Musings on the Book of John

by Connie Hecker

Working Within One's Gifts ~ Trust and Insight

John 4:27–54 (NIV):

Just then his disciples returned and were surprised to find him talking with a woman. But no one asked, “What do you want?” or “Why are you talking with her?”

Then, leaving her water jar, the woman went back to the town and said to the people, “Come, see a man who told me everything I ever did. Could this be the Messiah?” They came out of the town and made their way toward him.

Meanwhile his disciples urged him, “Rabbi, eat something.”

But he said to them, “I have food to eat that you know nothing about.”

Then his disciples said to each other, “Could someone have brought him food?”

“My food,” said Jesus, “is to do the will of him who sent me and to finish his work. Don’t you have a saying, ‘It’s still four months until harvest’? I tell you, open your eyes and look at the fields! They are ripe for harvest. Even now the one who reaps draws a wage and harvests a crop for eternal life, so that the sower and the reaper may be glad together. Thus the saying ‘One sows and another reaps’ is true. I sent you to reap what you have not worked for. Others have done the hard work, and you have reaped the benefits of their labor.”

Many of the Samaritans from that town believed in him because of the woman’s testimony, “He told me everything I ever did.” So when the Samaritans came to him, they urged him to stay with them, and he stayed two days. And because of his words many more became believers.

They said to the woman, “We no longer believe just because of what you said; now we have heard for ourselves, and we know that this man really is the Savior of the world.”

After the two days he left for Galilee. (Now Jesus himself had pointed out that a prophet has no honor in his own country.) When he arrived in Galilee, the Galileans welcomed him. They had seen all that he had done in Jerusalem at the Passover Festival, for they also had been there.

Once more he visited Cana in Galilee, where he had turned the water into wine. And there was a certain royal official whose son lay sick at Capernaum. When this man heard that Jesus had arrived in Galilee from Judea, he went to him and begged him to come and heal his son, who was close to death.

“Unless you people see signs and wonders,” Jesus told him, “You will never believe.”

The royal official said, “Sir, come down before my child dies.”

“Go,” Jesus replied, “your son will live.”

The man took Jesus at his word and departed. While he was still on the way, his servants met him with the news that his boy was living. When he inquired as to the time when his son got better, they said to him, “Yesterday, at one in the afternoon, the fever left him.”

Then the father realized that this was the exact time at which Jesus had said to him, “Your son will live.” So he and his whole household believed.

This was the second sign Jesus performed after coming from Judea to Galilee.

Working Within One’s Gifts

Jesus had been physically exhausted upon their arrival in town. His men had gone for food. In the meantime, He had ministered to this woman and the men of the town. Jesus was energized not by the physical food brought by his men, which He no longer seemed to need, but rather by the food of accomplishing the work, the actual doing of His Father’s will.

When I do His will and accomplish His work, I can be certain He will nourish me and provide me with the energy I need to accomplish it.

Jesus was busy harvesting souls for the kingdom to come at a time before He even went to the cross. The reaper gathers the fruit which the work of the sower started. The reaper joins the labor force that planted and tilled. He gathers the fruit. Jesus sowed hope into a single woman at the well, and then He reaped an entire town of people.

What portion of the work am I doing for His harvest? Am I tilling the soil? Am I planting seeds of hope? Am I reaping the ripe harvest? Am I on my knees praying? Do I love as He loved, which is my act of evangelism?

The woman was believable to the men of the town. I don’t understand that, but I appreciate it. They came to Jesus because they believed her. Was it her confession, the change reflected in her countenance, or her ability to confess that drew them as well? Perhaps the men felt the weight of their own sin and were drawn to Jesus because of her testimony, her word. Something drew them, and they came. Jesus met with them, and their hearts were also changed. Many more believed.

Hope, for me, is expectation.

That is not all. But they were given the choice. They were able to have Jesus stay with them for two days. Two days with the Savior and their lives would never be the same. I wonder what the legacy of that town, those men and women, is today?

So what was her process? She shared, she led, the men came, they believed, and they studied. Am I sharing Jesus? Jesus as the Savior of the world? Not just for Americans, not just for men, not just for the Jew, not just for this or that race, not for just the ones who go to church, not just for the rich, not just for the poor, but for all?

Lord, let me listen deeply and draw from the living, pure, abundant, flowing waters of Your Spirit and Truth. May today be a day of sharing truth and testimony about You as the One Who Reconciles our deepest longings.

Trust and Insight

“But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth” (Acts 1:8 NIV). This command, the great commission, is the final and still-standing order given by Jesus to His followers. Here, in the information selected by John to tell about Jesus, we see He already set the example (v 43-54). Jesus went first to the leaders, to the religious hub. His first sign was water turned to wine at a Jewish wedding ceremony in Cana of Galilee. After cleaning house in the temple in Jerusalem and teaching many there, Jesus goes to Samaria and is well received. Then He returns to Cana, where the second sign is given. This one is a healing for the benefit of a foreigner.

He did these things in front of his own hometown folk. They had high (and perhaps) selfish expectations of the Messiah to come. Jesus did not seem to have high expectations of them. When the official came to Him, he begged Jesus to come in person to heal his child, thinking that His physical presence was required for healing. But all that was required was for Jesus to speak the word. What does Jesus say? “Your son will live.” The man believed and acted on that belief by going to see for himself. The truth met him on the road, where we are given explicit proof that convinced this official: the moment of Jesus’ declaration is when the man’s son was healed. The man then believed, and his entire household also believed. Imagine the change there!

The needed miracle led to the salvation of this entire household. Jesus knew what it would take for “you people” to believe. He met the need, and they believed. This is my example. What “needed miracle” holds people back from believing today? How can I be impactful in meeting a need so salvation can come? Is it a word of encouragement? Is it a gift of my time? My money? A letter or declared prayer of intercession? What power do I have to meet another’s need? Jesus did not seek out this person; rather, He was sought by them. Who comes to me seeking help? Why me? What have I to offer? Why did they come to me? What is the underlying need, and how can I meet it? The official’s son needed healing, and the entire household needed salvation.

Lord, make me wise and discerning to know the real needs of those who come to me asking for help. Guide me to respond with what will help them and lead them to trust in You.

It was not a trip that was required of You; Your entire day did not need to be reordered for him. You needed only to say the Word, and the man left, not necessarily convinced but with hope. Yes, You had healed, but he did not know it yet; he had the hope and left to see. He faced a journey, but his answer came before he even got home.

Do I come to Jesus as this man did? Trusting enough in His spoken declaration to return and see?

Connie Hecker, MFA, is a Scenic Designer recently retired from teaching at Liberty University. She is mom, stepmom, and grandmother. Her “first career” was in interior and industrial design.

Her “second” was as Manager of Operations and Maneuvers (note initials) in her extended family.

Her “third” was as a professor. Now she is looking forward to what God has in store as her “fourth."