[SWIM 1/11/2015] John 4:1-10–The Savior Reveals Himself Posted on January 10, 2015 by justinryu qt.swim.org/living/ newcreationunited.org/blog/ “The Pharisees heard that Jesus was gaining and baptizing more disciple than John, although in fact it was not Jesus who baptized, but his disciples. When the Lord learned of this, he left Judea and went back once more to Galilee.” – 4:1-3 There seemed to be an issue in the transition between John the Baptist and Jesus Christ. John the Baptist supported Jesus, but as a result of his supporting Jesus, he start losing his popularity (as Jesus became more popular). Maybe, this transition was natural to both of them (John and Jesus) as they knew God’s will. However, their followers were not like them. John’s disciples grumbled and complained with bitterness while Jesus’ disciples boasted and was arrogant (maybe they abused their power). It gave excuse to the enemies to deride both of John and Jesus. John made his position clearly in yesterday’s passage by saying, “He must become greater; I must become less” (3:30). By giving up his privilege and making himself humble, John concluded the issue around him. However, Jesus might have got more stress than John. He got blamed of taking advantage of John’s favor, and of being ungrateful. To make matters worse, his disciples were not cautious or careful, but used the authority of Jesus to be popular. Things were a mess. It was hard for Jesus to see John, his benefactor, was in trouble due to him, and to be blamed by ignorant crowds and to be mocked by hypocritical enemies. He also could not control his disciples. Have you ever experienced this kind of situation? Our good will and good intention does not make always good results. It happened that things are not going to the direction we meant. Those around us do not understand our intention and those who showed favor to us and who loved us were hurt due to our work. The moment we want just to stop. The moment that we want to run away leaving everything behind of us. Have you ever experienced it? So, Jesus decide to leave. “When he learned of this, he left Judea and went back once more to Galilee” (4:3). Maybe, Jesus might have thought that his initial ministry in Judea was failure and he just hurt others giving excuses to enemies and failing to control his disciples. So, he decided to go back to his hometown. His heart was heavy and he was tired. He even did not want to take a long way to go back Galilee avoiding Samaria where Jews believed a cursed place and did not go in. He just stopped at Samaria and tired and sat down by the well. He was thirsty. He needed comforts and healing. And it happened that he met a woman, who also was tired and who needed comforts and healing. Jesus asked her, “Will you give me a drink?” (4:7). She asked back to him, “Who are you?” We will read the rest of the story tomorrow, but it seemed that the one who got healing from this encounter was not only her but also Jesus. After meeting this woman, Jesus was recharged and his tiredness was gone and he told his disciples, “I have food to eat that you know nothing about.”
Posted on: Sun, 11 Jan 2015 03:55:44 +0000
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