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Give Me To Drink
--JOHN 4:19-29.--FEBRUARY 9--
Golden Text:--"If any man thirst let him come unto me and
drink."--John 7:37.
JOHN the Baptist had testified of Jesus, "He must increase, but I
must decrease." (John 3:30.) It is in harmony with this that we read that
Jesus (at the hands of his disciples) baptized more than did John and his
co-laborers. (John 4:1.) The growing popularity of Jesus aroused to bitter
opposition the Scribes and Pharisees, and they sought to kill him. Hence, we
read that "He would not walk in Jewry, because the Jews sought to kill
him." (John 7:1.) They had greater animosity toward Jesus than toward
John, for in him they recognized a superiority over themselves, and because the
ignorant, common people heard him gladly and said, "Never man spake like
this man." Thereafter we hear little of Jesus being in Jerusalem except on
festival occasions, when great multitudes gathered in accordance with the
requirements of the Law.
En route to Galilee, the home country of the majority of his apostles,
the journey took them through the country of the Samaritans, concerning whom we
remember that our Lord charged the disciples, saying, "Go not into the way
of the Gentiles, and into any city of the Samaritans enter ye not; but go
rather to the lost sheep of the house of Israel." (Matt. 10:5,6.) The
Samaritans are thus classed with Gentiles--aliens, strangers, foreigners from
the commonwealth of Israel. We recall their history--that at the time when the
king of Babylon took the Israelites captive into Babylonia, he planted some
Gentiles in the land of Israel--immigrants. Cut off from their former
idolatries, these people became interested in their new home country, its
theology, traditions, religious sentiments, etc. Furthermore, some of the
careless, ignorant and vicious amongst the Jews, disregarding their divine Law
on the subject, intermarried with the Samaritans. Thus an element of Jewish
blood was intermingled amongst them. They called themselves the children of
Jacob, and trusted that this meant some special blessing for them.
A sharp religious controversy was thus established between them and
Jacob's natural progeny, the Jews. The latter, following the Law given by
Moses, recognized Jerusalem and the Temple as the centre of all acceptable
worship to God. The Samaritans, being thus excluded, claimed that they had
something better --that right in their own country they had the very mountain
in which Jacob worshiped God, and towards this mountain they went or looked in
their worship of God, esteeming it as a great natural temple and superior to
anything else on earth. These facts account to us for some of the Lord's
expressions connected with this lesson, and also show us why his message
excluded the Samaritans, as well as all Gentiles, from the call which he was
giving, the Kingdom invitation, which was exclusively for the Jews. It was not
until the Jews had as a people neglected their opportunity that the special
privileges of the Kingdom were taken from them and subsequently tendered to
such as would have an ear to hear in every nation, people, kindred and tongue
of the earth--including the Samaritans.
"GIVE ME TO DRINK"
The road leading to Galilee branched off at Jacob's well, and the
disciples went to the nearby Samaritan village, Sychar, to purchase food, while
Jesus rested at the well, which was 75 feet deep and whose mouth was so walled
up as to form a circular seat at its top. A Samaritan woman, laboring in the
fields nearby, came to draw water, and was intensely surprised when Jesus asked
her the favor of a drink. So tightly were the lines of social etiquette drawn
that under ordinary circumstances no self-respecting Jew would ask a Samaritan
for any favor, and especially for a drink of water. A gift of water or of food,
extended or received at that time, signified fellowship, a covenant of good
will. The woman asked an explanation of the Lord's peculiar conduct, but he
gave none. We perceive in the entire Gospel narrative the humility of our Lord,
that he was quite ready and willing to mingle with any class, that he shunned
no opportunity for doing good to any class, publicans or sinners--and that he
reproved and rebuked the Scribes and Pharisees for their aloofness. One of his
parables was especially directed towards the self-righteous sentiment which
feared even to touch garments with the outwardly more degraded. Our Lord,
without approving of the outward degradation, showed that God looketh upon the
heart, and that some of those highly approved amongst men were more abominable
in his sight than some despised of men.
TACTFULNESS EXEMPLIFIED
Our Lord displayed great tactfulness. Instead of replying to the woman's
query, he attracted her attention to a deeper truth. This lesson of tactfulness
many of the Lord's people need to learn. We know some who mistakenly believe
that they must use no tact--that to do so would be dishonest. Hence, they are
frequently blunt to the extent of injuring the feelings [R4130
: page 42] of others, and hindering their own usefulness. Such should note
in this lesson, and in many others, our Lord's tactfulness. He did not feel
that it was necessary for him to answer the woman's question. On the contrary,
he said, "If thou knewest the gift of God, and who it is that saith unto
thee, Give me to drink, thou wouldst have asked of him, and he would have given
thee living water." (John 4:10.) Similarly, let us in all the affairs of
life try to turn the attention of those with whom we have contact towards the
heavenly, the spiritual things--not that we should obtrude religious matters on
every occasion, nor that we suppose our Lord would have done so. Quite probably
he saw something in the way of honesty of character in the woman he addressed,
else he would not have conversed with her. So we should be on the lookout for
every opportunity to speak a word in season, to be helpful to others, to honor
the Lord.
The woman understood the expression "living water" to mean
fresh water, as distinguished from stagnant water. The woman perceived that our
Lord was not provided with the necessary lowering bucket and camel's hair cord,
and said, If you had ever so much [R4131 : page 42] desire
to give me to drink, it would be useless for me to ask you, since you have
nothing to draw with, and the well is deep, and there is nowhere else that you
can hope to procure better water than this. Where would you get it? "Art
thou greater than our father Jacob, which gave us the well, and drank thereof
himself, and his children and his cattle?" (John 4:12.) Again our Lord
tactfully ignored the question in the woman's interest--not to deceive her or
take advantage of her, but for her benefit. He was instructing her, and leading
her mind up from the natural water to the spiritual, and from the natural
foundation to the spiritual. He said, "Whosoever drinketh of the water
that I shall give him shall never thirst," for that water "shall be
in him a well of water springing up into everlasting life." (v. 14.)
That our Lord talked to no ordinary woman is evidenced by the quickness
with which she grasped his presentation, and her earnestness to get the living
water he had described. She said, "Sir, give me this water, that I thirst
not, neither come hither to draw." (v. 15.) Again we note our Lord's
tactfulness. He turned the subject. It was necessary that the woman should
appreciate the fact that she was a sinner and under the death sentence and
needed water of eternal life, which God alone could give, and which he has
provided only in Jesus, the Fountain. Our Lord turned her thoughts inward very
quickly by saying, "Go, call thy husband." (v. 16.) The answer was,
"I have no husband" (v. 17), and with that reply came a flood of
thought, which our Lord riveted upon her by declaring, You have well said that
you have no husband, for you have had five husbands, and he whom you now have
is not your husband. The woman was now thoroughly aroused. She perceived that
she was in the presence of one who knew her very deepest heart secrets. Yet she
feared him not. She fled not from him. His kindliness, his gentleness, his
willingness to talk to a Samaritan woman, indicated that she had "found a
friend, oh, such a friend." Her answer was, "Sir, I perceive that
thou art a prophet."
Shrewdly then the woman led the conversation away from matters too
personal to herself, and too solemn and too tender for discussion, and our Lord
did not follow up the subject, but left it. Many of his followers need to learn
this lesson of first awakening in the hearts of their hearers a consciousness
of sin, and then leaving it to work for them, at greater leisure, sorrow and
repentance and reformation. It is not for us to break the hearts of those
around us, but to find those who are broken-hearted. The command is, "Bind
up the broken-hearted." (Isa. 61:1.) In many instances, as in this one,
the broken heart needs to be touched in connection with the binding-up process,
in the application of the healing balm of grace and truth, but the touches
should be gentle. If more breaking of the heart is necessary, it is not for us
to do.
SALVATION IS OF THE JEWS
Not only would the woman escape a discussion of her personal character
and affairs, but she would embrace this opportunity of settling in her own
mind, with the aid of this one whom she had proven to be a great prophet, a
question which had long troubled her--were the Jews or were the Samaritans
right as respected religion and worship? Before her was a proven prophet, and
one in whose words she could have great confidence; hence her inquiry, Who are
right--our fathers, who claim that this mountain is the place of worship, or
you Jews, who say that Jerusalem is the only place? Our Lord was not bent upon
making of her a Jewish proselyte: the time for that was past; the harvest time
had come. He would tell her something that would be to her advantage, and
through her to the advantage of others in the near future, when the middle wall
of partition would be broken down which still separated the Jews, in God's
favor, from all others. His answer, therefore, applied to the Gospel
dispensation in general, and this was already beginning so far as some of the
Jews were concerned, and would later reach Samaritans and all Gentiles. He
said, "Woman, believe me, the hour cometh when ye shall neither in this
mountain nor yet at Jerusalem worship the Father."--v. 21.
That hour began after the Jewish house had been left desolate, after the
new dispensation had been inaugurated, and it still continues. Believers do not
have to go to a certain place, a certain mountain, a certain city, a certain
house, but may approach the living God, through the great Redeemer, at any
place and find him. That coming hour had already begun, since our Lord himself
was the first of the Spirit-begotten ones; and his disciples, accepted of the
Father through him, were taught to pray, to seek, to knock, to find. Those who
worship under this Spirit dispensation will not be accepted along the lines of
former worship and places--not in families, or nationally. Their acceptance
will be as [R4131 : page 43] individuals, and
because they come unto the Father through his appointed way, the Redeemer, and
come "in spirit and in truth: for the Father seeketh such to worship
him." (v. 23.) During past times he did indeed prescribe forms of worship
and times and places, but now all that come unto the Father "in spirit and
in truth" through Christ are accepted.
While it is most absolutely true that forms and ceremonies are not
commanded, but the true worship of the heart, nevertheless we feel that some
still maintain too much of a relationship to forms and ceremonies, and thus
lose much of the spiritual blessing of prayer and communion. But, on the other
hand, we seem to see a danger into which some of the Lord's dear people fall,
through ignoring all regularity in prayer, and sometimes through too little
formality in approaching the throne of heavenly grace, without a sufficiency of
humility and reverence for him who has granted us so great a favor as to
receive us into his presence and to hearken to our petitions. While thankful
that we can call upon the Lord in every place and at any time, let us approach
his courts with reverence, with an awe of heart befitting to us in our humble,
lowly condition, and to him in his great exaltation. Thus we enter into the
real spirit of prayer, which should recognize our complete dependence and the
greatness of the Almighty.
"WE KNOW WHAT WE WORSHIP"
Very pointedly, though we are sure in no rude manner, our Lord declared
the truth to the woman when he said, "Ye worship ye know not what: we know
what we worship: for salvation is of the Jews." (v. 22.) The Samaritans,
not being of the stock of Israel, were in no sense of the word heirs of the
Abrahamic Covenant. Not discerning this cardinal truth in its true light, they
were confused as to every feature of the divine plan. The Jews, on the
contrary, understood that they were the natural seed of Abraham, and that from
them must come the great Messiah, and that eventually, through him and some of
their nation associated with him, all the families of the earth should receive
a blessing. Our Lord said, "Salvation is of the Jews." He did not
say, For the Jews, nor, To the Jews, exclusively. It was of them in the sense
that the Master was of that nation according to the flesh. It was of them in
the sense that the promises were exclusively to that nation, so that Messiah
could not have been born of any other nation and yet inherit those promises. It
was of that nation also, in that from them our Lord selected the earliest
members of his Church, his Body, through whom the invitation to membership in
that Body has during this age been extended to every nation, people, kindred
and tongue.
We would not say that the Samaritans were typical of a certain class of
people here--typical would be too strong a word. We would see, however, that as
there were true Israelites there in the type, and a class of people somewhat
resembling them, who were not of them, so here in Spiritual Israel we find some
like the Samaritans, who are strangers from the Covenant and promises, because
not of the same family--not begotten again of the holy Spirit. Some of these
are estimable people, honorable, and with a form of godliness, but denying its
power. Then amongst the true Israel, all begotten of the holy Spirit, all
therefore related to the Lord and the promises, there are two classes: the
Little Flock of Israelites indeed, whose love and zeal the Lord approves, and a
Great Company whose love and zeal are not sufficient to gain them the distinguished
title, "More than Conquerors"--joint-heirs.
In our conversation on religious subjects with those corresponding to
the Samaritans, it may not be using the wisdom of serpents for us to say,
"Ye worship ye know not what," even though this be strictly true. Nevertheless,
to those of this class who give evidence of desire to know the Truth, it would
be proper for us to kindly attempt to show them this matter--to show them how
different are the hopes and aspirations and promises which apply to the consecrated
saints of Spiritual Israel from anything they have ever known or thought. In
all of our dealings with the Israelites and others, let us remember the
Master's words, "Be ye wise as serpents and harmless as doves."--Matt.
10:16.
WHEN MESSIAH COMETH
The mind of the Samaritan woman swept forward in thought. She recalled
the expectation of her own people and of the Jews that God would provide a
great Messiah, an Anointed One, who would be all-wise and all-powerful to the
relief of all perplexity and to lift out of all difficulty. She wondered
whether the Messiah could be more wonderfully wise than the prophet, the
teacher, to whom she talked. She did not like to ask the question direct, but
suggested it sidewise, saying, "I know that Messias cometh, which is
called Christ: when he is come, he will tell us all things." (v. 25.)
Seeing her readiness of mind, our Lord expressed to [R4132
: page 43] her--more plainly, perhaps, than to any other person during his
ministry--the great fact that he was the Messiah: "I that speak unto thee
am he." (v. 26.)
The disciples, returning at this time, marveled that he talked with the
woman, but had too great respect for him to question him; and many since, all
through the Gospel Age, reading the account, have marveled at the Master's
humility thus displayed. It has brought a good lesson to many of the Lord's
followers --that they are not to despise opportunities for service, for
preaching of the Truth, even though they have an audience of but one. And
indeed the opportunity of speaking to one earnest listener should be esteemed
far greater than that of addressing a thousand inattentive ones. Doubtless our
Lord saw in this woman something that indicated her worthiness of the time and
energy thus bestowed upon her.
But from another standpoint, what worthiness could she have? what
worthiness do any of us possess by nature? Fallen and imperfect, the only thing
remaining that could in any way be pleasing to the Lord would seem to be our
honesty of heart. Honesty this woman evidently had, and hence we believe [R4132 : page 44] she was favored, and many of the
Lord's dear people have received this message since. Here, too, we have another
illustration of the importance of using every opportunity that may come to us. Time
and energy spent in the assistance of some worthy one may, as in this case,
flow out in widening influence to many. Eternity alone will show the value of
some of the little things, the feeble efforts put forth in the name of the
Lord; and this reminds us that our Lord is judging us by our faithfulness in
little things and small opportunities rather than by our great achievements. His
own words are, "He that is faithful in that which is least is faithful
also in much: and he that is unjust in that which is least is unjust also in
much." (Luke 16:10.) Remembering this, let us be careful in the little
things, little opportunities, the hours and the moments, that we may show
ourselves zealous for the Lord and his cause, and have his eventual approval,
as well as his present blessing.
THE MISSIONARY SPIRIT
The character of this woman is further displayed in the fact that,
leaving her water-bucket, she hastened to the city to tell her friends and
neighbors that she had found a great teacher, possibly the Messiah, and to ask
them to come and share the privilege of hearing him. The selfish spirit, which
would have bidden her to keep the information to herself, or the slothful,
careless spirit, which would have led her to say, I would be pleased if my
friends might know, but will not bestir myself to inform them--either of these
would have marked the woman as unworthy of the Lord's favor; and had such been
her disposition, we doubt if the Lord would have entered into conversation with
her. And so it is with those who have been reached with Present Truth; they
are, as a rule, not only the honest and sincere, but the generous, who love to
give the good things to their neighbors, and who, having heard now of the
second presence of the Son of man, and the Kingdom about to be established, and
having come to a clearer knowledge than ever before of the truth of the Divine
Plan--these rejoice to lay down their lives in its service--the promulgating of
"good tidings of great joy, which shall be unto all people." (Luke
2:10.) This is the true missionary spirit, and home missions come first.
"COME UNTO ME AND DRINK"
Our Golden Text is quite in line with the lesson intimated--that before
anyone can come to the Lord he must thirst, he must have an appreciation of
that which the Lord has to give--the water, the refreshment, of eternal life. This
means that he must learn that he is a sinner, and under sentence of death, and
that there is no hope for a future life except through Christ. The coming to
the Lord is the approach of faith. Our thirst is our desire. We drink, or
appropriate to ourselves the divine message. "Sanctify them through thy
truth: thy Word is truth" (John 17:17)--and water is the symbol of truth. The
promise of a blessing to those who "hunger and thirst after righteousness"
is in full accordance with this. And the promise is, "They shall be
filled." This, too, is in harmony with our Lord's statement in our lesson,
"Whosoever drinketh of the water that I shall give him shall never
thirst."--v. 14.
In the present time our thirst is in one sense of the word
insatiable--we are never satisfied--in the sense that the Lord's blessings are
so great and so good that we can never in the present day and in present
conditions have enough of them. We shall be satisfied thoroughly when we awake
in his likeness (Psa. 17:15) --when the "change" of the First
Resurrection shall have completed our transformation as New Creatures into our
Lord's likeness--"from glory to glory." (2 Cor. 3:18.) Nevertheless,
there is a measure of satisfaction to our drinking, even in the present
time--just as with a thirsty one at a fountain, he drinks with relish, with
appreciation, with satisfaction, only to take more and more. So with those who
are the Lord's. He pours into their cup blessings rich and satisfying, and
fills the cup repeatedly, even while they are in their present tabernacle. Let
us appreciate more and more the Truth, the water of life, and let us see to it
that we get it pure from the fountain, and that we recognize no other fountain
than the Lord Jesus, however much we may appreciate the channels through which
the supply may have come to us.
W.T. R-4130 a : page 41 – 1908 r.