Counter-intuition has made me rich

At the beginning of 2008, John 4.13-14 was a passage that I thought would be worth exploring and applying at a deeper level than I had studied it before. It was a trip worth exploring. Several blogs during the year were dedicated to it. I am sure that there are still a couple of rocks left to turn, but the rocks turned over for me gave me a new impetus for exploring the Master's other teachings. As I let this passage go and assume another to study, I have to notice the context for the water that does not leave you to thirst again. Just after the water remarks, Jesus referred to never worshiping God in either the Samaritan mountain of the woman at the well or in Jerusalem. He went on to talk to his 12 closest followers, mentioning that he had noursihment from food they knew nothing about and that they should look to harvest all the time not just in harvesting season. I would love to have seen John when he wrote of these opposites or contrasts to common knowledge. The content was counter-intuitive. It defied wisdom of the day. It gave credence to spiritual applications even though the physical applications did not lead to understanding the spiritual.

Although many Jews understood Jesus as a rabbi with more wisdom than the average bear, Jesus' teachings also entered a realm of their own. They smacked of something other-worldly, not just good, sound, earthly wisdom. Drinking water that would quench one's thirst forever was not good, sound, earthly wisdom. Drinking water that would lead to the next life was not good, sound, earthly wisdom to many of the Jews, especially the Pharisees, although the Sadducees would understand the concept. Water that would quench the search for the eternal was a metaphor and a spiritual insight. It turned the physically bound Jewish beliefs on their head. For that I am thankful as 2008 closes out. I fully participate in the metaphor and fully accept the spiritual insight. It has made me a richer person to be around.