“A woman from Samaria came to draw water. Jesus said to her, “Give me a drink.” 8 (For his disciples had gone away into the city to buy food.) 9 The Samaritan woman said to him, “How is it that you, a Jew, ask for a drink from me, a woman of Samaria?” (For Jews have no dealings with Samaritans.) 10 Jesus answered her, “If you knew the gift of God, and who it is that is saying to you, ‘Give me a drink,’ you would have asked him, and he would have given you living water.” 11 The woman said to him, “Sir, you have nothing to draw water with, and the well is deep. Where do you get that living water? 12 Are you greater than our father Jacob? He gave us the well and drank from it himself, as did his sons and his livestock.” 13 Jesus said to her, “Everyone who drinks of this water will be thirsty again, 14 but whoever drinks of the water that I will give him will never be thirsty again. [2] The water that I will give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life.” 15 The woman said to him, “Sir, give me this water, so that I will not be thirsty or have to come here to draw water.” (John 4:7-15 (ESV)
John juxtaposes this passage right on the heels of his discussion of Jesus baptizing. The conversation continues concerning baptism. “If you knew the gift of God, and who it is that is saying to you, give me a drink ,’ you would have asked him and he would have given you living water.” When the woman doesn’t get his meaning, he continues to describe the water he has. “who ever drinks of the water that I will give him will never be thirsty again. The water that I will give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life.” This baptism is the gift of God and brings the gift of God that is faith. It wells up to eternal life.
Faith and baptism shouldn’t be separated from each other, ever. Sure a person can be baptized and later leave the faith. But one cannot believe without being baptized, or at the bare minimum wanting to be baptized. Believe and be baptized Jesus says at the end of Mark, the two go hand in hand. If you believe you will be baptized, that is if you haven’t been baptized already. And if you are baptized then your faith is intimately connected to that baptism and the promises that God attaches to baptism.
What surprises me these days is so many have no faith in baptism. They have a preconceived notion as to what baptism is and does, and consistently read that into scripture. We call them baptists. They deny the grace of god to infants, the little one’s Jesus says believe in him. They turn baptism into their work, and fail to see that baptism is Christ’s work. It is away Christ incorporates us into his death and resurrection. And because through water Christ connects us to his resurrection, well then we are given everlasting life.
No comments:
Post a Comment