One Year Bible Readings and Commentary for Thursday May 5th
Click Here to Listen to the Readings
Click Here to Read Ruth 1:1-22
This is one of the most beautiful and poignant stories in the bible. A couple named Naomi and Elimilech left Bethlehem in Judah because there was a famine and went to the land of Moabites. Their two sons went with them. Her husband died leaving her two sons, who married two Moabite women, Orphah and Ruth. Tragically both of her sons died too. When she heard that there was food back in Bethlehem she decided to leave, but she urged her two daughter in laws to stay in their native lands so they could marry a man there.
But both woman refused and pledged to stay with Naomi. After going back a forth a few times, Orpah eventually agreed to go back home, but Ruth insisted she stay with Naomi with the famous words.
“Don’t ask me to leave you and turn back. Wherever you go, I will go; wherever you live, I will live. Your people will be my people, and your God will be my God. 17 Wherever you die, I will die, and there I will be buried. May the Lord punish me severely if I allow anything but death to separate us!” Ruth 1:16-17
This is quite an amazing thing for a daughter in law to be some committed to her mother in law, especially since there is such a cultural gap between them. When she got home and the people called her Naomi she said, "Do not call me Naomi, my name is Mara, for my life has become very bitter for me."
It was late spring and the harvest season in Judah and the workers were coming out into the fields. We will see why this sets the scene for God to do something amazing tomorrow.
Click Here to Listen to John 4:4-42
As I mentioned as we began the gospel of John it is my favorite gospel because in it we see Jesus' interactions with people who have been written off by society. In today's story we meet the Samaritan women at the well.
The Jews regarded the Samaritans and only half Jewish. Many Jews had intermarried with those in Samaria when they were expelled from the land and exiled.
When the Babylonians conquered the southern kingdom of Judah, they took almost all the population captive, exiling them to the Babylonian Empire. All they left behind were the lowest classes of society, because they didn’t want these lowly regarded people in Babylonia. These ones left behind intermarried with other non-Jewish peoples who slowly came into the region, and the Samaritans emerged as an ethnic and religious group. - Guzik
For many reasons, this woman would have been despised by most of the religious leaders in the days of Jesus. She was a woman, a Samaritan, and a woman of questionable reputation. Yet, in the interview with Nicodemus John showed us, Jesus has something to say to the religious establishment. In the meeting with the Samaritan woman at the well John showed us, Jesus has something to say to those despised by the religious establishment.
In ancient times they called spring water living water because it seemed alive as it bubbled up from the ground. At first glance, it might seem that Jesus told this woman about a nearby active spring. But Jesus made a play on words with the phrase “living water,” because He meant the spiritual water that quenches spiritual thirst and gives life.
Jesus made an amazing offer. What he offered – to this woman and to anyone who would drink – was something to give lasting satisfaction. The key is to drink of the water thatJesusshall give.
It’s common for people to try and satisfy their God-created inner thirst through many things, or through any thing except for what Jesus gives. People are thirsty – they want, they long, they search, they reach; but only what Jesus gives satisfies to the deepest levels of man’s soul and spirit.
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