How To Do Research Using Thy Strong Word: The Efficacy of the Word in the Scriptures and the Lutheran Confessions. Verbatim Quotations with Citations

Someone donated money for Thy Strong Word to be sent around to various people who might want their own printed copy.

I permanently dropped the price down to  the author's price on Lulu, so anyone can obtain the printed book at a low cost. They finished one sale (30% off for three or more books) and now there is a better sale -

"With this deal, everybody saves. Need one book?  The shipping is free. Need a few books? The shipping is free. Need a ton of books, the shipping is free.  Everybody saves with free shipping."

Enter code MARSHIP at checkout and get free mail shipping. Offer expires Sunday, March 6th at 23:59 PM. Don't forget, coupon codes are CASE-SENSITIVE."

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The free PDF of Thy Strong Word is also posted on Lulu - here, so I am not profiteering.

The same free PDF of Thy Strong Word is always posted one or more places on this blog.

The PDF files that I provide can be saved and shared with anyone, without asking permission.

The PDF is very handy for research, and I use it all the time. I have more than 1,000 quotations arranged by topic. I decided to set them up so people could xerox print a page or a few pages at a time, without burying the citations at the end of the chapter, my biggest grip about books.

I gave the quotations  J numbers so people could say, "Have you seen J-551?" or similar things. When Megatron was on my computer, those quotations made compiling new articles quite convenient. WELS leaders were always having hissy-fits that I quoted and provided full citations. Nowdays, if I don't copy and paste a web post into my blog, it disappears so readers cannot check it out. So I provide the link and the material. Some are so full of themselves they leave the evidence up anyway - like the graphic of the Victory of the Lamb coffee house.

How To Use the Free PDF for Research
Long ago I learned to use control-f  to find material on web pages and mistakes in a book I was working on.

Recently I wanted my ecumenical list of making disciples quotations. I used control-f  and put making disciples in the window. That gave me each quotation. All I had to do was highlight each one, control-c to copy what was highlighted, and control-v to paste it into the booklet Making Disciples: The Error of Modern Pietism. That gave me a long list of quotations with the citation for each, including many denominations, the Pentecostals, and various Lutheran nitwits.

Several readers wrote me just to talk about how WELS tumbled for all that Fuller nonsense about making disciples.

I can find notorious authors like Paul Kelm the same way. That often reminds me of who wrote the nonsense from years ago.

The control-f tool is great for this and should be used when verifying information.

That was true at the original Emmaus
but not at the latest Emmaus conference.

Scriptural Study Is Essential. If the Pastors and Laity Are Not Rooted in the Word, They Are Sterile

Fuerbringer studied the Scriptures and Luther
all the time. He refused speaking engagements to stay home and study.

Does anyone selling UOJ, Church Growth, or the kind of pablum dispensed on Steadfast (sic),
SpenerQuest, ALPB, or synodical publications ever study the Word, doctrinal works, or church history.

If pastors and laity are not rooted in the Word, they are sterile. They may use the words and recite their favorite slogans, but they have nothing significant to say.

Laity have no weapons against false doctrine if they do not know the Word of God thoroughly. In the old days, the laity were so well trained that they could argue a position from the Word of God. That is what filled the pews during the Seminex crisis, the bad guys led in part by a former WELS professor, Richard Jungkuntz, UOJ Stormtrooper. When the LCMS laity heard what Seminex stood for, they said, "So long and thanks for all the booshwah."

But no one pressed on. They congratulated themselves for winning, like the guy who stopped running the long-distance race so he could celebrate a victory he never achieved.

Who bragged more - the LCMS? WELS? ELS? CLC (sic)? That is difficult to determine, because they all crowed about it while the Seminex crew slithered away and created ELCA. Why have only one gay seminary (Seminex) when the combined seminaries of the LCA and ALC could all be gayer than Shakespeare's sonnets?

Seminex could not make it, so the faculty went off to Chicago to dominate the LCA seminary there. Decades later, the ELCA seminaries with all their property and endowment are falling, one after another, like leaves from a diseased rose bush. The message from the beginning was - "We are creating a New Lutheran Church, not merging." And they were right. Seminex was the template and the radicals booted out the old liberals.

I am going to be reviewing the new version BibleWorks, a tool I have been using for many years in my writing projects. More will follow after I install the program.

Expanding the Maple Tree Rose Garden

Note the blooms fading and losing petals in the foreground.
Pruning those blooms will create more root and plant growth -
and new roses.

We have three rose gardens.

The main one is being expanded with a memorial row, a plaque for each person.

The rose garden along the Wright fence may get some beneficial plant inserts.

The maple tree garden now has a second circle of roses. Mrs. Ichabod suggested the first row when I ordered 10 more bare root roses at $5 each. I thought, "Oh boy, digging among maple roots." It was very tough, with a long time spent for each hole. But we had 10  roses blooming around a tree that was an eyesore with weeds and maple suckers before.

To make a second circle, we connected two screw hooks to twine that was measured out to a given distance from the tree. So we had a second circle planted. Digging them up was not difficult because the heavily mulched and earthwormed soil was soft and damp with spring rain. We had four roses in the sunny garden and four in the backyard to move. We took two days to get that done and water the results.

I told our helper, "We are not watering early. I did that in the main garden and ended up working and sitting in wet mud."

In spite of what people think, clay is easy to dig at the right time. It is also the richest possible soil. To build some immediate compost we turned sod clumps upside-down and secured them around the new-old plants. Heavy watering washes soil into place and feeds the roots that need to form, stabilize the plant, and feed the future roses.

Two more roses are going to the helper's home, and the whole family is participating in the move. They picked a place to put the roses and will help in digging and replanting. They also want to have fresh sweet corn at their home this year.

This is a great time to move roses, early in the growing cycle. We have couple more roses ordered and will probably add two rose-hip roses to the outer circle, for a total of 20 around the maple tree.

Falling in Love was our friend's
favorite rose as she planned her marriage.

More Details about Shrinking, Merging, Seminaries. Looks Like Freedom, But It Feels Like Death - It's Closing Time

Finally an honest statue at a seminary.
This is Henry M. Muhlenberg, Halle Pietist.
Why have Luther when no one reads, understands,
or agrees with the Reformer.
Jay Webber came from this tradition.

Philadelphia and Gettysburg Seminaries Offer Tuition-Free Education


The Lutheran Theological Seminary at Philadelphia (LTSP) and the Lutheran Theological Seminary at Gettysburg (LTSG) today announced a dramatic increase in the amount of financial aid each school is giving students, including making full-tuition scholarships available to all new full-time, ELCA rostered leader candidates studying in residence. “In partnership with the ELCA, our supporting Synods, and many faithful congregations and individuals, we decided the time is right to make seminary education far more affordable for our students,” declared Presidents Michael Cooper-White (LTSG) and David Lose (LTSP). In addition to this generous offer for new students, the schools also expect to increase scholarships for all current full-time enrollees.

---

Claire Burkat is "the parent of a son"
and also worked for the dying Episcopal Diocese at the same time
she earned money from the ELCA synod.
Now she is a bishop of Mark Jeske global ecumenical
dimensions.

Oh, Claire! (not CLC sic)

Bishop Claire Burkat, of the Southeastern Pennsylvania synod of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) said in some ways the seminary’s mission, which is “to educate and form public leaders who are committed to developing and nurturing individual believers and communities of faith for engagement in the world” has not changed in 150 years.

“We are still teaching, equipping and preparing Church leaders to share the Good News of Jesus Christ in worship, word and action,” Burkat said. “That being said, the 21st century landscape has dramatically changed the time-honored way seminaries of every denomination have prepared professional leaders for work and service in the church and the world.”

Confessional - they all are.
Ecumenical to the max - ask Mark Jeske and his Thrivent paymasters.

While LTSP continues to maintain its Lutheran, confessional and Philadelphia traditions, it no longer just focuses on educating Lutherans. Burkat said students from 28 different denominations from around the world enroll at the seminary so they can work in churches, agencies and other ministry institutions to “accomplish God’s purpose to heal a broken world.

“Two ELCA Lutheran seminaries to close, reopen as one,” a report in the February 17, 2016 Christian Century, says:
.

“The decision came this week from the governing boards of Lutheran Theological Seminary at Gettysburg and Lutheran Theological Seminary at Philadelphia. The plan will cut the number of seminaries affiliated with the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America from eight to seven.

“David Lose, president of the Philadelphia seminary, said the move would create opportunities for redesigning everything from faculty and curriculum to calendars and relationships with donors.

“The board votes came quickly after a recommendation from a joint task force, which held its first and only meeting last month. Gettysburg was projecting yearly deficits above $200,000 and could not keep eliminating faculty positions by attrition, according to board chair James Lakso.

“‘We have too many people and too much physical capacity to be viable and sustainable in the long term,’ Lakso said.

“By combining into one institution distributed across two locations in Gettysburg and Philadelphia, the schools could solve the thorny problem of what to do with tenured faculty, whose salaries and benefits weigh heavily on each school’s budget. The logic: if a school ceases to exist, then it’s no longer obligated to retain faculty members, even if they had tenure. A new school has the flexibility to start over.”

“Since 2012, other Lutheran seminaries have found shelter inside universities. Lutheran Theological Southern Seminary merged with Lenoir-Rhyne University in Columbia, South Carolina; and Pacific Lutheran Theological Seminary became part of California Lutheran University in Thousand Oaks, California.”

***

GJ - Fun fact. I was interviewed for the job of vicarage supervisor at the Philadelphia Seminary. It was an HEW interview. The candidate was already picked, but they interviewed nine others to make it look like a big search.

It was a fun trip. The area was very tony at the time. I ended up in a little restaurant and found out immediately it was one of those very expensive, exclusive places.

I learned from Neuhaus' Lutheran Forum Newsletter than five of the faculty were divorcing at the same time, including the academic dean. I later saw the academic dean at a Michigan Synod LCA meeting. I did not meet her at that so-called interview. She craned her neck as she caught my nametag. 

Another Failing ELCA Seminary - Really Two Failing Schools Three Women Who Have Grown in Office

Louise Johnson is head of the failing Wartburg Seminary.
Her qualifications are minimal, which suggests
a role as the Judas goat leading everyone to the slaughter house.

Notice the patented lop-sided Mark Jeske smile,
suggesting ambivalence.

I forgot to mention Wartburg Seminary, the second one started by Loehe. Walther asked for Ft. Wayne to be turned over to him  (for free) by Loehe - and to keep sending money.

Wartburg was so broke a few years ago that tenured professors were fired. Normally that is done through merger!

My friend from Yale, Stanley Olson, was the previous president of Wartburg, supposedly a more conservative flavor of ELCA. Stan's wife bragged in the Yale Divinity magazine that their daughter married a woman. Of course, Ralph Bohlmann had the same bragging rights, but those facts had to be discovered on their own. Ralph's daughter became a UCC minister and married a woman.

Olson, when he worked for Mark Hanson, worked on the way to bring back in those lesbian and homosexual pastors suspended from ELCA. After the 2009 vote, ELCA cratered so fast that Stan's position was eliminated altogether.

So Wartburg is the most conservative seminary in ELCA? That is like asking,"Which beating was your favorite one?"

Like Louise, above, there is no mention of a husband, or a spouse
for Robin Steinke, now presiding at Luther Seminary.
I reviewed her installation service, which was incredibly
empty, a definitive response to starting a new trend at Luther.

All the feminist clergy grow in office.
And I mean really grow.

The first ELCiC female bishop
really grew in office.
She graduated from Jay Webber's favorite UOJ seminary -
not ILT - Waterloo Lutheran Seminary.

Lutheran Seminary Student Count

CLC (sic) - I think one student graduated from their alleged seminary last year.

ELS - The Little Schoolhouse on the Prairie - Grand total of six students in all three classes.

Mequon - Not too impressive. They put the grad and vicar assignments together on the same list for a total of 32 men in two classes - 16 per class. I was there with 60 per class.

LCMS - The incoming classes at St. Louis and Ft. Wayne are 40 and 30, for a total of 70. So St. Louis has fewer students entering now than were graduation from Mequon in 1987. And everyone has watered down the language requirements (but not the cost) let the boys be offended by studying.

ELCA - Everyone ELCA seminary is in trouble or already merging. Luther (a sea of red ink); Gettysburg and Philly are merging into one; Berkeley (merging with a college campus); Southern (merging with a college); Chicago (crime-ridden and short of funds);  Trinity in Columbus ((lots of new endowment and working with the Episcopalian Seminary nearby). Trinity was gayer than lavender hose in the 1990s, so one can only guess now.

Shooting the Messenger

It is about that time of the year that the new Concordia Seminary Journal from St. Louis has hit the shelves. Not the shelves of major supermarkets across our great nation, but the shelves of Lutheran Church Missouri Pastors libraries. However, this edition of Concordia Seminary Journal won’t make it to the shelf of this writer, but the shelf that holds the firewood in my fireplace. 

Why has this edition of Concordia Journal made it into my fireplace soon to be burned along with my capital campaign fund letter from the seminary in St. Louis? Because the article written by none other than Mr. Fund-Raiser himself Dale Meyer has caused great offense. When speaking of the great exodus of people leaving LCMS Churches, Dale Meyer states, People leave for many reasons, that is true, but one reason has been identified that is especially grievous, our conduct as pastors. Ask district presidents if congregations are troubled because of wrong teaching or from character flaws or personality quirks in the pastor, and they’ll tell you that very often the conduct of the pastor causes or exacerbates the church’s problems. 

So I ask this first, where are the results from this study that you quote from district presidents? I think we have a right to know which district presidents have made such allegations. Are these the same district presidents that promote the firing of pastors which your seminary trained? Are these the same district presidents who promote women readers, women elders and women helping distribute communion which your seminary trained? Are these the same district presidents that find no offense dressing up the choir to look like pastors wearing albs which your seminary trained? Are these the same district presidents that removed the altar and instead installed a stage and a drum set which your seminary trained?
Perhaps the pastors that face the most trouble in their congregations are the confessional pastors that try to right the ship when they inherit a pento-baptist-eposop-non-denominational acting Lutheran church because the previous pastor insisting on using teachings from Rick Warren and other non-Lutheran teachings which was promoted by your seminary in St. Louis. 

Secondly, the majority of the conflict that confronts pastors has been brought about from teachings from the seminary in St. Louis. This is a fact. Lay people have attended the speaker series in the fall at the seminary and listened to non-Lutherans promote their garbage which they take back to their churches. They confront their pastor and say, Well the seminary is promoting this so let’s do it here! or The seminary is promoting the new Rick Warren or Bill Hybels book, let’s have a bible study on the book Sunday mornings! Who needs the Bible! 

The confessional pastor stares with a blank face and says to himself, great, this is going to cause some conflict. Thanks Concordia Seminary. 

Thirdly, I wonder what it would be like to have a job where it is so secure that I could get away with making harsh statements against people that I see almost every day. I am talking about the statement that pastors are to blame for the conflict that is going on at the congregations. These pastors were students and many of them you have met at the seminary Dale Meyer. What an insult to know that after all that training I received at the seminary I am to blame for the conflict at the church. Just makes me want to promote the seminary on Sunday mornings during announcement time.
People leave for many reasons, that is true, but one reason has been identified that is especially grievous, our conduct as pastors. Ask district presidents if congregations are troubled because of wrong teaching or from character flaws or personality quirks in the pastor, and they’ll tell you that very often the conduct of the pastor causes or exacerbates the church’s problems, says Dale Meyer. What an idiotic statement that tears down the Office of the Holy Ministry. 

Fourthly, Dale Meyer, you need to put down the crystal filled glasses with bubbly and stop patting yourself on the back in helping to raise over 100 million dollars so that you and certain ones chosen can have lavish lifestyles. You need to take a hard look at yourself and ask, Why do you have so few students in the classroom today? Why aren’t more students enrolling in the seminary? It is because of comments that you have written and your views regarding the office of the ministry. You blame the graduates for church conflict. Shame on you. Take a glance in classrooms during the school year. Empty seats. Yes, too many empty seats. Perhaps the Board of Regents should finally recognize that it is you that is causing conflict.
JV Verne
(Christian News, March 7, 2016)

Brug, Bivens, Wendland.

Alcoholism and UOJ

Good morning Pastor Jackson,

I believe that like a hunting dog you have found the scent and have followed the trail. There is a predisposition toward alcoholism in my immediate family. When I did some research about the long term effects of alcoholism, I discovered some familiar traits and bits of evidence. I will bet that the clinical treatment of alcoholism was the basis for many of the addiction models that are used today. 

Among these patterns are cover-ups, denials, and that behavior that snaps when the right buttons are pushed. UOJ is the enabler for this aberrant behavior. This is just a theory, as the puzzle pieces seem to fit.

WELS Layman

***

GJ - Alcoholism battles against study and writing. Alcohol and drug addiction may hide behind hard work, but both are going to eliminate any careful study of Scriptures and erode any sense of right and wrong.

Eventually, addicts bottom out and engage in so much self-destruction that the obvious can no longer be hidden or disguised.

I am not against social drinking, but a lot of clergy get away with alcohol abuse because they can have so many jovial activities where others look the other way. Many can handle it well at first, but the physical addiction sets in and compounds the emotional addiction that develops at the same time.

Alcoholics protect one another, so being a drunk in WELS
is like being an earthworm in my garden - too many to count.
A good lawyer can get evidence thrown out,
but appearance bond money should be collected - so it is
not left in the public record - eh, Ski?

Happy 83rd Birthday, Pastor Herman OttenP

Pastor Herman Otten turned 83 today.

Every so often I would calculate Pastor Otten's age - oh my. Now he's 83. We met about 30 years ago.

I was accused of leaking to Christian News during my first call in the 1970s. I ran a series of articles on bi-lingual parishes, in the Cleveland Lutheran tabloid. One photo ended up in CN and the pastor yelled, "Did you send that to Otten?" And the pastor was LCA! I only had a vague knowledge of the LCMS-Otten-Seminex battles, but I learned soon enough.

Jack Preus met with Otten often to get elected LCMS synod president, then disavowed him.

Ralph Bohlmann repeated this cycle to become LCMS president.

Al Barry worked through Paul McCain to do the same. I was in Paul McCain's office at the Purple Palace when Otten phoned him. McCain said, "If people found out I was in contact with Otten, I would be fired." McCain bragged about how he gave Barry's materials to Otten before anyone else, so Barry could get instant, fast, positive PR while running for SP. The McCain-Barry administration was quite nasty to the conservatives who installed them in the palace of power. Like RINOs, the LINOs kiss up to the opposition to keep their spoils. Bucky Hellwig (SpenerQuest) said to me, "At least the Bohlmann people were polite."

I went to a meeting or two of the conservatives with Barry. He was clearly antagonistic toward those who elected him in a close election. I saw how his administration used conservatives and tossed them to the curb. In fact, Paul McCain gloated about how they pulled the rug out from under Robert Preus, a few months before giving Robert Preus' widow an award for Preus' work.

At some point I spoke with Herman's son Tim about how the LCMS SPs-in-Waiting kept courting his father and then dumping him.

Let's pause for a Kieschnick interlude. I know he came to New Haven, Missouri to meet Otten. My intuition says his people arranged a division among the conservatives.

Then Matt the Fat came along and spent six hours in New Haven, courting Otten. His secretive campaign manager was Paul McCain, along with help from those who felt set aside or played the martyr role with great drama. The Issues guy turned his one-act play into a huge money-maker.

McCain's role was not clear until Harrison won and Paul was invited back to the Purple Palace for photos, where he reminded some of Adolph strutting around a captured Paris, smirking. Devoid of any academic standing or pastor experience, he settled into his Concordia Publishing House sinecure at royal salary and pumped out pretend blog posts from The Catholic Encyclopedia.

I smelled a rat - or rather a papist - when I read McCain's "scholarly" blog posts. That told me how little LCMS pastors study anything or write anything of merit. Each post obviously took a long time to research and write. And they matched up verbatim, with a few word changes (typical plagiarist) to The Catholic Encyclopedia and a few obscure blogs.

Nobody - but nobody - detected this pattern until I exposed it time after time. Suddenly - poof - the McCain blog rolled up faster than a runaway window shade. No apology from McCain. No apology from his CPH boss. No apology from Matt the Fat.

Perfect hair, perfect purple clothes, perfect pose
for the papists at the Purple Palace.

Some Words of Appreciation

Liberalism: Its Cause and Cure

Pastor Otten agreed to selling Liberalism: Its Cause and Cure through Christian News, and struck an agreement with Northwestern Publishing House. The book sold like wildfire. As I recall, McCain reviewed the book quite favorably.

Tim Otten helped especially with

• Catholic, Lutheran, Protestant
• The Wormhaven Gardening Book, and 
• Angel Joy.

NPH agreed to publish Catholic, Lutheran, Protestant, and then backed out. The Church Growth fanatics who ran WELS did not want to see another book in print, but WELS ended up selling a lot of books (by the case) by ordering them through CN. Kurt Marquart gave a very positive review of CLP, and so did a Concordia Seminary, St. Louis, professor.

Just like the Church Growth clowns, the UOJ Stormtroopers must have their way by silencing anyone who disagrees with their Halle Pietism.

Nevertheless, Christian News has been a vast data source for anyone who cares to read a lot. Started the same year as Walmart, CN has retained the same editor the entire time, quite remarkable by itself.

Training UOJ seminarians at Mequon,
Mankato, St. Louis, ILT, and Ft. Wayne.
The justification by faith rebellion must be stopped,
lest it impede the 500th anniversary of the Reformation
in 2017.

Mid-Week Lenten Service - The Human Nature of Christ.

Jesus' temptation reveals His human nature.
Afterwards, angels ministered to Him.

Bethany Lutheran Church

Mid-Week Lenten Vespers, 2016

Pastor Gregory L. Jackson

http://www.ustream.tv/channel/bethany-lutheran-worship

7 PM Central Standard Time 

The Hymn # 195        Christ Jesus Lay in Death's Strong Bonds
The Order of Vespers                                             p. 41

The Psalmody                   Psalm    14                 p. 124
The Lections                      The Passion History

                                           John 4 - The Woman at the Well

The Sermon Hymn # 347     Jesus Priceless Treasure

The Sermon –     Jesus, Son of Man - His Human Nature

 
The Prayers

The Lord’s Prayer

The Collect for Grace                                            p. 45

The Hymn # 558      All Praise To Thee

KJV John 4 When therefore the Lord knew how the Pharisees had heard that Jesus made and baptized more disciples than John,

2 (Though Jesus himself baptized not, but his disciples,)

3 He left Judaea, and departed again into Galilee.

4 And he must needs go through Samaria.

5 Then cometh he to a city of Samaria, which is called Sychar, near to the parcel of ground that Jacob gave to his son Joseph.

6 Now Jacob's well was there. Jesus therefore, being wearied with his journey, sat thus on the well: and it was about the sixth hour.

7 There cometh a woman of Samaria to draw water: Jesus saith unto her, Give me to drink.

8 (For his disciples were gone away unto the city to buy meat.)

9 Then saith the woman of Samaria unto him, How is it that thou, being a Jew, askest drink of me, which am a woman of Samaria? for the Jews have no dealings with the Samaritans.

10 Jesus answered and said unto her, If thou knewest the gift of God, and who it is that saith to thee, Give me to drink; thou wouldest have asked of him, and he would have given thee living water.

11 The woman saith unto him, Sir, thou hast nothing to draw with, and the well is deep: from whence then hast thou that living water?

12 Art thou greater than our father Jacob, which gave us the well, and drank thereof himself, and his children, and his cattle?

13 Jesus answered and said unto her, Whosoever drinketh of this water shall thirst again:

14 But whosoever drinketh of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst; but the water that I shall give him shall be in him a well of water springing up into everlasting life.

15 The woman saith unto him, Sir, give me this water, that I thirst not, neither come hither to draw.

16 Jesus saith unto her, Go, call thy husband, and come hither.

17 The woman answered and said, I have no husband. Jesus said unto her, Thou hast well said, I have no husband:

18 For thou hast had five husbands; and he whom thou now hast is not thy husband: in that saidst thou truly.

19 The woman saith unto him, Sir, I perceive that thou art a prophet.

20 Our fathers worshipped in this mountain; and ye say, that in Jerusalem is the place where men ought to worship.

21 Jesus saith unto her, Woman, believe me, the hour cometh, when ye shall neither in this mountain, nor yet at Jerusalem, worship the Father.

22 Ye worship ye know not what: we know what we worship: for salvation is of the Jews.

23 But the hour cometh, and now is, when the true worshippers shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth: for the Father seeketh such to worship him.

24 God is a Spirit: and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth.

25 The woman saith unto him, I know that Messias cometh, which is called Christ: when he is come, he will tell us all things.

26 Jesus saith unto her, I that speak unto thee am he.

27 And upon this came his disciples, and marvelled that he talked with the woman: yet no man said, What seekest thou? or, Why talkest thou with her?

28 The woman then left her waterpot, and went her way into the city, and saith to the men,

29 Come, see a man, which told me all things that ever I did: is not this the Christ?

30 Then they went out of the city, and came unto him.

Jesus, Son of Man - His Human Nature

John 4:3 He left Judaea, and departed again into Galilee.

4 And he must needs go through Samaria.

5 Then cometh he to a city of Samaria, which is called Sychar, near to the parcel of ground that Jacob gave to his son Joseph.

The introduction to the Woman at the Well gives us a precise location of where this took place. We may overlook this as a detail that does not interest us, but it shows the precision of John in describing the geography in his narrative. This speaks of someone who was there. Any time someone knows the area so well and describes it as one who knows, we can expect an eye-witness. This may strike some as painfully obvious, but the Fourth Gospel is the one attacked most often for being written hundreds of years after the death and resurrection of Christ, influenced by all kinds of exotic sources. Why do the rationalists know this? They are convinced that no one thought Jesus to be the Son of God during His ministry so this must be later influence, much later.

To find Norma Boeckler's home in the dark, in Midland, we got her on the phone as she guided us to the right place. Everyone had an opinion but lacked the real knowledge that comes from living on that street. 

6 Now Jacob's well was there. Jesus therefore, being wearied with his journey, sat thus on the well: and it was about the sixth hour.

The Two Natures in Christ are a mystery revealed by the Holy Spirit in the Word. Often both natures are apparent in the same story, but not always. Some false teachers have denied His human nature, others His divine nature. The Two Natures never separated once the Word became Incarnate (the conception and the Virgin Birth)

John 1:14 And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth.

To understand this story accurately, we have to see Jesus as the woman at the well did. She saw only the human nature of Christ, a man weary from His journey and thirsty. No one knows thirst better than desert people. The sun is not pleasant but burning, and effort dries up the body and threatens death easily. In the desert, people seek shade and water whenever possible. When I am with people in the desert or hot muggy days, I urge them to drink water all the time, so heat prostration does not make them delirious and send them into a dangerous cycle of not sweating and building up heat.

So this woman saw a man at the well as she approached to get water. 

7 There cometh a woman of Samaria to draw water: Jesus saith unto her, Give me to drink.

8 (For his disciples were gone away unto the city to buy meat.)

She is only thinking of material things, heat, burdens, water, thirst, and here is a stranger asking for water. In Phoenix it was illegal to turn down anyone who asked for water. If a stranger came to the door, water had to be provided, even if it was only from the garden hose. For Mexicans, accepting a glass of water is part of being a gracious guest. Refusing water is considered rude.

The human nature of Christ is important for many reasons. He experienced our joys and sorrows. He is sympathetic about our temptations, because He was also tempted, serving as an example to us. Most importantly, His Atonement means He suffered terribly in every way to pay for our sins. 

Perhaps the most horrible punishment was the abandonment of the disciples (except John), the fickle crowd jeering the One who was hailed as Messiah, and the seeming rejection of God the Father. 

22 My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? why art thou so far from helping me, and from the words of my roaring?

So when we pray to Christ or ask in His Name, we know He has experienced our difficulties - and far more than we can imagine. But we can see in the Word and experience in our souls that He is our comfort and Savior.

9 Then saith the woman of Samaria unto him, How is it that thou, being a Jew, askest drink of me, which am a woman of Samaria? for the Jews have no dealings with the Samaritans.

10 Jesus answered and said unto her, If thou knewest the gift of God, and who it is that saith to thee, Give me to drink; thou wouldest have asked of him, and he would have given thee living water.

The woman was offended or shocked that a Jew would ask a hated Samaritan for a drink of water. Note the explanation. Jews and Samaritans avoided each other because of mutual suspicions.

Jesus responded as the Son of God, revealing His divine nature. He is no longer a weary traveler but the Savior showing Himself to her. He is speaking of spiritual things, but she only considers the material world at first. This kind of dialogue is common in John's Gospel, ironic in contrasting His power and the response of fallible humans, including the alleged First Pope, Peter.

11 The woman saith unto him, Sir, thou hast nothing to draw with, and the well is deep: from whence then hast thou that living water?

12 Art thou greater than our father Jacob, which gave us the well, and drank thereof himself, and his children, and his cattle?

An unbeliever is blind to what Jesus says, so when unbelievers explain how ridiculous or offensive the Scriptures are, they only reveal their blindness and hardness, each sarcastic or caustic comment making matters worse for them.

13 Jesus answered and said unto her, Whosoever drinketh of this water shall thirst again:

14 But whosoever drinketh of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst; but the water that I shall give him shall be in him a well of water springing up into everlasting life.

This is just as miraculous as Moses drawing water from a solid rock. When we study this dialogue, it is obvious that Jesus converted the woman with His Word, not by proving the truth to her but by revealing the truth. He declared it - He did not defend it.

Jesus chose to convert through the spoken Word, and this is how He converted everyone. What worked for Him is also effective among us. The Word is like seed that is full of life and ready to grow. It only has to be cast about to grow and bear fruit.

Gardeners do not relate to the soil to make plants grow. They plant and sow, knowing God's creation has that abundant life. Gardeners do not try to work their friendly and winsome personalities on the soil. They realize the hard work is but a fraction of what God does with His creation. They trust the life within the seed, just we should trust the eternal life within the Word of the Gospel.

Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied.

15 The woman saith unto him, Sir, give me this water, that I thirst not, neither come hither to draw.

16 Jesus saith unto her, Go, call thy husband, and come hither.

17 The woman answered and said, I have no husband. Jesus said unto her, Thou hast well said, I have no husband:

18 For thou hast had five husbands; and he whom thou now hast is not thy husband: in that saidst thou truly.

The woman is not getting the message, so when she says, I have no husband, Jesus reveals His knowledge of woman who had never seen Him before. God knows our hearts, no matter what we say. 

19 The woman saith unto him, Sir, I perceive that thou art a prophet.

20 Our fathers worshipped in this mountain; and ye say, that in Jerusalem is the place where men ought to worship.

The power of the Word was so great in Jesus that people experienced His divinity. At first she wanted to get involved in denominational comparisons. But Jesus had another answer for her.

21 Jesus saith unto her, Woman, believe me, the hour cometh, when ye shall neither in this mountain, nor yet at Jerusalem, worship the Father.

22 Ye worship ye know not what: we know what we worship: for salvation is of the Jews.

23 But the hour cometh, and now is, when the true worshippers shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth: for the Father seeketh such to worship him.

24 God is a Spirit: and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth.

The woman is ready to listen carefully, so she responded.

25 The woman saith unto him, I know that Messias cometh, which is called Christ: when he is come, he will tell us all things.

This is a great moment and shows us how closely John relates his material to us, the Holy Spirit guiding him and his closeness to Jesus adding a personal touch to this Gospel.

26 Jesus saith unto her, I that speak unto thee am he.

27 And upon this came his disciples, and marvelled that he talked with the woman: yet no man said, What seekest thou? or, Why talkest thou with her?

28 The woman then left her waterpot, and went her way into the city, and saith to the men,

29 Come, see a man, which told me all things that ever I did: is not this the Christ?

30 Then they went out of the city, and came unto him.

The woman left her waterpot. Jesus identified her problems with men, but He did not reject her as an open sinner. That is why people were drawn to Him. They were not credited with righteousness through the Law, so they longed for the righteousness of faith.