Heaven through self-interest?

Jesus answered her [c. AD 28, an unnamed woman at Sychar’s well in Samaria at mid-day], “If you knew the gift of God, and who it is that is saying to you, ‘Give me a drink,’ you would have asked him, and he would have given you living water.” The woman said to him, “Sir, …(A)” Jesus said to her, “Everyone who drinks of this water will be thirsty again, but whoever drinks of the water that I will give him will never be thirsty again. The water that I will give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life.” The woman said to him, “Sir, …(B)” Jesus said to her, “Go, call your husband, and come here.” The woman answered him, “I ...(C)” Jesus said to her, “You are right in saying, ‘I have no husband’; for you have had five husbands, and the one you now have is not your husband. What you have said is true.” The woman said to him, “Sir, …(D)” Jesus said to her, “Woman, believe me, the hour is coming when neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem will you worship the Father. … But the hour is coming, and is now here, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for the Father is seeking such people to worship him. God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth.” John 4:10–24

The woman who is the subject of the report in bold above could be anyone. The report was written around AD 90 by John, a disciple of Jesus, in his old age when looking back on his life. Her attention was gradually being drawn to the gift of “living water” which she was able to ask for – and receive – from the man who had just asked her for a drink.
Her response to him (A) was to question his ability to do what he said – and his identity. “Sir, you have nothing to draw water with, and the well is deep. Where do you get that living water? Are you greater than our father Jacob? He gave us the well and drank from it himself, as did his sons and his livestock.”	‘Religion is a human being’s search for God, but Christianity is God’s search for a human being.’ (Anon.)
Heaven through self-interest?This enables him to explain that this gift is not only for her but for “everyone”. “Everyone who drinks of this water will be thirsty again, but whoever drinks of the water that I will give him will never be thirsty again. The water that I will give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life.” Her response to him (B) was then to ask for that water in order to benefit herself. “Sir, give me this water, so that I will not be thirsty or have to come here to draw water.” Do you think that such a self-seeking person deserves such living water? Jesus asks her to go back to her village so as to fetch her husband so that both can receive that “living water”. Here and now, some religious groups and their leaders try to convince newcomers to turn to Jesus by appealing to their self-interest. Do you want to get to heaven? Do you want to be blessed in your life? Do you want healing? Jesus asks this person to think of others and their need to be really and truly blessed – along with themselves. The woman’s answer (C) reflected this self-centredness. “I have no husband.” Was she expecting Jesus then to give her the “living water” straight away? Instead, he responded by confirming that he knew that she had been self-seeking all her life but had never found happiness. “You are right in saying, ‘I have no husband’; for you have had five husbands, and the one you now have is not your husband. What you have said is true.” What do you think the woman will now say (D) in reply to this? She has led a happiness-seeking, unsatisfied life. She is there at the well at noon so as to avoid people. She has been found out. How can she now protect herself?
Her reply (D) showed what she was relying on. It was religion and her place of worship. “Sir, I perceive that you are a prophet. Our fathers worshiped on this mountain, but you say that in Jerusalem is the place where people ought to worship.”	‘Frankly, I would rather have no religion at all than to have just enough to deceive me.’ (A W Tozer, pastor and author, 1897-1963)
What do you think? Would Jesus commend her religion? Or her place of worship? Any religion? Any place of worship? “The hour is coming, and is now here, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for the Father is seeking such people to worship him.” From Jesus’ time onward: - no religion, no pretence, no mountain, no temple. Instead worship in the spirit deep inside a person and in truth that is not feigned but real.

Sinner Syvret

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