The Gift of God
Scripture Reading — John 4:1-10
“If you knew the gift of God and who it is that asks you for a drink, you would have asked him and he would have given you living water.”
—John 4:10
In his encounter with the Samaritan woman, Jesus was willing to break three taboos. First, there was an ethnic standard that Jews did not speak with Samaritans. Second, there was a gender standard in Jewish culture that men did not speak with women in public. And, third, according to religious laws, Jesus would be unclean if he used the drinking cup of a Samaritan. Why would Jesus be willing to break those “laws”? Because God had a gift for the Samaritan woman.
“If you knew the gift of God …” Amazing!
Jesus is “the Lamb of God who takes away …” (how we need him to take away all that is wrong within us!). And Jesus gives (how we need him to give us life-restoring water)!
“If you knew the gift of God …” Jesus didn’t talk about God’s judgment (though he knew everything about this woman—see 4:16-18). Instead he told her of the gift that God had for her.
What a powerful, loving way to present God’s love and to share with people who do not yet know Jesus: “God has a gift for you! Can I tell you about it?” Are you prepared to say that to someone today?
Thank you, loving God, for the gift you have given me. May my desire be the same as yours: that my neighbors, cowork-ers, and everyone else around me may receive your gift too. Amen.
About the author — Harvey Stob
Rev. Harvey Stob and his wife, Audrey, served as missionaries in Argentina for eleven years. They then served churches in Cincinnati, Ohio; Ridgewood, New Jersey; and Ann Arbor, Michigan. Harvey retired from full-time pastoral work in 2009. He and Audrey have three children and seven grandchildren.
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