True Worshipers

Classic Bible story

Juncture Point - Decisions. Decision Decisions.

She can:

Take this opportunity to confess. Jesus has called her out. Everything she is ashamed and embarrassed of He has laid bare but in doing so, demonstrated that no deep dark secrets can keep him from wanting to talk and engage with her. She can accept this invitation to surrender her heart to Jesus.

But that isn’t what she decides to do, is it? Picking up vs. 19.

Instead she takes option #2:

2. This hitting too close to home. This is getting too real. Let go back to maintaining a comfortable distance. What makes the perfect distraction? Church politics.

You see, there is this long standing, complex contention between the Jews and the Samaritans.

Sychar (si-char)

They are the well of Jacob

Land given to Joseph by his father

Land in which Joseph’s bones are buried

Land in which, when Moses instructed the Israelites in crossing the promise land, he indicated an alter would be built on the foot of these mountains where Jesus and the Samaritan women stood.

And that is why they fought.

Strategy - Epic distraction with long-time contentious argument between Jews and Samaritan: “Where are we really supposed to worship? Who - between you guys and us - are the true, faithful worshipers.”

Jesus could have shut-it-down. Instead he meets her halfway.

Picking up vs. 21-24.

I’ve been in the Adventist church my whole life, 28 years.

“we rather be right, than be compassion.”

“we rather rebuke, than love.”

“we rather die on the hills of these theological political debates, than than do the work of surrendering ourselves so that Jesus can transform our hearts.”

-political and religious crusades - that by the way, we say are in the name of Jesus.

“Movement is a means of distraction from the feelings and emotions that are always available and often undesirable. All the constant motion gives illusion of being alive and impacting the world, but the truth is, we’ve been spinning our tires in deepening mud.”

These religious crusades, we spend hours at conferences arguing about inter-denominational politics, is it possible all of this is “soul-silencing headphones to the spiritual life.”

“The time is coming and has now come...”

There is a difference between the religious and the spiritual truths.

ζητέω