Louise Gevers

 A Samaritan woman came to draw some water, and Jesus said to her, “Give me a drink of water.” (His disciples had gone into town to buy food.) The woman answered, “You are a Jew, and I am a Samaritan—so how can you ask me for a drink?” (Jews will not use the same cups and bowls that Samaritans use.)John 4:7-9

The unhappiest moments in life must surely be when we are misunderstood by others, seen as different and dismissed as unacceptable by fellow human beings. Shylock, in Shakespeare’s Merchant of Venice, poignantly voices the hurt of this anomaly experienced by Jews at the hands of Christians at that time in history: “If you prick us, do we not bleed? If you tickle us, do we not laugh? If you poison us, do we not die?” 

Discrimination is everywhere; it’s the law of the jungle. Each animal keeps to its own kind and views another type with suspicion as something to fear or devour accordingly.  Human beings do the same in a more sophisticated way, viewing others who are different with prejudice and intolerance and keeping them at arm’s length - as lesser beings – impairing their dignity as people created in God’s image, instead of accepting and respecting them. This rejection is painful.

Jesus shows His unique way through His encounter with the Samaritan woman. He sees the complete person, not the outer layers of differences; He knows exactly where she is in life and yet does not treat her contemptuously, but engages her in conversation, a dignity others deny her. When Jesus asks her for a drink of water, He already knows that she is a Samaritan and a woman who has had five husbands, living with a man who is not her husband. He knows that she is coming to the well to draw water when she won’t meet the other women who reject her for her sinful ways. Jesus chooses to meet her at her point of need.

Like the woman of Samaria, many of us have been victims of prejudice and feel dismissed by others without being seen or understood, while many others are in situations that are not God’s way and are convicted by their present or their past. Whoever you are, Jesus wants to meet you and talk to you.

The Samaritan woman met Jesus at the well and He was able to speak truth and redemption into her life. Jesus will meet you where you are and will do the same for you.

Prayer: Loving Lord, I am so thankful that You know me and are pleased to meet me at my point of need. Help me, also, to see others as You do and show them that same grace that You give me. Amen