7/30/2020 0 Comments Jesus loved taking advantage of every chance he had to say I have one group: people.Some of you know one of my favorite bible stories is about Jesus and the Samaritan woman at the well. Just so many lessons and messages in that story.
As the story goes, in his travels, Jesus finds himself at a well asking a Samaritan woman for a drink of water. This catches the woman off guard, because Jews and Samaritans were two people groups who didn't do well together. Additionally, Jews had less than ideal appreciation for women at that time. So when Jesus asked the woman for a drink, the woman responded: “You are a Jew and I am a Samaritan woman. How can you ask me for a drink?” In the context of these scriptures, you'll understand what she was really asking here is, why is it you are willing to talk to me? In today's times, I think more than ever, even more than back in the days of Samaritans and Jews coming together at that well, we strongly identify with our own people groups. Whether those groups are separated by color or religion or political affiliation or professional network, we are a people who love clinging to OUR people. It's where we find our comfort. Sometimes I'll scroll through Facebook and see an online conversation taking place. I'll see the participants and think - now that's an unlikely pair interacting there. It's an instinctual response to seeing people interact from different people groups that, for at least a moment, doesn't make sense. Jesus got that all the time. People often quietly wondered and even at times asked out loud - sometimes it was his most loyal followers - why is he hanging out with those people? Sometimes I think Jesus accepted those questions as a badge of honor. I think the more people wondered why he was talking to someone, the more fired up he got to talk to more of those someones. I think in Jesus mind, the more times people questioned why he was talking to people in a different group, the more opportunities that gave him to demonstrate that he didn't divide people into groups. Jesus loved taking advantage of every chance he had to say I have one group: people. Jesus was so radically getting involved in all lives - sometimes going out of his way to end up at a well in Samaria where he didn't need to be, to engage with people most thought he shouldn't be anywhere near - that he never once had to say the words all lives matter. I think Jesus is challenging us with this story - who is it that needs to ask you - why are you so willing to talk to me? The beautiful thing about that story - because the Samaritan woman was so intrigued by why Jesus would show the kind of interest in her no one else would - she listened to him. She put value in what he was saying. Because Jesus took time to know her when no one else would, she wanted to know all she could know about him. Too often we surround ourselves with people who will allow us to believe we know all there is to know. With this story, Jesus is reminding us we have a lot to learn, and it probably starts with someone asking you - why are you willing to talk to me.
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Robert "Keith" CartwrightI am a friend of God, a dad, a runner who never wins, but is always searching for beauty in the race. Archives
May 2024
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