By Wallace Goddard Friday, January
31 2014
One of the most
extended interchanges in the Gospels is between Jesus and the Samaritan woman
at Jacob’s well (John 4). Jesus was resting from His journey when the woman
came to the well to draw water. He asked if she would get him a drink of water.
She could not respond to the request because of the shock of it. Here was a
Jewish rabbi who engaged a Samaritan woman in conversation. She knew that the
Jews detested the Samaritans and wanted nothing to do with them.
Maybe there is
a parallel between the Samaritan woman and us. We fallen humans have every
reason to expect censure from Jesus; after all, He cannot look upon sin with
the least degree of allowance and, I for one, am quite brimming with sin. Oh,
sure. I’m polite and properly dressed at church. But I judge people harshly
(though I don’t let it show). I get impatient (read: angry). I want the world
to meet my needs at all costs (Yep. Selfishness!). I could go on in the tired
litany; suffice it to say that I have plenty of reason to dread an encounter
with Him.
Yet He calls
me. In my case, He has not asked for a drink of water, but He has called upon
me to enter into a relationship with Him. He wants me to open up my soul to
Him—to unburden my thoughts and concerns, to listen to His counsel, to lean upon
Him, to allow Him to renew my downtrodden soul. He calls on me often.
Like the woman
at the well, I’m puzzled. Why would You associate with me? He surprises me
(like He surprised her) with His answer. “Wally, I want to open your eyes. I
want you to see that I have water that will slake that unrelenting thirst in
your soul. I want to fill you with an amazing message—to give you fantastic
news, beyond-your-wildest-dreams news, that will spring into an enduring
relationship with the One who can offer you peace, hope, purpose and joy.”
Why me?
Certainly there are others more worthy of your company? The woman at the well
must have wondered why He would associate with her.
Then He asked
the woman at the well to do something she was incapable of doing. He asked her
to go get her husband. She answered: “I have no husband.” Jesus already knew
that: “For thou hast had five husbands; and he whom thou now hast is not thy
husband” (John 4:18).
He also asks
each of us to go get the thing we cannot bring—our perfect purity, our
unfailing patience, our energetic temple attendance, our flourishing charity.
But like the woman at the well, we cry out, “I cannot. I don’t have it!”
And this is the
turning point in our relationship with Jesus. We are tempted to believe that He
made the request to highlight our failings, to chide us for our flaws. We’re
wrong. He asked us to bring what we cannot bring to underscore our desperate
need for Him. He does not want to pain us with our inadequacy but invite us
with His adequacy. We are weak but He is able. We are thirsty and He is the
water. We are hungry and He is the bread. We are lonely and He is the comfort.
We are broken and He is the Physician. He draws our attention to our lack so
that He might fill it.
In the Lectures
on Faith we are taught a surprising truth. We sin continually. That is part of
our fallenness. The problem comes if we don’t know that God is “long suffering,
and full of compassion, gracious and merciful and of a forgiving disposition.”
If we won’t know in our bones that we can trust Him with our fragmented lives,
we will not go to Him to be saved (See Lecture 3:20). It is absolutely
necessary for us to know that “God is merciful, and gracious, long suffering
and full of goodness,” otherwise we will never drink of the water of life.
That is the
vital lesson that the woman at the well learned. Though she was a sinner
repugnant to any ordinary Jew, she was cherished by the Messiah. Jesus did not
instruct her to slink back to town and fast in sack cloth and ashes until the
time she was worthy to approach Him. No. He invited her to return to the city
and gather up all the sinners she could find and return to the well where they
would all receive the most refreshing water they would ever drink.
Jesus said to
them as He says to us: “Come boldly unto the throne of grace, that [you] may
obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need” (Hebrews 4:16).
What a
transaction! We provide the need and He provides the grace! We bring our failed
resolves and multitude of failings and He provides the grace that we
desperately yearn for. We make ourselves humble and He makes us clean.
But this will
only happen if we know that “God is merciful, and gracious, long suffering and
full of goodness.” If we have been tricked into believing that God is a
grudging and irritated father, we will not come to Him and we will not drink of
that precious water.
His Multitude
of Invitations
We often talk
about the gospel being the good news. But do we really believe it? Jesus interrupted
His announced journey to Galilee with a two-day stop in Samaria because the
people were willing to drink the water He offered. In like manner, He gladly
pauses from any heavenly demands to spend time with you and me when we go to
Him without reservation. He repeatedly invites us to come to Him.
He invites us
to meet Him at church so we can rejoice in hymns of praise, renew our
covenants, hear the testimonies of fellow saints, and ponder more on His
amazing plan. Do we cherish that weekly opportunity to meet with Him in
worship?
He invites us
to study the scriptures because He wants to reveal more of His mind and heart
to us. Do we relish that offering? Do we dive in excitedly to see what God will
teach us in each fresh
encounter?
He invites us
to chat with Him in conversation. Unfortunately we often experience prayer as a
tired and unrewarding, rote obligation. He wants us to meet Him for heavenly
encouragement and a divine embrace. Do we look forward to prayer as a time of
conversation and renewal?
He invites us
in the midst of challenges, painful or ordinary, to lean on Him for counsel and
support. When we are feeling lost and weak do we pause and turn to Him for
direction and strength?
He asks us to
invite others to the well where they, too, can discover the living water of the
gospel. Do we welcome and create opportunities to learn about the
spiritual needs of others and then joyfully share our discovery of the good
news with them?
Most telling of
all, when He invites us to come into His presence, do our hearts rejoice at the
prospect even if our knees shake just a little? Do we run to Him throwing
ourselves gladly on His merits, mercy, and grace?
The Great Lie
Satan was a
liar from the beginning (D&C 93:25); he wants us to believe that the gospel
is all drudgery and suffering. He may not be able to convince us by direct
assault, so he uses indirect methods. He causes us to see the gospel’s demands
as intrusions on our busy lives. He hints that the scriptures are tedious and
irrelevant. He gets us to chafe about some imperfect soul at church. He
whispers that Jesus is an impossible taskmaster. He lulls us into simply going
through the motions of church membership without any joy of relationship with
Jesus. Or Satan gets us distracted with 1001 worries and concerns thereby
crowding out Jesus as our central focus.
Many, maybe
most, of us feel spiritually inadequate. “Obviously I’m a spiritual flop. I am
either not doing the right things or I’m not doing them in the right spirit.”
This may be a little like saying that I failed at the buffet. “I didn’t eat
nearly as much as Brother Oistad. I probably consumed less than 3500 calories.
I only ate three desserts. I’m a failure.”
A sumptuous
buffet is not a perfect metaphor for our spiritual lives; but it’s not a bad
one. Every day God lays out an amazing spread. We can dive into the scriptures
anywhere and find sustenance. We are offered a direct line of communication
with the One who best knows how to feed our starving souls. We will face
unnumbered ways to serve in any given day—and be renewed by that service. Each
of us can share our delight in God’s meal with fellow diners. We can go to the
buffet line picking a little here and complaining a lot there or we can stand
in awe of the offerings, choosing that which will strengthen and build us. We
can remain hungry or we can be sumptuously filled.
Time and again
He invites us to come to Him: “I stand at the door and knock.” “Ask and ye
shall receive.” “My hand is stretched out still.” He seems to be saying: I have
prepared a feast for you. But you must set aside other business and come and
rejoice with me. We’re tempted to delay: “Well, let me take care of other
pressing tasks first.” “I have meetings today.” “I’m just so tired.” “I’d
rather relax in front of the TV or computer.”
Still He waits
for us at the buffet. I would like to expand on a statement made by Timothy L.
Hall. “The gospel is not just good news but knock-your-socks-off,
couldn’t-have-dreamed-it-up-in-a-thousand-years,” blow-your-mind good news.
God’s plan is the ultimate fairy tale—come true!
Preparing For
the Feast
I’m trying to
respond more faithfully to His invitations. In particular, I’m trying to be
prepared for that sacred fifteen minutes when we meet our Redeemer for the
sacred meal we call the sacrament. On Saturday evening I outline my dilemma and
need in my journal: Thou art holy. I am fallen. Have mercy. Grant according to
my desires (See Ether 3). I ponder my requests—my spiritual priorities. They
tend to focus less on blessings of convenience than on cravings for
sanctification and renewal.
Sunday morning
before going to church, I review my prayer. I head to sacrament meeting knowing
that that He waits for us there. I enjoy gathering with fellow saints of the
ward family. We sing hymns of praise and I ponder the words—there is always
some phrase of praise that lifts my heart. During the sacrament I imagine a
personal encounter with Him. I hear Him knock at the door of my life. I welcome
Him in and fall to my knees. I beg Him to patch my soul and ordain me to do His
bidding. He comforts me and points me to appointed duties.
Wow! Joy—that
elusive taste of heaven—is so life changing! Even little moments of joy patch
up great gaping holes in my body and soul. He sends me into the week armed with
joy.
I am so
grateful that He would attend to our messy journeys so patiently, so
redemptively, so lovingly. All discomfort is forgotten when we glimpse His perfect
purposes.
The gospel is
breathtakingly good news. He is waiting for us at Jacob’s well where He offers
the greatest feast ever set before hungry humans. He invites us to come join
Him. He gladly gives us all the joy we are willing to receive.
_______________________________________
Wallace Goddard
No comments:
Post a Comment