He's God in our Day

Tucked between the covers of the Gospel of John, a single sentence uttered by a disgraced woman at a well digs deep down into my soul and wakes up a truth that is difficult to face. “Sir,” she says to Jesus. “You have nothing to draw with” (John 4:11 NIV).

  

From that one moment in time, her words still echo two thousand years later for many of us recognize them, having uttered that same thought in different words, yet with the same meaning:  “Jesus. You can’t help me. My situation can’t be fixed. This is hopeless. Nothing’s going to change. How can you possibly help?” Or as the woman declared, “Sir. You have nothing to draw with.”

 

The Gospel of John records a multitude of the miracles of Jesus, yet in the midst of those miracles is embedded one significant fact, reinforced over and over again. Jesus lived an everyday life in the midst of people like us. And John vividly shows us -- before we meet this woman whose soul is thirsty for “the living water” -- how Jesus lived his life.

 

Each day, Jesus Christ “walked” and “arrived” and “visited” and “stood” and “sat down” and “stayed.”  He “looked” and “saw” and “listened” and “answered” and “revealed.”  He also “decided” and “found” and “made” and “gave” and “scattered.” In other words, Jesus lived in relationship with other people. And he still does. Each day. 

 

And today, he shows us what He can do by what He did. And just as He met the woman by the well in the midst of her everyday life, He does the same for us. He continues to listen and reply and declare and point out and work and give and fill and reveal. He still lives! He’s God of our every day and in each of our days.

  

The verbs John uses to record the active life of Christ aren’t dynamic or spectacular; instead, they’re everyday verbs, actions which emphasize the reality of the life Jesus lived, what he did each day, and who he did them with. And just as He revealed to this woman who He was, He continues to reveal Himself to us each day, too. Wherever we are.

  

Today, I’m praying to be overwhelmed with the reality of who Jesus is and what He can do.  Not to see Him like the woman first did, as someone who could not, but to see Him as she later did --as the one who spoke to her and knew everything she had ever done. The one who revealed Himself to her. The one who doesn’t just watch us, but lives with us, too.

  

And today, I’ll continue to ponder that powerful verse in Chapter 4 of John, which reminds us that Jesus most assuredly has plenty from which to draw.