21 January 2010
Psalm 37:1-18; Gen. 11:1-9; Heb. 6:13-20; John 4:1-15

Chapter 10 of Genesis, like chapter 5, is a genealogy, but it is the table of nations, representing the spread of humanity from Noah’s sons forward of all the nations of the region and their common ancestry. After the spread of humanity, some settled and desired to make a name for themselves lest they be spread over the face of the earth. They recognized that unity matters and that division would lessen their potential. Their desire to make a name for themselves wasn’t limited to earth, they wanted to build a tower reaching into the heavens, that their name might be great in the heavens. Chapter 10 tells that all people came from common ancestry and chapter 11 tells how those people were divided from one another. Our desire to make our name great required that division, the miracle at Pentecost repaired that division in order that we might work together as one to bring the kingdom of God down from heavens to the earth and make His Name great.

Jesus began the work of re-uniting the peoples of the earth with those who were near kin, the Samaritans. These people had the first five books of the Bible, the books of Moses, but not the rest. They believed themselves to be undefiled Jews, who worshipped in the right place and without all the accretions to the faith that happened in the rest of the Old Testament history. They did not recognize Jerusalem as the chosen place of worship, they recognized the older worship site, Bethel, as the right place. Jesus did not “have” to pass through Samaria to get to Galilee, most Jews didn’t, but He had to for another reason, to begin the work of mission. This woman cites common ancestry, Jacob, and makes the claim that he had given them this well, an extraordinary claim as that makes this well a source of water for well over 2000 years! When Jesus offers her living water so she won’t have to come to the well she leaps at the offer. Her marital situation would have made her a pariah in the town, and we know that she was as she is here alone at midday when all the other women of the town would have come together early in the morning to avoid the heat of the day. She is here, now, in order to avoid the women.

There is no greater name that Yahweh. The name itself tells us this, meaning something like I am and implying that life is His chief characteristic, a being who exists from eternity and into eternity. We as created beings need to swear by something greater than ourselves so we take oaths in court by swearing on a Bible, meaning that our word is as good as God’s word and we are willing to place our destiny at stake. Sometimes you hear people swear on things like their mother’s grave or some other silly statement. I used to work for the federal government and once was with some folks who were bragging about their credit limits on credit cards. My boss pulled out our government issue card and bragged that it was backed by the full faith and credit of the US government. God’s promise is backed by the full faith and credit of the creator of all that was, is and is to come. Can we rely on the promise? Can we proclaim the greatness of His Name?

Refrain from anger, and forsake wrath!
Fret not yourself; it tends only to evil.
For the evildoers shall be cut off,
but those who wait for the LORD shall inherit the land.