Monday after the Second Sunday after Epiphany
Posted on January 16, 2023 by under
Scripture: St. John 4:5-26 (NKJV)
4:5 So He came to a city of Samaria which is called Sychar, near the plot of ground that Jacob gave to his son Joseph. 6 Now Jacob’s well was there. Jesus therefore, being wearied from His journey, sat thus by the well. It was about the sixth hour.
7 A woman of Samaria came to draw water. Jesus said to her, “Give Me a drink.” 8 For His disciples had gone away into the city to buy food.
9 Then the woman of Samaria said to Him, “How is it that You, being a Jew, ask a drink from me, a Samaritan woman?” For Jews have no dealings with Samaritans.
10 Jesus answered and said to her, “If you knew the gift of God, and who it is who says to you, ‘Give Me a drink,’ you would have asked Him, and He would have given you living water.”
11 The woman said to Him, “Sir, You have nothing to draw with, and the well is deep. Where then do You get that living water? 12 Are You greater than our father Jacob, who gave us the well, and drank from it himself, as well as his sons and his livestock?”
13 Jesus answered and said to her, “Whoever drinks of this water will thirst again, 14 but whoever drinks of the water that I shall give him will never thirst. But the water that I shall give him will become in him a fountain of water springing up into everlasting life.”
15 The woman said to Him, “Sir, give me this water, that I may not thirst, nor come here to draw.”
16 Jesus said to her, “Go, call your husband, and come here.”
17 The woman answered and said, “I have no husband.”
Jesus said to her, “You have well said, ‘I have no husband,’ 18 for you have had five husbands, and the one whom you now have is not your husband; in that you spoke truly.”
19 The woman said to Him, “Sir, I perceive that You are a prophet. 20 Our fathers worshiped on this mountain, and you Jews say that in Jerusalem is the place where one ought to worship.”
21 Jesus said to her, “Woman, believe Me, the hour is coming when you will neither on this mountain, nor in Jerusalem, worship the Father. 22 You worship what you do not know; we know what we worship, for salvation is of the Jews. 23 But the hour is coming, and now is, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth; for the Father is seeking such to worship Him. 24 God is Spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth.”
25 The woman said to Him, “I know that Messiah is coming” (who is called Christ). “When He comes, He will tell us all things.”
26 Jesus said to her, “I who speak to you am He.”
Devotion
The Lord Himself prescribes the qualities of true worship: it must be done in spirit and in truth. True worship must be a fruit of faith wrought by the Holy Spirit, so that our own spirit bears witness together with the Spirit that we are the children of God. Moreover, true worship must be directed and governed by God’s own Word, by which He leads us into all truth. This worship is beautiful in its simplicity. It does not require great and awesome ceremonies or mountaintop cathedrals. It is often belittled and despised by the world, because the world cannot understand the work of the Spirit in the hearts of God’s people. The world looks for the outward appearance, but God searches the heart.
The world did not recognize the true value of the Messiah when He came; He did not live in a grand palace or wear fine clothes. In His humiliation, Jesus did not seem to be greater than His father Jacob, and yet He promised to give something greater than Jacob’s well could yield–living water, which is the gift of salvation. Christ came to reveal Himself by His Word and His miracles so that those who genuinely looked for Him would see Him for who He truly was. Even so, the worship of God’s people might seem simple, yet nothing is more pleasing to the Lord than the prayers of the faithful.
Prayer: Almighty and everlasting God, Who dost govern all things in heaven and earth: Mercifully hear the supplications of Thy people and grant us Thy peace all the days of our life; through Jesus Christ, Thy Son, our Lord, Who liveth and reigneth with Thee and the Holy Ghost, ever One God, world without end. Amen.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
