23 January 2010
Psalm 30, 32; Gen. 12:9-13:1; Heb. 7:18-28; John 4:27-42

Abram’s deception over Sarai is unbecoming and shows that his faith is not yet what it ought to be but we have to give him a bit of a break. He has very little experience of God at this point, so far a couple of promises and a traveling companion. His fear is that these pagans will see Sarai, want her for themselves, and kill him to get her. It seems quaint that he believes this about his wife as she wasn’t a young girl, but the idea has a good foundation as indeed the king takes her for his own, one of his wives. This action, however, endangers the promise of a child born to the couple and God will not allow it. These people may not be believers in Abram’s God but they do believe in some god who is causing “great plagues” and are willing to let or tell Abram to go in order that this God will leave them alone. Several hundred years later, another Pharaoh in Egypt will arise and not be quite so amenable to letting the people go in spite of greater plagues.

The woman had come to the well for water but what she found there was greater than her thirst and she left her water jar, she had received that living water Jesus was speaking about. The disciples arrive and Jesus speaks to them about food they don’t know anything about and they don’t ask Him about it, they talk among themselves. The woman is more “spiritual” than they are in some ways. They don’t go to the source, they ask each other. Too often the world is more hungry and thirsty for what Jesus has to offer than the church. The Samaritans initially believed in Jesus because of the woman’s testimony, an amazing thought given who she is, but later they come to believe for themselves because of what they have seen and heard from Jesus. There is a model there for the raising up of others, particularly children, in the faith. Initially faith can be somewhat second-hand in this way, but eventually we have to have our own relationship with Jesus.

Jesus is superior to the levitical priests because He is without sin. He is also superior in that He never dies but is forever. He is superior to them because His priesthood is not a legal priesthood but one given by God directly. The old covenant with its priests and sacrifices came through Abraham, and the Jews trace their connection with God through Abraham. The writer to the Hebrews is making the case that the new covenant doesn’t run through Abraham, it is superior to the old covenant because Jesus is superior to all that comes with the old covenant. He isn’t diminishing Abraham, Moses, or the old priesthood in making this argument, simply arguing that Jesus is supreme in everything, the time has come to move from the inferior to the superior.

Sing praises to the LORD, O you his saints,
and give thanks to his holy name.
For his anger is but for a moment,
and his favor is for a lifetime.
Weeping may tarry for the night,
but joy comes with the morning.