"What The Camel Knows"
(John 4:5-42)
Rev. Billy D. Strayhorn
INTRODUCTION:
You know that Noah brought the animals onto the Ark twos by two, right? Well it's a little known fact that of all the animals on the Ark, Noah actually brought three camels. First, there was the one whose back would be broken by the last straw. Second, there's the one people swallow while straining at a gnat. And third, there's the one that will pass through the eye of a needle sooner than a rich man shall enter heaven. (1)
You also know it was a long trip. 40 days in the Ark was a long time. What Noah didn't know was that one of the camels was with child and delivered on the Ark. This baby camel was the first of it's kind. It was born without a hump. Noah's wife got the honor of naming it. She called him, "Humpfrey." (2)
The camel is a strange looking critter. They sort of look like a cross between an emu, an elephant and a mouse. They have a harelip, their teeth and stomach are similar to those of a mouse, Their neck looks like an emu's, and they have feet like an elephant. they also have a peculiar way of walking. Instead of the alternating gait like a horse, they swing or move both legs on one side at a time. Someone said the camel, "looks like a racehorse put together by a committee!"
It's an odd animal but God created it fit it's environment. The camel padded feet that are well constructed to walk in the heated sands of the desert. Like a reptile, the camel has a cool temperature and a sort of internal "air-conditioning system" all it's own. The camel has a special transparent eyelid that can be closed in a dust storm so that they can see with their eyes "closed," and the blowing sand won't irritate them. Their capacity for storing water and food in large quantities enables him to survive for days in without food or water. Long silky lashes protect their eyes from the glare of the sun, while their coarse hair is a perfect insulator, keeping them cooler in summer and warmer in the colder seasons.
As strange as they are, they can still teach us a lesson that the camel has known for a long time but that the woman at the well had to learn from Jesus. It a very simple lesson but a very important one for the life of every Christian. And for the life of those who, like the woman at the well, don't think they are good enough for God. That lesson can be summed up in two words" "Drink Deep."
I. DRINK DEEP OF THE LIVING WATERS:
A. First we're called to drink deep of the living waters of faith and the Grace of God found in Christ Jesus, our Savior.
During First Century Israel and Samaria, there was a certain social custom that said a man could not speak to a woman in public who was not his wife. Besides that Jews and Samaritans did not have anything to do with each other because they both thought the other were heathens because of their beliefs.
There was and still is a social custom in Israel concerning the offering and receiving of water. If a person offers another a drink of water, and the act is accepted, this gift becomes a social contract, a covenant of friendship for one year. In asking this woman for a drink of water, Jesus was asking her to be his friend.
That took her back a little. It shocked her. And at first she refused. She was confused by the fact that he was a Jewish Rabbi. But then when Jesus invited her to drink from the water he offered, and she realized just how deep her thirst was, she couldn't refuse. She accepted his offer of friendship. How could she refuse? She came lonely and broken, an outcast who had to draw water that would last maybe a day and quench her physical thirst. And she went away befriended, whole, and accepted; filled with the Living Water that would last a lifetime. When given the opportunity to quench the great thirst in her, she Drank Deep.
B. As we look at this woman at the well, we want to ask, "How did she get to this place in life?" or "What's her story?"
There's a story from the Middle East that tells of a king who was very wealthy. But his material wealth wasn't enough; he truly desired spiritual wealth as well. One night the king was roused from a deep sleep by a loud stamping and stomping on his roof. Alarmed, he shouted, "Who's there?"
The answer from the roof was: "A friend, I've lost my camel."
The King was perturbed by such stupidity and shouted back, "You fool! Why are you looking for a camel on a roof?"
The voice from the roof answered: "You fool! Why are you looking for God in silk clothing, and lying on a golden bed?"
The story goes on to tell how those simple words filled the king with such terror that his life changed forever and he became a remarkable saint. (3)
The woman at the well was just like that king. She had been looking in all the wrong places. Her journey began just like all journeys, one step at a time. But each step in her life seemed to lead her in the wrong direction. A direction that led her further and further away from the water of life.
Maybe she had been abused either physically or verbally as a child. Maybe she'd been abandoned. Maybe she had been raped. Maybe she had been forced to marry too young. Maybe she had just fallen into a self-destructive cycle of relationships that she didn't know how to break or overcome. Whatever the case, it seems that her self-esteem and self-worth were so tied up with being loved and needed by someone, that she couldn't be alone, no matter what the cost to the rest of her life or her standing in the community.
Lots of people are like that. Lots of people have grown up with abuse. Or find themselves in a self destructive cycle they don't know how to break. Lots of people grew up in homes that didn't show love and need to be needed. They are looking for love. Lots of people feel separated and alone. Lots of people feel like the woman at the well. And whatever it was in her past that started her on that path and led up to that moment in her life; it also led her to this encounter at the well. And there, she discovered that she was thirsty with a deep deep thirst.
And like the camel, she also discovered that she needed to Drink Deep from the well of Grace. She needed to Drink Deep from the well of God's love, and Drink Deep from the well of Living Water found in Christ. And when she did, that deep thirsting in her life was quenched for the very first time.
CONCLUSION:
Where have you been looking for God? Where is your deep thirsting. Sometimes, just like the king; sometimes, just like the woman at the well, we find that we've been looking for God in all the wrong places. Where have you been looking for God?
This woman found the Son of God in a very unexpected place. She found the love and acceptance she had longed for all of her life when she wasn't even looking.
William K. McElvaney, in a piece he did for Sermon Mall, tells of a student who talked about a 103 year old woman who was a midwife in South Carolina. Over her many years as a midwife she had assisted in the delivery of over 1,000 babies. She had seen it all. Healthy new life. Deformity. The stillborn. Joy. Sorrow. She seen it all. When asked what kept her going through it all, she pointed to this text, John 4, and then she said. "I can't tell you how many times I have returned to that well, the living water of Jesus Christ, when my well runs dry." (4)
Where have you been looking for God? Where is the deep thirsting in your life? Has your well run dry? You're invited this morning to learn from the camel; and learn from the woman at the well. Come and Drink Deep from the well of living water that is Christ Jesus, our Savior. He can quench any thirst. He offers friendship, love, acceptance, forgiveness and newness of life.
Come to His table this morning and feast at His banquet. Come to the well of Grace, the well of Living Water, find out what the camel knows and Drink Deep.
This is the Word of the Lord for this day.
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Bibliography
1. INFOSearch Illustration database, Clean church Humor
2. INFOSearch Illustration database, Clean church Humor
3. Parables, Etc. (Platteville, Colorado: Saratoga Press), Jan 1996
4. SermonMall.com
Other References Consulted