Arising Life

HE IS RISEN Now Jesus learned that the Pharisees had heard that he was gaining and baptizing more disciples than John— 2 although in fact it was not Jesus who baptized, but his disciples. 3 So he left Judea and went back once more to Galilee. 4 Now he had to go through Samaria. 5 So he came to a town in Samaria called Sychar, near the plot of ground Jacob had given to his son Joseph. 6 Jacob’s well was there, and Jesus, tired as he was from the journey, sat down by the well. It was about noon. 7 When a Samaritan woman came to draw water, Jesus said to her, “Will you give me a drink?” 8 (His disciples had gone into the town to buy food.) 9 The Samaritan woman said to him, “You are a Jew and I am a Samaritan woman. How can you ask me for a drink?” (For Jews do not associate with Samaritans.) This woman was thirsty. This woman came out at the hottest time of day for two reasons: because she was thirsty; and secondly because she was ashamed to go get water when everybody else was getting water preparing for their thirst in the morning. Write this down: If Jesus isn’t my king, I am this woman. We live constantly thirsty and ashamed if we don’t have a king who tells us that we are not who we think we are. You see all of us think that we are something else. Something unworthy. But the truth is that we are the king’s heirs. Write this down: God didn’t have to associate with me; he chooses to be a part of my life. Did you notice in is story that Jesus didn’t have to go through Samaria? He chooses to go through Samaria! Let’s keep reading. 10 Jesus answered her, “If you knew the gift of God and who it is that asks you for a drink, you would have asked him and he would have given you living water.” 11 “Sir,” the woman said, “you have nothing to draw with and the well is deep. Where can you get this living water? 12 Are you greater than our father Jacob, who gave us the well and drank from it himself, as did also his sons and his livestock?” 13 Jesus answered, “Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again, 14 but whoever drinks the water I give them will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give them will become in them a spring of water welling up to eternal life.” 15 The woman said to him, “Sir, give me this water so that I won’t get thirsty and have to keep coming here to draw water.” Christ has come, he was crucified, and we celebrate his rising. We are this woman, but like her story doesn’t end with asking for water, but meeting Christ and then sharing that message with her village, so too, our story doesn’t end at the celebration of Easter, but it continues with our sharing of the gospel. 25 The woman said, “I know that Messiah” (called Christ) “is coming. When he comes, he will explain everything to us.” 26 Then Jesus declared, “I, the one speaking to you—I am he.” – John 4:1-26 On Easter we celebrate that the Messiah is here and his name is Jesus and we call him the Christ! If we believe in the death of Christ as He was lifted up on the cross for our sin, we will be spiritually healed from the disease of death. Jesus literally became the curse for us. We believe in His life, death, and resurrection for our salvation. We look to Him, we follow Him as our Lord, and God saves us! If you are not yet a follower of Jesus, please know that the only way to deal with your guilt, get rid of your shame, and be forgiven of all your wrongdoing is through the gospel. God has done all the work. We simply look to Jesus Who died for all of our sin, Who has risen from death, and Who now reigns as King. We turn from our wretched sin in repentance, and turn to our Lord Jesus in faith. If you are already are a believer but are losing a battle against sin, looking to Jesus is still the only way out. The Easter Story 11 Now Mary stood outside the tomb crying. As she wept, she bent over to look into the tomb 12 and saw two angels in white, seated where Jesus’ body had been, one at the head and the other at the foot. 13 They asked her, “Woman, why are you crying?” “They have taken my Lord away,” she said, “and I don’t know where they have put him.” 14 At this, she turned around and saw Jesus standing there, but she did not realize that it was Jesus. 15 He asked her, “Woman, why are you crying? Who is it you are looking for?” Thinking he was the gardener, she said, “Sir, if you have carried him away, tell me where you have put him, and I will get him.” 16 Jesus said to her, “Mary.” She turned toward him and cried out in Aramaic, “Rabboni!”(which means “Teacher”).17 Jesus said, “Do not hold on to me, for I have not yet ascended to the Father. Go instead to my brothers and tell them, ‘I am ascending to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God.’” 18 Mary Magdalene went to the disciples with the news: “I have seen the Lord!” And she told them that he had said these things to her. 19 On the evening of that first day of the week, when the disciples were together, with the doors locked for fear of the Jewish leaders, Jesus came and stood among them and said, “Peace be with you!” 20 After he said this, he showed them his hands and side. The disciples were overjoyed when they saw the Lord. 21 Again Jesus said, “Peace be with you! As the Father has sent me, I am sending you.” 22 And with that he breathed on them and said, “Receive the Holy Spirit. – John 20:11-22 Jesus left His disciples equipped to make other disciples, to bear fruit. We can tell it worked because the people that they made disciples of were making disciples too. And so it has been passed on for two thousand years. As Jesus revealed His true identity to His disciples, He taught them a very important truth. This is what we are told to do: to teach people the good news. Jesus’ gospel (or good news) was simple: believe and live.