Right away in the book of John, Jesus confronts social sensibilities. This encounter is a two-fold faux pas. Jesus spends some time with a 1) Samaritan 2) woman, and that's a double no-no. Samaritans are the descendents of some of the Jews carried off into exile in Assyria. Whereas many of them disappeared into assimilation, some Samaritans survived. They did not get along with the Jews, even after all those years of shared suffering. And men did not talk to women in public in those days.
Jesus speaks with her, and she even bristles at the idea, but Jesus speaks right into her condition.
You see, I was raised believing that Jesus was talking to a woman of low reputation because of her serial marriages. Not so. The culture of the day gave divorce powers completely to the husband, and so it is five husbands who have ditched her, or she has been widowed five times. This is a woman who has been kicked around and faced heartache after heartache. And now she's being taken into a sixth family wondering if it will be yet another heartache- when will the pain stop?
But Jesus isn't interested in giving her another band-aid to cover the pain. He wants to give her living water to truly refresh her, past the cynicism that comes from a hard life and past the temporary belonging she has encountered in her families.
Jesus offers the same thing. Will we bristle to defend ourselves, or will we take in the living water?
Look out for part 2 tomorrow morning.
No comments:
Post a Comment