Focus: A Drink, Please!

Text: Jh.4:7

"Give me to drink."

Jesus begs for water from a woman of Samaria. The one who created everything in the universe including the seas, streams and springs is in need of water to drink. Master Jesus wants a drink from you. Do not deny Him. He is deserving of all you have to give Him. You own nothing that He didn't give you. As a matter of fact, all that we own, we owe to Him.

God's finger is on some things in our lives and He wants us to release them to Him. Let us ask ourselves: What am I withholding from God? What am I holding tightly to, or finding difficult to give to the Lord? At the well at Sychar, Jesus Christ requested for water to quench His thirst. Instead of giving Christ the water immediately, she begins an argument. She brings in all kinds of sentiments to the request. Sexual sentiment: you are a man, and I am a woman. Racial sentiment: you are a Jew, and I am a Samaritan. Religious sentiment: as Jews, you have your own mountain where you worship, and as Samaritans, we have our own mountain where we worship. Biases and prejudices keep us from doing good. She keeps dilly dallying, and arguing over nothing. Request for a drink has led to a debate. Are you having a similar experience in your life? Jesus Christ wants your water, not your argument or logic. Whatever the water represents in your own life, do not withhold it from Christ. He is wearied and thirsty, and in need of your water. In Matthew 25, Jesus says, "For I was an hungered, and ye gave me NO MEAT: I was thirsty, and ye gave me NO DRINK" (Mt.25:42).

One of the statements Jesus made on the cross was, "I thirst" (Jh.19:28). It was a statement of fact and a declaration of need. He suffered so much dehydration. In the Old Testament there is a prophecy to that effect. The psalmist says, "They gave me also GALL for my meat; and in my thirst they gave me VINEGAR to drink" (Ps.69:21). That prophecy came to pass exactly, for Matthew writes, "They gave him VINEGAR to drink MINGLED WITH GALL: and when he had TASTED thereof, HE WOULD NOT DRINK" (Mt.27:34). Here is what happened: as soon as they lifted Him to the cross, they gave Him concoction, a kind of sedative, to help deaden the excruciating pain of crucifixion. But He tasted and rejected it immediately, for it was necessary that He bear the whole pain upon Himself. He couldn't afford to be absent minded in the moment of atonement. The priests and the high priest were commanded to stay away from strong drinks during the discharge of their sacred duties in the holy place. They must be sane and sober while carrying out their priestly functions.

But come to think of it, why give Him vinegar that is mingled with gall, when all He needed was water to quench His thirst? Gall is a kind of poison and vinegar is alcohol. A whole lot of church people are offering Christ the wrong things. 

There is wrong worship or worship of convenience: worship as you want it and how you want it, not worship as God wants and how He wants it. Why are we mixing things up, mingling vinegar with gall in our spiritual walk, work, and worship?

Don't forget that God has a sense of smell, and not everything that we do in the name of worship smells good to Him. If God wants water, give Him nothing else. God rejected Cain and his offering, but He accepted Abel and his offering. That shows that nothing can be a substitute for what God really wants.

Then when He was done atoning for our sins and God having received the blood of atonement, Jesus received the vinegar. John writes, "When Jesus therefore had received the vinegar, he said, It is finished: and he bowed his head, and gave up the ghost" (Jh.19:30). Matthew reports, "And straightway one of them ran, and took a spunge, and filled it with vinegar, and put it on a reed, and gave him to drink" (Mt.27:48).

What are you giving to God? How are you giving to the Lord? Do you give to God at all, or do you think you have nothing at all to give to God? Do you give nothing instead of something, or give less instead of more, or do you give something else different from what God truly requires? How are you treating God? Have you recently checked your attitude towards God? Do you give God less than He truly deserves? Do you give God freely, readily, and heartily?

We have two women who freely gave to Christ. One is a nameless sinner, and the other is the godly Mary, sister to Martha and Lazarus. Luke tells us about the nameless sinner, "And, behold, a woman in the city, which was a SINNER, when she knew that Jesus sat at meat in the Pharisee's house, brought an alabaster box of ointment" (Lk.7:37).

She is a woman, notorious for her many sins. She is famous for doing all the morally wrong things. She has a reputation for iniquity. She popularly indulged in the pleasures of sin. But her life has not been the same again since she met Christ. Luke says, "And stood at his feet behind him WEEPING, and began to wash his feet with TEARS, and did WIPE them with the hairs of her head, and KISSED his feet, and ANOINTED them with the ointment" (Lk.7:38). This is really a repentant human being. She is loving Christ and showing it publicly and in visible and tangible ways. She did what she did from a heart of love. Her heart overflows with love. She is loving Christ much because Christ has forgiven her so much. She functions from a heart that has been melted by grace. Jesus says of her, "Why trouble ye the woman? for she hath wrought a good work upon me" (Mt.26:10). Again, Jesus says, "She hath done what she could" (Mk.14:8). Do your very best for Christ. He deserves it.

About Mary, John writes, "Then took Mary a pound of ointment of spikenard, very costly, and anointed the feet of Jesus, and wiped his feet with her hair: and the house was filled with the odour of the ointment… Why was not this ointment sold for three hundred pence, and given to the poor?" (Jh.12:3,5). This is love in action and extravagant worship. It is the kind of worship that got tongues wagging and eyebrows raised. It would take over a year's salary to buy such a perfume that Mary lavished on Jesus Christ at one time. She emptied the bottle. Everyone in the room smelled it. Even His own disciples said it was a huge waste of resources. Jesus loved and appreciated it. He saw it as a good deed.

Even now, Jesus is still saying, 'Give me to drink.' I pray that you bury your sentiments and do the right thing for once in your life. That 'drink' can be anything. The Holy Spirit will point it out to you. The word of God in your heart will point it out to you. Take away the toxins and poisons from all you give to Jesus Christ and His people.

by Bishop Moses E. Peter