The Right Place and The Right Time

The reality of my upbringing can be summarized this way: if life is a five-step race, by virtue of my parents, I had a four step head-start.  Mom and Dad (Linda and Delmas to their friends) loved the Lord authentically, they loved each other passionately, and they loved Chris – my younger brother – and me unconditionally.  Mom and Dad worked hard to model good morals and ethical behavior for us and they, as much as any two people I have ever known, really desired to live lives which conformed to the image of Christ and the standards of the Scriptures.

One of the ways Mom and Dad attempted to model the Christ-life for Chris and me was to diligently be in the “right” place, at the “right” time, with the “right” people, for the “right” purpose.  What I caught from my parents and other important people God has subsequently brought into my life is that the “right” place isn’t just church and the “right” time isn’t always convenient and the “right” person isn’t always clean or sober or morally principled.

It’s hard to explain but Mom and Dad – Mom especially – had a capacity for turning the wrong place into the right place and the wrong time into the right time.  They had a knack for living out the principles which Jesus models via His Samaritan missional adventure in John 4 and in so doing taught Chris and me something about God’s perspective on right and wrong. 

Over the next few days let’s see what we can learn from Jesus’ encounter with the Samaritan Woman.  Let’s observe how Jesus

1. Turned the wrong place into the right place
2. Was right on time by arriving at the wrong time
3. Exuded the love of God by being willing to compromise His ability to participate in religious rituals for the sake of a less-than-desirable person
4. Kept His mission the main thing in the midst of temptation and misunderstanding
5. Saw the harvest in spite of religious and racial prejudices

Ready or not, here we go down the irreligious rabbit whole.

How does this idea that Jesus’ message was irreligious make you feel? Are you uncomfortable with it? Are you challenged by it? Does it make you afraid or do you get a strange sense of freedom from it?

2 Responses to “The Right Place and The Right Time”

1. Kris says:

   March 23, 2011 at 11:46 am

   I’m encouraged by Jesus’ irreligiousosity! At the same time, many pastor’s were hired partially to perform the “Priestly” roles. While ultimately we’re called to follow Christ first and serve our congregation second there is a great tension. How many hours have we spent in study so that we can give a proper cultural context to the our congregation? What would our communities look like if we spent that time coaching a little league team instead?

   It’s almost as if the presuppositions of the churched Christian can impede our efforts to be in the right place.
2. daisymarygoldr says:

   March 23, 2011 at 4:34 pm

   “Six” signifies the creative work of God. “Pot” is a picture of man. “Stone” speaks of our stony hearts. The water of purification was a gracious provision of God’s eternal Laws. The ceremonial cleansing for Jews did not just involve water. It is a general custom to purify everything by blood. So, it is not just water but water and the blood. “Wine” symbolizes the blood of Jesus Christ shed on the cross from under the winepress of God’s wrath.

   Mary was concerned about the literal wine at the marriage feast in Cana. Jesus was talking about His blood to be shed for the marriage of the Lamb. Hence, He said His time had not yet come to go to the cross and give the wine, i.e. His blood. Mary did not ignore Jesus but she was ignorant about the spiritual significance of the Messiah’s work.

   The work of Christ was to shed His blood, so that mankind might be purified and transformed into a new creation. By turning water into wine, Christ was declaring Himself to be the One who existed and created all things in the beginning. Thus the first miracle of Jesus reflected the first supernatural creation of God.

   Jesus often spoke in parables. Note, it was the Jewish “religious leaders” that did not get it. It did not deter Jesus who sought out the irreligious people and explained things plainly to them. One of them was the Samaritan woman to whom He revealed Himself as the Messiah. This was to finish His work (John 4: 34) for which He was sent.

   Jesus’ message was not irreligious. He religiously kept the Law and fulfilled its requirements. When the religious don’t get this message, it does not deter God. His Spirit continues to seek and reveal the truth plainly to those who are genuinely thirsty. Religious or irreligious, to all those who are thirsty, Jesus invites us to come and drink freely from the fountain of living water—His eternal Word

   You have rightly said, wine is for celebrating–celebrating the fact that the Son had come into the world and that we have hope not just in ritual but we have reconciliation through Christ. I agree we all need the living water of Christ even if we don’t know that we are thirsty. Thanks, Pastor Dennis Moles!