Lens
A traveler nearing a great city
asked an old man seated by the road, “What are the people like in this city?”
“What were they
like where you came from?” the man asked.
“Horrible,” the
traveler reported. “Mean, untrustworthy, detestable in all respects.”
“Ah,” said the old
man, “you will find them the same in the city ahead.”
Soon after,
another traveler stopped to inquire about the people in the city before him.
Again the old man asked about the people in the place the traveler has just
left.
“They were fine
people: honest, industrious, and generous to a fault,” described the second
traveler. “I was sorry to leave.”
The old man
responded, “That’s exactly how you’ll find the people here.”[1]
The “lens” we see others is a
reflection of ourselves: If I am a trusting person, I will see others as
trustworthy. If I am a critical person, I will see others as critical. If I am a
caring person, I will see others as compassionate.
Nothing
Our lens is the way we see the
world. Let’s think about it this way. Many of us use cell phones. Do you ever
use filters to edit your photos – such as, vivid, dramatic, mono, and so forth?
For example, my phone has at least more than ten filters, though I don’t use
them all. Our world looks very different, depending on which lens filter we
use.
In today’s passage we find that there are at least three different lenses to see who Jesus is. When we see Jesus through the first lens, we see Jesus as nothing. When a Samaritan woman came to draw water, Jesus said to her, “Please give me a drink.” The woman replied, “How come, you, a Jew, are asking me, a Samaritan woman, for a drink?” (v. 9) In those days Jews and Samaritans did not associate with each other. The Samaritan woman saw Jesus as just one of many typical Jewish men. Jesus was nothing to her.
On one occasion, Jesus came to his hometown and began to teach the people. They were amazed and said, “Where does he get his wisdom and the power to do miracles?” But then they scoffed, “We've known him since he was a kid; he's the carpenter's son. We know his mother, Mary. We know his brothers James and Joseph, Simon and Judas. All his sisters live here. Who does he think he is?” (cf. Matt 13:54-57, MSG) And because of their unbelief, Jesus was not able to do much of anything there. The people in his hometown saw Jesus merely from a human point of view. Jesus was nothing to them. Jesus had no influence on their lives.
Something
The second lens through which we
see Jesus is, “Jesus is something.” At
first, Jesus was nothing to the Samaritan woman. But then she began to see him
as a prophet (v. 19). The Samaritan
woman asked Jesus, “You have no bucket, and the well is deep. Where would you
get this living water?” Jesus answered, “Everyone who drinks this water from
the well will get thirsty again and again. But anyone who drinks the water I
give will never thirst. That water will become a well of water for you,
springing up to eternal life.” The woman said, “Sir, give me this water.” Then
Jesus replied, “Go, call your husband, and come back here.” “I have no
husband,” she answered him. Jesus said to her, “You are right. You have had
five husbands, and the one you have now is not your husband. What you have said
is true.” Then, the woman said, “Sir, I see that you are a prophet.”
Oxford Dictionary defines prophet as a person regarded as an inspired teacher or proclaimer of the will of God. In Jesus’ time many people saw Jesus as a prophet – someone who was teaching God’s will, helping them, guiding them. They wanted to use Jesus as a ticket to heaven. They wanted to use Jesus to make their lives better. They wanted to use Jesus to make themselves important. But not more than that. Jesus still had little influence on their lives. They were not willing to change the course of their lives. They were not willing to turn, repent, deny themselves. When Jesus fed the people with five loaves and two fish, they were all satisfied. But when Jesus clearly proclaimed who he was and why he came, saying, “I am the bread of life. Unless you eat my flesh and drink my blood, you have no life in you,” they were not happy. They were not ready. They were not willing. They complained and said, “This teaching is difficult. It’s too much for me.” After this, many of them turned away and no longer followed him. For them, Jesus was someone useful or helpful for their lives, but not more than that.
Everything
With the third lens we see Jesus as
everything. The Samaritan woman had
an unquenchable thirst for life. So she asked Jesus about the place of worship
and God’s Messiah. At the end of the conversion, she said, “I know that Messiah
is coming. When he comes, he will proclaim all things to us.” Jesus said to
her, “I AM the Messiah! You don’t have to wait any longer or look any further”
(v. 26). She found the answer. Her thirst was quenched. She was fully known,
accepted, and loved. Then she ran back to the village, telling everyone, “Come
and see a man who knows me inside and out. Could this be the Messiah?” Her
heart changed. Her eyes changed. Her eyes were opened progressively. At first, she saw Jesus as nothing (“Jew”), then as
something (“prophet”), and eventually as everything (“Messiah”).
Who is Jesus to you? I want you to think carefully about this question, as you listen to the following poem, titled The Flower written by Chun-soo Kim[2]:
Before I called your name,
you were nothing
more than a gesture.
When I called your name,
you came to me
and became a flower.
Like I called your name,
will you please call my name
that suits my light
and fragrance?
I, too, long to come
to you
and become your flower.
We all long to be
something.
You, to me, and I, to
you,
long to become a gaze
that won't be forgotten.
Who Is Jesus to You?
So who is Jesus to you? In his book Mere Christianity, C.S. Lewis, who was once an atheist then
converted to Christianity, rightly said this way:
“People often say about Jesus: I’m
ready to accept Jesus as a great moral teacher, but I don’t accept his claim to
be God. That is the one thing we must not say. A man who was merely a man and
said the sort of things Jesus said would not be a great moral teacher. He would
either be a lunatic or else he would be the Devil of Hell. You must make your
choice. Either this man was, and is, the Son of God, or else a madman or
something worse. You can shut him up for a fool, you can spit at him and kill
him as a demon or you can fall at his feet and call him Lord and God, but let
us not come with any patronizing nonsense about his being a great human
teacher. He has not left that open to us. He did not intend to.”[3]
Who is Jesus to you? And what will you do with Jesus? I believe that the life of C. T. Studd can be a shining example. C.T. Studd was a rich and famous English athlete in the 19th century. But one day when missionary Hudson Taylor visited and called for missionaries to come to China, C.T. Studd surrendered his life to be a missionary to China. All his loved ones were against his decision. They said, “What a waste!” But, C.T. Studd said to them, “If Jesus Christ is God and died for me, then no sacrifice can be too great for me to make for Him.”
Who is Jesus to you? Isaac Watts, in his hymn When I Survey the Wondrous Cross, invites us to join him at the foot of the cross and witness the pain of Jesus’ death: “See, from his head, his hands, his feet, sorrow and love flow mingled down.” Watts shows us what kind of Messiah Jesus was, giving us a new lens, then calls us to make our choice.
Were the whole realm of nature mine,
that were a present far too small.
Love so amazing, so divine,
demands my soul, my life, my all.
May this be my prayer… and our prayer. Amen.
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