Tehillah Generation Chapel
Daily Manna | Monday, January 1, 2018 | Reading: Exodus 33:1-11, Exodus 4, Gen 3:1-21
Topic: The Tabernacle of God 319
Scripture: But Christ being come an high priest of good things to come by a greater and more perfect tabernacle, not made with hands, that is to say not of this building. (Heb 9:11)
Note: 2Cor 5:1, “For we know that if our earthly house of this tabernacle were dissolved, we have a building of God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens.” The comparison between Nicodemus and the woman of Samaria at the well whose name wasn’t mentioned, brings out interesting parallels and diversities as to how various people come to have an encounter with Jesus. It demonstrates without doubt that we should never be fixated on our minds how God may choose to reveal Himself to man, no matter how big, powerful or small and insignificant the person might be.
Nicodemus was a religious powerhouse belonging to the privileged ruling class of Israel. Everyone referred to him as a master of Israel, a Rabbi. He belonged to the religious class of Rabbis that society considered to be the repository of the law and the secret things of God. People who lacked religious understanding would normally consult a Rabbi like Nicodemus for light to be thrown on their confusion. Yet this same man, who society looked up to, was himself confused and befuddled with the miraculous manifestations that had become the hallmark of the ministry of Jesus. Caught in a fascination with the miracles of Jesus that had swept across Israel like wildfire, Nicodemus walked stealthily to Jesus under the cover of darkness, looking for answers to his own bewilderment.
The nameless woman of Samaria, a lowly woman by society’s standards, had similarly crept surreptitiously to the well at noon day, expecting no traffic at the well, and by extension no interaction whatsoever with any human being at that unfriendly hour of the day where the scorching effect of the sun’s heat would be enough deterrence to people coming to the well to fetch water. Unexpectedly, there sat a Jewish Rabbi at the well, who just wouldn’t mind His business, choosing to flout the cultural inhibitions and barriers separating Jews from Samaritans, and from a Rabbi talking to a woman in public, worse still a Samaritan.
At the centre of both drama was Jesus Christ. To the lowly, nameless woman from Samaria, her initial suspicion would be that Jesus could be one of the scoundrels or rascals of a man who had messed up her heart big time and left her heartbroken. She was very familiar with the stealth movements and approaches of men towards women, trying to woo them off her feet. She had been a victim of failed marriages for not less than five different occasions. She’s now made up her mind not to commit her heart any more. She was now trying one more, a relationship of friends with benefit with another man when Jesus crossed her path. The crafty approach of Nicodemus however, was his fascination with the miracles of Jesus, seeking to decode the man Jesus, whose popularity was a real threat and pain to the powers that be in Israel.
Food for thought: A true encounter with Jesus will always confront us with questions that go as far as the secret chambers of our hearts.
Declaration: Jesus answered and said to him, “Verily, verily, I say to you, Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.” John 3:3
©Author: Rev Fred Aboe
