Verse for the week: “Come, everyone who thirsts,
come to the waters...” Isaiah 55.1a
Prayer for the week:
Heavenly Father, you sent your Son to us and laid on him the burden of
the cross that we might see and know the glory of your holy love. Grant that our faith in him may not be shaken
by adversity or daunted by the threat of it, but that we may ever follow
steadfastly the way that leads to perfect fellowship with him, and so with you;
through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen. [Charles M.
Jacobs in Paul Z. Strodach, Collects and Prayers (Philadelphia: Board of
Publications of the United Lutheran Church in America; 19350, p.166.
Bible reading for the day: John 4.15-42 (part 2;
note: Picking up where yesterday’s reading left off; “Jesus meets the woman as
he sits alone beside a roadside well; his disciples have gone into the town to
buy food. No one else is present. Yet as the conversation progresses, the woman
serves as the spokesperson of the Samaritan people. She and Jesus begin to
address each other in plural forms of speech and the woman voices Samaritan
national concerns. The horizon broadens still further until the Samaritan
townspeople receive Jesus not just as a national deliverer but as Savior of the
world.” – Craig Koester in Symbolism in the Fourth Gospel, Fortress
Press, 1995)
15 The woman said to him,
“Sir, give me this water, so that I will not be thirsty or have to come
here to draw water.”
16 Jesus said to
her, “Go, call your husband, and come here.” 17 The
woman answered him, “I have no husband.” Jesus said to her, “You are right
in saying, ‘I have no husband’; 18 for you have had
five husbands, and the one you now have is not your husband. What you have said
is true.” 19 The woman said to him, “Sir, I
perceive that you are a prophet.20 Our fathers
worshiped on this mountain, but you say that in Jerusalem is the
place where people ought to worship.” 21 Jesus said
to her, “Woman, believe me, the hour is coming when neither on
this mountain nor in Jerusalem will you worship the Father. 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. 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.”
27 Just then his
disciples came back. They marveled that he was talking with a woman, but no one
said, “What do you seek?” or, “Why are you talking with her?” 28 So
the woman left her water jar and went away into town and said to the
people, 29 “Come, see a man who told me all
that I ever did. Can this be the Christ?” 30 They
went out of the town and were coming to him.
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?” 34 Jesus said to them, “My food
is to do the will of him who sent me and to accomplish his
work. 35 Do you not say, ‘There are yet four
months, then comes the harvest’? Look, I tell you, lift up your eyes, and see
that the fields are white for harvest. 36 Already the
one who reaps is receiving wages and gathering fruit for eternal life, so
that sower and reaper may rejoice together. 37 For
here the saying holds true, ‘One sows and another reaps.’ 38 I
sent you to reap that for which you did not labor. Others have
labored, and you have entered into their labor.”
39 Many Samaritans from
that town believed in him because of the woman's testimony, “He told
me all that I ever did.” 40 So when the Samaritans
came to him, they asked him to stay with them, and he stayed there two
days. 41 And many more believed because of his
word.42 They said to the woman, “It is no longer because
of what you said that we believe, for we have heard for ourselves, and we
know that this is indeed the Savior of the world.”
Prayer (based on TRIP** method): Gracious and almighty Father, again you
know exactly what you are up to: you know the whole story of every thirsty
sinner you come to save, you know this skeptical woman and you know me… and
your food is to accomplish our salvation. Thank you, thank you! More than just
a prophet, your Son is the Savior. Save me and my congregation hourly from the
deceptive wells of our sin’s desires and false worship. Deliver us right to the
water of eternal life, your Son Jesus Christ… and pour out our testimony so
that others may drink of him for themselves. I ask this in Jesus’ name, amen.
“I believe in
Jesus Christ, God’s only son, our Lord…”
What does this
mean?
I believe that Jesus Christ — true God, begotten of the
Father from eternity, and also true man, born of the Virgin Mary — is my Lord.
He has redeemed me, a lost and condemned creature, and has freed me from sin,
death, and the power of the devil, not with silver and gold, but with his holy
and precious blood and his innocent suffering and death. He has done all this
in order that I might be his own, live under him in his kingdom, and serve him
in everlasting righteousness, innocence, and blessedness, even as he is risen
from the dead and lives and reigns for all eternity. This is most certainly
true! (from The Small Catechism,
by Martin Luther ©Reclaim Resources, Sola Publishing, 2011)
song: follow this
link to a rare song that gives further voice to today’s conversation with the
Lord: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xjTk4011gvI
Benediction: The
peace of God which surpasses all understanding keep your hearts and your minds
in Christ Jesus our Lord. Amen. Phil 4.7
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