Josh Benner

Tag: john 4

  • A long-distance healing. Studying John 4:49-54

    A long-distance healing. Studying John 4:49-54

    In John 4, a Roman official – whose son is seriously ill – comes to Jesus to see what the Lord can do. In the passage, we build up to a miraculous healing that Jesus does. In this sign, Jesus will point back to the Prophet Elijah in the Old Testament. 

    A divine intervention 

    John 4:49 

    The official said to him, “Sir, come down before my child dies.”

    The man is undeterred by the rebuke that Jesus has given.He’s not arguing with the Lord. He’s simply pleading with Jesus to intervene. 

    Keep in mind, that this man is an official of the Roman government. He’s prestigious. We see the humility that he shows to Christ. 

    “Sir, come down before my child dies.”

    Verse 50:

     Jesus said to him, “Go; your son will live.”

    That’s a very interesting direction that Jesus has given to the man. He’s not saying “Ok, let’s go.”Instead, he tells the man to go home and that his son will live. 

    And the official listens. 

    Second part of verse 50:

    The man believed the word that Jesus spoke to him and went on his way.

    A picture of faith

    He trusts in the promise of Christ. He has faith in the word that the Lord Jesus has told him. 

    We also don’t always get grand signs of what is to come. It is a matter of trusting the Lord is faithful to all that he has promised. That’s exactly what the Roman official does here. We need to take the Lord at his word. 

    Verse 51:

     As he was going down, his servants met him and told him that his son was recovering.

    John’s recording of the event is not hugely dramatic. What Jesus has said would happen happened. 

    Verse 52 into 53:

     So he asked them the hour when he began to get better, and they said to him, “Yesterday at the seventh hour the fever left him.” 53 The father knew that was the hour when Jesus had said to him, “Your son will live.”

    We see the power in the promise and word of Christ. As he was telling the father this, 20 miles away, his son was being healed. 

    Continuing in verse 53:

    And he himself believed, and all his household. 

    The man believed. 

    Faith cannot be entirely rooted on the miraculous. But that’s not to say that God never uses a monumental moment to bring a person to himself. For this man, trusting in what Jesus had told him and then seeing the fulfillment of that promise led him to believe in Jesus. 

    Not only for the man, but him and his whole household believed. It was a transformative event in all of their lives to see what Jesus had done. 

    This story is reminiscent of another healing which occurred in the Old Testament, during the ministry of Elijah. 

    Elijah in 1 Kings 17  

    In 1 Kings 17, there’s another event when a child is very sick. The prophet Elijah takes the boy and pleads with the Lord to heal him. 

    Beginning in verse 21 into 22:

    O Lord my God, let this child’s life come into him again.” 22 And the Lord listened to the voice of Elijah.

    In verse 23, after the boy had been revived, Elijah says to the mother “your son lives.” 

    A long-distance miracle

    In our passage in John, when the Roman officer comes to Jesus, Jesus says to him “your son will live.” Elijah has to be in physical contact with the child when he is healed. Jesus heals at a distance.

    Elijah asks God to heal the boy, Jesus doesn’t. In this sign, among other things, we see that Jesus is greater than Elijah and we again see that he provides something greater than the Old Testament. 

    We see the perfect knowledge of Jesus. He knew that the son would live. 

    We also see the sovereignty of Jesus. He could speak authoritatively to the man that his son would live. 

    The second sign of Jesus 

    The passage concludes by saying: 54 This was now the second sign that Jesus did when he had come from Judea to Galilee. 

    Jesus had done other miracles, but this was the second one he had done in Judea. In the first sign, Jesus turned water into wine at a wedding feast. In that event, John said that Jesus had revealed his glory through that sign. 

    In this sign, Jesus had healed a sick child near death many miles away. We see that the signs are very different from each other. The first sign is at a public event, the second sign is within a home. 

    The first sign is at a time of great joy, at a wedding feast. The second is in a very sad time, when someone is ill to the point of death. 

    In that too, his power and glory are revealed. In that event, it was so powerful in the lives of the people who witnessed it that they believed in Jesus. 

    In the second sign, Jesus heals a father’s son. But in that, we should be reminded of the gospel because the ultimate sign that Jesus did which points to his glory and power was when he had the Son was not saved. 

    Jesus was able to save this man’s son because Jesus was the Son who was not saved. 

    Looking for Jesus

    There are lots of reasons why people are drawn to religion, drawn to Christianity, drawn to Jesus. Some people think that it’ll help them through a tough time. 

    Some people are lonely or insecure and need to feel a sense of belonging. That’s not inherently wrong, by the way. But that isn’t faith. Some people are miserable, and they believe that religion might help them become happier. Others are battling an addiction and they think it’ll help them find victory. Some people are unhappy with who they’ve become, and want better examples. 

    Now, certainly any of those areas can be a person’s entry point to Christianity. And God can work through those circumstances to bring a person to himself. 

    But genuine faith needs to move past that. It can’t just be about having a certain feeling or about having a certain area of life now under control. 

    Faith needs to be rooted in the character of the Lord. Sinful people recognizing their need for redemption and trusting in Jesus and the salvation he promises. 

    If faith over the long term does not mature into a love for Christ, a recognition of sin, a love for the things of God, then what is it that you’re believing? 

    Because new problems will arise. New difficulties will arise. You’re still you, which is to say you’re still sinful. Your life will still face difficulties and hardships. We still live in a fallen and sinful world where there is betrayal, and pain, and suffering, and death. 

    “Unless you see signs and wonders you will not believe.”

    If faith is based on what we see, based on circumstances, that is flimsy. Our faith needs to be anchored in the good and sovereign Lord of creation. 

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  • Seeing and believing. Studying John 4:43-48

    Seeing and believing. Studying John 4:43-48

    A crisis 

    John 4:43 begins right where the previous section left off where Jesus was among the Samaritan people. 

    Verse 43 begins: After the two days he departed for Galilee. 

    Jesus is making his way north. Galilee is the region where Jesus grew up. Nazareth was the town where he grew up, but Nazareth was in the region. So Jesus is journeying to Galilee and immediately John interrupts the flow of the story with a side note. 

    Verse 44:
    (For Jesus himself had testified that a prophet has no honor in his own hometown.

    That’s an interesting comment to note. A prophet has no honor in his hometown, and yet Jesus is traveling to his home. 

    Yet verse 45 tells us: 
     So when he came to Galilee, the Galileans welcomed him, having seen all that he had done in Jerusalem at the feast. For they too had gone to the feast. 

    On its face, verses 44 and 45 can appear to be at odds. 

    Verse 44 says a prophet has no honor in his hometown, however verse 45 says that the Galileans welcomed Jesus. 

    How can these two things be? The answer to that question is important to making sense of this whole story. 

    As verse 45 reports, Jesus is indeed welcomed by the people of Galilee. 

    Jesus is welcomed by the people having seen all that he had done in Jerusalem at the feast. 

    This is referring to the Passover season in chapter 2 where Jesus is at the temple, turning over tables and calling out the religious elites. They have heard and seen Jesus, and they’re drawn to him. 

    But the issue we see in this passage is that they’re coming to see Jesus, not because of who he is, or because of the kingdom of God that he is bringing into the world. We will learn in this passage that they’re drawn to the spectacle. 

    Verse 46, Jesus comes to Cana in Galilee, the very same town where he had made the water wine.

    John is reminding us that this had been the location of Jesus’ first sign back at the beginning of chapter 2. We talked about this at the time, but John’s gospel uses the word signs over miracles. Signs point us to who Jesus is as the divine son of God in the world. 

    So Jesus is in Galilee. 

    The story shifts us to a town about 20 miles away called Capernaum. 

    4:46-47:

     at Capernaum there was an official whose son was ill. 47 When this man heard that Jesus had come from Judea to Galilee, he went to him and asked him to come down and heal his son, for he was at the point of death. 

    The verse mentions that an official’s son had been ill. When John refers to an official, he’s talking about a man who was an official of the Roman government. It’s likely that this man was therefore not Jewish, although we can’t be absolutely positive. So this Roman official approaches Jesus and his son who is ill. 

    The passage tells us that he’s at the point of death, so it’s very serious. 

    Jesus has become known in the area and this man approaches Jesus to see if anything can be done. 

    Verse 48:

    So Jesus said to him, “Unless you see signs and wonders you will not believe.”

    The “you” to whom Jesus is referring is plural. He’s not only speaking to the royal official, but also to the crowd. 

    That brings us back a couple of verses where it talked of a prophet having no honor in his hometown and the crowd that had come out to see Jesus. That’s the larger audience to whom Jesus is speaking. 

    Many are drawn to the things Jesus does, but not to Jesus himself. Jesus does not merely want to be followed for what he can do, but of greater significance is who he is. 

    Jesus is the eternal God of creation who is all powerful. He’s the savior of the world. He is the one who forgives sins. And so what he desires are disciples and not spectators. People who are looking for a savior and not a genie. People who follow him because of who he is, not just what he does. 

    Question: why do we worship? 

    The character and glory of Christ is why he is to be worshiped. 

    In sports, there’s a term for someone who’s a fair weather fan. That refers to someone who is only interested in a team when they are winning but when they’re not playing well, they pay less attention. 

    We are not called to be fair weather Christians. It can be tempting to want to turn our backs on the Lord when things aren’t going how we want. 

    But he is just as worthy of our worship and praise in the difficulties as he is in the victories. 

    If things were always easy…

    God does not always do what we want, give us what we want, even for things that are legitimate and good. 

    The Roman official isn’t asking for something frivolous. He has a child who’s near dying and this man has come to advocate for his child. But no matter how worthy the request, it is not always granted. 

    What is our response to Christ when things don’t turn out the way we wanted? No matter how worthy those requests were? That’s where the rubber meets the road. That is where the gospel becomes foolish in the eyes of the world. 

    In the eyes of the world, a good God would always grant the life and death prayer request. To not do that would make the world’s vision of God not good but evil. 

    Unless you see signs and wonders you will not believe

    We need to understand the goodness, and glory, and sovereignty of God. God is worthy of worship and praise because of who he is not just because of what he does. Faith needs to be rooted in the character of God. 

    If we make our worship and love for God hinge on getting our own way, then we are not worshiping God as God. We are not here to serve him, we are not subject to him, we make him subject to us and his goodness contingent upon how he satisfies us. 

    People wanted the signs. They want to be dazzled. We want to see the incredible story, we want to hear the unbelievable testimony. 

    Those things do happen. Praise God when they do. 

    And I’m not saying that an incredible work of life can never be used to turn a person to God. It can and does. But our faith cannot exclusively be in the marvelous and incredible events. 

    Because that’s not most days. And much of life and much of our walk with God is very ordinary. How do we respond in those times? 

    Even today, there is a temptation in our world to be drawn to mystics and faith healers. Our world eats it up. People fill arenas. These people travel the globe promising the miraculous and to heal. 

    “Unless you see signs and wonders you will not believe.”

    People who peddle a prosperity gospel revolving around how God wants to bless you and that get away from the gospel of sin and salvation and preach a message that revolves around man’s worthiness of blessing and that puts our focus on material blessings dominate the world of televangelism. 

    In 1 Corinthians 2:1-2, Paul says: 

    when I came to you, brothers, did not come proclaiming to you the testimony of God with lofty speech or wisdom. 2 For I decided to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ and him crucified. 

    That must be the basis for our study of the Bible, our preaching and teaching in churches. And it needs to also be the basis for the preaching and teaching to which we expose ourselves. 

  • The sustenance Jesus gives to a hungy world. Studying John 4:30-34

    The sustenance Jesus gives to a hungy world. Studying John 4:30-34

    In John 4, Jesus has met a Samaritan woman at a well and told her of the living water that he provides. It’s also a passage where we see this woman respond to Jesus by telling others about him. She’s the first evangelist to Christ in north Israel. 

    The woman asked the people “can this be the Christ?” She certainly doesn’t know everything about Jesus. But she’s gone to her people and told them about this man. She draws intrigue from her people. 

    John 4:30 says: They went out of the town and were coming to him. 

    A heavenly nourishment

    The Samaritan woman has left, and the story takes us back to Jesus and his disciples. 

    31 Meanwhile the disciples were urging him, saying, “Rabbi, eat.” 32 But he said to them, “I have food to eat that you do not know about.” 33 So the disciples said to one another, “Has anyone brought him something to eat?”

    Natural metaphors

    Jesus refers to food that he has and the disciples do not understand his reference. 

    Throughout John’s Gospel, there are many other instances where Jesus metaphorically talks of something from the natural world in a spiritual way and the audience misses the point. 

    When Jesus was at the temple and he said that they could destroy the temple and he would raise it up in three days. He was referring to his death and resurrection and his body as the true temple of God. The people just thought he was talking about a building. 

    When Jesus was talking to Nicodemus about being born again. Jesus was referring to Spiritual rebirth but Nicodemus thought Jesus was talking about physical birth. 

    When Jesus spoke with the Samaritan woman and talked of living water he provided and she initially thought he was simply referring to water. 

    And here again, Jesus refers to food and the disciples are like “did someone bring him a sandwich? Do they deliver pizza over here at the well?” 

    Verse 34

    “My food is to do the will of him who sent me and to accomplish his work.

    Deuteronomy connection 

    Jesus is making a reference to the Book of Deuteronomy, chapter 8. 

    The Israelites have been in the desert for 40 years and it has been the Lord who has sustained the people. 

     And he humbled you and let you hunger and fed you with manna, which you did not know, nor did your fathers know, 

    that he might make you know that man does not live by bread alone, but man lives by every word that comes from the mouth of the Lord. (Deuteronomy 8:3)

    Jesus finds his sustenance in his earthly ministry in fulfilling the will of God. 

    That is his food. That is his nourishment. Man does not live on bread alone but man lives by every word that comes from the mouth of the Lord. Jesus lived in accordance with the divine plan to fulfill the divine mission in the world. 

    What are we living for? 

    The mission of God is everything. 

    Living on purpose 

    I say all the time that the purpose of life is not happiness, it’s knowing and serving God. And we serve him through being part of God’s mission in the world. 

    But my point of that is not that we are called to drudgery and begrudging submission. 

    Rather, the point is that true life is found from the Lord and from serving him. 

    Jesus said “My food is to do the will of him who sent me and to accomplish his work.

    And that should be the food for which we all long. 

    Borrowing an idea from Charles Spuregon, we so often like to think that if we could do exactly what we wanted, if we could orchestrate our lives exactly as we wished, then we would be happy. 

    What this verse is saying is the opposite. 

    Happiness is not about what we want, what we desire, having our way. Happiness, meaning, purpose is found in going away from ourselves and what we want and following the Lord and his will. 

    We are sustained by living for God and his will to accomplish his work. There is no greater sustenance than that. There is no greater nourishment than that. 

    Illustration – hoarding food 

    Jesus says: “My food is to do the will of him who sent me and to accomplish his work.

    So often, our focus is on our physical needs. And not just the bare minimum of our needs. We have fridges and pantries. Most of us in this country have days worth of food. 

    I think of coronavirus. When the crisis began, there was widespread reporting of people going to grocery stores. Some were hoarding and buying massive quantities. Locally, stores were running out of food. There’s still a shortage of toilet paper and hand sanitizer. I’m not judging that. I’d be hypocritical. I want to the store too. 

    But I think it’s illustrative of the inherent concern we have for our physical needs. It’s a typical human behavior in a crisis to want to stock up on food. 

    Food is important.

    But I ask: “how different would the world be if the people of God took our Spiritual needs with the same seriousness and urgency as we treated our physical needs?” 

    An urgency to go to God. An urgency to live out our faith. An urgency to rejoice in the goodness of God. To pray to God. To overcome sin. To study God’s Word. 

    Man does not live by bread alone.  

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  • The broken person and the Mission of God. Studying John 4:27-29

    The broken person and the Mission of God. Studying John 4:27-29

    An unlikely missionary 

    At the beginning of John 4,  Jesus meets a Samaritan woman at a well. The Samaritans were a minority ethnic group who were half-Jewish. In the first century, there was a lot of animosity between the Samaritans and the Jewish people. Samaritans had some theological differences and given their ethnic differences, these fueled the division between the two groups. 

    The Samaritan woman meets Jesus at a well and they start to talk. 

    The woman has had five husbands and was living with a man who was not her husband. So she’s already part of a group who’s looked down upon, and she’s also had her sins exposed. Jesus tells her of the living water that he provides. He tells her of true worship of God. 

    As the preceding section winds down, John records Jesus speaking to the woman. 

    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 (he 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.” 

    An incredible conversation. 

    Verse 27 suddenly changes the direction. 

    Just then.

    Just then his disciples came back.

    Earlier in the story, we learned that the disciples had left Jesus to go and find food. It’s the reason why Jesus had been alone when he met the Samaritan woman. 

    They marveled that he was talking with a woman, but no one said, “What do you seek?” or, “Why are you talking with her?”

    The disciples want to question Jesus for talking to this woman. Out of respect for Jesus, they keep their mouths shut but they’re wondering “why are you talking with her?” 

    The disciples are not perfect. We see this time and again in the gospels. 

    We see examples of their pride, at times we see them lack faith, and we see here that they are not above prejudice. And they see Jesus talking with this woman. They don’t question it, but they’re thinking about it. 

    Probably giving her strange looks. 

    It was the culture at the time. There was a lot of prejudice against women. 

    There are rabbinic sayings which go back to the first century and talk of interactions between men and women. Some of these sayings are extremely misogynistic towards women. 

    There’s a rabinnic teaching against a man even talking to a woman in public, even his own wife. 

    There were rabinnic teachings which discouraged teaching women to read. 

    I’m not saying that those views were universal to every Jewish person in the first century. But they were within the social consciousness. Every generation has its own areas of sin, and misogyny was a common area of sin in the first century and sadly at many other times. 

    But the Samaritan woman, like everyone else, needs Jesus. She needs to know his love, needs to know his grace. 

    So the disciples didn’t publicly question Jesus, but not because they didn’t want to. 

    The text says that they marveled that Jesus was talking to a woman. Let alone a Samaritan woman. 

    John 4:28:

    So the woman left her water jar and went away into town and said to the people, 

    John notes that the woman leaves her jar. It’s interesting that this detail is mentioned. 

    Throughout our study of John’s gospel, we’ve seen this theme of newness, new creation, Jesus as replacing the Old Covenant with the New Covenant. 

    I believe that the detail of her leaving the water jar is mentioned because it’s symbolic of the fact that this woman is leaving behind the cares and concerns of her own nourishment to serve the purposes of Christ in the world. 

    She had come to the well for water, but she’s leaving it having learned about the living water which Jesus provides. 

    So we have this Samaritan woman, who’s had five husbands and who’s living with a man who’s not her husband, someone looked down upon in society, she goes into the town and starts telling people about Jesus. 

    Verse 29: 

    “Come, see a man who told me all that I ever did. Can this be the Christ?”

    Jesus has revealed himself to be a prophetic figure who has a knowledge of her life that’s supernatural. He’s claimed to be the Christ, and so she rhetorically asks the people “can this be the Christ?”

    It’s very powerful to consider that this woman from this marginalized Samaritan group is the first recorded person in this gospel to tell people about Jesus in northern Israel. 

    This story should be encouraging to all of us from the standpoint that God also uses broken and sinful people to serve him, to share his gospel and to tell the world about Jesus. 

    No one is ever too broken to know the love of Christ. 

    And no one is ever too sinful, as this woman was. No one is ever too lowly to share Jesus and be used by God to serve God. 

    Serving the mission of God is not just for the spiritual varsity team, but God has ways for all of his people to serve him. 

    And God desires for all of his people to serve him. To be light, to share the gospel, to serve others. To serve God’s mission of the world of being disciples who make disciples. 

    God uses broken people to do his work, and he can use you. No matter where you’re from, no matter what you’ve done. If you’ve wasted time, if you’ve spent years not serving God, it’s not too late. 

    God can use you. Not because of who we are, but because of who God is. And to his glory, he uses broken people to serve his purposes. 

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  • The greater worship to which Jesus points. Studying John 4:22-26

    The greater worship to which Jesus points. Studying John 4:22-26

    In John 4, Jesus is speaking with a woman at a well. Already in this passage, Jesus has pointed to the new life he gives and to the greater access to God that he provides. At the end of the passage. Jesus points to the greater worship of God that he points to. 

    In John 4:22-23, Jesus is speaking to the woman at the well: 

     22 You worship what you do not know; we worship what we know, for salvation is from the Jews. 23 But the hour is coming, and is now here, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for the Father is seeking such people to worship him. 

    He says that she worships what she does not know. And he’s referring not just to her but to the Samaritan people. 

    When Jesus says “we worship what we know, for salvation is from the Jews” he’s saying that the promise of God, the covenants God had made, the promised land, the scriptures of the Old Testament, the royal line which brought forth Jesus was also from the Jewish people. 

    The Samaritans had an incorrect understanding. But what Jesus is also saying as we move into verse 23 is that a paradigm shift is coming.

    But the hour is coming, and is now here, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth

    Jesus again refers to the hour. Not only is that hour coming, Jesus says that this hour is now here. The hour is coming and will be actualized at his death and resurrection. And that hour is already present in the world at that time as Jesus ministers to the world. 

    The time has come when true worshippers, when people who really are worshipping the Father will worship him in spirit and truth. 

    Spirit and truth

    What that means is that it’s worship from people who have the Spirit, in other words, people who have been born again, been regenerated, have the living water that Jesus provides.

    And the truth is referring to THE truth. Jesus. Jesus came into the world and he did not merely believe true things, or make true statements but Jesus himself is THE truth. 

    Grace and truth come through him (John 1:17). 

    He is the way, the truth, and the life (John 14:6). 

    And worship of the Father is meant to be in Spirit and truth. Not Spirit or truth, but Spirit and truth. 

    Jesus brings the greater worship. Jesus brings a Spiritual revolution. And it is through Jesus and Jesus alone that God is truly worshiped. 

    In verse 24, Jesus says:

    God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth.”

    God is Spirit. Not God is a spirit, but God is spirit. God and existence is not merely about the material world, because God is spirit. 

    But God cannot merely be known intellectually or cognitively. He is Spirit. 

    When Jesus told Nicodemus that we must be born again, the reason why we must be born again is because we’re dead in our sin. That we need new Spiritual life. The wages of sin are death (Romans 6:23). 

    A dead person can’t worship the living God. We cannot worship God in Spirit and truth if we have not been born again. Because if we have not been born again, we do not have the Spirit. 

    It must be worship based around the gospel from people who believe in the gospel. God must be worshiped this way. It’s the only worship that God will accept. Spirit and truth. 

    Jesus came to bring the greater revelation, the greater access to God, and the greater worship. 

    Meditation – Worship without Jesus is not worship 

    You cannot truly worship God without Christ. That’s what this verse is saying. 

    A person who is not a Christian is incapable of true worship of God. Because if you don’t have the gospel, then you cannot worship in Spirit and truth. There are no participation trophies. 

    Matthew 7:21-23

    21 “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. 22 On that day many will say to me, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and cast out demons in your name, and do many mighty works in your name?’ 23 And then will I declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from me, you workers of lawlessness.’ 

    Just being here is not what causes you to be born again and enabled to worship in Spirit and truth. It’s faith. Faith in the gospel. Faith in Jesus. 

    Hebrews 11:6 says that it is impossible to please God without faith. 

    Participation alone is not good enough for the Lord. Singing songs by itself does not constitute worship in Spirit and truth. I could sing “O Canada,” and that doesn’t suddenly make me a citizen of Canada. Just as much as singing Amazing Grace does not inherently make you a citizen of heaven. 

    It doesn’t if you don’t have faith. 

    Someone who is unregenerate is incapable of worshiping the Lord as the Lord has ordained to be worshiped.  

    The exclusivity of the gospel  

    This flies in the face of any argument that many roads lead to God. One road leads to God. One road leads to salvation. One road leads to true worship. 

    We don’t decide the worship which is acceptable to the Lord. 

    He does. Jesus is the one who gives us grace and forgiveness. Not the Old Covenant, not another religion, and not our own goodness.

    Jesus is the place where we go to meet with God. And he is the way we worship God. 

    For the Samaritan woman, she has been told the most amazing news that has ever existed in the world. It’s overwhelming. It’s difficult to understand and comprehend. 

    She still does not fully understand. 

    25 The woman said to him, “I know that Messiah is coming (he who is called Christ). When he comes, he will tell us all things.”

    She points forward to a coming Messiah who will explain all of the things about which Jesus is speaking. 

    Once again, we see the irony. Because she is talking to the Messiah, to the Christ. 

     26 Jesus said to her, “I who speak to you am he.” 

    Fun fact. This is the only place in the gospels where Jesus acknowledges his messiahship before the time of his trial. Jesus is the Lord’s Messiah, he is the savior of the world. And it’s because of who he is that he can speak with authority. 

    Time and again, this gospel makes absolute claims about Jesus and Jesus makes absolute claims about Jesus. There’s no gray area. It forces you to pick a side. 

    Jesus is the Christ or he is not. He is the one who leads us in true worship or he is not. He is the one who brings us into the presence of God, or he’s not. What do you believe about Jesus? 

    Don’t believe that? Then we have work to do. 

    If you do believe it? 

    Then the response is to come and worship the savior of the world who has brought us into the presence of the Lord, forgiven us of our sins, and allows us to worship today and forevermore in Spirit and in truth. 

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