In 1968 Jerry Snell opened a door in the hallway outside our first hour chemistry class. He invited me into what I discovered was a darkroom. Soon I was on the school newspaper and annual staff as a photographer. Later I learned that Jerry was a Lutheran who was planning to become a pastor. A few years later I was not only a Lutheran, but I was heading off to seminary to become a Lutheran pastor, too. Jerry followed a year later and served as a pastor in Missouri until his untimely heart attack and death. I thank God for Jerry and enjoy photography still today – not to mention rejoicing in having served as a Lutheran pastor in congregations in Utah, Colorado, Arkansas and Texas. I’ve retired now and serve part time as a Congregational Support Specialist for the Texas District of the LCMS. I also provide coaching and leadership training through various PLI cohorts and with individual congregations and organizations.
David Bahn is a follower of Jesus Christ, husband to Diane, father and grandfather. He is an avid amateur photographer. His photo website is “Flowers by God Photos by David” He also publishes a devotional blog DavidBahn-Reflections.com.
He and Diane live in Cypress Texas and enjoy visiting their grandchildren who live in the United States and Germany.
He graduated from Concordia Theological Seminary in 1979, and earned a Doctor of Ministry degree from Fuller Theological Seminary in 1991.
Diane, his wife, is now retired from PLI (PLIleadership.org). They have offered presentations on Marriage and Ministry Partnership, Leadership, Changing Your Congregation’s Culture, and Missional Living. They look are working with PLI International training pastors and wives of the ELVD Diocese of the Lutheran Church of Tanzania.
David’s personal mission statement is “Leading people to realize Jesus’ calling and plans for their lives.”
For your personal meditation and edification on this Lord’s Day
Psalm 17:7-8
Wondrously show[a] your steadfast love, O Savior of those who seek refuge from their adversaries at your right hand.
8 Keep me as the apple of your eye; hide me in the shadow of your wings.
Psalm 47:1-2
Clap your hands, all peoples! Shout to God with loud songs of joy! 2 For the Lord, the Most High, is to be feared, a great king over all the earth.
Psalm 77:1-3, 10-12
I cry aloud to God, aloud to God, and he will hear me. 2 In the day of my trouble I seek the Lord; in the night my hand is stretched out without wearying; my soul refuses to be comforted. 3 When I remember God, I moan; when I meditate, my spirit faints. Selah
10 Then I said, “I will appeal to this, to the years of the right hand of the Most High.”[b]
11 I will remember the deeds of the Lord; yes, I will remember your wonders of old. 12 I will ponder all your work, and meditate on your mighty deeds.
Psalm 107:1-3
Oh give thanks to the Lord, for he is good, for his steadfast love endures forever! 2 Let the redeemed of the Lord say so, whom he has redeemed from trouble[a] 3 and gathered in from the lands, from the east and from the west, from the north and from the south.
Psalm 137:1-4
By the waters of Babylon, there we sat down and wept, when we remembered Zion. 2 On the willows[a]there we hung up our lyres. 3 For there our captors required of us songs, and our tormentors, mirth, saying, “Sing us one of the songs of Zion!”
4 How shall we sing the Lord‘s song in a foreign land?
But the angel of the Lord called out to him from heaven, “Abraham! Abraham!”
“Here I am,” he replied.
12 “Do not lay a hand on the boy,” he said. “Do not do anything to him. Now I know that you fear God, because you have not withheld from me your son, your only son.”
13 Abraham looked up and there in a thicket he saw a ram caught by its horns. He went over and took the ram and sacrificed it as a burnt offering instead of his son. 14 So Abraham called that place The Lord Will Provide. And to this day it is said, “On the mountain of the Lord it will be provided.”
– Genesis 22:11-14
Day Lilies Reaching for the Sun | Missouri Botanical Garden | July 2021
God provides. More often in the day-to-day orderly workings of the universe. Evening and Morning. Seasons. Plants and animals grow. Seedtime and harvest. Life. Add people who provide the for orderly function of society.
Sometimes in the nick of time. Sometimes in amazing and miraculous ways.
Three 100-dollar bills wrapped in a ½ sheet of paper with a message, “The Lord cares about everything.” Just in the nick of time. When we were at a crisis point, and ready to take a major turn in our future plans.
A NEGATIVE test result when we were worried about dealing with a grave genetic disease.
A friend who opened a door to faith, photography, and future just when I needed direction most of all.
An opportunity to serve a congregation with great potential, many challenges, wonderful people, and opportunities I thought I’d never get. At a time when I could make one final run career-wise.
Opportunities to serve congregations in the larger Houston area which allows me to impact the Kingdom on a rewarding part time basis. Just when I wondered how I would continue to serve following retirement from full-time pastoral ministry.
Abraham experienced a miraculous and merciful provision of God. But this wasn’t his first. He was a man of great wealth. He had a wife, other family members, many slaves, and animals: All provisions of God. He had, by this time, also two sons. He had been preserved from the destruction visited upon Sodom and Gomorrah. He had much from God.
It may be that because he realized that God’s blessings and favor had been so bountifully and graciously given, he thought nothing of sacrificing Isaac because God had been so faithful and gracious. We know he believed that God could raise him from the dead (Cf. Hebrews 11:19). As it turns out, however, there is no need for a resurrection miracle here. God provides an out for Isaac and Abraham.
Few times in life are we tested to the extent God tested Abraham. If we are, we who wait, hope, and trust in God will see the goodness of God in the land of the living. Perhaps we can find strength to wait and hope in him as we recall his daily provision, along with those special touches of his grace along life’s way.
When Abraham and Isaac reached the place God had told him about, Abraham built an altar there and arranged the wood on it. He bound his son Isaac and laid him on the altar, on top of the wood. 10 Then he reached out his hand and took the knife to slay his son. 11 But the angel of the Lord called out to him from heaven, “Abraham! Abraham!”
“Here I am,” he replied.
12 “Do not lay a hand on the boy,” he said. “Do not do anything to him. Now I know that you fear God, because you have not withheld from me your son, your only son.”
13 Abraham looked up and there in a thicket he saw a ram caught by its horns. He went over and took the ram and sacrificed it as a burnt offering instead of his son. 14 So Abraham called that place The Lord Will Provide. And to this day it is said, “On the mountain of the Lord it will be provided.”
– Genesis 22:6-14
Lily #4 | Missouri Botanical Garden | July 2021
Diane and I are teaching an English as Second Language (ESL) class through Cypress Assistance Ministries, a local human care ministry. Last night was test night. There are many challenges in teaching ESL, not the least of which is understanding thick Asian accents. Then there’s the matter of successfully communicating instructions to the class members. Sometimes we just laugh at each other … in a good-natured sort of way.
Their performance last night was really quite good. After we did a second run at two questions – which I believed they simply misunderstood – they got 100% correct. Well, mostly. Little things like the rule about spelling out numbers less than 10 (“three,” for example rather than “3”) proved to be easily forgotten. But we’re making progress.
Abraham was being tested by God. But the stakes were much higher than passing an ESL test. His son was on the line. His faith, too, was being tested. And so was his willingness to obey. Abraham passed the test. According to Hebrews 11 he believed that God could even raise someone from the dead if Isaac had actually been killed. Abraham is, after all, the Father of Faith.
I’ve been tested plenty of times. Sometimes I’ve passed the test. I’ve remained faithful. I’ve kept the faith. I’ve been courageous. Sometimes I’ve not. Abraham has had his moments of failure (as have I). This was not one of them. He did not withhold his son. He was willing to give him up. And God honored his faith.
That’s the hope we can bring to any test of our faith. If we remain faithful God will show up. He will be present. He will see us through. And, thankfully, even if we fail, God will not deny himself.
The statement is trustworthy:
For if we died with Him, we will also live with Him; 12 If we endure, we will also reign with Him; If we deny Him, He will also deny us; 13 If we are faithless, He remains faithful, for He cannot deny Himself. – 2 Timothy 2:11-13
James tells us that God does not tempt anyone. He never seeks to lead us away from himself. But he may test our faith. To make us stronger. To refine us. To focus our hearts and minds on him and his word. That’s a good thing.
Abraham took the wood for the burnt offering and placed it on his son Isaac, and he himself carried the fire and the knife. As the two of them went on together,7 Isaac spoke up and said to his father Abraham, “Father?”
“Yes, my son?” Abraham replied.
“The fire and wood are here,” Isaac said, “but where is the lamb for the burnt offering?”
8 Abraham answered, “God himself will provide the lamb for the burnt offering, my son.” And the two of them went on together.
9 When they reached the place God had told him about, Abraham built an altar there and arranged the wood on it. He bound his son Isaac and laid him on the altar, on top of the wood. 10 Then he reached out his hand and took the knife to slay his son. 11 But the angel of the Lord called out to him from heaven, “Abraham! Abraham!”
“Here I am,” he replied.
12 “Do not lay a hand on the boy,” he said. “Do not do anything to him. Now I know that you fear God,because you have not withheld from me your son, your only son.”
13 Abraham looked up and there in a thicket he saw a ram caught by its horns. He went over and took the ram and sacrificed it as a burnt offering instead of his son. 14 So Abraham called that place The Lord Will Provide. And to this day it is said, “On the mountain of the Lord it will be provided.”
– Genesis 22:6-14
Day Lily | Missouri Botanical Garden | July 2021
“I got nothin.” Have you ever felt that way? No excuse. No strength. No resources. No answer. Final Jeopardy answer: Blank.
It’s either a feeling of grave deficiency, embarrassment, or…relief. You’re off the hook one way or another. The path forward is out of your hands. You may be held responsible for no answer, but you will not be blamed for the wrong answer.
Abraham is on the way to the burnt offering sacrifice. He has wood and fire. He has no lamb. He has Isaac. And when asked about the lamb, he has something better than “nothing.” He has faith. “God will provide the lamb for the sacrifice,” is his answer.
God will provide. What a powerful testimony of faith. And look at how it will unfold. At the last minute. In the middle of the unimaginably horrific act. As the knife is ready to plunge into his son, Isaac. The child of the promise. His only son. The son he loves. Laid on the wood. Frightened. Unbelieving. Terrorized. How do you even get over that?
God will provide. What a powerful promise. Isaac saw that up close and more personally than any of us could ever imagine. He saw it at the last moment. When there was no way of escape. Except God provided. It was a dramatic show of God’s providential care and faithfulness – even as it was a test of faith and obedience for Abraham.
But we don’t call this mountain The Mountain of Obedient Faith, we call it the Lord will provide. We remember Abraham’s faith. But we are pointed toward God’s faithfulness. We are reminded of God’s grace. We are grounded in God’s provision of a lamb.
That reminds me of another mountain – a hill really. Nothing majestic. Certainly nothing glorious. Not quaint or evocative in the manner of the Mount of Olives. But the hill called the Place of the Skull. On that hill God provided the lamb, his own Son. But he did not hold back the hands of those who would pierce his flesh and crucify him. He did not save his Son at the last minute. In fact, he forsook him. And his Son remained faithfully obedient. The Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world.
God provided him. And if God did not spare his own Son, but freely gave him up for us all, will he not freely give us all things we need (Romans 8:32)? Maybe at the last minute. Maybe when we’ve “got nothin.” Maybe today. Certainly when the end comes. He will provide. You need nothing but him.
Some time later God tested Abraham. He said to him, “Abraham!”
“Here I am,” he replied.
2 Then God said, “Take your son, your only son, whom you love—Isaac—and go to the region of Moriah. Sacrifice him there as a burnt offering on a mountain I will show you.”
3 Early the next morning Abraham got up and loaded his donkey. He took with him two of his servants and his son Isaac. When he had cut enough wood for the burnt offering, he set out for the place God had told him about.4 On the third day Abraham looked up and saw the place in the distance. 5 He said to his servants, “Stay here with the donkey while I and the boy go over there. We will worship and then we will come back to you.”– Genesis 22:1-4
Lily # 4 | Missouri Botanical Garden | July 2021
Judge Robert Bork wrote a scathing assessment of the current state of the culture and morals of the United States several years ago. Titled, Slouching Toward Gomorra, he offers a prophetic and unprecedented view of a culture in decline, a nation in such serious moral trouble that its very foundation is crumbling: a nation that slouches not towards the Bethlehem envisioned by the poet Yeats in 1919, but towards Gomorrah (from the Amazon listing of his book).
Abraham’s trek from his home to the mountain that God would show him is anything but a slouch. Nor is it toward Gomorra. This is a long trek of faith toward an incredible test of faith and a resolute devotion of obedience to God. Three days. If it’s me, my stomach is in knots after the first day. I am thinking through every possible scenario. I’m planning contingencies. I’m working out explanations. I’m wondering deep in my soul, is this really the voice and command of God? Did I hear him right? Did he really say that?
Today the only way we can know if a thought or idea is of God is by testing it against God’s word. And then we can only know that the thought is not from God – if the thought is contrary to a clear command of Scripture. If it is not contrary to God’s word, it may be from God, or it may be sanctified reason bubbling up in our minds.
But Abraham has no scripture. Moses is yet to write the Pentateuch. God is dealing with him directly. So there is no norm against which he is to test this word. Somehow he knows it is from God. Somehow Moses learns of it and writes it down for us to read and ponder, centuries, millennia later.
And so he goes. Day one. Day two. Day three. Stomach knots give way to…who knows. Maybe he was resigned from the beginning. Perhaps he was hopeful for God’s provision from the outset. After all, when Isaac asks about the lamb, Abraham says, “The LORD will provide the lamb for the burnt offering, my son.”
And so he did. God provided a lamb for the sacrifice. But Abraham does not know this for three days or more. He simply must head for the mountain God would show him. He has to make provision for the sacrifice with wood and fire. And he will travel up the mountain with his son.
I can’t imagine holding such conflicting emotions and knowledge inside on such a trek. Knowing what God had required of him. Traveling with his son, and not telling him that God had told him to sacrifice his son. Keeping the information from his servants and his wife. Entrusting himself only to God. But that’s what Abraham did.
Sometimes we must live like that. We cannot tell everyone all that God has put in our hearts. We may hold some deep wounds or a shameful past that no one needs to know about. We may be heading toward our own Mount Moriah, where we will sacrifice something to God that is very precious to us. But we can tell only God about it.
As we trek with Abraham, or watch him in this journey, we can take great comfort that God is not only good, but trustworthy. We can let him have all our anxiety, pain, yearnings, fears, and wounds. He will handle them well. He will not chide. He will not turn us away. If only we come in humble faith, trusting him along the long trek of life until life’s end.
In the end we will discover that God has provided a lamb for the sacrifice. The Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world has been sacrificed for our sins. He calls us to deny ourselves, take up our cross and follow him. In him alone we have hope. And our long and faithful trek is fully justified.
Some time later God tested Abraham. He said to him, “Abraham!”
“Here I am,” he replied.
2 Then God said, “Take your son, your only son, whom you love—Isaac—and go to the region of Moriah. Sacrifice him there as a burnt offering on a mountain I will show you.”
3 Early the next morning Abraham got up and loaded his donkey. He took with him two of his servants and his son Isaac. When he had cut enough wood for the burnt offering, he set out for the place God had told him about.4 On the third day Abraham looked up and saw the place in the distance. 5 He said to his servants, “Stay here with the donkey while I and the boy go over there. We will worship and then we will come back to you.”
6 Abraham took the wood for the burnt offering and placed it on his son Isaac, and he himself carried the fire and the knife. As the two of them went on together,7 Isaac spoke up and said to his father Abraham, “Father?”
“Yes, my son?” Abraham replied.
“The fire and wood are here,” Isaac said, “but where is the lamb for the burnt offering?”
8 Abraham answered, “God himself will provide the lamb for the burnt offering, my son.” And the two of them went on together.
9 When they reached the place God had told him about, Abraham built an altar there and arranged the wood on it. He bound his son Isaac and laid him on the altar, on top of the wood.10 Then he reached out his hand and took the knife to slay his son. 11 But the angel of the Lord called out to him from heaven, “Abraham! Abraham!”
“Here I am,” he replied.
12 “Do not lay a hand on the boy,” he said. “Do not do anything to him. Now I know that you fear God, because you have not withheld from me your son, your only son.”
13 Abraham looked up and there in a thicket he saw a ram caught by its horns. He went over and took the ram and sacrificed it as a burnt offering instead of his son. 14 So Abraham called that place The Lord Will Provide. And to this day it is said, “On the mountain of the Lord it will be provided.” – Genesis 22:1-14
Lily #3 | Missouri Botanical Garden | July 2021
God is a maniac! My friend was making a point because of events unfolding in her family. As soon as she had things figured out God moved the family dynamics in new directions. One prayer was answered only to uncover the need for yet another intercession. Maybe you’ve been confused about God’s direction in your life. Things you thought would go one way end up going in a new direction. Plans change suddenly. Opportunities evaporate. One need is answered only to be replaced by another.
Maybe Abraham felt that way. He and Sarah had waited decades for a son. Finally Isaac is born: the son of promise. He would be the one through whom God would make a great nation. Everything is hanging on this son. Now God tells Abraham to take his son and sacrifice him.
This will be a journey of faith. Abraham has to believe that God is good and will honor his promise that through Isaac a great nation would come. He had to believe that God would lead him to the mountain on which Isaac was to be sacrificed. He had to believe that if God did require him to go through with the sacrifice, God would make a way for Isaac to remain the son of promise. In fact, he believed that God could raise people from the dead (Hebrews 11:19).
I simply cannot imagine how all this is true. That doesn’t mean I don’t believe it’s true. But I certainly don’t understand it. Maybe that’s what Paul had in mind when he wrote:
Oh, the depth of the riches and wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are his judgments and how inscrutable his ways!
34 “For who has known the mind of the Lord, or who has been his counselor?” 35 “Or who has given a gift to him that he might be repaid?” – Romans 11:33-35
We want to domesticate God. We make him our personal place of safety, comfort, and security. But While Jesus came as a servant. He is not our personal assistant. We don’t order God around. We do not demand that he answer us. We must remember who is God and who is not. Sometimes his demands might seem unreasonable. But who are we to judge?
The only thing that anchors my soul in times of turmoil, God’s unpredictability, or my confusion is the belief that God is good. He is faithful and true. He is gracious and loving. And whatever else might come my way, the faithfulness, goodness, love, and kindness of God is the constant. Maniac? No? Crazy? Not. Unpredictable? Yes. Good? Thanks be to God he is.
For your personal edification and meditation on this Lord’s Day
Psalm 10:17-18
Lord, you know the hopes of the helpless. Surely you will hear their cries and comfort them. 18 You will bring justice to the orphans and the oppressed, so mere people can no longer terrify them.
Psalm 40:4-5
Oh, the joys of those who trust the Lord, who have no confidence in the proud or in those who worship idols. 5 O Lord my God, you have performed many wonders for us. Your plans for us are too numerous to list. You have no equal. If I tried to recite all your wonderful deeds, I would never come to the end of them.
Psalm 70:4
But may all who search for you be filled with joy and gladness in you. May those who love your salvation repeatedly shout, “God is great!”
Psalm 100
Shout with joy to the Lord, all the earth! 2 Worship the Lordwith gladness. Come before him, singing with joy. 3 Acknowledge that the Lord is God! He made us, and we are his.[a] We are his people, the sheep of his pasture. 4 Enter his gates with thanksgiving; go into his courts with praise. Give thanks to him and praise his name. 5 For the Lord is good. His unfailing love continues forever, and his faithfulness continues to each generation.
Psalm 130
Out of the depths I cry to you, O Lord! 2 O Lord, hear my voice! Let your ears be attentive to the voice of my pleas for mercy!
3 If you, O Lord, should mark iniquities, O Lord, who could stand? 4 But with you there is forgiveness, that you may be feared.
5 I wait for the Lord, my soul waits, and in his word I hope; 6 my soul waits for the Lord more than watchmen for the morning, more than watchmen for the morning.
7 O Israel, hope in the Lord! For with the Lordthere is steadfast love, and with him is plentiful redemption. 8 And he will redeem Israel from all his iniquities.
Click here for an audio version of today’s blog post.
Jesus climbed into a boat and went back across the lake to his own town.2 Some people brought to him a paralyzed man on a mat. Seeing their faith, Jesus said to the paralyzed man, “Be encouraged, my child! Your sins are forgiven.”
3 But some of the teachers of religious law said to themselves, “That’s blasphemy! Does he think he’s God?”
4 Jesus knew what they were thinking, so he asked them, “Why do you have such evil thoughts in your hearts? 5 Is it easier to say ‘Your sins are forgiven,’ or ‘Stand up and walk’?6 So I will prove to you that the Son of Man has the authority on earth to forgive sins.” Then Jesus turned to the paralyzed man and said, “Stand up, pick up your mat, and go home!”
7 And the man jumped up and went home!8 Fear swept through the crowd as they saw this happen. And they praised God for giving humans such authority. – Matthew 9:1-8
Day Lily | Missouri Botanical Garden | July 2021
“Nobody wants to bring people to Jesus.” Those words stunned me. It was an observation by a Christian counselor who was helping me understand some of the frustration I was having with a difficult person in my life at the time. He was challenging me rather than to complain or bristle at the person in question, to take them to Jesus, that is to let Jesus’ forgiveness form the basis of our relationship. Most of us would rather not have to do that. Most of us, furthermore, don’t think of bringing someone to Jesus in the way that we see here in this encounter of Jesus with the four friends and the paralyzed man.
But these four friends do exactly and literally that very thing. They carry their friend on a pallet to the place where Jesus was teaching. And once there, discover that the crowd was so large that they couldn’t get to Jesus. So rather than give up, they carry the man to the roof, dismantle it, and lower the man to Jesus while he’s teaching. The detail about lowering the man through the roof is found in Luke 5:18-19.
Little is said about the man on the pallet. He is simply along for the ride. He cannot get to Jesus on his own. He cannot force himself through the crowd. No words of his are recorded. We see only Jesus forgiving the man’s sins, and telling him to get up and walk. Then we see him walk out in front of them all. I wonder what was the expression on his face.
Sadly I can easily imagine the expression on the faces of the scribes and Pharisees. I can imagine their heads leaning back. The looks down their noses. The conspiring whispers. The disgust of Jesus’ blasphemy. How could he forgive sins!
This is grace. It does not let self-righteous intimidation stand in the way of mercy and forgiveness. Grace is willing to let people think badly about it. Grace will not let self-righteousness throttle God’s love. Grace also realizes that we need help. Sometimes it’s very obvious. Most often we try to hide it. But when we see someone in need of getting to Jesus, we have a way by which we may show true grace. That’s a blessing to give and to experience.
We may not always understand how in need of God’s grace we are. That is made clear, however, by Jesus’ initial gift to the paralyzed man. Whether he was disappointed at being told his sins were forgiven – as opposed to being healed by Jesus – is not clear. But Jesus makes two points in his action on this occasion. First of all he sees and responds to our greatest need: the need for forgiveness. For where there is forgiveness of sins, there is life and salvation (Luther). And he makes the point that he has the authority to forgive sins. Only God can forgive sins. Jesus is God. In the flesh. Full of grace and truth.
Whenever we bring someone to Jesus, we are bringing them to truth and grace. We are doing a very good thing. Truth be told, we need to do that with each other every moment of every day.
Click here for an audio version of today’s blog post.
Jesus returned to the Mount of Olives,2 but early the next morning he was back again at the Temple. A crowd soon gathered, and he sat down and taught them.3 As he was speaking, the teachers of religious law and the Pharisees brought a woman who had been caught in the act of adultery. They put her in front of the crowd.
4 “Teacher,” they said to Jesus, “this woman was caught in the act of adultery. 5 The law of Moses says to stone her. What do you say?”
6 They were trying to trap him into saying something they could use against him, but Jesus stooped down and wrote in the dust with his finger.7 They kept demanding an answer, so he stood up again and said, “All right, but let the one who has never sinned throw the first stone!” 8 Then he stooped down again and wrote in the dust.
9 When the accusers heard this, they slipped away one by one, beginning with the oldest, until only Jesus was left in the middle of the crowd with the woman.10 Then Jesus stood up again and said to the woman, “Where are your accusers? Didn’t even one of them condemn you?”
11 “No, Lord,” she said.
And Jesus said, “Neither do I condemn you. Go and sin no more.” – John 4:1-11
Unique Lily | Missouri Botanical Garden | July 2021
“Where is the man?”
“You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor.”
“Do not put your hand with the wicked to be an unrighteous witness.” (Exodus 23:1)
The sins of the accusers
The sentence he was about to speak
These are among the suggested possibilities of what Jesus wrote as the scribes and Pharisees were waiting for him to respond to their demand. Isn’t it crazy that people would actually think they could put Jesus in a bind? Isn’t it silly to demand something of God? As if he must answer to us? As if we could box him in and prove his unreasonableness?
On this occasion the first act of grace was actually to the self-righteous accusers. Perhaps the woman had been caught in the act. Maybe she was notorious. Jesus will get to her later. But remarkably, Jesus does not take the bait of the religious righteous. In fact, whatever he wrote, he confronts their sin and their own need for mercy and forgiveness.
All these men drop their stones and walk away. Thud. Thud. Thud. Thud. One after another – beginning with the oldest – they walk away. No one is without sin, except Jesus. He could have thrown stones. He could have condemned the woman. But he did not. Grace will always look for a way other than judging and condemning. Grace will free people. Grace will put people on a different path.
Grace will even challenge the self-righteous. For they will either have to become even more judgmental and discredit others’ kindness, or give in to their own need for it. Grace opens the door to the latter. And when people walk through that door they walk into freedom.
That was certainly true for the woman caught in adultery. She was free to go her way, her sins were forgiven. She was to live a new life, “Sin no more.” But so is this true for the scribes and Pharisees who walk away one by one. They are free at least for the moment from a judgmental attitude that held them captive to a righteousness they could never really achieve.
We have no specific record of who brought the charges and what their lives were like after this encounter. Nor do we know for certain who this woman was. But we do know God’s grace frees us. If we’re not aware of our need for it, or we live in condemning judgment over all, we’re missing the freedom that Jesus gives as he showers his grace upon us.
Jesus knew the Pharisees had heard that he was baptizing and making more disciples than John2 (though Jesus himself didn’t baptize them—his disciples did).3 So he left Judea and returned to Galilee.
4 He had to go through Samaria on the way.5 Eventually he came to the Samaritan village of Sychar, near the field that Jacob gave to his son Joseph.6 Jacob’s well was there; and Jesus, tired from the long walk, sat wearily beside the well about noontime.7 Soon a Samaritan woman came to draw water, and Jesus said to her, “Please give me a drink.”8 He was alone at the time because his disciples had gone into the village to buy some food.
9 The woman was surprised, for Jews refuse to have anything to do with Samaritans. She said to Jesus, “You are a Jew, and I am a Samaritan woman. Why are you asking me for a drink?”
10 Jesus replied, “If you only knew the gift God has for you and who you are speaking to, you would ask me, and I would give you living water.”
11 “But sir, you don’t have a rope or a bucket,” she said, “and this well is very deep. Where would you get this living water?12 And besides, do you think you’re greater than our ancestor Jacob, who gave us this well? How can you offer better water than he and his sons and his animals enjoyed?”
13 Jesus replied, “Anyone who drinks this water will soon become thirsty again.14 But those who drink the water I give will never be thirsty again. It becomes a fresh, bubbling spring within them, giving them eternal life.” – John 4:1-14 (Read the remainder of this encounter inJohn 4:15-42.)
Bridge Over Peaceful Waters (Watercolor Treatment) | Missouri Botanical Gardens | July 2021
Sometimes we need extra grace because we get discouraged – in spite of the witness of God’s power and goodness. That was yesterday’s post about Elijah and the prophets of Baal and Elijah’s discouragement immediately after that event.
Sometimes we need extra grace because we’re hiding something. Some deep dark sin. Something ugly in our past. Or even in our present. The woman who comes to the well at midday in Sychar, has something to hide. She’s been married 5 times, and was living with a man to whom she was not married. Coming to the well at this hour spared her the difficulty of interacting with others from the village. Perhaps she would have been ridiculed. Maybe she had stolen one of the other women’s husbands, or lovers. In any case, she was hiding in plain daylight.
Jesus does three things he didn’t have to do – except for God’s grace. He speaks to her. He teaches her about God, true worship, and his identity as Messiah. And he confronts her gently about her living situation.
Jesus’ interaction with her – speaking to her, initiating a conversation – is remarkable. She is taken aback by it. She even asks how he, a Jew, would speak with her, a (Samaritan) woman. This is an act of grace. Recognizing people – even the extra grace required types is an act of grace. Speaking with them respectfully is an act of grace. It opens the way for healing and wholeness. That’s what grace does. It makes the first move. It heals.
The fact that this is a gentle confrontation is also key to the grace Jesus shows. If we are to confront, the Bible says we should do so with gentleness and respect.
A servant of the Lord must not quarrel but must be kind to everyone, be able to teach, and be patient with difficult people.25 Gently instruct those who oppose the truth. Perhaps God will change those people’s hearts, and they will learn the truth.26 Then they will come to their senses and escape from the devil’s trap. For they have been held captive by him to do whatever he wants. – 2 Timothy 2:24-26
Jesus is gentle with sinners. Not so often with the self-righteous. A good reminder for us all! In fact, in order to see lives changed, both the one seeking to help, and the one being helped must exhibit humility. Without it nothing changes. Grace grows best in the soil of humility.
Jesus didn’t have to tell the woman at the well that her current living situation was sinful. She knew it. But he did invite her to expose this need for grace. When she did, he didn’t condemn her, but continued his conversation with her. He didn’t have to talk with her in the first place, but he did. He could have done what so many others surely had done, looking past her rather than seeing her and talking to and with her. He even broke two social barriers by this. He spoke to a woman. And the woman was a Samaritan.
Finally, Jesus teaches her about God, worship, and himself as Messiah. He is the embodiment of grace and truth. As a result her life was changed. Instead of avoiding people (by coming to the well when she would others not to be present), she now goes into the village and invites everyone to come see Jesus and hear his teaching.
Do you need Jesus’ gentle correction? His recognition? His truth about God? His gracious presence? We all do. Sometimes we need extraordinary amounts of it. Blessed are we who realize that. Because he has it to give.
David Bahn - Reflections 