The Montgomery advertiser., 1905-02-04
First Quarters Lesson VT. John iv,
 B-14. Feb. g, 10OB.
ynsus AT JAcoB's WELL.

WM&EHGEt A&388M
 E-14. Feb. 2, 10OB.
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 JESUS AT JACOBS WE'LL.
 Jesus was transferring the scene or his ministry from Judea to Galilee; but while in transit. he quietly placed the lsaven of His gospel in the very heart of populous samaria- He had spent eight months of the first year of His pubic life in and around Jerusa- lem. but the approach of winter, and 1hat worse winter of Pharisaical hos tility, bade Him find more congenlal locality. He ignored the prejudice of the Jews. and gave His disciples an objeetslesson by going through sa- maria. After four days jour neY. at midday, Jesus. wearied, sat Thus upon the well. "sThus, not upon . throne, or chair, or cushion, but as wayfaring man would, upon the ground. his side against the stone parapet of the we'll, His arm upon It's top, and His head supported by HIS hand. See in this the reality of our savior's human nature! woman approaches. She comes. per- haps. at this unusual hour because her character made 1t impossible for her to come at the seasons when the pure maids and matrons of Sychar visited the weii. She lowers her large earthen vessel by the cord which she has brought for the purpose. 8 hundred feet to the cool, crystal water. Just as she lifts the dripping jar to her head the dusty Traveller asks drink. Jesus put Himself under obligation to her at the very start by His request. He took her good will for granted. A compliment was implied We despise not sflim whose service we ask" -. |. what magic in kindnessi This obtuse and sinful woman, used only to epithet and blow--gentle politeness trans mutes her into a docile pupil. She recognizes the nationality of the Stranger. Countenance, accent, and garb betray Him. A Jew-but where is the racial prejudice? She vaguely recognizes the moral superiority of the person before her, and is prepared for the step in advance, to which Jesus leads her in Ills next remark. :. Poetry Is. in large measure, the asso- citation of superior ideas with common objects. If that be so, Jesus was an Ideal poet He takes the commonest of objects, water, and the commonest of experiences the quenehing of thirst with this natural fluid, to portray the most uncomon experience of tho human soui. The woman sees the enigma. She is set a-wondrefng, and that, for her, was a great gain; for wonder provokes progress" .. While she stilI loosely holds to the literal, and talks of the depth of the well and the lack of the drawing appliances, she yet skirts the edge of the savior's spiritual meaning, and knows in her heart that He who talks with her is greater than the patriarch (whom she claimed as Q progenitor) who bestowed upon his descendants the gfeat boon / of this excellent well. :. . Jesus lets in a new ray of light upon a mind from which the mists have already begun to lift when He contrasts na- ture's water with the living water. Water for only the briefest possible period shakes thirst. The path to the fountain is well trodden. but the gift of God is the transplanting of a pe- renllial fountain into the very soul--a fountain whose tall jet penetrates even to the immortal life above. {. The poor Samaritan heretic and out cast Is enamored of this gift" so wondrously described She asks for it, but in terms which reveal the fact that the husks of liter alism have not all been stripped off. The heaviest duty of her life is this frequent two- mils Journey from city to well and back; the laborious drawing with the crudest possible appliances: the carry ing of the heavy jar upon the head.
 
 from all this toll, and yet keep her from thirst. of course she wants it. At the same time she has a dawning consciousness that the gift means more than this. ... Like a skill full surgeon, kind but firm Jesus in- serts the gleaming lancet of His ques- tion. The hideous incidents of an adulterous career are laid bare in a moment The woman is in the pres Af minute details of her unsavory life are noted. Yet such mercy and gentleness is irresistible. The thing is done, not fin such manner as to make her cry, Hast thou found me out. O mine ene- my?" but rather. ''Sir, I perceive Thou art a Prophet A scared con- science Is softened confession Is made; and tears of penitence flow. She rises now easily to the high spfr- ltuai plane of the savior's teaching She knows that the water of which He spoke is for the washing of reEenera- tion--the gift is e new heart to which the Spirit bears witness. In the joy of her new life she propounds e practical question to the Divine Teacher whom it was her happy for tune to meet that day. Where shall she worship the Infinite One, whose in- effable gift she had just received? On Gerizim-to which she pointed as she spoke-aceordipR to her heriditary in- struetion. or in JeruRalem, from which He had just come7 In answer to this question, Jesus unfolds that basal principle of Christianity. that all the earth Is holy, and no one spot more holy than another; that the item of topography in religion is heneeforth erased: and. further. that henceforth to a spirit-God spirit-saerifoes only shall be made. (Heb. K, IA; Rorns xii. 1) The woman. her eloIided mind now thoroughly illuminated looked up. and adoringly exclaimed your teaching is just like that which we might expect from the Messiah Hinseif! The savior accepts her