Think out Laud

I who speak to you am he

John 4:16-26

Jesus had met a Samaritan woman. Not quite what we would call a minority, Samaritans had more the position of gypsies. They were despised. And she was a woman who had been married to five guys, and was now shacking up with another---not the kind of woman most religious leaders want to be seen talking to at a romantic spot like Jacob's Well.

But Jesus spoke with her and told her all about herself, till she realized two things: He KNEW her. He understood her and knew all about her, and yet he accepted her conversation. By this, she knew that Jesus was a sincere and lovely man. So she said, "Sir, I can see that you are a prophet." Then she quickly changed the subject from her personal problems to the larger religious dilemma of her people.

"Our fathers worshiped on this mountain, but you Jews claim that the place where we must worship is in Jerusalem." It was an age old historical rift that began in the times of King Rehoboam (who reigned ca. 931-913 BC), son of Solomon. [1Ki 11:43, 12:27] It was a national split that was still being after a thousand years. This bothered her, nagged upon her and her people's hearts. It was a problem only the Messiah could solve.

Then Jesus declared, "Believe me, woman, a time is coming when you will worship the Father neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem. You Samaritans worship what you do not know; we worship what we do know, for salvation is from the Jews. Yet a time is coming and has now come when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for they are the kind of worshipers the Father seeks. God is spirit, and his worshipers must worship in spirit and in truth." [21-24] What she wanted was genuine, spiritual worship, not hokey church meetings that were pretentious or dull. She wanted to KNOW GOD and worship him in spirit and truth.

So she said, "I know that Messiah is coming. He will explain everything." It was the very hope that Jesus could satisfy. I think Jesus' heart leapt with joy when he heard her words. He declared, "I who speak to you am he." To this woman, whose only real hope was not a dream husband or liberation from Roman oppression or Jewish prejudice, but whose living hope was the coming of the Messiah, to HER, not to the enlightened and intellectual or the usual conservative types, but to her, a "used" and questionable woman. Surely no one can accuse Jesus of prejudice or judgmentalism.

So let us, as Christians, show the same liberality and grace as Jesus toward broken, questionable, needy people of all stripes: to drunk or immoral, the poor and the sick, and to the proud, haughty Pharisees. It is perhaps hardest of all for me (as a happily married man) to talk with women. I know how quick the world is to say, "Aha! You're unfaithful to your wife, you sleezey pervert." In fact, they say this if you become close friends with another man, too. There is no friendship or association that isn't suspect in times like these.

But God grant us boldness to befriend and help, even if it makes the prude and the proud suspicious. If only we may help them know Jesus and solve their sin problem in Him, it is worth the risk.

Posted by ckelly at September 18, 2007 07:01 AM