The Blessing of Love: Stereotypes, Judgments, Prejudices replaced with Koinonia of Christ.

Picture John 4 in today’s world. Who would the woman at the well “be” or “represent” in your picture?

For me, she would be a woman who gave up on men because of the abuses she suffered and at one point she became a lesbian. A lesbian as the Samaritan woman in John 4, what an odd comparison?

Similarities and contrasts can be eye openers.

Will we be blind forever or will we allow Jesus to bring us to full vision? It may take more than one intervention from Jesus Himself! Because maybe we only see “men as trees walking” …until we see others as Christ sees them we only see dimly and our view is distorted. Mark 8:22-26.

Can you see why Jesus would send the disciples away so He might interact with the Samaritan as His Father orchestrated? Jesus would do what His people had failed to do, Jesus lived in the timing of His Father. Jesus would Be the Blessing to the world though the world deserved a curse. Jesus came to give life, to save, not to condemn. He lived and died for this.

So much of the Jewish teachings and beliefs brought the disciples to a place of hating the Samaritans and they had nothing to do with them!

John 4:9. (KJV)

Then saith the woman of Samaria unto him, How is it that thou, being a Jew, askest drink of me, which am a woman of Samaria? for the Jews have no dealings with the Samaritans.

How much is this like the church, even close disciples of Jesus, that represent Jesus to the lost?

Today will you picture Jesus with any LGBTQ at the Well of His Redemption. Unthinkable? Yet CHRIST ROSE! Jesus came to save the world and did overcome it. He showed a premier of his greatness with the woman at the well.

The teaching and traditions of Christianity warn of dangers inherent in these “sinful” LBGTQ lifestyles. The term often used is “abomination”. Yet the fear, pride, un-love and prejudice toward and hatred of these sinners is also an abomination. So is the lack of sharing The Good News and misrepresenting Christ because of the judgment and treatments of inferiority.

Did not Jesus say the woes to the rejecting and religious communities of his days would be worse than Sodom and Gomorrah? (Matthew 10:14-15 and Matthew11: in particular)

Matthew 10:14-15: If anyone will not welcome you or listen to your words, leave that home or town and shake the dust off your feet.

Truly I tell you, it will be more bearable for Sodom and Gomorrah on the day of judgment than for that town.

Matthew 11:20-25 King James Version (KJV)

Then began he to upbraid the cities wherein most of his mighty works were done, because they repented not:

Woe unto thee, Chorazin! woe unto thee, Bethsaida! for if the mighty works, which were done in you, had been done in Tyre and Sidon, they would have repented long ago in sackcloth and ashes.

But I say unto you, It shall be more tolerable for Tyre and Sidon at the day of judgment, than for you.

And thou, Capernaum, which art exalted unto heaven, shalt be brought down to hell: for if the mighty works, which have been done in thee, had been done in Sodom, it would have remained until this day.

But I say unto you, That it shall be more tolerable for the land of Sodom in the day of judgment, than for thee.

At that time Jesus answered and said, I thank thee, O Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because thou hast hid these things from the wise and prudent, and hast revealed them unto babes.

Could this represent “the CHURCHED” in today’s culture? Only God knows. But perhaps it is a challenge to self-evaluate: are we living love, truth, grace as Jesus did with the woman at the well?

I believe that to truly live The Gospel in power we first NEED to identify ourselves as in the position that the Samaritan woman was here in John 4: Truly in need of what Jesus offered!

Until we see our own depravity, unlove, prejudice, lack of living by Grace and Truth, we will be like the close disciples of Christ in John 4: ineffective and running off the lost that most need Christ. It is something to truly repent of to live the Gospel in The Holy Spirit's Leading and power!

The churched and lost both need repentance!

I sure have needed repentance! IN CHRIST's forgiveness and redemption is hope!

Are we believers prejudiced against sinners in this LGBTQ category? Have we not learned how to apply The GOOD NEWS to Samaria and to the uttermost parts of the world?

Yet there is hope as I picture Jesus speaking to this lesbian as clearly and compassionately as he did the woman at the well. She was accepted by Jesus and Jesus knew her heart. Even when her own heart condemned her, God was and is greater than her heart and knows everything, provided everything for her to run and tell all she knew of Him because He knew all of her and loved her anyway!

Love like this is truly freedom and many long for it! (Sometimes, if I am honest, It seems few really know it, even in the community of believers?)

Jesus is the best friend and companion anyone could ever have and for a woman that knew the fear and abuses of men Jesus was HOPE and Help and Healing to her wounded broken heart.

He came to give his life for her sin as well as his disciples. But the disciples saw her as inferior, not worth saving or spending any time at all with her for she was, to them, unclean, unredeemable, marked and a threat to the Commonwealth of Israel.

After all had not Jesus forbade the disciples from going outside to Samaria prior to His taking them there? How fast things can turn around and be reversed when Jesus leads the way.

Reminds me of Psalm 23 (Especially because Jesus walked through the valley and experienced death…) He preparest a table before me in the presence of mine enemies: thou anointest my head with oil; my cup runneth over.

Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life: and I will dwell in the house of the Lord for ever.

Jesus would soon, in His Resurrected State, change the hearts of his disciples and even CHARGE them to go to the Samaritans! His overcoming at the cross and through the resurrection changed everything. GRACE is Resurrection Life! Mercy does triumph over judgment!

Jesus gives worth, value, love, hope, redemption as Savior of the World. The woman like David came to know him and extol Him! In real time history the woman at the well was known as Photia and lived an exceptionally fruitful life of sowing the seeds of Good News bringing many, a harvest of sheaves, to faith In CHRIST, her Messiah! She, in my opinion, lived out Psalm 126 and Psalm 145!

Psalm 126 (KJV):

When the Lord turned again the captivity of Zion, we were like them that dream.

Then was our mouth filled with laughter, and our tongue with singing: then said they among the heathen, The Lord hath done great things for them.

The Lord hath done great things for us; whereof we are glad.

Turn again our captivity, O Lord, as the streams in the south.

They that sow in tears shall reap in joy.

He that goeth forth and weepeth, bearing precious seed, shall doubtless come again with rejoicing, bringing his sheaves with him.

Here is my determined desire: (Psalm 145):

“I will extol you, my God and King, and bless your name forever and ever. Every day I will bless you and praise your name forever and ever. Great is the Lord, and greatly to be praised, and his greatness is unsearchable. One generation shall commend your works to another, and shall declare your mighty acts. On the glorious splendor of your majesty, and on your wondrous works, I will meditate. They shall speak of the might of your awesome deeds, and I will declare your greatness. They shall pour forth the fame of your abundant goodness and shall sing aloud of your righteousness. The Lord is gracious and merciful, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love. The Lord is good to all, and his mercy is over all that he has made. All your works shall give thanks to you, O Lord, and all your saints shall bless you! They shall speak of the glory of your kingdom and tell of your power, to make known to the children of man your mighty deeds, and the glorious splendor of your kingdom. Your kingdom is an everlasting kingdom, and your dominion endures throughout all generations. [The Lord is faithful in all his words and kind in all his works.] The Lord upholds all who are falling and raises up all who are bowed down. The eyes of all look to you, and you give them their food in due season. You open your hand; you satisfy the desire of every living thing. The Lord is righteous in all his ways and kind in all his works. The Lord is near to all who call on him, to all who call on him in truth. He fulfills the desire of those who fear him; he also hears their cry and saves them. The Lord preserves all who love him, but all the wicked he will destroy. My mouth will speak the praise of the Lord, and let all flesh bless his holy name forever and ever.”Psalms 145:1-21 ESV

http://bible.com/59/psa.145.1-21.esv

Thanks for reading this. I pray each of us that are IN CHRIST will run in the race to pass the TRUE GOSPEL to the next generation with power of salvation to any who will believe!