Atlanta tri-weekly journal. [volume] (Atlanta, Ga.) 1920-19??, 1924-08-26

J and [ would have given YOU sure
enough living water.
She is bent on an argument; so
she replies: You have nothing to
draw with, and this we'll is deep;
how then are YOU going to give me
| living water? Are YOU greater than
our father Jacob who dug this well
and drank out of it?
Again He refuses to argue; but
continues: Whoever drinks of this
water shall thirst again, but whose
| ever drinks the water that l shall
give him shall never thirst; but it
shall be in him a we'll of water, not
| just yelling up like this one, but
springing up and Overlooking into
| everlasting life.
| He had refused to argue; lie had
! been trying to create in her a desire
for something lie had to give; and
now she replies: Sir, give me this
water, that [ thirst not neither come
here twice a day to draw. Poor tired
soul, She was earthbound and sin
bound. She had no conception of
anything higher than her head, and
| that makes her. case all the more
pitifuI. Where there is nothing high.
er in life, even drawing water twice
a day becomes dreadful drudgerY.
Now stop a bit and look back. The
Master had had to be rather abrupt
with Nicodemus, who was living a
perfectly correct and righteous life,
ir order to make him feel his need of
Him as a Savior. He las different
problem here and yet the same. He
and the woman are Numerically OBJ
posite. He is holy; she is sinful. He
is free and heaVenbound; she is sim
! bound and earthbound. 1t is His job
| to take her from the low plane on
which she is living and lift her to the
| high plane on which He is living.
TO have been abrupt with her as He
was with Nicodemus would have
driven her away. To have said to
her (even true as it was) you must
be born from above" would have
made her laugh and go away.
See what He has done-He arrest
ed her attention first by a Jew ask
ing a Samaritan a question. Then
He aroused her curiosity by talking
about a gift and His identity and
living water. Then He created in
her a, desire for what He had to give
all the time avoiding carefully be-
ing drawn into a controVersy-un
she asked for It, even though her re-
quest showed her motive was low
and selfish. Not once has He attack
ed her conscience. not once prodded
her for her sim although He knew
all about her the moment she ap-
peared. Nor had His knowledge made
Him avoid her, as might be the case
in modern days with those who pro
fess to follow Him.
Now the time has come for Him
to lay bare her life. He cannot give
what she has asked for and what
He so much desires to give her until
sin has been removed; for the living
water springing up is the Holy Spirit.
He would give Him to her that a
life of union with God may be posi-
BILE; but even lie cannot do that
where sin stays. SO He said, as if 20
have Him share with her what. He
is about to give: eco call thy nus
band and come here"
Sir, [ have no husband" she said.
That woman was an artful dodger;
it was well nigh impossible to cor
ner her.
Thou hast we'll said, 4 have no
husband He replied, for thou hast
had five husbands, and the sixth is
not married to YOU, with whom you
are now living"
He made the confession for her
! which she needed to make and hest
tated to make. But note that was the
last of it; not one word more of her
sin did Jesus speak. He didn't care
to embarrass her; He merely wanted
her to know that He knew, and that
she couldn't get what lie had to give
her until she had put away sin
ring.
She wasn't cornered yet. Notice
! her effort to divert His attention
from herself and to engage Him in
! an argument. Sir, l see you are a
prophet. | should like, therefore, for
YOU to solve a problem that has been
/ a veXed one for centuries. Is Jeru-
! salem or Gerizim the place to wor-
! ship"
But Jesus will not be med from
the trail; he is on the quest for her
soul, and nothing can turn Him
aside, until He has won her. lie un-
wells to her what NiCodemus couldn t
! have understandable spirituality of
worship. Neither here nor in Jeru-
SALEM" He answers, but anywhere,
any time, any soul recognizes MS
need of God. God is a spirit, and they
that worship Him must worship
! Him in spirit and in truth. The Fa-
Their seeketh such to worship Him.
| Was He not seeking her now"
Once more she tries to dodge. Her
question had been answered There
has been gradually awakening in her
heart a consciousness of her sin and
her need, and an unrecoGniZed. long
! ing for something she didn't have,
/ but which He had. With far-oft
look, she said: Il know that the
Christ is coming, and when He comes
! He will tell us all things.
And then Jesus told that poor sin
ner of Samaria what He hadn't been
able to tell anyone else before. Il
! that speak Unto thee am He.
Did she ever give Him that drink
/ of water? Did she ever say, | accept
! you as the Messiah2 Did she ever
draw the water she came for to sup
ply her household needs? There's no
| record of it.
But she left as the disciples came
up-they may have interrupted the
conversation; while they were sur
I prised beyond words that He was