John 4:5-7a 5So He came to a city of Samaria which is called Sychar, near the plot of ground that Jacob gave to his son Joseph. 6Now Jacob’s well was there. Jesus therefore, being wearied from His journey, sat thus by the well. It was about the sixth hour. 7A woman of Samaria came ... As we read along in the Gospel according to John, we can easily run right past a central point the author wants us to catch. We have just finished a pretty thorough discussion of Nicodemus and his encounter with Jesus. We were told a lot about Nicodemus. Here, what it is we are told about the main character for this week? Almost nothing! Yet there is a lot which brings lots of meaning to this story. The first thing to capture is that Jesus is walking through Samaria. This in itself (for a Jew) is amazing. No self-respecting Jew would spend any time in Samaria unless forced to do so. There is a way from the south to the north by going through the TransJordan, which would be much better than going through places inhabited by the Samaritans! (We are reminded that the Samaritans are polluted cousins of the Jews who have a base of rebellion in Judaisms history.) Then there is the fact that she is unnamed. We have names for Esther, Hagar, Sarai, Rahab, Ruth, Debra, and many others. But for this woman, we have nothing. She is just a woman. Perhaps this is good, for we bring to mind specific things about judges when we think of Debra. We think of the birth of Jesus when we think of Mary (or some other specific things with other Marys). If a woman remains with no identification, then it is easier for us to see ourselves in her position...even we men! And we do not want to gloss over the fact that this character is a woman and not a man. Remember the place of women in this day and time. If the person is a male we expect some form of place and responsibility. But if it is a woman, all we expect is the number of children produced and how many were sons! Quite a contrast with a man! As we read further into the story, we will be told about the religious difference between the Samaritans and the Jews, and we will spend some time on this later this week. But for now, we just note the contrast between Jesus meeting with Nicodemus and a woman and how vastly different these characters are. As we go from day to day through this base story, todays contemplation is vital. This woman, unnamed and with no status, has the central focus of Jesus attention. This nobody is important enough to have the most important human being ever born stop and encounter her. And at HIS initiative! From this we can glean a shining pebble of wisdom: God seeks out the lowliest and least likely and shares His love and mercy with those most in need, even when we do not formally seek Him or even recognize Him. In our very mundane lives in very uninteresting places, we can take comfort with Scriptures witness that God will and does show up where we would least expect Him...in our community, in our home, in our presence. And when we do not recognize Him, we are not condemned for it, but we will be given the opportunity to respond to Him. For today, let us just rest in this knowledge. The knowledge that God comes to us when we are a nobody, when we have no big position in life, when we know nothing, when we might even be isolated and alone. God is there. God is here. Listen for Him today. Brother Richard
Posted on: Mon, 24 Mar 2014 12:06:53 +0000
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