Could this be the Messiah?

Hi there,

Yesterday's passage was necessarily quite long, so we could link the two revelations: the woman's condition and Jesus' identity.

In my note, I skipped over Jesus ignoring the woman's deflection and teaching that true worship is found in the heart rather than in a place;

“A time is coming when you will worship the Father neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem.” (v.21)

“God is spirit, and his worshipers must worship in the Spirit and in truth.” (v.24)

...shifting our focus from where we worship to how we worship.

It was, and remains, a radical injunction and invitation to us all.

Today's passage is shorter to give you time to catch up if needed and to act as a natural break before the conclusion of this encounter and Jesus' exhortation to his disciples to reap the harvest and the Samaritan people to reach their own conclusion as to Jesus’ identity.

Today's text is John 4:27-33

The Disciples Rejoin Jesus

²⁷ 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?”

²⁸ Then, leaving her water jar, the woman went back to the town and said to the people, ²⁹ “Come, see a man who told me everything I ever did. Could this be the Messiah?” ³⁰ They came out of the town and made their way toward him.

³¹  Meanwhile his disciples urged him, “Rabbi, eat something.”

³²  But he said to them, “I have food to eat that you know nothing about.”

³³  Then his disciples said to each other, “Could someone have brought him food?”

Encouragement

Jesus is the only Lord who, if you receive him, will fulfill you completely, and if you fail him, will forgive you eternally.

— Tim Keller, Counterfeit Gods​
​

Andy

I published an overview of all Jesus' quoted words from the New Testament on my substack. If you'd like to learn a little bit more about the origin of the red letter Bible and how many of Jesus' words are captured in each Gospel, then you can read about it here.