Obedience in Confusion

In Matthew 14:22, the Apostle recalls a test of the disciples' faith. In verse 9, they received word that John the Baptist has been beheaded; verses 19-20, Jesus fed 5,000 men with only 2 fish and 5 loaves of bread. They didn't understand how either of these events happend, confused and reluctant, Jesus had to physically make them get into the boat to travel to the other side in verse 22. There will be times in our Christian walk where we will not want to carry out the tasks that God has commanded us to do; He may need to push us, just as He did for the disciples. Just as the disciples, we may be afraid and confused, but must be obedient and rest assured that if God sent us to a destination, He will ensure that we arrive.

Thristy

In John 4:13-15, Jesus answered the woman, “Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again, but whoever drinks the water I give them will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give them will become in them a spring of water welling up to eternal life.” She says to him, “Sir, give me this water so that I won’t get thirsty and have to keep coming here to draw water.” Drawing water from the well was not an easy task, but it was necessary as there was no running water in the home. At last, the woman has hope that Christ is able to help her, as Jesus relates her natural need for water to her spiritual need for his presence.

Identity Crisis

In John 4:11-12, the Samaritan woman questions Jesus' identity and his authority. She asks “Sir, you have nothing to draw with and the well is deep. Where can you get this living water? Are you greater than our father Jacob, who gave us the well and drank from it himself, as did also his sons and his livestock?” She was having a bit of an identity crisis; struggling with her own identity as well as with the identity of Christ. The woman did not consider that Jesus was the onl one able to give her the living water that she desperately needed; she only saw Jesus as a traveller at the well at the hottest hour of the day, thirsty without a ladle to draw water out of the deep well.

Just Ask

In John 4: 10, Jesus replied to the Samaritan woman, “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.” The woman had no idea the man she was speaking with, in a risky conversation, was no ordinary traveller. It's true that Jesus was tired and thirsty, but his thirst for her soul was much greater than his physical thirst. Even today, Christ is yet thirsting for our souls, drawing us into a closer relationship with him. We only need to ask for His presence, and He will ensure that we have all that we need.

Breaking Protocol

In John 4: 7-9, the Bible recalls a risky discussion between Jesus and a Samaritan woman. When the Samaritan woman was at the well at noon to draw water, Jesus said to her, “Will you give me a drink?” His disciples had gone into the town to buy food. 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." It was risky for her to have the discussion with Jesus; she was a woman having a conversation with a man in public who was not her husband, and the Samaritans and Jews were bitter enemies. Despite all of the risks, Jesus was more concerned about the woman than follow social protocol. At times, we must make the same decision to meet a need in spite of the risks.

Flow of Living Waters

In Ezekiel 47:9, the prophet recalls his vision where God touched the waters and changed them from salty to fresh waters. He recalls that "swarms of living creatures will live wherever the river flows. There will be large numbers of fish, because this water flows there and makes the salt water fresh; so where the river flows everything will live." In the prophet's vision, he saw where God changed the salty waters of the Dead Sea to fresh waters, lined with lush trees and swarms of living creatures. We must submerse ourselves into the flow of the Holy Spirit, as only He can change a dead situation into great flow of living waters.

Salty to Fresh Waters

In Ezekiel 47: 7-8, the prophet recalls Ezekiel's vision. The Lord's messenger led the prophet from the entrance of the temple to the bank of the river, where he saw a great number of trees on each side of the river. The Lord's messenger said“This water flows toward the eastern region and goes down into the Arabah, where it enters the Dead Sea. When it empties into the sea, the salty water there becomes fresh." The Dead Sea is called such because the waters are so dense with salt that almost nothing grows there. Just as God was able to touch the waters and change them from salty to fresh waters, He alone is able to touch the dead places of our hearts, souls, and spirits, and make them fresh and fertile.

A River Flowing

In Ezekiel 47:4-5, the prophet recalls a vision where the Lord sent his messenger to the temple. The messenger measures the waters as they continue to rise throughout the temple: from a trickle to ankle-deep; from his ankle to waist-deep. In verse 5, the water had risen to a river that he could not cross, "because the water had risen and was deep enough to swim in—a river that no one could cross." True worship is a result of a sincere immersion of the Holy Spirit. When the Holy Spirit fills up the temple, of our hearts as well as our churches, the flow of the spirit will be undeniable and unstoppable.

Flowing in the Spirit

In the Old Testament, God manifests himself in great and mighty ways; sometimes, he shows up in the water. In Ezekiel 47:1-2, the prophet recalls his vision from the Lord, who sent him a messager to show him the vision. At the entrance of the temple, Ezekiel saw that the water was coming down from under the south side of the temple, south of the altar. In verse 2, his guide led him "through the north gate and led me around the outside to the outer gate facing east, and the water was trickling from the south side." Just as the waters began to fill the temple, slowly and steadily, so does the Holy Spirit fill the temples of our hearts.

Defense of Sincere Worship

In Mark 14:6-9, Jesus defended the woman who anointed him with the fragrant ointment. He says "Let her alone; why are you troubling her? She has done a good and beautiful thing to Me." In verse 9, He says "she has done what she could; she came beforehand to anoint My body for the burial. And surely I tell you, wherever the good news is proclaimed in the entire world, what she has done will be told in memory of her." The woman's intent was not to gain everlasting fame, nor was it to gain the attention of the men in the room...she poured out all she had simply as an act of worship. When we worship Christ with a sincere heart, we do not need to worry about what others think or the consequences of our worship.

A Sweet, Smelling Savor

In Mark 14:4-5, after the woman poured all that she had to anoint Jesus with the expensive perfume, some of the men became bitterly angry. The Apostle recalls that there were some who were moved with indignation and said to themselves, "to what purpose was the perfumed ointment wasted? For it was possible to have sold this perfume for more than a year's worth of wages, and to have given to the poor. And they censured and reproved her." The others in the room were not angry because she had wasted the perfume; they were angry her worship was undeniable, as the fragrance of her worship filled the room.

Surrending All

In Mark 14:3, the Apostle recalls "while Jesus was in Bethany, reclining at the table in the home of Simon the Leper, a woman came with an alabaster jar of very expensive perfume, made of pure nard. She broke the jar and poured the perfume on his head." The woman took a great risk by entering the room, as it was socially unnacceptable for her to be in the room; her desire to annoint Jesus greater than her risk. She was determined to pour out all that she had, in complete surrender, as an act of sincere worship to Christ.

Private Deceit to Public Service

In Mark 14:1-2, the Apostle recalls the secret plot to persecute Christ. The Bible says "it was now two days before the Passover and the Feast of Unleavened Bread, and the chief priests and the scribes were all the while seeking to arrest Jesus by secrecy and deceit and put Him to death, for they kept saying, It must not be during the Feast, for fear that there might be a riot of the people." The chief priests should have been the greatest supporters of Christ's ministry; instead, they were threatened and frightened to the point that they plotted to destroy him. Even today, those who are doing the work of the ministry are threats to those who claim to do so. Instead of plotting in secrecy, we must work together, serving openly, to meet the needs of the people.