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THE TEXT
John 4:27-54
THE WILL OF HIM
Why are you here? What are you here for? There are fundamental questions that, unanswered, can leave us with deep uncertainties. And there are people making millions of dollars giving you cheap, trivial platitudes that pretend to be answers. One of the things that is most striking about Jesus is his certainty of who he is and what he is here for (John 4:34, cf. 5:30, 6:38). He is immune to the trivial insecurities that plague us because he has a deep understanding of who he is and what he is here for.
THE SIGNS
We have in this passage two different responses to Christ. The woman at the well who abandons her waterpot to run and tell the village (v. 28) and the man from Capernaum whose son was dying (v. 47). The need for signs (v. 45 and 48) is a weakness that Jesus bears with. But it reveals a problem that we have with understanding what Christ is for. The woman at the well, on the other hand, abandons her waterpots and runs to point others to Jesus.
THE FINGER OF GOD
Jesus comes to point us towards eternal life. We, in our sin and in our finitude, can’t understand what life really means, especially the life that God is pointing us towards. Instead, we are like a dog who can’t trace the line from the master’s finger to what the master is pointing at. Instead, we keep looking blankly at the fingertip. But Jesus’ signs are pointing to so much more.
THE WHITE HARVEST
Because we don’t see what God is pointing at, we miss the significance of right now. Now is the harvest (v. 35). And the virtue of right now is that it is always right now. Life and all that God is offering to you in that life are all right before you now. Go to the ant you sluggard! The present matters. Eternal significance is in the moment before you.