Breaking Barriers

 "Then, leaving her water jar, the woman went back to the town and said to the people, 'Come, see a man who told me everything I ever did. Could this be the Messiah?'" John 4: 28, 29

    If you haven't been blessed by watching "The Chosen" yet, I pray you will soon. (This wonderful series is freely available as a downloadable app on one's phone or I have seen Season One on DVD for sale at Hobby Lobby.) Tears streamed down my face as I watched again the encounter of Jesus with the Samaritan woman at the well on episode eight of season one. 

    This was a woman with whom others did not associate, yet the conversation between Jesus and her is the longest one recorded in the Bible, and it was to this woman He chose to reveal Himself as the Messiah in a public manner for the first time. Sweaty and alone, she came to draw water at high noon so she didn't have to rub elbows with those who disapproved of her lifestyle. Imagine her dismay to have a man, a Jew no less, speak to her when she arrived.

    There was a long standing hatred coursing between the Jews and the Samaritans, one so potent that Jews would go the long way around the barn to avoid walking through Samaria. It's a layered story that originated in the days of exile, but suffice it to say, the Samaritans were seen as half-breeds by the Jews. 

    So, the cards are stacked pretty high against this Samaritan woman who had been married five times and was not wed to the man with whom she currently dwelt. Yet, Jesus reached out to her, not in condemnation, but with the healing forgiveness offered in His living water. He did not excuse her immorality, but looked at it straight on in the power of loving compassion. She was valuable!

    This nameless woman was so eager to run and tell everyone she knew about her meeting with Jesus that she left her water jar behind! That's how it should be, yes? Drop whatever we're doing and tell everyone about the Man who knows everything we ever did, yet still died for us. "Everyone" includes those of other backgrounds, lifestyles, religious beliefs or gender. The love of Christ is for all who will believe, and how will they believe if they are not told?

"Many of the Samaritans from that town believed in Him because of the woman's testimony, 'He told me everything I ever did.'" John 4:39