Life in the Promised Land was to be filled with the word of
God. They were to have it in their
hearts and souls, their hands and the frontlets between their eyes. They were/are to teach their children and to
discuss them at every point from rising up in the morning to lying down in the
evening. The point of talking about the
Law was so that they would understand how to live according to the Law. Obedience to the commandments was the key to
enjoying the Land and the peace that God would provide against their
enemies. It was taken for granted that
they would have enemies, peace would be theirs so long as they obeyed the
Lord. He would take care of maintaining the
peace. We should settle ourselves on the
reality that the world isn’t our friend unless we become like it and when we do
we lose what was intended to be our distinct aroma and light. Peace isn’t established or maintained by
becoming like the world but by obedience to the Lord. Peace is a work of God. Does the fact that obedience is the way to
receive peace diminish that it is all based on believing Him? The reason to obey is tied up with belief
that if you do obey you will receive the promise.
The Samaritan woman wants
this living water, the water that permanently quenches thirst, the water that
becomes a spring of water welling up to eternal life. Who wouldn’t want that water? First, she doubts Jesus’ ability to produce
such water. This well is pretty
extraordinary, it has been producing water for her people since the time of
Jacob, somewhere around 1500 years or more, can Jesus do better than that? Why should she exchange this water for the
water He is simply talking about? Jesus
promises more concerning this water each time she questions Him until finally
she has no more questions, “Sir, give me this water, so that I will not be
thirsty or have to come here to draw water.”
He overcame her sales resistance but then proposed a condition, get your
husband. Every sales person knows that
if you get the wife on board the hubby will follow along right? That isn’t the issue here, Jesus might have
blown it if the husband is required, she has none but, in the end, confession
of the reality of her messy past is the true condition of receiving this water,
not a husband. Not only that, He knew it
all anyway and still offered her the water. Amazing grace in action. Now, all she has to do is believe Him at His
word that He is Messiah.
The first high priest could hardly lord his righteousness
over the people could he? The story of
the golden calf and the time Aaron and Miriam went to Moses to claim his right
as leader both stand in the way of Aaron’s self-righteousness, not to mention
the fate of his children, Nadab and Abihu who were killed by fire from the
altar when they attempted to bring strange fire and mix it on the altar with
the fire kindled by God. The writer here
says Jesus, the son, learned obedience through suffering. He shows what it looks like for us to be
obedient unto death. Before that time He
had never known suffering, only the love of the Father, perfect union and in
suffering as we do He was perfected as not only the sacrifice for sin but the
one who is our great high priest interceding for us. We know the Father hears Him because of His
perfection and we know that because of the resurrection. Do you believe?
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