Ok so right now i'm going through the book of John with my Kids on Wednesday nights. it's been a rough time simply because of holidays. But i'm excited because now the holidays are over so no more weird days missed and what not.Anyways reading through John 4:1-19 tonight and i decided it might help for me to bash out some thoughts here first before i do it tonight.
So first interesting item up on the table. Jesus sits down at the well and there's this Samaritan woman there grabbing some water. To us no biggie, but then Jesus turns to her and asks for a bit of water
GASP! SCANDAL!!! why? because Jews and kind of thought poorly of Samaritans at the time and to share a cup was inappropriate. So why did Jesus do it? Is it possible he didn't realize who the lady was?
Not likely. first off he was in the middle of a Samaritan area! He could spit and hit one with no problem. Second off and most important HE IS THE SON OF GOD!! HE KIND OF KNOWS THESE THINGS!!
So why do it? Why risk his image of a good respected rabbi to talk to this woman who was clearly beneath him?
To minister to her.
He was willing to face public ridicule just to reach one person. What's cool about it is that he didn't get all up her face and chew her out for doing wrong. He started out with a simple conversation and gradually lead her to the truth.
I think we as Christians need to learn from this. Should the Gospel be presented? Yes. Should we ever water it down? NO! But we should recognize that people respond differently to different things. This lady need to be easily drawn into the truth. Growing up she was probably called all kinds of names and was hurt by many people simply for being who she was. Being the Son of God, Jesus knew this and came to her in love and gentleness.
Don't get me wrong. I do believe there are times for shouting and screaming, but not always. In my humble opinion more people today need a loving guidance than a harsh shove.
I read somewhere that the time of day said something about the woman. That the common practice was for women to go get water early in the morning and this woman was probably someone disgraced, maybe a prostitute or adulterous who couldn't really go to the well in the morning with the other women because they would shun her - so she went later and that's why she was the only other one there when Jesus was. So in that context not only did he minister to a Samaritan, but also a woman who was not even respectable in their culture. Again, I'm paraphrasing what I remember and I'm at work so I don't really have the means to double check it - but it may be worth poking at?
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