at this and ask, Could Jesus be inferring that the gift of God and His own identity may be one and the same? Is He Himself the gift He is talking about, at least in part?

But I don't think that was part of her thinking at that point in time, though it may have started to sink in later on. I believe that at this point Jesus was primarily trying to connect in her mind a strong link between His own identity and the identity of the originator of the gift which He plainly said was God. In addition He also refers to living water which also could be viewed as the gift which God had to offer her. But in fact, when it is all said and done it becomes evident that Jesus Himself is in fact the living water that God was offering to her. But at this point Jesus is not trying to explain all of that. He is simply eliciting her curiosity and drawing out her heart in connection with the deeper longings within her that He wants to address and satisfy.

It may seem silly to state the obvious, but I often find it helpful, for me anyway, to do that in my pursuit of turning over every stone to hunt for exciting treasures in the Word of God. Jesus did not use some other analogy here because He always tried to fit His communications to what was of interest to the person He was talking to. So in starting a conversation with this woman Jesus chooses to use thirst and water and gifts to elicit the most interest in her heart. If He were to talk about fish or farming or other illustrations that He used other times it would not have had near the effect that water and gifts had in her mind.

Then I wonder how many times we tend to try to offer up analogies to people to generate interest in spiritual things that simply don't resonate at all with where they are in their own life. Sometimes in frustration we even try to force them to feel a need for our analogies or our brand of “evangelistic” methods to make them feel a desire for what we want to tell them. We talk about sheep and shepherds when most of us have never been around sheep. We rehearse Jesus' stories about farming when some people don't even hardly know where food comes from. But Jesus did not use that approach. He personalized His conversations with people to connect with them using the things that they were most familiar with in their own life.

Sometimes I wonder about our reluctance to use any parables except what Jesus used to illustrate the nature of the real kingdom of heaven. We are afraid that God might be offended if we try to come up with new illustrations that involve modern situations and technology that are a large part of our daily thinking. Yet I believe that if Jesus were here in person today He would do exactly that.

But wait! He said that He is here in the person of each one who gives themselves to Him to be used as a channel for Him to reach others. So maybe He just might still be adapting His words and references to meet people where their real interest can be peaked the most. Maybe if we listen to the Spirit like Jesus listened to it we too would speak words and intriguing thoughts that would be relevant to others and attract them to want to know God at a much deeper level.

I want to explore even more this idea of a gift. But I will have wait to do that when I have more time.

Defining Reality

Jesus answered and said to her, "If you knew the gift of God, and who it is who says to you, 'Give Me a drink,' you would have asked Him, and He would have given you living water." (John 4:10)

What is Jesus implying here to this woman? If you knew... What is this really saying about her from her perspective? How does this come across to her coming from a complete and suspicious stranger?

He is implying that she has a lack of knowing, understanding, perceiving. He is trying to tell her that she doesn't really know what she assumes she knows – what would seem to be so obvious to anyone who might view this situation around there. He claims that she is ignorant of at least two things here. She is unaware of some sort of gift connected with God somehow and she doesn't have a clue as to who He really is.

She assumed that she did know something about Him just as all of us make hundreds of unquestioned assumptions all the time. He was rather obviously a Jew. Jews were well known for being prejudiced, bigoted, aloof, self-centered, arrogant and often even spiteful. Jews hated Samaritans and she was one of those, so of course He must hate her. Besides, she was also a woman which gave Him double reason to despise and ignore her. All of this she assumed that she knew about Him.

And as far as something about a gift goes, well, she was also in the mindset like most of us, that you have to earn what you get. She had to scrap and hunt and calculate and work hard just to survive. Because life was not good to her and she was a social outcast even among her own people, she was enduring the heat of the day to come out to this well, laboring hard to get needed water for her existence. Then this Jew comes along and asks for a handout. What nerve. Why does he think he can just show up at a well in the middle of the day when usually no one is even around and then impose upon some poor woman who is weaker and less socially acceptable than He is to do Him a favor? Just who does He think He is anyway?

Is this guy the epitome of the arrogant Jew? Is He so elevated in His own opinion about Himself that He thinks He deserves special treatment even above all the other arrogant Jews who normally wouldn't even speak to her in the first place? Does He think He is better than everyone else? And who does He think she is anyway, His slave or something? Just suddenly asking a favor from a total stranger under these conditions is so bizarre and out of place that it shocks even her who thought that she had already seen everything.

But in spite of all this, in spite of all her assumptions that have been brought up for question, something about this man awakens curiosity in her soul. It is not just His unusual words that stir deep inside of her but the atmosphere surrounding Him. There is something that just can't be put into words that attracts her to want to know more about Him, that makes her feel strangely safe around Him, that pulls her into His presence. She is willing to play along in this bizarre conversation to see where it will take her. After all, she does have hidden deep inside her a spirit of compassion and kindness and she can obviously see His need for a drink. And even though it seems socially totally out of place for Him to ask her for a drink, she can't help but want to know more about Him and to possibly connect with Him at some level.

And what is this thing about living water that He is talking about? She never heard of such a thing before. Living water? Whatever could that be? It sounded exciting, full of potential, almost magical in a way. It sounded like something that maybe she had fantasized about, maybe even that morning. This business of hauling heavy containers of water every day to meet the needs of those she was looking out for was an awful lot of hard work. If only there was some other way to get it to her house – like indoor plumbing which was unheard of in her little village.

But connected to His words was a spirit that seemed to imply all sorts of other potential things related to His words that felt so compelling to a deeper part of her. The far more potent communications coming from His body language, His face, His tone of voice, His spirit of gentleness and kindness were irresistible. This idea of living water was just too intriguing to ignore. She just had to ask about it. But she didn't want to sound too gullible so she had to frame her response in the context of her skepticism. After all, this guy was a prejudiced Jew even if He was in desperate need of help. So she needed to point out the obvious to Him.

She said to Him, "Sir, You have nothing to draw with and the well is deep; where then do You get that living water? (John 4:11)

Jesus had implied to her that she was ignorant of the facts of reality. Well, now it was her turn to point out what seemed to be the obvious oversight. If He might think she was stupid maybe it was time to remind Him of His own situation if she hadn't come along. He had said there were two things that she didn't know and so she tells Him that there are two things He evidently doesn't remember.

“You don't have the equipment or wherewithal to get water out of this well. You don't have a rope, you don't have a container and without those things there is no way to get water even if you could reach it with your hands.

“Which brings up the second point. If you hadn't noticed yet, this particular well is rather deep and the water is not very close to the surface. This is not a spring that pushes water right up to the surface like as found in other places around the country. This is a well, the only good well around here and this well is quite deep. If anyone wants to get water to drink from this well they have to be properly equipped or it simply cannot be done. So, given all these obvious and undeniable facts that You seem to be overlooking, just what in the heck are you talking about – this living water business? I am really curious now.”

How much am I arguing with God about what is real and what is relevant?

How often do I insist that God cannot do something because the circumstances just don't allow for it?

How willing am I to have my assumptions challenged, to allow my heart to think outside of the box, to respond to inferences about overcoming the impossible when God says that things are not the way that I perceive them to be?

In many ways I feel like a social misfit like this woman. I feel misunderstood and unloved and used at times. No, I have not endured the extremes of abuse or had the same sort of messed up life that quite possibly she had experienced. But inside, my heart can resonate with many of the things she felt.

Like her, I have a lot of assumptions about reality that still need to be replaced with God's perspective of what is real. I, like her, am busy going about trying to take care of myself, trying to procure my needs through hard work and self-dependence. I too, often feel sorry for myself and my own pain and my broken relationships and my emotional isolation. So what is Jesus saying to me that sounds bizarre and impossible? What in my thinking needs to be exposed as blocks to my believing that Jesus wants to share real life-giving water with me? And how aware am I of my own desperate thirst and need for this kind of water myself?

How long am I going to keep telling God that He doesn't have the ability or resources to take care of my deepest needs? Am I ready to lay aside my limitations on God and allow Him to love me, to provide for my needs, to draw me into much deeper intimacy with God, to bring me to experience genuine and authentic worship?

A New Kind of Soldier

The woman of Samaria said to him, Why do you, a Jew, make a request for water to me, a woman of Samaria? She said this because Jews have nothing to do with the people of Samaria. In answer Jesus said, If you had knowledge of what God gives freely and who it is who says to you, Give me water, you would make your prayer to him, and he would give you living water. (John 4:9-10 BBE)

One of the most common prayers that we pray in reaction to surprising or tragic situations is the “why” prayers. Nearly everyone has heard them. They come in different forms and sometimes using different words, but underlying all of them is this one word, why.

So I ask the next question, Why do we ask the why prayers? Why is it so important to us, so compelling for us to know why things happen the way they do?

Even more illusive is the deeply entrenched assumptions behind these kinds of prayers. When we emphatically demand to know why God allowed such terrible things to happen to us, implied in most of these prayers is the belief that God willed it to happen to us. Nearly everyone is quick to blame God for most of the bad things that happen to them while most of the good things of life are chalked up to rewards for our own ability to look out for ourselves, our skill to earn good things to enjoy or even just good luck. But when bad things happen that seem unexplainable, it is so natural to immediately blame God and demand to know why He is treating us this way.

But interestingly this is not exactly the case in this story. In fact, it seems that this woman is so used to bad things happening to her, to being rejected by others that she has come to the place in her life where the unusual and unexplainable are the good things or the affirmations that might come her way. She is so used to fear, rejection and shame that it has become the norm in her life, what is expected and unquestioned. So when a person comes along who is positioned to be the most likely to reject, ignore and shame her suddenly acts just the opposite, her surprise and shock elicits the why question in reverse.

Why is something positive happening to me?

Why is a man treating me with respect?

Why is a Jew not prejudiced against me as a Palestinian?

There must be a hidden motive here because everyone uses me for their advantage. So what's in it for Him? This is a new approach that I am not familiar with, so what is really going on here?

I have observed that over the years people generally have come up with their own answers for the why prayers both for themselves and for others around them. Unfortunately many of these answers are based on very distorted and sick pictures of God that further darken our heart's opinions about Him. Even though many of them appear on the surface to be plausible answers and maybe even complimentary for God, if the underlying assumptions are examined they actually portray God as having sadistic characteristics and motives.

God took your child in this tragic accident because He wanted them in heaven with Him.

God is teaching you a lesson. When you learn your lessons then things will be better again.

God is punishing you for something bad you have done. Repent or worse things will happen to you.

God is angry with you because you are a bad person.

God is showing you how worthless you are.

While most of us may not resonate with all of these concepts, yet they each have been used to justify opinions about what we believe is God's harsh dealings with us or why life seems so inexplicable at times. For some deep reason our minds demand to have a logical explanation for why things happen to us the way they do. And the more I think about this the more I wonder if it is not rooted in our desires to be in control of our own lives. And to be in control we have to know the logic and reasons for why things happen.

I am not implying that it is wrong to want to know why things are and how they fit together. Some have concluded that we should just give up wanting to figure anything out and just surrender to a fatalistic view of life. Whatever happens will happen. I have no control or influence over anything so I have to just take whatever comes lying down.

Implicit in that kind of reasoning can be the belief that because I have no control then it also doesn't matter what I do. This then allows our sinful desires to run rampant and ruin our lives because we feel there is no logic, no reason and no cause and effect relationships in place. This is simply another ploy of the enemy to destroy our lives and keep us outside of God's plans and love for us.

But most of us are still trying to figure things out so we can make sense of them. But the real question goes back to why we ask the why questions in the first place. What is our real motives, the gut-level cravings that cause us to demand to have answers even when those answers are often very flawed? Are we even willing to allow the Spirit of God to take us to those deeper places inside of us where our true motives try to hide under the logic and reasons and simplistic explanations that we operate under day by day?

I believe there are times when the why questions are actually authentic expressions of a readiness to accept new explanations, new views of what God is really like. And while most of the why questions are often rhetorical and are more along the line of expressions of anger against God, some why questions lead to an honest challenging of our current belief systems, a real questioning of our definitions of reality, an opening of the heart to think in totally new ways. We are sometimes ready to allow many of our previous conclusions to come up for genuine reexamination and to consider that maybe we are actually wrong about our opinions about life, about reality and most importantly about what God is like and how He feels about us.

I believe that this was the case with this woman of Sychar. Jesus knew her background because the Holy Spirit had revealed it to Him. He knew the abuse, the shame, the fears and the lies about God that filled her life and her soul. But He also could see her heart, the genuine heart-longings and the honesty that was so buried under everything else that no one else had noticed it. And through the inspiration of the Spirit of God that always controlled the Son of God, Jesus was able to find possibly the only tiny entrance into her strongly barricaded heart to draw out her deepest longings through the means of curiosity which circumvented her strong defenses. In essence Jesus made an end-run around her frontal defenses and was able to take her heart captive in a few minutes with His calculated assault of compassion and love.

When Christians talk about spiritual warfare I tend to cringe much of the time because the spirit that is inherent in much of that kind of talk is usually the spirit found in the kind of wars that nations fight with each other. Being a Christian soldier is too often assumed to mean that we launch aggressive assaults on “unbelievers”, that we use force and confrontation or worse yet heap condemnation and guilt onto sinners in the false belief that this is going to terrify them into repentance and belief in God. We use harsh punishments sometimes with our children or we use passivity and indulgent laxness which can produce even worse results at times. But our methods are almost always based on confused ideas about how God treats us and His attitude towards us. In effect, we very often try to promote truth and “righteousness” by using the spirit and methods of the enemy of righteousness and then wonder why the results are not terribly effective or long-lasting.

Our methods of Christian warfare are most often ineffective or have produced Christians with an experience based more on fear than on a genuine love-relationship with Jesus because we are using the wrong spirit in our methods. The very word “warfare” throws us off because our minds immediately go down the wrong path of logic and experience whenever we use that kind of terminology. I believe it is very important that we be willing to carefully reexamine our assumptions and our spirit about the true meaning of warfare as God intended it in the Scriptures.

For though we live in the world, we do not wage war as the world does. The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world. On the contrary, they have divine power to demolish strongholds. We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ. (2 Corinthians 10:3-5 NIV)

This encounter with the woman in Samaria was a classic illustration of how God wages war. Jesus launched an all out assault on the strongholds that held this woman's heart captive to lies about life and about God. The weapons He used were radically different than the weapons of fear, force and intimidation that the world uses and the results were also radically different. When Jesus takes people captive they become love slaves for Him – not the kind of “love” slaves that perverted men think of but slaves who are hopelessly in love with One who has loved them with ultimate respect, compassion and tenderness first. The chains that bind them to Him are the cords of love responding to the love they encountered when He first loved them.

Jesus executed a battle that succeeded in capturing this woman's heart in just a few minutes. The result was astounding and highly effective. Through her capture He quickly was able to take over the whole city with His truth and presence and grace as the power of love spread like a contagious infection from one person to another in short order. When the disciples finally caught on that something was happening most of the work had already been accomplished. The skirmish was nearly over and joy and celebration were igniting all over the place.

I want to learn to fight like that. I want the love and compassion and tenderness of Jesus to flow from my life and to use me as a captive turned into a soldier of Yahweh. I want to lay aside the weapons and methods of the world and to become a safe soldier who is a channel of love and real truth, a soldier that conquers by the word of his testimony and by the blood of the Lamb. I want to be a soldier of joy that takes down every stronghold and overcomes every argument and captures every thought. I want a much deeper knowledge of God at an intimate level so that my life becomes a compelling attraction to draw others into the army of God, an army of ultimate lovers.