Jesus knows who you are (refer John 4:16-18)

The passage referred to above describes part of a rather peculiar conversation between Jesus and a Samaritan woman at the well of Jacob.

Upon being asked by the woman to deliver on his promise with respect the provision (from a spiritual viewpoint) of ‘living water,’ which would lead to eternal life, Jesus asks the woman to fetch her husband. He did this knowing full well the truth about her - that she had five husbands and indeed, was currently sleeping with a sixth man to whom she was not married.

I feel that there are two main lessons that we can learn from this passage:


· Jesus knows who you are – the good and the bad.

Whilst Jesus does not express outright condemnation upon this woman, it becomes abundantly clear that he knows about the extent of the brokenness and sin in her life, with particular regard for her adulterous behavior.

God knows each and every aspect of our lives inside out. He has an intimate and complete knowledge of our strengths and weaknesses, both the positive aspects as well as any areas of brokenness.

Accordingly, there is no point in lying to god, nor is there any point in trying to hide from our sin or brokenness. He can see right through us, as he can see right through any attempts on our part to avoid confrontation of the issues in our lives. Such effort are pointless when it comes to dealing with him.

Instead, we should confront the issues head on by acknowledging our areas of brokenness in an honest and open fashion before him. We need to come humbly before the lord and ask for forgiveness for the sins which we have committed in our lives.

When we do this, god has promised full forgiveness of our sins anyway.

Don’t hide before sins. Take them straight to the lord and ask for forgiveness through Christ.


· Jesus does not rush to condemn you for your sin.

In the passage referred to above, Jesus makes it abundantly clear to the woman that he knows and understands all about her life of promiscuity.

But he does not condemn her.

The worldly views prostitutes with disdain, and cannot wait, it seems to look down upon them with a sense of scorn.

But not Jesus. It is clear from the passage that Jesus does not approve of what the woman does, nor does he see it as any way acceptable.

But he did not scorn her, he was not interested in that. Instead, he had a point to make, to demonstrate to the woman his power to heal her brokenness.

It’s the same with us. We all have areas of some kind and Jesus knows full well about these. There is no point in trying to hide them from him, nor is there any point in trying to pretend that they are not particularly important – they are.

But Jesus does not want to condemn us. He does not want to look upon our areas of sin and brokenness with an attitude of scorn. Rather his desire is for the lord to be glorified and for his amazing love to be demonstrated by virtue of the act of restoring our relationship with him through his death on the cross.


Prayer:
Dear heavenly father,

Lord, there is no point in us trying to hide from you.

You know us inside out. You know each of our strengths. You also know our areas of weakness, where each of us fall short, and the sin that stains each and every one of us.

Thank you that even though you know our darkest corners, you do not condemn us.

Indeed, you offer us the chance to come into the light, the opportunity to have our sins forgiven and to come into a right relationship with you.

Lord, without you, we are lost in our ways of sin. But in your presence, we can find peace, love, and more importantly, amazing grace.

For this I can only praise and thank you.

In your great name.

Amen.