The Boundary Breaker

Jesus crossed racial and social boundaries to talk to a Samaritan woman in John 4: 1 – 42. 

The first part of John chapter 4 tells the story of Jesus’s meeting with a Samaritan woman. Try to picture the scene in your mind. Jesus and his disciples were headed back to Galilee from Judea. They had to go through Samaria to get there. It was a long trip and Jesus was tired so he sat down beside a well and waited for his disciples to get back from town.

As he waited, a Samaritan woman came to the well to draw water. I have always wondered what this woman was thinking as she approached the well. Scripture tell us that she knew he was a Jewish man. In her day, Samaritans and Jews didn’t speak. I know if I approach an entrance or place where someone is sitting, someone I don’t know, I tend to have a quick conversation with myself. Perhaps that day I would have said something like “I wonder who that guy is. He looks tired and thirsty. Maybe I should just acknowledge his presence with a nod.” The Bible doesn’t tell us what was going through her mind. It doesn’t matter. Jesus crossed the barrier –broke down the wall –extended his hand first.

His request was a simple one. “Please give me some water.” Again, I have to go back to the woman. She was a Samaritan, she wasn’t suppose be talking to much less hanging out with a Jew. Here she was, face to face with Jesus. The Bible says she was surprised that Jesus even said anything to her. I wonder how she felt in that very moment. I wonder if she had ever felt so loved and so accepted by anyone as she did standing there at the well. This man, this stranger, this Jew was offering her a free gift of God. The free gift: living water, eternal life. He had her captivated. “Where? Where can I get this living water?” she desperately longed for water that would last. “Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again, but WHOEVER drinks this water I give will never be thirsty. The water I give will become a spring of water gushing up inside the person, giving eternal life.”

Again I have to stop here. I have always wondered what was going through her mind. “He said
WHOEVER!” Have you ever thought about "who" whoever encompasses? The loveable, the unlovable, the hurting, the poor, the downcast, the murderer, the liar, the adulterer, the angry, the bitter, the unfaithful. She must have decided in her mind “I’m a whoever! And he said that a spring of water would gush up inside of me. I can only imagine how refreshing that will be. I want this water.  I have to ask him how I get it.”  The woman responds “Sir, please give me this water.”

Jesus looks at her and returns with “Go get your husband and come back here.” The woman could have said anything here.  She could have made an excuse but she didn’t with honesty she told Jesus “I don’t have a husband.” Looking at her with love filled eyes Jesus said “You’re right. You’ve had five husbands and the one you live with now is not your husband.” I don’t know about you, but if I were that woman my jaw would have just hit the ground. There was something different about this man at the well and she knew it. “I can see you’re a prophet.” Jesus’ response perhaps another jaw dropping moment for the woman “I am the Messiah.”

The Bible doesn’t tell us if there were words exchanged after this or not. What the Bible does say is that the woman left everything to go back to her town and tell the people of her encounter with Jesus. The woman wasn’t concerned about the water at the well. She probably forgot all about it. She had just had an encounter with the Messiah. A spring of water had gushed up inside of her and she had to tell everyone immediately. “Everyone listen! You have to come see the Messiah. He told me everything I had ever done. He wasn’t harsh at all.  He didn’t condemn me. His words were kind and caring and he gave me eternal life!”

Have you ever thought about how this woman must have felt? She knew the mistakes she had made in her past. After her personal encounter with Jesus that didn’t seem to matter anymore. She had been given living water for her very dry and thirsty soul.

Psalm 32: 1 – 2

Isaiah 55: 6 – 7

Matthew 11:28 – 30

Colossians 1: 13 - 14

What does intimacy with Jesus look like?

John 15: 9 – 15 (MSG) "I've loved you the way my Father has loved me. Make yourselves at home in my love. If you keep my commands, you'll remain intimately at home in my love. That's what I've done—kept my Father's commands and made myself at home in his love. I've told you these things for a purpose: that my joy might be your joy, and your joy wholly mature.

Just before Easter last year, I used my morning quiet time to reflect on Jesus and the last few days he spent with his disciples before he went to Calvary. One particular morning, my focus was specifically devoted to the fifteenth chapter of John. Reading through, I closed my eyes and imagined myself at the scene, trying to focus in on the tiniest detail. Entering the room, I envisioned the room’s décor. Inhaling, I wondered what smells would be lingering from within as my ears strained to hear side conversations.

Opening my eyes, I tried to visualize what was happening until my eyes met Jesus in verse nine. Suddenly I went from the upper room to my kitchen table. With compassion in his voice Jesus spoke.

“Sheri, I have loved you the way my Father has loved me. Make yourself at home in my love.”

“Um… wait… woah…” I was speechless and a wave of peace washed over me.

Jesus continued, “If you keep my commands, you’ll remain intimately at home in my love.”

I must admit that “intimately at home” sounded so comforting especially that morning. I allowed the truth to wash over me feeling the warmth of His arms wrap around me like a comfortable blanket on a cold winter morning.

Picking up my dictionary, I thumbed through until I found the word “intimate”.

IN'TIMATE, n. A familiar friend or associate; one to whom the thoughts of another are entrusted without reserve.

He wants me to remain “intimately at home in his love” because he has remained intimately at home in the Father’s love by keeping his commands. He tells me “these things” (v.11) so that I (actually all of us) may have joy. Joy. Think about that. This doesn’t sound to me like he wants to bully me (or all of us) into keeping a bunch of rules that are out dated or are no longer relevant in today’s society. He wants to protect me from the pain and scars of this broken world. God sent Jesus into the world so that through him I (we) “can have real and eternal life, better than I (we) can ever dream of.” (The Message John 10:10)

Going back to the picture, I can see myself being “at home” with Christ. There in the picture, I feel loved, safe, at peace, and I can talk freely without reserve. All too often after conversations with people I try to analyze (over-analyze actually) everything by interviewing myself with questions like: 

“Did I say that the right way?"
"Did I sound stupid?"
"Is he/she going to look at me differently because of what just came out of my mouth?” 

Believe me, all of these questions have run through my head. But in this picture with Christ, I can see myself bringing him the broken pieces of my life and trusting him for restoration. I am without reserve because I am “intimately at home in his love” and it is the best feeling in the world.

What do you see as you look into the picture?