WATER

This movie was nominated for several awards. Some would venture to say the Foreign Film of the Year for 2010. I find this movie to be about two stories and two worlds that collide. You have the man named Daniel, who is a native and works very hard. He even caused a riot. The director of the film saw him who he is and knew that this part will fit him perfectly.

One phrase that threads through the movie is "water is life". The crew manager tried to buy Daniel out of protesting but "water is life". Daniel and the other natives spent a year's worth income to buy a well 7 kilometers away to provide for their families. Water is life. When times were dangerous, the actors in the film wanted to leave to safety. The natives were fighting for water. An essential in life.

I can not help but to think of Jesus and the Samaritan Woman. You have two people who are two worlds apart. This woman came to the well at the sixth hour to draw water. She came at a time when no one else comes to draw water.

7 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.)
John 4:7-9

Jesus speaks to a woman that know one else would really speak to.

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.”
John 4:10

Instead of protesting and setting up a blockade for the government, you just need to ask. Jesus invites.

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.
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 4:11-15

She responds naturally. She responds physically. The response denotes the verse in the beginning about Jacob drinking here and she is inquiring about another place. Jesus is not giving another place. He is giving himself.

Water is life. No, Jesus is life.

USEFUL!

The above is a picture of a new purchase from amazon.com. I bought a Roku HD Stream player. It has wifi and the primary reason to buy this is that it also has Netflix. I recently subscribed to Netflix and I found this to be useful for my room. This device may be useful for entertainment but not useful when you don't have a TV to hook it up to. Say you have a TV but no room for it or say you had a TV and a room but you moved. Your life has transitioned to a move nomadic lifestyle so things like pianos, TVs, beds, excess clothing and multiple computers do not matter anymore.

I am in transition. It was abrupt. The very thing I found useful is useless. This reminds me of the passage in Philemon 1.

10 I appeal to you
for my child,
Onesimus, whose father I became
in my imprisonment.
11 (Formerly he was
useless
to you, but now he is indeed
useful
to you and to me.) -
Philemon 1:10,11

Philemon is in a tough spot. His slave runs away, which when found could be punishable by death. He somehow makes his way to Paul while he is under house arrest and becomes a follower of the Way ("Christian", follower of Jesus Christ). This is where verse ten starts. He starts with an appeal or a plea or parakaleo. Parakaleo G3870 means to plea, to appeal, to call, to bid, to beg, to strive to appease by entreaty, and to admonish. Paul tells him that this slave was useless and is now useful.

12 I am sending him
back to you, sending
my very heart. 13
I would have been
glad to keep him
with me, in order
that he might serve
me on your behalf during
my imprisonment for the gospel,
14 but I preferred to
do nothing without your
consent in order that
your goodness might not
be by compulsion but of
your own accord.
15 For this perhaps is
why he was parted
from you for a while,
that you might have
him back forever,
16 no longer as a
slave but more than
a slave, as a
beloved brother—especially to me,
but how much more to you,
both in the flesh and in the Lord. -
Philemon 1:12-16

I love this passage. After Paul says he is useful, he sends him back as a brother, not a slave. Paul even goes as far to say in verse 15 that "...perhaps is why he was parted from you for a while, that you might have him back forever." Onesimus is useful. His name means useful.

Don't useless. Be useful to the Glory of God.

The grace of the
Lord Jesus Christ
be with your spirit. -
Philemon 1:25