My Key Verse: John 4:27 "Just then his disciples returned and were suprised to find him talkin with a woman. But no on asked, "What do you want?" or "Why are you taking with her?"
My Reflections: Jesus and his disciples journey through Samaria. While there, they stop at a town, the disciples go into town to by food and Jesus stays and strikes up a conversation at a well with a Samaritan woman who has a checkered past and disgraceful present. Jesus reaches across all these barriers (gender, race, sinful lifestyle) to teach this woman and in so doing opens the door to teaching the entire town.
A key insight for me comes in v. 27 when the disciples return. They were surprised...but they weren't really. The fact that their Rabbi was breaking all of the norms and going against culture and religion maybe gave them pause for just a moment, but then they see that Jesus is working and they don't question. They don't interfere. They come back to find him doing something they would never have dreamed of own their own, and yet probably within a very short time, they're assisting in the evangelism of a small Samarian town. Why? Because instead of questioning or listing all of the reasons it was inappropriate or just making excuses as to why they couldn't get involved, they recognized Jesus at work and joined in.
My Prayer: God forgive me of all my notions of who is worthy or deserving of my time. Perhaps I'm not racist (or class-ist or IQ-ist) in my head, but my actions don't always show my theology. Open my eyes, Father, to the fields that are ready for harvest. Open my heart to the people who don't clean up as well as I do, but who are hungry for your life-changing message of hope and grace to guide them out of their chaos. Increase my love for all of those I've labeled needy and excluded from my circle of care. And help me lead those around me to greater efforts to remove the focus from our own lives and comfort and invest our time and effort in those whom you are calling us to minister to. In the name of him who reached across all barriers of time, space and sin to save an unworthy world, Jesus Christ, Amen.
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