RELIGION FOR BREAD.
IN THE CONVERSATION WITH A SAMARITAN WOMAN, JESUS HAD TRIED TO OPEN OUR MINDS TO WHAT MADE UP THE FORM OF LIFE AND WHAT CONSISTITUTED ITS SUBSTANCE.
He had a briliant lead-in, had the disciples but listened. Evidently they missed His point. They had the lunchbags in their hands and so were completely preoccupied. He was talking to a socially ostracized and desperate woman whose life had been used and abused till she had no sense of self-worth left. They chided Him for talking to this outcast. - "You must be hungry", they said, "is it not time to eat"?
- "I have food you know nothing about. What nourishes me is doing what God wants".
There is the first remarkable pointer. If I am to be fulfilled, I must pursue a will that is greater than mine - a fulfielled life is one that has the will of God as its focus, not the appetite of the flesh.
He went on to say: "Look around - do you reckon it's about four months to the harvest? Well, look again - it's harvest time right now! There are 'fields full of people' ready for reaping. The planter and the harvester fill the silos of heaven together, and both are happy (John 4:32).
Here is the next clue. Maintaining the metaphor of food, He pointed to a hunger that was universal and that went beyond bread and water - a distinctive hunger of universal proportion. Every sentence of His response had food in it, but of a different kind. There was hunger everywhere, He said, and food enough for all. But it was not wheat or water. It was Christ Himself, the Bread of LIfe and the spring of living water. The Samaritan woman grasped what He said with a fervor that came from an awareness of her real need.
It was fascinating.:
- She had come with a bucket. He sent her back with a spring of living water!
- She had come as a reject. He sent her back being accepted by God HImself.
- She had come wounded. He sent her back whole.
- She had come laden with questions. He sent her back as a source for answers.
- She came living a life of quiet desperation.She ran back overflowing with hope.
The disciples missed it all. It was lunchtime for them! (Ravi Zacharias, Jesus)