No Wasted Tears (9 page)

Looking at the faces of his audience, he heard some of them shout back, “Say it, Pastor!” or, “Go on with your bad self!” Adam smiled and
continued.

“The trouble with this woman was that she put Jesus in the same category of every other man she had met. She didn’t know of whom she was standing in the presence of at that time. She was blinded by the negative views of all the men who had approached her before
Jesus!”

Adam asked before he could think, “Can I get somebody to look at their neighbor and say, ‘Excuse me, but you’re blocking my
view’?”

Continuing in his extraordinary fashion, he said, “This woman was a notorious sinner, even by Samaritan standards. She had been married five times and was presently living with her sixth lover. Although she was a sinner, there was hope for her because she just met a man that would change her
life.”

He stepped back and looked over the church and said, “Can I get somebody to say, ‘I met a
man’?”

The church was on fire, and people were standing and shouting their replies loud and proud. The presence of the Lord was strongly on
him.

He continued, “She had just met Jesus. He had to pass through Samaria that day to save this woman. He had asked her for a drink because he was thirsty. How many of you know it wasn’t a physical thirst?” he asked. “Just as Jesus is thirsting for the salvation of this woman, he longs to save someone today. Because just like she needed living water, you need the healing waters of grace and
salvation.”

Adam paused to asked, “Now, brothers, if you don’t mind, can I ask the sisters something that only they can
answer?”

He heard the brothers respond, “Ask them, Pastor.”

He laughed while saying, “Sisters, how many of you all out there have misunderstood his question, just like this sister, but you had enough intelligence to realize that this man was talking about a special kind of water? You knew enough to see that this brother wasn’t like any of the ones you met before.” Adam asked the ladies, “Can I get some sisters to say, ‘Talk to me, Jesus?’”

The church was really rocking now. Adam told them, “Guess what she asked him? According to John 4:15, she said, ‘Give me this water, that I thirst not, neither come hither to
draw.’

“Then my Jesus and your Jesus bluntly said to her, ‘Go call your husband.’ And, church, do you know why he said this, to make her realize what her problem was? She had to know how much she needed him. Her problem was a spiritual one. She was a sinner. That’s why he says, ‘Go call your husband!’ This changed the whole conversation because when Jesus told her to get her husband, she came face-to-face with her
problem.

“‘I have no husband,’ she replied evasively. She was startled by this strange request. She was even more startled by Jesus’s next remark: ‘You are right about that. You’ve had five husbands already, and the man you now have is not your
husband.’

“She deliberately gives an ambiguous answer. Why? Church, don’t you, like me, want to know why she answered this way? Is she single then? Or maybe she is a widow? But no, church, can I tell you she was neither? She deliberately gives an ambiguous
answer.”

Adam said with much conviction. “Church, let me tell you why. It’s because she wants to hide her shame. She is on her guard. She doesn’t want full exposure. Not yet, anyway.

“Now, Greater Community,” Adam asked, “do you see yourself here? We too are good at using evasive tactics. We will admit that we are sinners, of course, but we prefer not to go into any details. ‘I have no husband’ is her curt reply. It is the truth, Church, but not the whole truth. Yet that is what Jesus is after, you all. He wants the whole truth and nothing but the
truth.”

Adam continued by saying, “Now some men may not mind being number two or your back-up man. But that’s not how my Jesus rolls. He doesn’t play second to anyone, so he says, ‘Thou hast well said, I have no husband, for thou hast had five husbands; and he whom thou now hast is not thy husband: in that saidst thou
truly.’

“‘Go get your husband,’ Jesus said to this woman.” Adam looked out at the audience and asked them, “What would you say if Jesus came at you with this question?” He went on to say, “You do understand, Church, what he means by saying, ‘Bring me your husband,’ don’t
you?”

“Tell us, Pastor, tell us,” was the chorus throughout the sanctuary by men and women
alike.

Adam continued, “What Jesus was asking, Church, is
this.”

Being so caught up, he was jumping up and clapping his hands, and he even twirled around before saying, “Make Pastor feel like preaching, Church! Jesus was asking her to bring him her sin.
Husband
here means your sin, or whatever it is that you are thirsting for instead of God. What are you longing for or craving after? What do you live for every
day?

“Now, Greater Community, Jesus knows us better than we know ourselves. But he’ll still ask you personal questions. He wants us to face the fact that we are sinners. If we confess all our sins to him and seek him, then he will cleanse us from all unrighteousness. Therefore, Greater Community, go call your husband. Tell Jesus what your sin is, confess it to him, and don’t try to cover it up.” He drew in a breath and released it slowly as he watched his
congregation.

“Greater Community, what I want you to realize this morning is that when Jesus tells this woman to get her husband, he puts his finger on the wound in her life that has not been healed, and it still causes her to hurt. It was maybe physical trauma, wherein you were torn or a cut to your soul or your heart was punctured and required emergency medical attention. His eyes came back to theirs, studying them for a pulsing moment before he
continued.

“That’s why he said what he said, Greater Community. It wasn’t to discourage her so that she would go away and never come back. No, Church, he meant for her to come back with her husband. Bring him here. Bring him to
me!”

“Greater Community,” he said, “go and I know that word touched many of our consciences, but he wants your hearts to say
come.”

Adam looked around. He was so moved by the response to the Word of the Lord. He saw men and women getting up from their seats moving to the front of the church. Many of them were crying and bowing before the Lord around the
altar.

He felt that the Lord wanted him to make one more appeal. So he opened his mouth to say, “Maybe some of you feel that you are too sinful to come to Jesus. You feel that you’ve been out of his will for too long. You’ve even been asking yourselves, how can the Lord do anything with me? Let me tell you on this glorious day that you are no worse than this woman of Samaria. Even if you were, wouldn’t Jesus be able to help you? And doesn’t this story show that he is very willing, too?

“Today, if you hear his voice, then do not harden your heart. Come. Nothing you have done is so bad that it will keep Jesus from loving you. Some of you may surprise others or even shock them, but you can’t shock
Jesus.”

Adam went on to say, “Perhaps you’re a regular churchgoer who is new to the area and seeking a church community. Maybe you left the church some time ago and are feeling an impulse to come back. Possibly the Christian faith is something you’ve never explored. Whatever your situations, we at Greater Community invite you to ‘come and
see.’”

The outpouring of the spirit of the Lord was so great it was overwhelming. The ministers were at the altar laying hands and praying. The altar workers were busy assisting in any way they could. It took a few minutes for Adam to come down from the high he was on with the Lord. His head was bowed in worship to the Lord. The tears of joy were still flowing from his eyes, but he lifted his head, and when he saw her, he began to weep all the
more.

Destiny did not really know when she began to walk, but she was moving toward the altar. She wanted that water that Jesus offered the woman at well. So when she heard the voice of one holier than Adam quietly whisper to her, “Come,” she slowly rose from her seat. As she was moving, she thought about the fact that she had restrained herself from crying during the entire message. But that was before the Lord spoke and told her to
come.

With slow, cautious steps, she moved around the twins and Cynthia. She made brief eye contact with her aunt, who smiled and nudged her on into the aisle. She continued to move forward until she arrived at the altar. When she realized where she was and what was happening, she became filled with so much joy that she began to
weep.

Pastor Wheeler stepped down from the pulpit. He had a handkerchief in his hand because sweat was still pouring from his face. As he moved between the crowd of new believers and those wanting prayer, he kept his eyes on Destiny. He was stopped by one of the altar workers to pray for a brother, which he did while still making his way toward
Destiny.

When Adam finally made it to her, he reached down, took her hand, and smiled at her. He extended his hands toward her, waiting for her to accept
his. When she looked up, Adam’s breath caught in his throat.
He pulled her closer and asked her to bow her head so that he could
pray.

“Destiny, God is ready to receive you right now. I know personally that when we come to him with our sins of the past or present, we are to turn away from those sins and not commit them anymore.” Then he began to pray, “Father, we want you to forgive us of our sins. God, do an amazing thing in Destiny’s life. Take away all of her sins and place them on Jesus. And God, take Jesus’s goodness and his righteousness and transfer it to her. We believe that Jesus died for our sins. We believe that now he sits on the right hand of the Father, interceding for us. And today Destiny is saved and qualified for heaven, and she will be a member of the family of God forever. In Jesus’s name, amen.”

As he stood at the altar, he knew that God was not only changing Destiny’s life, but he knew his was changed on this day as
well.

Watching shrewdly as a group of women walked by, a woman, sitting on the back row, put down the Bible she had been pretending to read. She leaned over and asked her companion, “Whose
that?”

The man next to her smiled and said, “Who? The one in the canary yellow
suit?”

“I want you to find out who she is. I’ve never seen her here
before.”

“I’ll get on it right away. I’ve never seen him respond to anyone like that either, not even
you.”

The woman nodded, acknowledging the man who had just spoken. Putting the Bible in the seat beside her, she stood and left the
sanctuary.

Chapter 7

Reflecting on her day so far, Destiny wondered if she had imagined it on today or had she been the center of attention? Maybe she shouldn’t even worry about it, the service had been wonderful and everything else didn’t matter. After
standing in line after the morning service to shake the pastor’s hand, he’d invited Destiny and her family to be his guest at a local seafood restaurant for Sunday
lunch.

He would be a hard one to say no to, she imagined. So, she took a couple of deep breaths, then walked the final few feet to the restaurant with her family. Pushing on the glass door, they stepped into the beautiful interior. After a quick glance around, she requested a table for their party, then they were escorted to a table. Not long after, she saw Adam waving to few people he recognized, making his way over to where she and the others were sitting. He pulled out a chair while acknowledging everyone at the
table.