October 25, 2026, Morning Service
Thou Art The Christ
Bro. Duane Edmonson
I’d like to start with what I see as one of the most powerful of all scripture.
MATT 16:16 Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God.
pray
These are the words of one Simon Peter. He has been referred to as: an unschooled ruffian. His character is sanguine and he’s always the one to speak first and to speak the loudest. His actions followed suit and he acted quickly, brashly that often resulted in remorseful consequences.
He acted quickly and chopped off an ear and he spoke with a profound over confidence that he would NEVER deny Jesus. Maybe we are Simon Peter or, at minimum, see him in the actions of someone we know. Maybe you’re thinking I married Simon Peter.
Peter and the other apostles, if you’ll remember, became the foundation on which the church was built. Jesus worked tirelessly to turn these Ragamuffins into vessels fit for their calling.
Every event orchestrated, every opportunity seized and turned into instructions and every question precisely phrased to direct their thinking.
Peters’ confession in Matt 16:16 is a response to just such a question. Jesus didn’t ask the question seeking affirmation but, ever the teacher, He’s creating a teaching moment for the apostles.
If you’ll pay attention there are several times in scripture that the Father, or the Son, asks a question to which they clearly already know the answer to: Adam, where are you? For example. This in one of those questions that I’ve dared to call Holy sneakiness. The apostle Paul was also known to employ his own brand Holy Sneakiness.
Jesus had 2 questions beginning in vs 13: He asks “who do people say that I am?”
It was directed to nobody in particular and he got several answers. I get the impression from several, all at the same time, vs 14 reads
And they said, Some say that thou art John the Baptist: some, Elias; and others, Jeremias, or one of the prophets.
I imagine Jesus a little amused before He followed up with second question: who do you say that I am?
Maybe it’s easier to shout-out what others are saying rather than expose oneself but only Peter did what was natural for him. He plunged in without hesitation and I think as peter would and shouted out, “THOU ART THE CHRIST, THE SON OF THE LIVING GOD !!!
The others were not made less for being timid for this is all the Great Teacher, the Master, the Rabbi directing the education of the very foundation we stand on today.
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I have in my mind an image of what this may have looked like as they hiked coasts of Caesarea Philippi.
John’s Gospel account reveals that after the wedding miracle of tuning water into wine that His disciples believed on Him.
But I imagine this question: who do you say that I am? provoked something bigger than just belief: I think it was an encounter with who this Jesus really is. Is, not was. I wonder if his answer took him by surprise? Did these words well up deep within him? Did the power and truth of them jump from his throat because they could not be held back?
I think YES
Peter continued to demonstrate who he was but it’s my belief that encountering Christ changed him forever.
The woman at the well
Joh 4:1 When therefore the Lord knew how the Pharisees had heard that Jesus made and baptized more disciples than John,
Joh 4:2 (Though Jesus himself baptized not, but his disciples,)
Joh 4:3 He left Judaea, and departed again into Galilee.
Joh 4:4 And he must needs go through Samaria.
Joh 4:5 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.
Joh 4:6 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.
Joh 4:7 There cometh a woman of Samaria to draw water: Jesus saith unto her, Give me to drink.
Joh 4:8 (For his disciples were gone away unto the city to buy meat.)
Joh 4:9 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.
Joh 4:10 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.
Joh 4:11 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?
Joh 4:12 Art thou greater than our father Jacob, which gave us the well, and drank thereof himself, and his children, and his cattle?
Joh 4:13 Jesus answered and said unto her, Whosoever drinketh of this water shall thirst again:
Joh 4:14 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.
Joh 4:15 The woman saith unto him, Sir, give me this water, that I thirst not, neither come hither to draw.
Joh 4:16 Jesus saith unto her, Go, call thy husband, and come hither.
Joh 4:17 The woman answered and said, I have no husband. Jesus said unto her, Thou hast well said, I have no husband:
Joh 4:18 For thou hast had five husbands; and he whom thou now hast is not thy husband: in that saidst thou truly.
Joh 4:19 The woman saith unto him, Sir, I perceive that thou art a prophet.
Joh 4:20 Our fathers worshipped in this mountain; and ye say, that in Jerusalem is the place where men ought to worship.
Joh 4:21 Jesus saith unto her, Woman, believe me, the hour cometh, when ye shall neither in this mountain, nor yet at Jerusalem, worship the Father.
Joh 4:22 Ye worship ye know not what: we know what we worship: for salvation is of the Jews.
Joh 4:23 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.
Joh 4:24 God is a Spirit: and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth.
Joh 4:25 The woman saith unto him, I know that Messias cometh, which is called Christ: when he is come, he will tell us all things.
Joh 4:26 Jesus saith unto her, I that speak unto thee am he.
Joh 4:27 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?
Joh 4:28 The woman then left her waterpot, and went her way into the city, and saith to the men,
Joh 4:29 Come, see a man, which told me all things that ever I did: is not this the Christ?
Joh 4:30 Then they went out of the city, and came unto him.
Joh 4:31 In the mean while his disciples prayed him, saying, Master, eat.
Joh 4:32 But he said unto them, I have meat to eat that ye know not of.
Joh 4:33 Therefore said the disciples one to another, Hath any man brought him ought to eat?
Joh 4:34 Jesus saith unto them, My meat is to do the will of him that sent me, and to finish his work.
Joh 4:35 Say not ye, There are yet four months, and then cometh harvest? behold, I say unto you, Lift up your eyes, and look on the fields; for they are white already to harvest.
Joh 4:36 And he that reapeth receiveth wages, and gathereth fruit unto life eternal: that both he that soweth and he that reapeth may rejoice together.
Joh 4:37 And herein is that saying true, One soweth, and another reapeth.
Joh 4:38 I sent you to reap that whereon ye bestowed no labour: other men laboured, and ye are entered into their labours.
Joh 4:39 And many of the Samaritans of that city believed on him for the saying of the woman, which testified, He told me all that ever I did.
Joh 4:40 So when the Samaritans were come unto him, they besought him that he would tarry with them: and he abode there two days.
Joh 4:41 And many more believed because of his own word;
Joh 4:42 And said unto the woman, Now we believe, not because of thy saying: for we have heard him ourselves, and know that this is indeed the Christ, the Saviour of the world.
There is so much going on here that I won’t attempt a verse by verse teaching but some commentary is worth the effort.
Who is this woman?
Why does she come to the well at the hottest part of the day?
Why is she alone?
Why was she surprised that Jesus spoke to her?
This account is full of coincidence:
Jesus at the well at noon when nobody could be expected to interrupt Him: Just at the very time this woman came
He just happened to be traveling through Samaria (loop around)
The disciples just happened to be away- they would have hindered
And what a coincidence that Jesus just happened to read of her domestic arrangements in last weeks paper.
DID YOU NOTICE THAT JESUS ASKED A QUESTION HE ALREADY KNEW THE ANSWER TO?
This woman came to the well at noon to avoid the stares, the hurtful comments and the rejection only to be confronted by this holier than thou Jew. This Jew who sits there with this expectation that I’m suppose to fetch water for him and serve him like he owns me.
Jesus appealed to her with living water instead of the acceptable but stale water of the well.
And then He spoke of water that eternally quinches the thirst. How wonderful to eliminate these trips to the well and better yet, bypass the judgement of the other women.
Now he had her attention.
And then Jesus dashed her enthusiasm by asking about her husband. Surely she must have felt this conversation is over once I disclose my situation. But she had just encountered Jesus, the truth had set her free and she knew she was in the presence of the Christ the son of the living God !!!
The universe shifted and bent so that one woman and the story of one woman could impact the world.
Historical accounts record the name of this woman at the well as, Photini and that she impacted her world for Christ and was eventually martyred for her faith.
I’d like to relate a recent encounter with Christ that happened to me.
I think these encounters with Christ occur more often than we realize. I think our Father gladly shifts and bends the universe to encounter us- to create moments and epiphanies to bring us along in our walk and we far too often fail to see Him.
If we look for Jesus we’ll find Him. If we call He will come. Your encounter awaits.