Old boyfriends, old girlfriends, and Jesus
"Come, see a man who told me everything I ever did. Could this be the Messiah?" John 4:29
One day Jesus met a woman at a well. Though this was their first conversation, their first time meeting, he said something to her that was very piercing and personal; her response was even more personal:
"He told her, 'Go, call your husband, and come back.' 'I have no husband,' she replied. Jesus said to her, 'You are right when you say you have no husband. The fact is, you have had five husbands, and the man you now have is not your husband. What you have just said is quite true.' 'Sir,' the woman said, 'I can see that you are a prophet.'" John 4:16b-19
Think about what Jesus was saying to her. He was bringing up not only five failed marriages, but he was doing this in a culture where this would be intensely more shameful than it would be today. Yet he must have said these words with not only power, but with compassion. The woman didn't seem offended or ashamed. She sensed that His knowledge was from God--that Jesus was a prophet, a messenger of God.
But she didn't feel condemned or ashamed.
And she came to two even more powerful conclusions about Jesus:
1. She said that Jesus told her "everything she ever did." Everything. She viewed her past relationship failures and shame as "everything she ever did." To this woman, these failures completely defined her. She completed defined herself by her unfulfilled desire for intimacy. She was in relationship number six with a man who wasn't her husband. She was trying yet again! She had had at least 6 men, which leads to her second and most powerful conclusion.
2. She concluded that Jesus was the Messiah, the Chosen One. Not just a prophet. Not just God's messenger sent to her, but to everyone...the Savior of the world. This is significant for her because Jesus was Someone more profound than she realized:
The 6 or so men the women had before were descendants of Adam--fallen, and in need of salvation, just as she was. She needed to be saved from the failed relationships of her past. And when Jesus asked her to go get her husband, he was asking her to get the man she was now with...to bring that man, and thus every man that she had ever known or been hurt by, to Him--the New Man.
Jesus would take her present and past relationships, the relationships she defined as "everything she had ever done," and bring salvation.
In Jesus, she would become a new woman.
In Jesus, she would gain a new view of men.
But for this to happen, Jesus had to ask the question, and she had to answer it...to be set free from it.
In his very first meeting, he went to her very heart...and she let him.
He touched her broken heart...and she let him into her pain.
Some of the worst and most painful experiences of my life have been in failed relationships.
Perhaps that's true for you.
Ex-wives or ex-husbands,
old boyfriends, old girlfriends...and Jesus.
What will He ask us? What will we say? Will we be our answer?
One day Jesus met a woman at a well. Though this was their first conversation, their first time meeting, he said something to her that was very piercing and personal; her response was even more personal:
"He told her, 'Go, call your husband, and come back.' 'I have no husband,' she replied. Jesus said to her, 'You are right when you say you have no husband. The fact is, you have had five husbands, and the man you now have is not your husband. What you have just said is quite true.' 'Sir,' the woman said, 'I can see that you are a prophet.'" John 4:16b-19
Think about what Jesus was saying to her. He was bringing up not only five failed marriages, but he was doing this in a culture where this would be intensely more shameful than it would be today. Yet he must have said these words with not only power, but with compassion. The woman didn't seem offended or ashamed. She sensed that His knowledge was from God--that Jesus was a prophet, a messenger of God.
But she didn't feel condemned or ashamed.
And she came to two even more powerful conclusions about Jesus:
1. She said that Jesus told her "everything she ever did." Everything. She viewed her past relationship failures and shame as "everything she ever did." To this woman, these failures completely defined her. She completed defined herself by her unfulfilled desire for intimacy. She was in relationship number six with a man who wasn't her husband. She was trying yet again! She had had at least 6 men, which leads to her second and most powerful conclusion.
2. She concluded that Jesus was the Messiah, the Chosen One. Not just a prophet. Not just God's messenger sent to her, but to everyone...the Savior of the world. This is significant for her because Jesus was Someone more profound than she realized:
According to the Apostle Paul, Jesus was the last Adam;
according to Paul, Jesus was the second Man, the New Man.
The 6 or so men the women had before were descendants of Adam--fallen, and in need of salvation, just as she was. She needed to be saved from the failed relationships of her past. And when Jesus asked her to go get her husband, he was asking her to get the man she was now with...to bring that man, and thus every man that she had ever known or been hurt by, to Him--the New Man.
Jesus would take her present and past relationships, the relationships she defined as "everything she had ever done," and bring salvation.
In Jesus, she would become a new woman.
In Jesus, she would gain a new view of men.
But for this to happen, Jesus had to ask the question, and she had to answer it...to be set free from it.
In his very first meeting, he went to her very heart...and she let him.
He touched her broken heart...and she let him into her pain.
Some of the worst and most painful experiences of my life have been in failed relationships.
Perhaps that's true for you.
Ex-wives or ex-husbands,
old boyfriends, old girlfriends...and Jesus.
What will He ask us? What will we say? Will we be our answer?
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