Exodus 17:1-7 Romans 5:1-11 John 4:5-42
Jesus called people to follow him, to be his disciples. The word disciple occurs 269 times in the New Testament. Disciples are learners, students, apprentices, practitioners.
The buzz phrase in Church of England training circles as in many other spheres is ‘reflective practitioner.’ It is a useful phrase in that it helps us to remember that inner and outer go together. We are called to follow Jesus in every part of our lives and to do so we need to reflect on what that means in each situation. Our primar y tool for this is Scripture and the New Testament is a book about disciples, written by disciples for other disciples. Disciples are people who not only profess certain beliefs as their own but also seek to apply them in ever y aspect of life.
Discipleship doesn’t just happen all by itself. Can you be a Christian without being a disciple? Maybe, but there is surely something missing if we settle for that and feel we have nothing else to learn. In fact, discipleship isn’t an optional extra for Christians.
The writer Dallas Willard wrote a book called The great omission, a title that refers to the gaping absence from the Great Commission to ‘go and make disciples’. Is it that we are afraid that if we tell people they will have to change if they become Christians they won’t want to listen? Or is it that consumerism has got hold of evangelism and led people to expect that programmes and courses will magically turn them into disci- ples?
Willard points out that though learning to be a disciple can be hard and involves a cost, there is a far greater cost in non-discipleship. The cost of non-discipleship is the abundance of life that Jesus promised. ‘I have come that they may have life and have it abundantly,’ Jesus said (John 10:10). Who would not want abundant life?
Perhaps you have been wondering whether to give something up for Lent, or read a Lent devotional book, or even take something up that will stretch you as a human being and challenge aspects of your life. Lent to a non-believer can seem like an exercise in self-improvement at best or something rather masochistic at worst. It is discipleship and the commitment to follow Jesus so that we become more like him that makes his disciples want to train in ways that bring about transformation. Why do any of these things if you don’t want more of God, more of his life in you, more of your identity to match his?
This is not to advocate a works salvation. That is a distortion of the message of the New Testament. When Jesus sent his disciples out to make other disciples he prefaced his command with the words: ‘All power is given to me, therefore go…’ That same power is at work in us and through us. We cannot be disciples in our own strength. We are meant to be indwelled by God and live by a power that is not our own and that makes all the difference.
3rd Sunday of Lent - Sunday 23rd March As is appropriate for Lent, the readings this week use physical hunger and thirst to point us towards our true spiritual needs and satisfaction.
The narratives in Exodus between the Red Sea and Sinai focus on God’s good provision for his people. The bitter waters of Marah are made sweet; the Lord our healer keeps them healthy; bread rains down from heaven; quail covers the camp. The defeat of Amalek and the organisation of delegated civil government will follow. But in the episode we read this week, the people cry out for water. Bitter or sweet, they may not have cared, such was their thirst. Instead of turning to the gracious Lord, as they should, their anger and frustrated hopes are focused intensely onto a mere mortal, Moses. He does the right thing, seeking wisdom and help from God. The divine answer is merciful and kind, but also enigmatic. Moses is to strike the rock, from which, miraculously, water will then pour out. Yet the Lord himself stands on the rock: Moses’ staff must fall on him first before the water flows. That rock was Christ, the New Testament tells us. Punishment for sin foreshadowed and provision for sinners accomplished in one act.
The Samaritan woman at the well discovers true satisfaction and the quenching of her thirst too. But the episode is about Jesus, not the woman primarily. When he first answers her, he begins to lead her to a fuller understanding. “If you knew who I was...” he says. All she hears is the line about the living water. He leads her gently through the intricacies of the conversation to the final conclusion: “I am the Messiah!” What she needed all along was not just water, but Jesus; not just a husband, but Jesus; not just answers to her theological questions, but Jesus; not just prophetic insight into her life, but Jesus.
And as he draws her to himself, Jesus draws others through her. The disciples, arriving late to the party, think he must need some food. But he is more than content with the fruit of his mission, in the conversion of the Samaritan woman. He teaches them to see the harvest right in front of them, and then stays for two days, reaping and rejoicing. The saviour of the world has brought salvation to the worldly.
Paul brings his thoughtful reflections on this same story of salvation. The deepest need of human sinners is peace with a righteous God. That is our ultimate desire and satisfaction. Our gracious justification by faith gives us all we truly need, including the eternal hope of glory, so that in this present age, where physical and emotional suffering is common, disappointment need not be our lot. God pours into our hearts his living love through the Holy Spirit so that even our afflictions are turned to our good, producing endurance, character, and hope. His love is demonstrated by the unmerited grace he has shown us in sending his Son to die in our place. As Article 2 reminds us, he was crucified “to reconcile his Father to us”, so that there is no longer war between us, but peace. We are saved through Christ’s sacrifice from the wrath of God we deserved. Lee Gatiss is Director of Church Society and editor of the NIV Proclamation Bible.