Whoever

DEVOTION

THE GOSPEL OF JOHN

WHOEVER

John 4:7-14

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.) 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 flocks and herds?" 13 Jesus answered, "Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again, 14 but whoever drinks the water I give him will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life." 

NIV

This might be a large amount of words to deal with but it is difficult to divide them and considering they speak to a singular issue it benefits us to take the whole of it at once. Well actually there are several issues that we could spend some time with, the first being the simple fact Jesus was not only talking to a Samaritan but that he was asking for a drink from this woman. Again we have to know that God does not show favoritism, or in other translations, he is not a respecter of any person. Although the Jews as a whole did not associate with the half bred Samaritans Jesus engage this woman to bring her salvation. We could learn a lesson from this as far as not being a respecter of any person, or showing favoritism in choosing who we share the gospel with and who we don’t. We also could look to a more pointed truth about how we look at and deal with sinners. Are we more accepting of one kind of sinner than another? Could we say that we would tell a person in adultery even befriend them in order to bring the gospel into their lives, but we would shun a gay man or lesbian woman because their sin is an ‘abomination’ to God? How can we decide to shun any sinner when Jesus shows us he will talk to the most despised group of their culture? This does not say we should accept their sin as alright, for not one sin, even any of ours is alright, and we have enough sin of our own to content with, so why should we shun another person who has sin, oh right ours is not as bad as theirs, but we should accept them as a person in need of the gospel as we were and are. Have we quite all our sin, so why should we expect them to as soon as they accept the gospel? Jesus has a gift available for this Samaritan woman, a gift of living water that will well up within a person to eternal life. Should we not offer this gift we have knowledge of to all, even the most despised sinners in our culture? How can we share this gift if we do not engage with them in conversation, without condemnation? How can we share this gift if we respect them as much as we respect our pastor or some other who we think is a “great Christian”? How can we share this gift if we show favoritism? Jesus told her that whoever drinks the water he gives, which mean whoever, that is inclusive, which mean anyone, not matter their sin. Whoever drinks.