Wednesday, June 24, 2015

White for the harvest John 4

Behold, I say to you, lift up your eyes and look on the fields, that they are white for harvest. John 4:35

What does this have to say about cloth, you may be asking.
Well, it was the situation they were in. They were looking at a town in Samaria. It was the site of people dressed in white coming from the town to see this Jesus that the woman at the well had told them about. This woman who avoided people was running through town telling people that the Messiah had come and talked to her, of all people. People dressed in white, as that is how they dressed. People who were going to be washed white themselves. They listened to Jesus and begged him to stay for days. Unlike those in the towns where Jesus came from, who sent him away. Like Jerusalem, which he cried over more than once.
So we might be dressed in white, wanting to be clean on the outside, but knowing we are not white on the inside. The woman at the well was not described as far as her apparel. Was she dressed in white? Was she differently dressed because she was an inner-outsider? Everyone knew who she was. After 6 men, I'm sure she was the talk of the town. Had she played the harlot and gotten thrown out of these households? Was she ugly and would take whoever would take her in? Did men reject her time and time again? She didn't seem to have a problem finding another fellow to take her in. It sounded like she was in an affair unmarried at this point, which would have pointed to her being the cause of her own immorality. Jesus didn't sugar-coat her sin. He didn't avoid talking about it. And that avoidance of talking about her sin lead her to talk justifiably about herself. She worshiped as a daughter of Jacob, and she knew that Jesus, a Jew, would reject her for worshiping away from Jerusalem, so she let him judge her on that account. At least it wouldn't hurt as much as being judged for being an adulteress. But this avoidance led Jesus to the opportunity to deal with the heart issue, not just the outward evidence of the sin within.
Jesus was good at seeing the inner person and taking the issue there. And when the heart is dealt with, freedom ensues. So much freedom that a person who would come to the well at times to avoid people would run down the streets telling people that someone pointed out her sin and must be the Messiah! Now that is transformation! That is salvation, and redemption!
How about you and me? Do we go around telling people how Jesus pointed out our sin and saved us? If you can't do that, I ask you to look at your salvation. If you haven't let Jesus deal with your sin, I would ask you if He has given you the living water. If you can't even admit you are a sinner, or were living in a lifestyle of sin before you were saved (yes, you still sin, but it is not your common way any longer), then I ask you to talk to God about that. Those who will not confess their sins will not be saved. Not a long litany of sins. This isn't the confessional in a Catholic church. Good grief, if I was only saved from the sins I could confess outright, I'd be so piled in them I couldn't move. I sin in ways I don't even realize. It is the confess that I am a sinner...a person with inclination to sin, who practices sin, and has no life in me. I am dead in my sin, Paul says in Romans 4,5, and 6. Jesus gives life. Dead seeds stay dead until water permeates them. Water brings life. Jesus offers the living water, and applies it to the seed as needed to make it not only alive, but grow. This life changes everything, including our response to life. We are not ashamed any more. We rejoice that Jesus chose to speak to us, the outcast. And then others dressed in white can overflow the hillsides coming to Him. They can experience Him and be purged of their sins as well.
So look up and see the results of a sinner being saved. It is a curious thing, and a site to behold.

The harvest fields were white, and here Jesus draws the comparison. They were ready to be harvested, brought into the kingdom. Are you dressed in white? Are you ready to be harvested? If you haven't been, I ask you to come to Jesus, talk to Him through reading His Words to you, and see that He is who I, a harvested soul, say He is.  

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