John 4:

• Jesus tells the Samaritan woman that she should have been asking him for water if she knew who he was. (vs. 10) She does “see” him (vs. 26) and leaves her water jar at the well (vs. 28) to tell others to “Come, see…” (vs. 29). I guess she was no longer thirsty. (vs. 14)
• In vs. 43 we see Jesus head for Galileo. The reason that John says he does this is because “a prophet has no honor in his hometown.” (vs. 44) It amazes me to see how intentional Jesus was, even with very hard things. First, he leaves Jude’s when his reputation surpasses John the Baptist (vs. 1). Second, he “has to” go through Samaria (for some reason – even though every “good” Jew avoided Samaria via the road from Jerusalem to Jericho. (see the parable of The Good Samaritan – Luke 10:29-37) Finally, he heads for Galileo to face dishonor and expose the Galilean rejection of him.

Holy Spirit, I desire to have the clarity of direction to go where I may best glorify Jesus. I desire to have the resolve to say and do things that are hard when it is Your plan. Open my eyes to Your plan and strengthen my will to persevere and endure.

VERSE 4 was key to helping me see how Jesus viewed his mission as non-optional. He is God in the flesh, he didn’t “have to” do anything. In fact, there were common alternatives that most people took advantage of. But, this would not fulfill his mission. I want to be like that.