John 4:40-45

John 4:40-45 So when the Samaritans came to him, they urged him to stay with them, and he stayed two days. And because of his words many more became believers. They said to the woman, “We no longer believe just because of what you said; now we have heard for ourselves, and we know that this man really is the Savior of the world.” After the two days he left for Galilee. (Now Jesus himself had pointed out that a prophet has no honor in his own country.) When he arrived in Galilee, the Galileans welcomed him. They had seen all that he had done in Jerusalem at the Passover Feast, for they also had been there.

By saying a prophet has no honor in his own country, Jesus contrasted the Galileans with the Samaritans. The Galileans continually sought miracles to validate Jesus as Messiah. The Samaritans believed Christ's words: Now we have heard for ourselves, and we know that this man really is the Savior of the world. People still chase miracles, reading the latest visionary report from "a prophet" in California or Florida, running here and there to hear a word from a "divine oracle" or to see a "prophet" perform "signs and wonders." The same people may rarely cross the room to read God's inspired Word. Often they remain too busy to pray fervently, and they rarely meet with others where the Spirit would offer spiritual gifts and healing mercies to all.

Pastors face this dilemma. Their flock attends church services sporadically yet supports and listens to hyper-faith media ministers with visions and prophecies that surprisingly begin and end with urgent pleas for allegiance and money. The community pastor deals with a myriad of problems in his Galilee as he receives the frantic calls for help, prays for and ministers to the sick and the needy, and listens to the woes and complaints of his congregants. While he seeks God for inspiration and wisdom and preaches and teaches the Word to an often small crowd, the money that would support and expand the many ministries of the local church flows outward to people living excessively expensive and materialistic lifestyles, with no real responsibility for meeting people's real needs.

As in Jesus' time, carnally minded people still want a sign, want to follow someone offering loaves and fishes as an outward manifestation of their power with God. Jesus said, A wicked and adulterous generation asks for a miraculous sign! But none will be given it except the sign of the prophet Jonah. For as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of a huge fish, so the Son of Man will be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth. (Matthew 12:39-40) We might question Christ's indictment of these people as wicked and adulterous, yet the Spirit of God found them wanting in their failure to recognize and to heed Messiah's voice. Jesus declared: My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me. . . (John 10:27) The Pharisees and the teachers of the law did not recognize or accept Messiah because they bedded down with and comforted themselves with fleshly desires and deeds.

Do we mainly chase after food for our bellies, healing for our bodies, and deliverance from hardships? When the miracles do not appear, do we harbor disillusionment, despair, and bitterness? What is our response when Jesus says, "Take up the cross and follow me" on not so pleasant pathways? When life gets hard and harder, do we forsake him for greener pastures with fewer demands? Jesus asks us to eat and to drink of him in good times and in bad: trusting in his sufficiency, his eternal mercy and grace. In financial famine, chronic sickness, or perpetual chaos; He says, "Come to me: trust and believe. I give peace in the worst of storms." Brothers and sisters, the Lord reminds us that following Christ for deliverance or as an escape from the trials of life is not Christianity. Throughout the ages and in heathen countries today, believers flee from house to house and town to town to worship God, to share the good news. Paul was beaten and left for dead, James was beheaded, and Peter hung upside down on a cross. Self-absorption and a search for the next miracle will not produce the peaceable fruits of righteousness. Yes, God grants us miracles and blessings: the fruit of the Spirit and the strength and joy of the Lord abide with us. Yet we stand in faith as newly born sons and daughters of the King because we believe in Jesus' words along the Samaritans. We live in and through Christ, the author and finisher of our faith. Miracles that comfort and help on our journey are not a necessity for knowing, loving, and serving our risen Lord. May we hear HIS VOICE and live!