Not Gatorade, it's eternal made! pt.2

I left off in the last post about the importance of the time of day. It was noon it tells us in verse 6. Noon, the hottest part of the day. Why would a woman walk alone by herself a mile out of town to get water at the hottest time of the day? She was a lowlife! The well in Jesus' day was like Starbucks of today, it was the place to be in the morning to catch up with friends and listen to Mumford and Sons and Guster ad nauseaum. The Samaritan woman had no friends and we find out in a later verse that she has no friends because she has been married fives times and is currently with a guy she isn't married to. Nobody wanted to be associated with her. The Samaritans were heathens, but they still had standards. Getting divorced in that time was bad, do it 5 times and you have a recurring spot on the Jerry Springer Show. She was disliked and probably plagued with gossip, which has led her to coming out to the well at the hottest time of the day so she would be alone. It would be adisgrace for her to arrive at the well alone. She was a epic loser in love. Think about it, being a Samaritan she was hated by Jews, but because of her infidelities she was hated by her own people. She was hated by everyone, until Jesus came along.

In verse 7 the dialogue between Jesus and the woman begins and Jesus is about to break every social rule of that day, there was to break!

7 When a Samaritan woman came to draw water, Jesus said to her, “Will you give me a drink?” 8 (His disciples had gone into the town to buy food.),

9 The Samaritan woman said to him,“You are a Jew and I am a Samaritan woman. How can you ask me for a drink?” (For Jews do not associate with Samaritans.)

Jesus is left alone at the well and the Samaritan woman comes up to draw some water and Jesus asks for some water. To us in this day and age asking for a drink wouldn't be seen as odd, but in Jesus' day it was a social no-no. A man would never address a woman in public, especially if they were alone. There were Jews who would not address a woman in public, even if it was their sister, daughter, or wife. They didn't want anyone to get the wrong impression. They didn't want to be tempted either. There were these Pharisees, they were called the "Bleeding Pharisees" since they would walk around with there head down, staring at the ground running into things, just so they wouldn't be tempted by a woman. These people took this very serious. The woman knows the social rules and questions Jesus how he would even dare speak to her since" 1.) she is a Samaritan and 2.)an alone woman. She states that she is a Samaritan and that is request is outlandish. The author John even makes note that Jews don't associate with Samaritans at the end of verse 9. It is that important that John gives commentary to his own writing.

Not Gatorade, it's eternal made! Pt. 1

If you read back into the "Jesus...a skater?" post, you will read I mentioned a story about the woman at the well in John Chapter 4. I am going to go a bit in depth and explain how much of a loser this chick was. It will take me 2 or 3 posts to get it all out, so bare with me. I think you will be surprised and intrigued about Jesus' attitude towards racism, sexism, and getting right with God. Let's start with the first 3 verses of John, chapter 4.

4 Now he had to go through Samaria. 5 So he came to a town in Samaria called Sychar, near the plot of ground Jacob had given to his son Joseph. 6 Jacob’s well was there, and Jesus, tired as he was from the journey, sat down by the well. It was about noon.

Verse 4 states that "he had to go through Samaria". The words "he had to go" indicate something crucial is going on here, but the text doesn't point it out. This is where geography and history put things into a bigger picture. If you bare with me, this will all make a lot of sense in the next post and why it is important info.

The land of ancient Palestine was separated into three areas: Judah in the south, Galilee in the north, and Samaria smack dab in the middle. Galilee and Judah were Jewish lands. Samaria was an area of confused spiritualists mixing Judaism with whatever they decided to worship. Mostly it was nature, but not the God how made it. They probably were in the running for the patron saint of pluralism. Normally, a Jew traveling from North to South or vice-versa would go around Samaria along the far side of Jordan. It didn't matter that it took an extra day. They viewed Samaritans as spiritual mongrels, in-breeds, and heathens. Needless to say, Jews and Samaritans despised each other with great passion.

To give a small inkling of their overall hatred towards each other, if a Samaritan owed a Jew money, the Samarian would drop the coin money owed into a vessel of water so that when the Jew pulled it out of the water it was considered clean. It would be like whites and blacks in the 1950's in the United States. We had black restrooms and white restrooms. Segregation was something we sadly did as Americans, but it was nothing new. The Jews treated the Samaritans the same way. The Jews would do anything not to be seen as unclean, so they treated them as the whites treated blacks. The Jews would use separate everything to avoid contact with anything a Samaritan touched. There was over a 600 years of bad blood between the Jews and Samaritans.

Verse 5 and 6 gives us a backdrop of how long the people have lived in the area. Joseph's bones were brought back and buried at the well. The 24th chapter of Joshua ,when Joshua assembles all the tribes of Israel, he brings Joseph's bones to the well. This is around 1443 b.c. Joshua declared a rock as a witness as he presented the laws and decrees of God to the people there. The people in Samaria were taken captive by the Persians and made exiles in their own land. During that time of exile the Persians persisted with their idolatry and image worship until the Samaritans combined Judaism and idol worship together, creating a hybrid religion that did not put God as the God of creation, but a god from man's hand. The temple in Jerusalem had been destroyed (Ezra 4:1-5) and the Samaritans offered to help rebuild the temple, but the Jews refused. This created even more tension between them.

Verse 6 tells us Jesus had been traveling in the hot middle eastern sun until noon. He was tired, which tells us even though he was the Son of God, he was still man. The heat drained him of his energy just as it would do to us. The well was not a little "Jack and Jill up the hill" kind of well. This well was nine feet wide and roughly 250 feet deep. There was a wall around it about knee to thigh high. This is where Jesus sat. The last thing we find out in these three verses is the time. It's noon, the hottest part of the day. When the Bible gives us a specific time, there is usually a very good reason for it. Why would a woman walk a mile from town to the well in the heat of the day? I will explain more in the next few posts. Just three short verses and there was all this to explain. These are Cliff notes in comparison to the depth we could really go into.

Not Gatorade, it's eternal made! Pt. 3

10 Jesus answered her, “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.” 11 “Sir,” the woman said, “you have nothing to draw with and the well is deep. Where can you get this living water? 12 Are you greater than our father Jacob, who gave us the well and drank from it himself, as did also his sons and his livestock?”

13 Jesus answered, “Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again, 14 but whoever drinks the water I give them will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give them will become in them a spring of water welling up to eternal life.”

15 The woman said to him, “Sir, give me this water so that I won’t get thirsty and have to keep coming here to draw water.”

This section of the passage shows how lost the Samaritans are with their relgion and the things they believe. Remember that the Samaritans at one time were a Jewish group, until the Assyrian invasion and they became refugees in their own land, then becoming a misled region of people away from their Jewish roots and heritage. Jesus in these verses is straight froward with her about who he is and what he can do for her, yet she misses the vital part that he is refering to himself. The woman questions Jesus, asking about him having a bucket to get water and they questions his authority. She questions his authority, his greatness, his ability to provide the very thing he came to give us all; eternal life. Jesus doesn't become upset or agrravated by the woman's inquiries, but simply continues explaining further about the spring of water leading to eternal life. It's not actual water that Jesus is talking about, but the message of eternal life he has brought to save all of mankind.

In verses 13-15, Jesus gives the Samaritan woman instruction that if she drinks the water she too can have a "spring of water welling up to eternal life." Jesus tells her of his exact mission to do so and not a moment later she is asking for the water, but she still doesn't understand. The Samaritan woman, just like Nicodemus in chapter 3 doesn't realize that Jesus is speaking figuratively, not literally. She is interested in the water so she won't have to make the one and half mile trek to the well everyday to retrieve water. She wants an easy way out of the miserable chore of facing the burning sun everyday to fetch water.The woman is thinking of the here and now, but Christ is thinking of future....forever. Being a follower of Jesus is more than cutting out the "walk to the well," and the tedious chores of our day to day lives, it is about gaining eternal life!

Jesus meets a midget!?!

Luke 19:1-10

New International Version (NIV)

Zacchaeus the Tax Collector

Jesus entered Jericho and was passing through. 2 A man was there by the name of Zacchaeus; he was a chief tax collector and was wealthy. 3 He wanted to see who Jesus was, but because he was short he could not see over the crowd. 4 So he ran ahead and climbed a sycamore-fig tree to see him, since Jesus was coming that way.

5 When Jesus reached the spot, he looked up and said to him, “Zacchaeus, come down immediately. I must stay at your house today.” 6 So he came down at once and welcomed him gladly.

7 All the people saw this and began to mutter, “He has gone to be the guest of a sinner.”

8 But Zacchaeus stood up and said to the Lord, “Look, Lord! Here and now I give half of my possessions to the poor, and if I have cheated anybody out of anything, I will pay back four times the amount.”

9 Jesus said to him, “Today salvation has come to this house, because this man, too, is a son of Abraham. 10 For the Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost.”

Jesus at this point in his ministry is rockstar status. He is such a rockstar that people crowd around him where he goes. People wanna get a glimpse and see what all the hype is about. By now the word has spread that he is healing people, performing miracles, and being the coolest laid back dude. Ever. Jesus even had his version of wrecking a hotel room, but only for holy reasons when he upturned the tables at the temples and drove out the animals. He was getting a stadium's worth of people where ever he went.

Zaccheus was a short guy; so short he couldn't get a glimpse Jesus as he was coming down the street. Mobs of people are just as eager to see him. Zaccheus got an idea. He climbed up a Sycamore tree like a kid trying to get a better view of the Fourth of July parade. Zaccheus wasn't a kid though, he wasn't even a commoner. He was the Chief Tax Collector. People knew the stature he held among the people in the crowd.

Zaccheus' tree climbing scheme worked. Jesus noticed him up in the tree and demanded he go to his house to stay. Jesus didn't ask, but demanded that he go to Zaccheus' house and it was to happen immediately. Can you imagine if you met someone you look up to and hold important to, come right up to you in a crowd of choices and demand they come to your house for dinner? Jesus did that. Jesus, like anyone with Rockstar status, had haters, and they questioned why Jesus wanted to go to Zaccheus' house if he was a sinner. Here is the funny part: they were so focused on Zaccheus, they didn't realize their own sinful ways.

Zaccheus was filled with great compassion with the encounter with Jesus. Zaccheus stops and hushes the naysayers giving up half of everything he owned and made a confession to all that were there. Zaccheus knew he had done many people wrong and declared to repay four times the amount he swindled from those he collected from. Seeing Zaccheus' repentance and wanting heart for change told him of the salvation for his house.

The last verse is the best part of the passage. It tells us that Jesus came to seek and SAVE the lost. He came to save us!

Zaccheus was a man of noble status among the people, yet he still knew and had heard of the greatness of Jesus. The people knew that Zaccheus held a position of importance and wealth, that he became that way because he was a crook. He was likely despised by the people for pinching them for all they owed. He was the Ebeneezer Scrooge of his day. He was wealthy, but he was still a loser among the people. Jesus gave him a chance to change his ways and he didn't hesitate for a second. There in the street he righted his wrongs and seeked approval from Jesus.

Not a Jesus freak!

I am not a Jesus Freak. During the mid-90's the pop-rock group DC Talk had an album named Jesus Freak, with the title track becoming an anthem for Christian teens. I admit, I liked the song, had the album, saw them in concert. I embraced my inner Jesus Freak. I am sure since the term Jesus Freak came about and Christians had taken it as their own, Jesus has been shaking his head ever since.

The Jesus Movement of the late 60's and early 70's pushed a hippie-driven movement towards Jesus. These people were known as the Jesus People. In a time of drugs, sex, and drinking, people didn't want to hear about Jesus and all of his supposed suppressive rules. They would rather be free, making daisy chains, and smoking Maryjane. Those that opposed the Jesus People sought a derogatory new moniker for them: the Jesus Freaks. Jesus Freak is not be a name I would take as a badge of honor. I am certain Jesus wouldn't want us to use it either.

The Christian community has taken this term of hatred and claimed it as a term of endearment in our own community. I don't want people on the street to yell Jesus Freak at me, nor would I want someone at my church to do it either. There are those who declare themselves as Jesus Freaks in public, but wonder why people scoff or respond with more crude name calling. My way of thinking is let's not give people a reason to scoff at our beliefs by claiming to be a bunch of weirdos. We were bought at a price. We are precious to Him.

Psalm 139:14 says "I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well." We am wonderfully made! There is nothing freakish about that. Genesis 1:27 "So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created them; male and female he created them." We am made in God's image. We may not be perfect, but we definitely aren't freaks. Our Savior Jesus died on a cross to forgive our sins. We need to rise up and take the authority he has given us. Ephesians 1:14 says we are "God's possession!" We are wonderfully and fearfully made in His image to be His possession. Jesus may use the lowlifes and losers of the world, but doesn't use freaks!

Jesus...a skater?

A few days ago I posted this status on Facebook: "I wonder what skate shoes Jesus would wear?" It seems that the consensus was that Jesus would stick to sandals. I personally thought He would rock some Vans black and white checkered slip-ons. I asked the question about the skate shoes, because I wonder if Jesus would be a skater. We know that from Jewish tradition He would have been a carpenter or a stone mason. Being a carpenter He was the best carpenter to have ever built anything, ever! I can imagine Jesus being like Jeff King from Built to Shred. He would be building all these crazy ramps and boxes to skate on. There would always be a crew skating with Him, waiting for Him to build the next rainbow rail euro-gap obstacle. I know one thing for sure, if He didn't skate, He would have hung out with guys who did. Repeatedly, the Bible tells us He hung out with those who were on the fringe of society. They were the outcasts, lowlifes, and losers. Everyone who skates has a crew of guys they skate with all the time. Jesus had His crew too; the 12 disciples, which He hand-picked. They were not well-known, popular socialites, celebrities, or political figures; they were just regular guys. Several of the disciples were smelly fisherman (Matt 4:18)(John 1:43), one was a tax collector (Matt 9:9), all of them were everyday hard working men. They weren't perfect, but Jesus used imperfect people to bring about His perfect plan on salvation. What would Jesus' favorite trick be? First trick that comes to mind is a Christ Air. It's funny how Christian Hosoi thought, at the time he made up the Christ Air, he was better than Jesus, and now he follows Him and preaches His loving, redeeming word! I'm sure there could be a long debate about Jesus' favorite trick, but I pick a smooth tre-flip. I love doing tre-flips, so I like to think that He would love to do them with me. Jesus loves us and wants to hang out with us. He wants to be friends with us. He had a huge following and always took care of those with Him, even if it was 5,000 people and He was tired, He still provided(Matt 14 and 15). Jesus would have skated any spot He rolled up on. He was always on the move. He would walk and take boats everywhere He went to tell the gospel. I would think He would do the same with skate spots. He went into places like Samaria (John 4:4-26) to share His message, where Jews were not welcome, so He would probably skate some hood spots too. Jesus met all sorts of people and spread His message to many people. He would skate a lot of different places and spread His message in the same way. Jesus Christ came not only for the notable, but for the notorious. He came not only for the loved, but for the lowlifes. No matter who we are, He wants to be our friend. No matter what we've done, He wants to be our friend. No matter where we are, He wants to be our friend.

A whore in church....

There is a phrase I had never heard of until I came to North Carolina. That phrase is "Sweatin' like a whore in church!" It's a phrase that shows up when the mercury begins to rise and the humidity sets in at the end of May, early part of June. I can say North Carolina is hot, and that is saying a lot coming from a guy born and raised in the swamp state of Florida. The phrase to me seemed a bit outlandish, but I laughed at the mental thought of a woman dressed in clear plastic high-heels, hot pink pleather short-shorts with top to match. Her sitting in the front pew sweating for the sins she knows she has committed and how Jesus will be there, first in line to send her to Hell. Sadly, it is not even close to what really happens with Jesus. Think to the story of when Jesus meets a woman of ill-repute (John 8:2-11) in a busy temple court as she is about to be stoned to death for the way she was living. Jesus didn't step into the situation to condemn her, but to save her. Not just save her from her evil ways, but later to save her soul by death on the cross. The woman who meet Jesus was a lowlife. She was dirty and used. She was despised for sins committed, and was near death for them. Jesus met her where she was, as she was. A sinner, like the rest of us. This brings me to our "whore in church." Our human nature is to point out the sins of another person, to feel better about ourselves and think that we are living a stronger spiritual life and we have the right to condemn "the whore in church." We have to be able to love whoever is in church. That means everyone! Even the woman with the mini-skirt and a heavily beaded brow of sweat. In church is where we find redemption and saving grace. A place where the stones should be dropped. A place where sins are forgiven and lives are transformed (2 Cor 5:17). The church should be a place of love. The only sweatin' in church should be from the A/C being busted.(Sidenote: A church is a place to be rebuked for sin, but it should be done firmly in love.) We are all sinners, we all have fallen short of the Glory of God. (Romans 3:23) It is this proverbial streetwalker whose sins are more prevalent than others; it makes it easier for us to judge. Sin is sin, a white lie all the way to murder; it's all the same in God's eyes. Everyone has the same chance for redemption, so if you are reading this and feel that you don't deserve to go to church, to be saved by God's saving grace, you are wrong. Jesus met the soon-to-be-stoned woman in a dire circumstance and told her to stop her sin and let her go. We make ourselves sweat with the circumstances we put ourselves in, but Jesus can wipe the sweat from our brow. Jesus meets us with love and saving grace! Jesus meets us where we are, no matter what we might have done in the past. That is not to say that our actions are not without consequences, but Jesus will forgive us regardless. Jesus loves us, no matter how much of a jacked up lowlife we are!