Abbeville progress. (Abbeville, Vermilion Parish, La.) 1913-1944, 1917-02-10
LESSON FOR FEBRUARY II
JESUS AND The WOMAN Of sA
MARIA.

GOLDEN TEXT Christ J.-u. ,...r. iu.
. to Co.,. world g.. sa.o sinrv--..I Finn Us
This IS a ,,~~on ol on, of tty Uoy-
Sid, mri~r.c, az Jesus D. occurred
incidentally while De-, WAS aa H.- Hay
TO h., great preaching and teaching "a
prr5ru,. "t ...l.'... It va- q Hy.Ifoauc}
of bis yer, busy life. yet 20 .- uua of
the most famous interviews au. ONE ~
the best czaluplcs 81 hov Co u1 per.
Sonui work. that is found iu fbr scrip
lures. The larger part of ,hy frs, year
of Chri~t's ministry was ~Ucu 80 ju-
d,a Jesus did uoy buptilr, hut his
disciples d'd. doubtless FOR the sumc
reason. though in less degree. DIAN
why Paul refused to baptizc converts
+ q Cor. 1:l3-l6). All hut ON" of the
disciples OF Jesus were Galii"uuS and
Jesus spent about year and nine
months of his ministry IN that place.
l. Jesus Rested Wv. 40. TO reach
/ Gulilce from Judca Jesus must needs
80 through SnHaria.' not that there
were not other ways that he might
have Travelled, but rather that II WAS
worth while 10 20 out If his wny Ia
order to bring the wafer of life TO this
needful woman. Jacobs well was at
u parting OF the roadway near To the
city of SychaF. Few places I'm the innd
save Jerusalem had 50 much Bible his
tory connected with them (Gcn. - IS;
Joshua : .33; Acts 7:lG; ! Kings, I'll
.rf. al
100 feet deep md TX feet in diameter.
but # has been filled up with accumu-
lutiOns Of rubbish 50 il is now only
about ~ feet deep. Christ was w"aricd
In his work. but not OF H.. and sat
thus (hy) the we'll; literally, on the
low vnil built around n. The sixth
hour was probably about midday
There is comfort in consideration Of
the fact that ms a man Jesus VAS will
ing TO meet this woman of bad caurac-
ter.
~. Jesus Holds Conversation wv. Z
IA. Notice the gentle way in which
Jesus speaks, and ,hat he began ou The
ground Of their common need. lie
asks This needed favor tEat he might
confer glcatcr one, ignoring the pre-
judicc which existed against the Sa-
maritauS. Water was the thing upper
most in the woman's mind. She did not
grant his simple request, AMI her reply
Indicated that racial differences were
very real barrier. They binder our
work even yet. The surprise. perhaps
pleasure, that n jew should ask II favor
of her seems to have greatly impressed
the woman, and aroused her curiosity.
In verse 10 Jesus tells the woman that
there are two things she must needs
know: % the wondrouS gift of God,
that is the Holy Spirit Uuke IL :l3;
Acts . :23-3S); CD the wonderful man
who had asked Of her Give me to
drink" Had she known these things
she would have asked him for the liv-
ing water. All that was nocdful was
simply 10 ask. The Holy Spirit is the
living water (JOhn 6:G0. The woman
does not seem to have comprchended
what Jesus was trying To- teach, yet he
was patient, and won her rs u convert.
He told her that everyone who came
to that well would thirst again ". 49,.
The worlds fountains do not satisfy,
fountains Of wealth, fame, pleasure or
carnal qualification. or even learning.
He then tells her Of the living water
". 14)) Of which the drinkcr should
never thirst thar II would satisfy who
soever drinks, and was to be everIaSt-
Ing Gohn 7 :37-J9). The one who re-
] hg t,-if1in "a
perennial. eternal spring of life, joy
and satisfaction springiug up within
him. Before the woman received the
water of which he was speaking there
had to come n conviction Of sin wv.
16-I9) hence his reInHrk, eco call thy
husband" This was n sharp thrust
into her life and heart. She tried to
parry the thrust with a technical queS-
ton, yet he comes back with "a great
revelation of the nature of God and the
worship which God accepts. revealing
his Messiahship wv. 1920. As is indi-
Gated. she does not seem 10 have com
pretended the nature of the request
which Jesus had made ". 80; there
fore he began this searching of her life
in order to prepare her 10 receive the
water of life which he wanted to be
stow. This knowledge of her secret
life by perfect stranger who had
never even seen her before was an evil
dence TO the woman of spiritual en-
dowment: "Sir ] perceive that thou
art a prophet" She then entered upon
a theological argument ". 20b which
Jesus answered very simply, saying
that the worship Of the Father IL not
10 he restricted by time or place ". 2D.
The issue between the Jews and the
SamaritaIs was that of the place OF
worship and Of the scriptures. by not
accepting the fun revelation Of God
they were ignorant Of much that they
might have known Of Gods nature.
promises. law and kingdom. Thus. lit
orally. salvation is of the Jews. that is
Il proceeds from them, not that ii be-
longs to them ". ~. The new day
has iawned. the Messiah has come and
the Father seeketh all those who would
worship him In truth, for God is u
spirit, real but invisible. everywhere,
not confined TO the temple. not located
In any one place as idols are.
At this point the disciples return and
the woman goes Into the villege.
Jesus, lifting UP his eyes to the cid-
gems who were coming out at her invi-
tatiOn, exclalms, Lift up your eyes
and look on the fields. for they are
white already to harvest" thereby en-