Evening Prayer 2-12-11

Reading:
John 4:27-45

"Why are you talking to her?"

The disciples see our Lord speaking with a woman from Samaria.  Now the Samaritans were part Jew and they were considered outcasts of the Jewish faith.  They believed in the Pentateuch (First 5 books of the Bible).  So they knew that at some time the Messiah the Savior of the world would come.  So the disciples marveled at Jesus speaking with her but did not ask why are you talking to her?

But in today's society, how many times do we in the Church approach the faith in this manner.  We see those that we deem undesirable and if someone from the Church was speaking with them we may wonder why.  We see those in the Church that are coming for the first time and if they do not come back immediately, we wonder what is wrong with them.  Why can't they see Jesus for everything that "we" see Him for and why don't they want to worship Him.

Well, we have to remember we are not to become like the Pharisees who stayed distant from people.  But rather we are to reach into the lives of others and bring the love God as found in Jesus Christ to them.  This means meeting people where they are.  It means confronting their sin as we preach boldly the Law of God and then applying the healing balm of the Gospel that they are saved because the Savior of the world has come.  This is what Jesus did with the woman at the well.  He told her all that she had ever done and He did not say to her you are lost and have no hope.  He tells her that the hour is coming when all will worship God in spirit and in truth.  When we speak like this to people that there is hope in Jesus Christ, that there is nothing you can ever do that God can not forgive you for in His Son, there is the gift of grace presented to the person.  It is there that they can hear God is not some judge to be feared because He sent His Son to be everything that we could not be and He now gives us eternal life.

Reach the people where they are.  They may not jump at the Gospel right away, but you planted the seed.  Now it is the role of the Holy Spirit to give the increase.  When that occurs the person will respond with the Samaritans "and we know that this is indeed the Savior of the world."