SHIFT WEEK III MONDAY

MONDAY
John 4:28-30, 39-42

I suppose most people grow up with a family repertoire of pithy sayings. Perhaps in your family, you had worthy sayings like, "The journey of a thousand miles must begin with a single step."

But in my family, we had "old sayings." My grandmother was from Weirton, WV and she began most of her sentences with the preface, "As the old saying goes,…" She would quote sayings like this:

"As the old saying goes, he's lower than a snake's belly in a wagon rut."
"I'll be there, as the old saying goes, the Lord willing and the creek don't rise."
"As the old saying goes, I feel like I wuz rode hard and put up wet."

One of my favorites saying I read years ago said “Every tub sits on its own bottom.”
"Every tub must sit on its own bottom" seems to be obvious. A tub can't very well sit on another tub's bottom. The meaning is that people have to be responsible for them. There are certain matters about which we must be independent. There are some things that no one else can do for us. We must take care of our own matters. We must sit on our own bottom.

Sychar was an ancient town about a half mile from the site where Jacob had dug a well 2000 years before. The town nestled against the southeastern slope of Mount Ebal. It was, no doubt, a very typical town. Every town has its outcasts, and Sychar had the woman at the well.

We really know only two things about this woman: she came to the well at noon and Jesus said she had had five husbands and was now with a man to whom she was not married.

The fact that she came at noon is the most revealing fact. Most of the women came together in the cool of the day, but this woman intentionally came to carry water in the hottest part of the day, apparently so that she would not run into others. It is safe to say that she was either a loner or an outcast.

Jesus shocked the woman by speaking to her, but he also launched into a spiritual discussion about living water. He said, "If you knew who I was, you would ask me for living water."

As John often does, he tells the story on two levels at the same time. The woman thinks he is talking about water from the well, and quickly points out that he has no bucket.
Again, Jesus talks to her on a spiritual level saying, 'Everyone who drinks of this water will be thirsty again, but those who drink of the water that I will give them will never be thirsty. The water that I will give will become in them a spring of water gushing up to eternal life."

The woman's reply shows that she is still thinking about real water. She says, "Sir, give me this water, so that I may never be thirsty or have to keep coming here to draw water."

In an effort to get this woman's mind off the mundane and onto the spiritual, Jesus decides to give her a clue about his identity. He says, "Go, call your husband, and come back."

She replies, "I have no husband."

Jesus says, "You are right, for you have had five husbands, and the one you have now is not your husband."

The woman immediately recognizes that this man is at least a prophet. He finally has her attention and her focus on spiritual matters. But she now wants to talk about the differences between the Jews and Samaritans, "Our ancestors worshiped on this mountain, but you say that the place where people must worship is in Jerusalem."
Jesus was not interested in discussing the differences in sectarian beliefs. He moves the discussion further up and transcends the differences between Jew and Samaritan. He says, "Woman, believe me, the hour is coming when you will worship the Father neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem. You worship what you do not know; we worship what we know, for salvation is from the Jews. But the hour is coming, and is now here, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for the Father seeks such as these to worship him. God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth."

Finally, Jesus has this woman's attention. She now realizes that he is more than a prophet, maybe even the long-expected Messiah. She says, "I know that Messiah is coming. When he comes, he will proclaim all things to us." Jesus replies, "I am he, the one who is speaking to you."

I once sat down for a church dinner, and one of the members could not eat the pizza because of her new diet. She said, "I love that pizza so much, but now I can't have any. I want you to eat a piece for me." Well, I gladly obliged and ate two pieces just for her.
But we all laughed about the joke; because everyone knows no one can eat for another person. And no one can grow spiritually for another person either. Every tub must sit on its own bottom.

I love this concluding line of this story because it points to an experiential religion, a faith that is experienced for oneself. "It is no longer because of what you said that we believe, for we have heard for ourselves, and we know that this is truly the Savior of the world."

Some people may think they can ride the coattails of another's faith. Some think they are right with God because they were born into a Christian family. All individuals will stand before God alone. The witness of the woman at the well was one thing, but the people of Sychar had to hear it for themselves.

I wish we could make others grow spiritually. Some people want to be spoon-fed their spiritual growth. I wish it was as simple as changing the oil in my automobile. Drain out the old contaminated oil, and pour in the new. Drain out the old sinful self, and pour in a loving, kind, gentle spirit just like that of Jesus.

In the spiritual life, change must come from within. The Bible has a great power to change us, but only if we read it and study it and apply it to our lives. Prayer can bring a grace-filled life, but only if we dedicate the time and energy into it. Service to others has a transforming power, but only if we can look beyond our own selfishness long enough.

I hope that we will all come to the place where we can also say, 'It is no longer because of what you said that we believe, for we have heard for ourselves, and we know that this is truly the Savior of the world.'" Remember, every tub must sit on its own bottom.

PRAYER
Jesus, I want to be more like you! Help me to take personal responsibility for my spiritual growth. I don’t want to stay a spiritual infant but I want to grow up. Help me to seek every opportunity to grow deeper and fuller in my experience with you. Thank you so much for loving me!