Jesus, the great high priest of a new covenant.

Song (Click to listen): My God is bigger than all my problems, bigger than all my fears, bigger than any mountain that I can or cannot see. He’s even bigger than all my questions, bigger than all my fears. My God is bigger than any mountain that I can or cannot see.

In John 14:1 Jesus says, “let not your heart be troubled. You believe in God? Believe also in me.” And in John 7:37-38 he says, “let anyone who is thirsty come to me and drink. Whoever believes in me, as scripture has said, rivers of living water will flow from within them.”

Jesus meets a woman at a well.

In John Chapter 4, Jesus is sitting by a well, an historic well, a well that was dug by the patriarch Jacob on land that God had promised Jacob.

At the time when Jesus meets this woman at that well, the nation of Israel was divided into two nations. Ten tribes of Israel in the north called their nation Israel and the tribes of Judah, Benjamin and the Levites in the south called their nation Judah. Most of the Old Testament describes the history of the nation of Judah; and many of the prophets speak of the reconciliation of the two nations back to God.

Due to this separation, the two nations differed in their laws and their beliefs. They each had their own kings and their own prophets. Israel and the northern tribes are what are referred to as the lost sheep of the house of Israel. The house of Israel was dispersed among other nations and people, and they were not considered Jews.

So, Jesus is outside one of the cities of the lost house, sitting by a well. It is noon and he is waiting for his disciples to bring food from the city. He is tired from his journey when a Samaritan woman from the city leaves the city to draw water from the well; and Jesus asks her a question that is against both of their customs and laws. “Will you give me a drink?” [John 4:7]

Some Christians, are sitting on a well of God’s promises and the world is asking them, will you give me a drink; and they are responding like the Samaritan woman: How can you ask me for a drink, I am a Christian and you are not a part of my house.

Jesus asks the Samaritan woman for a drink because he like many of us have gone to houses of worship tired from our journeys. However, the tiredness Jesus must have been feeling was a tiredness of people not looking to him for help and acceptance and a tiredness of people not looking to him for salvation. As both believers and unbelievers, we look to other people for our spiritual well-being. We look to our loved ones and even houses of worship for love, validation and acceptance. We look to them for answers, for healing, for a message of hope and some of them respond, how can you ask me for a drink? You have nothing to draw with and the well is deep [John 4:9-12]. When they say this they are saying you have no righteousness in you, you have nothing that my house of worship can accept and allow you to come in for a drink.

But Jesus was not asking the woman for water. What does Jesus want when he asks, “will you give me a drink”? What fills the cup of Jesus? What does he thirst after? Jesus says in John 4:34 that he thirsts to do the will of him who sent him (God) and to finish that work. What is God’s will?  My father’s will is that everyone who looks to the son and believes in him shall have eternal life John 6:39-40. That everyone who believes in Jesus has the promise of the new covenant.

We must believe that Jesus already knew who the woman was that was approaching the well. God’s word says that the very hairs on your head are numbered by God [Matthew 10:26-31]. Such love. Such doting attention God has for everyone. Jesus knew who the woman was. He knew that she was among the tribes the Jews called the lost house of Israel. He knew her background. He knew how many husbands she had. He knew that even now the man she was with was not her husband.

He knew Jewish law and all the customs she must have broken and how condemned she was according to the laws and still he asks, “will you give me to drink” [John 4:10]? Jesus says to the woman if only you knew who was asking you for water, that I even I am He that blots out your transgressions and for my own sake will not remember them [Isaiah 43:25]. If only you knew the greatness of the mercy of God. If only you knew that the steadfast love of the Lord never ceases, that his mercies never come to an end [Lamentations 3:22-23] that as high as the heavens are above the earth so great is the lovingkindness of God toward you [Psalms 103:11]. You would ask me for a drink.

Song (Click to listen): the steadfast love of the Lord never ceases, his mercies never come to an end. They are new every morning, new every morning, great is thy faithfulness oh Lord, great is thy faithfulness.

The woman asks Jesus, are you greater than our father Jacob who gave us this well and drank himself from it [John 4:12]? Jesus replies, I am. Everyone who looks to houses of worship for the water of acceptance will have to keep coming back to that well to draw their water. Everyone who looks to their family for healing will have to keep coming back to that well to draw their water. Everyone who looks to self-righteousness for salvation will have to keep coming back to that well to draw their water. Jesus says, everyone who drinks from the water of this well, the well of the old covenant that brings death and requires constant sacrifices will have to keep coming back to this well to draw that water, because they will be thirsty. Thirsty for acceptance, thirsty for forgiveness, thirsty for mercy, thirsty for grace, thirsty for salvation, thirsty for healing. “But whoever drinks the water I give them will never thirst. The water that I give is a spring of water culminating in eternal life” [John 4:14].

The woman at the well after hearing these words, left her watering jar, went back to town and told everyone. Come and see this man, Jesus, the one who is faithful even when we are unfaithful [John 4:28-30]. The people in town must have known about her and her testimony, her present and her past. They must have thought let’s go see this man who knows who she is and still visited with her and spoke a message of acceptance. Her testimony drew the town out to meet him and to hear what he had to say. They passed their priests, their synagogues all of their spiritual ministers and came to, Jesus, the man at the well who said to his disciples when they returned, [John 4:32-34] “I have food to eat that you know nothing about. My food is to do the will of him who sent me and to finish his work. Open your eyes and look at the fields!” They are ripe for harvest; and many of the Samaritans from that town believed in Jesus because of the woman’s testimony.

We as believers must believe in the new covenant that Jesus’ death and resurrection provides. That God is merciful even to the unfaithful that his righteousness covers our unrighteousness, not through works, but through faith in him. Isaiah 43:25 testifies of this that God, not priests or pastors, is the judge; the one who blots out your transgression “for my own sake, remembers your sins no more”.

God does not forgive because we as believers deserve forgiveness. God does not show mercy because we as believers deserve mercy. God is mercy. God is a God who is merciful. God requires righteousness from humanity that only he can provide. To prove his faithfulness to himself and to humanity God has made a way of acceptance for all to his presence. That way and acceptance method is the blood of Jesus. Good deeds, self-righteousness, do not make you acceptable to God and do not remove your sins from the memory of God. Religious practices, attending church faithfully, baptisms and even prayer do not make you acceptable to God or remove your sins from the memory of God.

Everyone, like sheep, have gone astray, each of us has turned to our own way [Isaiah 53:6] and only Jesus, the righteousness of God, can make us clean, worthy and acceptable in the sight of God. And once God has accepted you, the door to un-acceptance shuts. Once God has made you clean, you are clean. Jesus has made the sacrifice for sin once and for all and now all who believe are acceptable in his sight. Because only God, through Jesus, can remove sin, accepting you as his own and removing from his memory your unworthiness. People may remember or see you as unworthy, but God, because of his mercy, does not. So, do not carry the burden of guilt. Cast your cares on Jesus because he cares for you.

All the prophets testify about him (Jesus) that everyone who believes in him (Jesus) receives forgiveness of sins through his name [Acts 10:43].

Jesus sends Peter to Cornelius.

A new kingdom appeared in Judah in a city near Jerusalem and called itself Caesarea. This city was occupied by military officials and one of them was named Cornelius. Cornelius was a commander of armies, who also believed in the God of the Jews and prayed regularly to this God; and one day, God appeared to him to tell him to send for a man named Peter to hear about his (God’s) new kingdom that he was establishing on earth through Jesus [Acts 10:1-7].

Cornelius was a man of authority and laws, with many under his command. In this biblical account, God sends Peter, to Cornelius, to share that he (God) is a higher authority, with a higher kingdom and higher laws, with the entire earth under his command.

In Acts 10:9-23, while Peter is praying, God tells Peter that he is about to receive visitors from a house that is not his; and people he would not associate with. Some believers, like Peter, are in the habit of holding old covenant biblical laws to higher authority than the giver of the law. When Jesus healed a paralyzed man in Matthew 9:1-6, Jesus said, to teachers of the law, “which is easier to say, ‘your sins are forgiven’ or to say ‘get up and walk’? But I want you to know that the son of man has authority on earth to forgive sins”. Jesus, in this verse, reveals himself as the great high priest of a new covenant, one who heals all, forgives all and fulfills all laws through his new covenant sacrifice of himself.

In Acts 10:13-14, Peter says to God, ‘I have never eaten anything impure or unclean’, meaning he follows the law that says what is and is not clean, religiously for Jews to eat.

God responds, “do not call anything impure that God has made clean Acts 10:15-16.” God had to send this message to Peter three times to remind him that the message of Jesus and his kingdom of a new covenant fulfills the law and is a higher authority.

In the biblical account of Acts 10, God wanted Peter to tell the Roman official, Cornelius, about the kingdom of God and salvation of Jesus and while Peter was thinking about what God meant when he said, ‘do not call anything impure that God has made clean’, the Roman officials arrive at his gate, to test whether or not Peter will trust in God’s authority or the authority of Jewish laws and customs. Peter decides to put his faith in God’s word to him and goes to speak to the people of a different house who he would be shamed by his people to be seen speaking to Acts 10:17,.

When he arrives, the first thing Peter says to Cornelius, the Roman official, is that he is not supposed to be there. Peter says, you know that it is against our (Jewish) law to associate or visit with you. However he says that God has shown him a higher law, his new covenant, that he should not call anyone impure or unclean who God has made clean and says “So when I was asked (by God’s authority not the Roman official’s) I came without any objections Acts 10:23-48.”

Cornelius responds, that “your commander also spoke to me and told me to send for you” so “now we are all here in the presence of God (the one who commanded us to meet despite all of our laws). “Tell us what the Lord has commanded you to tell us Acts 10:33.” And while Peter is speaking [Acts 10:34-43] a miracle happens that proves the greatness of God’s authority; and testifies that Jesus fulfills Jewish law and is the great high priest and that this law also extends to anyone who humbles themselves, hears the gospel and believes. The gift of the Holy Spirit is given to everyone who heard the message. The evidence of the Holy Spirit being the speaking of tongues, other languages, that they did not know or learn.

What is the message that Peter gives in Acts 10:34-43?

1. God does not show favoritism but accepts from every nation everyone who fears him and does what is right. Not in the eyes of their laws but in the eyes of the great high priest. Belief in Jesus is what is right.
2. Jesus is Lord of all. This is the good news message that Jesus is the king of kings, and his kingdom is greater than all kingdoms and his kingdom has come not with a sword but to bring peace.
3. That Jesus, through the Holy Spirit, has been given power to heal all, to release mankind from all power and authority the devil has over mankind.
4. That this power Jesus has, was given to him by God because he died but God raised him from the dead and
5. This great high priest commands his followers to preach to all people and to testify that he (Jesus) is the one who God appointed as judge of the living and the dead. All the prophets testify about him that everyone who believes in him receives forgiveness of sins through his name.

“Now the main point of what we are saying is this. We do have such a high priest, who sat down at the right hand of the throne of majesty in heaven and who serves in the sanctuary, the true tabernacle set up by the Lord not by a mere human being. [Hebrews 8:1-2]”

“But in fact, the ministry Jesus has received is superior to theirs as the covenant of which he is mediator is superior to the old one, since the new covenant is established on better promises.” [Hebrews 8:6]

“For if there had been nothing wrong with that first covenant, no place would have been sought for another. But God found fault with the people (of the old covenant and Moses) and said “The days are coming when I will make a new covenant with the people of Israel and with the people of Judah. It will not be like the covenant I made with their ancestors (Moses) when I took them by the hand to lead them out of Egypt.” [Hebrews 8:7-9]

New Covenant

“This is the covenant I will establish. I will put my laws in their minds and write them (my laws) on their hearts. I will be their God and they will be my people.” [Hebrews 8:10] “No longer will they teach their neighbors or say to one another ‘do you know the Lord?’ Because they will all know me from the least of them to the greatest. For I will forgive their wickedness and will remember their sins no more.” [Hebrews 8:11-12]. “By calling this covenant ‘new’ he has made the first one obsolete, and what is obsolete and outdated will soon disappear.” [Hebrews 8:13].

Jesus says, in John 4:14, I am the living water and a gift of God to those who know who I am. Jesus says to the Samaritan woman, “you worship what you know not, but those who believe worship what we know.” Jesus, the living water is the gift of God that has brought life and light to the world. It is the nature of Jesus to give gifts that bring life, a well of life that is deep and unending [John 4:22, John 4:14].

Prayer: Thank you heavenly father for your son, Jesus. Thank you for your mercy and your grace that you have given freely to those who believe in you. I believe in you and in the new covenant that you have given to me and to all who believe that you are our salvation, that you are a wellspring of life that will never run dry. Fill me to overflowing with your spirit that brings life. May my life be a testimony of your lovingkindness and mercy that never ceases, of your faithfulness that is unending.

Song (Click to listen): He is able, more than able. To do much more than I could ever dream. He is able, more than able. To make me what HE wants me to be.