Sunday April 22, 2018

Epistle: Acts 2:22-28

Gospel: John 4:5-42

Psalm: Psalm 67/68

Friends,

Christ has risen. In today’s Epistle the Apostle Peter is speaking to everyone who will listen to him on the Day of Pentecost about the risen Christ, after the Apostles received the Holy Ghost, this Jesus whom they had crucified has now risen, many people became believers on this day and were baptized.

In our Gospel we see that Jesus is leaving Judea and has to pass through Samaria to get back to Galilee. We see a lot going on here in these verses during the conversation between Jesus and the Samaritan woman. One unusual thing is that Jesus, who is recognized as a Teacher or Rabbi as is plainly seen in the gospel is actually speaking not just to a woman but to a Samaritan woman at that. Jewish leaders of the day did not have common conversation with women and an Israelite would not speak to a Samaritan. Yet we find the Jewish Rabbi speaking to a Samaritan woman.

With this alone we see that when it comes to salvation and all being equal in Christ that Jesus is teaching us that in the course of humanity, male and female do not exist in Christ but are equals. This is not to be mistaken though for the fact that men are still men and women are still women. Each has a different role to play in humanity but each role or every role is equal under Christ. A woman is not less important than a man nor is a man any more important than a woman. God made them male and female, each with their own special role.

They were at Jacob’s well, Jacob was of course the father of the twelve Patriarchs who essentially fathered the twelve tribes of Israel. In Deuteronomy, 11:29-30 Moses tells the Israelites that when they cross over into the land that they are to set a blessing on Mt. Gerizim and a curse on Mt. Ebal. This is the same Mt. Gerizim where Jesus is now speaking.

The Masoretic Text of the Tanakh says the Israelites later built an altar on Mount Ebal, constructed from natural (rather than cut) stones, to place stones there and whiten them with lime to make korban (peace offerings on the altar), eat there, and write the words of this law on the stone. The Samaritan Pentateuch version of Deuteronomy, and a fragment found at Qumran, holds that the instruction actually mandated the construction of the altar on Mount Gerizim, which the Samaritans view as the site of the tabernacle, recent Dead Sea Scrolls work supports the accuracy of the Samaritan Pentateuch's designation of Mount Gerizim rather than Mount Ebal as the sacred site.

We find in reading the Book of Joshua chapters 7 and 8 the battle of Ai and the lessons of not following God, of sinning and not confessing until one is forced to confess because one’s sin has been discovered and what happens when one follows God. Joshua built an altar of unhewn stones there on Mt. Gerizim, the Israelites then made peace offerings on it, the law of Moses was written onto the stones, and the Israelites split into the two groups specified in Deuteronomy and pronounced blessings and curses as instructed there. Later in the Book of Joshua, when Joshua becomes old and is dying, he gathered the people together at Shechem, and gave a farewell speech, and then wrote these words in the book of the law of God, and set up a stone as a witness, placing it next to the sanctuary of the Lord, under the oak tree.

When the Babylonian Captivity was over and Jews began returning, there was a large split between the Samaritans and Jews developed, with the Samaritans, but not the Jews, regarding Mount Gerizim as the holy place chosen by God. The Samaritans built a temple there on Mt. Gerezim. The Jews on the other hand went to Jerusalem. Now in all fairness, many of the Samaritans stayed behind during the captivity and they continued the worship as they always had. They believed that they were on the holy mount of God and worshiping in the manner that had always been; they also believed that the Jews in Jerusalem corrupted the worship and the law after the captivity when they returned and that the Jerusalem Jews were not the faithful ones. Of course the Jerusalem Jews had the concept that they were the true Israel and that the Samaritans were corrupted people with a corrupt worship. So with this very short history on the Samaritan well and Jesus the Jewish Rabbi speaking to a Samaritan woman at that well now stated, we can see the some significance of this whole scene.

Men and women under Christ or in Christ are equal in their humanity, Jesus declares Himself to be the Living Water of eternal life. We see that in spite of the prejudice between Jew and Samaritan Jesus shows us that in Christ there is no prejudice; there is no Jew nor Greek or in this case no Samaritan, there is no race of human that cannot be accepted into the Body Of Christ. He declares Himself to be the Christ, the Messiah that all Jews to include the Samaritans are waiting for. Jesus also declares that the ritual worship in the two temples; Jerusalem and the place of the Samaritans are void and will become meaningless because the true worshipers of God will worship in spirit and truth because God is spirit.

So from the Psalm let us declare; Blessed be the Lord, who daily bears us up; God is our salvation. Our God is a God of salvation, and to God, the Lord, belongs escape from death.

The light has entered the world and the times; they are a-changing.

If one does not have love for the soul of mankind and the desire that all come to the truth than one does not have Christ in them fully.

Little children, love one another; because this is our Lord’s command and if you fulfill this, nothing else is needed. Through love and because of love we will follow all of the commandments that we have been given. They are written on our hearts by the hand of Almighty God. We simply need to see them within us and follow.

Remember; if we confess our sins and repent, he is faithful and just, to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all iniquity.

In Christ.