Hello there everyone,
Today Richard took me back to New Dawn where I arrived at about 8:30 AM. to teach about the Samaritan woman at the well (Jn. 4:1-38). No teachers were there yet so I could spend time writing some phrases and thoughts on the white board that I could use to reinforce the teaching of the day before. It was then that I had tried to teach them what the term "living water" meant in Jewish/Samaritan culture. Living water normally means water from a flowing stream or spring in contrast to water from a well, like Jacob's well in the story, which is not free flowing but stagnant. They as well as we would actually prefer water from a spring. Now Jesus says to the Samaritan woman, "If you knew the gift of God and who it is that asks you for a drink, you would have asked him and he would have given you living water." The kind of water Jesus is talking about here is spiritual living water. The woman, not understanding that yet, rightfully says, "You have nothing to draw water with. And in any case, where would you get 'living water' (that is free flowing spring water) since there are no springs nearby. Besides, are you thinking that you are greater than our forefather Jacob who dug this well and whose family and flocks drank from this well, that you can refuse to accept water from his well?"
Jesus answered, "Everyone who drinks from this well will get thirsty again, but whoever drinks the (spiritual) living water I give him will never thirst. Indeed, that water will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life." The woman, now kind of kidding and not quite being serious, says, "Sir, give me this (living) water so that I won't get thirsty and will not have to keep coming here to Jacob's well to draw water." She says this, because though she probably understands at this point that Jesus is offering her spiritual "living water," she does not really want to buy into that, and keeps talking as if Jesus is offering her living spring water, which he can't give her.
So Jesus decides to change tactics, and says to her, "Go call your husband, and come back." To this she replies, "I have no husband." To this Jesus responds, "You are right when you say you have no husband. The fact is you have had five husbands, and the man you are now living with is not your husband. What you have said is quite true."
Now because this revelation about her private life hits home deeply, and makes her understand she is washed up and running out of aces, she does a very common thing--she switches the subject. "Sir," she says, "I can see you are a prophet." Now in her culture it was understood from Dt. 18:15, that when Moses said there that, after him, "a prophet would come to whom they should listen," Moses was talking about Messiah and that no other prophets would come between the two of them. It is believed that this was also held by some in the Jewish faith. So what the woman really was saying in her belief system was that, because of what Jesus had revealed about her, he had to be Messiah. Now it is probably true that she could not quite process that in her mind yet, so she tries another tactic just like Jesus had done earlier.
She asks him, "Our fathers worshiped here on this mountain, that is Mt. Gerizim, the mountain of the blessings, but you Jews claim that the place we must worship is Jerusalem." This was a theological hot potato that she handed Jesus, really an unsolvable dispute between two countries. But Jesus deftly ducks this debate by saying, "Believe me, woman, a time is coming that you will worship the Father neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem. You Samaritans worship what you do not know, we (the Jews) worship what we do know (by means of revelation), for salvation is from the Jews. He continues, "God the Father is Spirit and he must be worshiped in Spirit and in truth."
This revelation pushes her over the top and she says,"I know that Messiah is coming. When he comes he will explain everything to us." Remember Jesus had explained several things to her: who she really was--that is an immoral woman who had gone through five husbands, where and how to get "spiritual living water," and where and how God the Father was to be worshiped. So suddenly she gets it: he is the prophet who explains everything to her, so he truly is the Messiah. To this, seeing her faith, Jesus responds by saying, "I who speak to you am he!"
What this means that the first time Jesus reveals himself to a person as Messiah, it is to a Samaritan gentile who is an immoral woman living in sin. And this is why I spent so much time to make this clear. He does not reveal himself first to a VIP in Jerusalem.
There is much more to be said about this story, chief of which is that it is Jesus' personal evangelism that reconciles a Samaritan village and the twelve Jewish disciples to God and to each other. They actually spent two days together.
The other story I did is the one I preached on in Sammy's church last Sunday, where Jesus is anointed by a sinful woman (Lk. 7-36-50). This was incredibly well received by the teachers and I wish I could attach my sermon to this e-mail, but this computer does not allow me to get into my home files. Maybe Karen can. (Note from Karen: Nope--I'll have to post this another time.)
After I was through with this lesson we had a long prayer time wherein each teacher expressed why he or she was thankful for this week of teaching, which was very moving. Then they handed me a huge card with a personal thank you note from each teacher, which was truly very nice indeed. After this we had lunch together. It has been wonderful how special and kind they have been to me this week and how sincerely they prayed for Lois every day. They were just wonderful. Then after lunch we took pictures and said goodbyes till it was time to to leave because Richard my driver arrived.
So now I am here in the Guest house writing my last report on my teaching experience here in Kenya. Tomorrow we will go to the Amboseli game park where we will stay till after lunch on Sunday, when we will return to Nairobi to pack and buy souvenirs at the Masai market on Monday morning. Then late that afternoon we fly home.
God bless you all,
Hans
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