Joseph's Land

So He came to a city of Samaria called Sychar, near the parcel of ground that Jacob gave to his son Joseph; and Jacob's well was there. (John 4:5-6)

I have read these verses over and over for maybe a week or two now and wondered if there was anything significant about them. But each time I just couldn't seem to see anything about the connection with Jacob and Joseph that seem relevant. So I thought that it must just be an item of detail given for those in that day who knew the terrain better than we do now to help them locate where this story took place.

But as I suspected, everything written in the Bible is usually significant and is often overlooked because of our own filters, not because it lacks content. The Bible is like strong, condensed, potent nutrition that simply needs re-hydration by the Holy Spirit to bring it back into vivid reality and make it life-giving. In discovering some of these more hidden insights I realize that many will think it is stretching things to see so much in so few words. But I remind myself that this is a dialogue between my heart and God, not a discourse that I must defend before a skeptical intellectual panel of critics.

So it is to my delight that I felt an impression this morning to dwell on these words about Jacob and Joseph to see what God might show me relevant to Jesus. As I think back over the stories of Jacob and Joseph and look at the cross-references that these verses have in my Bible, I am reminded that Joseph was one of the prominent figures in the Old Testament representing Jesus. His life in many ways reflected the spirit and character of Jesus and his experiences and relationships were symbolic in many ways of the life of Christ.

Even more significantly I remember one of the principles of inductive study, looking for connecting words and phrases within a passage. Suddenly out jumps strong links with the words of Jesus to Nicodemus earlier just a few verses. God sent His only begotten Son into this world to save the world, not to condemn it. And while Jacob did not knowingly send his son Joseph into Egypt in the same way, God had arranged circumstances so that even through the betrayal of brothers (Jesus was betrayed by one of His brethren) ultimately his mission became that of saving his whole family from a severe famine.

I also think about the fact that God the Father gave this world, this plot of earth to Jesus through His death on the cross thus taking back sovereign rights over this planet away from Satan in a similar way that Jacob gave Joseph sovereignty over this parcel of ground in the land of Canaan. What is even more compelling is that found in this parcel of ground is a well put there by the father of Joseph from which the surrounding residents could find life-giving water to fill their needs. And likewise Jesus came to help people in this very same place to discover the even more important Fountain of life-giving water in the gift of Himself revealed to this most privileged but unlikely woman.

Many, if not all of the stories of the Bible represent God's dealings and relationship with this world. But at the same time all of those stories in various ways are imperfect illustrations of the real truth about how God feels about us or relates to us. God is so much better than any illustration other than those revealed by Jesus Himself. But still, in most of these stories if we are willing to allow the Holy Spirit to reveal hidden truths to us our hearts will be warmed and our minds energized by the unlimited insights and instructions and parallels that will be shown to us in our process of transformation.

So, this reference to the land belonging to Joseph is much more than just a technical detail helping to locate the context of the story physically. It also helps to orient a person to locate where they fit into the story themselves at the heart level. If I allow Him to, God will show me even more clearly why He sent His Son to this world, this plot of ground that He gave to His Son, and how there is a well available for me to find real, life-giving water. If I will recognize my own deep thirst and need for real water, the even more amazing promise that comes later in this story is that Jesus can make even me a spring of water to bring hope and life to those around me as they see Jesus dwelling in my own heart.

The more that happens in my life the closer my own experience will parallel the intense activity and enthusiasm of this woman when she became an unabashed missionary to her own village just a few minutes after her dramatic encounter with the true lover of her soul, the seventh man in her life.

Thirsty 2

...Jesus, being wearied from His journey, was sitting thus by the well. It was about the sixth hour (high noon). There came a woman of Samaria to draw water. Jesus said to her, "Give Me a drink." For His disciples had gone away.... (John 4:6-8)

I am still exploring the different facets of thirst that I am finding in this passage. At the same time I am also feeling more thirsty myself as I come under conviction that I am much dryer than I thought I was when it comes to a real and intimate knowledge of God that is necessary to be prepared for judgment day.

I find some compelling things in these verses about Jesus' example of how to relate to thirst.

• Jesus had good reason to be thirsty. He was in the middle of a long trip on foot and it was high noon. He likely had not had a drink in some time and His human body was in need of refreshment and hydration.

• He was not ashamed of admitting His thirst. There was nothing about having a legitimate need that inhibited Him from asking for help. He was willing to express His needs to someone else; He does not keep them hidden or suppressed.

• Jesus felt no reluctance to seek assistance from someone out of the ordinary, someone not of His nationality, belief system, social status or even gender.

• Jesus was willing to freely admit His limitations and ask for help. His disciples had gone away so there was nobody else to help Him who normally might do so. If they had been there the situation would have been different. But He was all alone, was very thirsty and it was obvious that this woman had the resources and abilities that could meet Jesus' needs that He did not have at that point. It is implied that she had the equipment to draw water because that is what she was intending to do when she arrived.

There are some more things in these verses that I find pregnant with possible insights.

His disciples had gone away.

This is part of the transition to focusing on heart thirst. Soul, or heart thirst involves bonds, connections with other people at the heart level. Those involved in Jesus' life were away now and Jesus can feel His aloneness. A woman comes along and He is no longer alone. Or is He? That depends on how He feels toward women, toward Samaritans and how He perceives what is proper about these kinds of relationships and encounters.

Jesus breaks the taboo's.

He ignores and violates the accepted social rules. He startles the woman by breaking out of the box, by violating the norms that everyone strictly maintains. He ventures into the arena of the unexpected with His friendliness. She is so surprised by this that her immediate reaction is to point it out to Him. She wonders if maybe He is clueless or maybe doesn't realize who she is. Or maybe the sun really has gotten to Him too much. This is clearly unacceptable social interaction according to what everyone is expected to do on a number of levels.

He begins to synchronize with her.

As is seen later in the text, Jesus is using His own thirst as an access point to awaken this woman to her own condition, longings and desires. She is coming to draw water because she needs it. Jesus needs water too. As two thirsty people they have something in common. One of the best ways to connect with people is to focus on what you have in common with them instead of focusing on the differences. I see a number of things that they either share in common or things that are parallel between the physical and the spiritual.

Both Jesus and the woman are in need of water. They are together in this situation. They are also both exposed to the same heat of the day. But Jesus likely appears more tired than she is, more thirsty than she is and in greater need of help than her. He has walked much farther so is more tired and more thirsty than she is. But in the area of soul thirst things are just the opposite. She is exposed to the intense heat of human scorn, shame and even hatred. She is a despised object of most people's prejudices. She is a woman, less than human in most people's eyes of that time. She is also a Samaritan who were a people considered to be less valuable than dogs by the Jews. On top of that she had ruined her own reputation among even her own people by the life she had experienced and so she felt very alone and ostracized and misunderstood on every front.

This woman of Sychar feels separated socially from others, misunderstood and isolated. Jesus is also alone, without His friends at the moment. But much more than that, He is in this world completely misunderstood by everyone because no one believes the real truth about Him. (John 2:24) They do not see what is in His heart just as no one sees the true desires and longings of this woman's heart. But at this point she is still unaware of just how much they really do have in common and how much Jesus has to offer her. Yet Jesus sees something in her that no one else can see, an attitude and spirit that is potentially open to perceiving and accepting the truth about Him and connecting with Him at a level far deeper than anyone else on earth had done up to that point.

In this encounter, Jesus was physically in need of help and assistance. Emotionally and spiritually the woman was in need of help and assistance. The physical needs were easy to see and talk about. The emotional needs and available resources were much more nebulous, at least in her thinking. So Jesus starts with the obvious to engage and synchronize with her long enough so that she would be more open to listening and learning about the resources that He had to offer for her needs.

Jesus was very physically thirsty. She was very emotionally thirsty. She could minister to His thirst if she was willing. But would her own prejudice and fear preempt her from offering a simple kindness to meet His needs and prevent her from becoming aware of His resources? Would she allow Him to reveal to her His willingness and ability to address her needs which she was certain were far beyond help? Her response to a person in need would be the door she must choose that would determine what her future life would look like for eternity.

How often do we forget the clear words of Jesus to us that in the way we relate to those most vulnerable and most helpless we are relating to Him. How many opportunities do I pass up because of my own prejudice, fear or selfishness, overlooking Jesus again and again as I turn away from the homeless person, the elderly who are not very appealing, the ugly people who don't make me feel good or even through fear of what others might say about me if I get involved helping someone of the opposite gender? And yet it is in the way I relate to the most vulnerable and helpless that Jesus measures the way I really feel about Him, not by how good I feel in the middle of an inspiring, well-executed worship service full of music and praise.

By speaking to her in kindness and with full respect, Jesus was honoring her, valuing her, lifting her up emotionally and offering her an opportunity to connect with Him and to God Himself. But Jesus never forces anyone, He only makes offers and waits for a response. As she responded to His initial contacts and kindness He was able to continue to lift her even higher, to bring to her more hope and more of what she deeply thirsted for. But the choice was always hers as to how much she would be willing to interact and respond to His potential offers of real living water.

*******

How does Jesus try to connect with me? How does He bring me hope and express His great sense of value for me as one of His children? I am not talking about theological discourses that only stir around in the left brain but don't reach my heart. I am asking about how God tries to get those messages deep into the areas of my mind and heart that are walled in with fear, shame and prejudices that need to be exposed and healed like this woman had. How can I have a similar experience of incredible discovery and joy and bonding with Jesus like this woman experienced later in this story? Because that is exactly what I desire for myself and for those around me.

The Wrath of God Abides

He who believes in the Son has eternal life; but he who does not obey the Son will not see life, but the wrath of God abides on him. Therefore when the Lord knew that the Pharisees had heard that Jesus was making and baptizing more disciples than John... He left.... (John 3:36 – 4:1, 3)

As I contemplate this story with new appreciation for the real truth about what constitutes the wrath of God it takes on a completely new meaning. What begins to become more obvious is the link between this statement and the condition of the Pharisees mentioned in the very next verse, for these Pharisees were already beginning to experience the wrath of God.

Contrary to popular opinion, the wrath of God is not when God gets mad at people but actually describes the internal reaction produced by deception in the heart when people resist the presence of God and the kind of passion that motivates His love for them. Because the sinful human heart is out of sync with this kind of love it fights it, repulses it, argues with it, denies it and misconstrues it to be an enemy. In fact, sin causes our hearts that were designed for love to actually attack the very thing that it needs the most very much like the body sometimes attacks itself when someone has an autoimmune disease. Instead of properly identifying the true enemy agents in the bloodstream the immune system begins to attack the healthy cells in the body and to self-destruct.

That is the power of deception and sin. It confuses what is right and wrong, what is good for us and what is harmful, what we need for life and what will bring us pain and death. And nothing may be more dangerous and deceptive than religion that purports to honor and worship God while in reality is attacking and resisting the very things God is trying to do to save us and resisting the truth about Him.

God's chosen people in Jesus' day found themselves in that very condition. Their leaders by in large were acting like a misguided immune system that resisted the very life that God was trying to bring into His people. Instead of cooperating with God's desires to reform and heal His body, these leaders spent much of their time trying to find fault with everything Jesus did and said, misconstrued His intentions and maligned His reputation. They were so jealous of His power and influence with the people that instead of assisting the Messiah that God had sent to save and heal His people they turned on Him and attacked the very love that was there to save them.

This is the condition of all who experience the wrath of God. When anyone fights against the passionate, saving grace and love of our Savior instead of submitting to and embracing it, the internal pain caused by that resistance is what the Bible calls wrath. But far from being imposed on sinners by an angry God, this wrath is a natural consequence of our own resistance to the very opposite of anger – love itself. But because we have such distorted notions about what real love is along with what God's wrath is, we continue to believe that God is the source of our pain instead of seeing that it is our own stubborn resistance to His attractions for us that is creating all the pain.

There seems to be two ways to escape from this kind of wrath. Ideally the best way is for the person who is beginning to feel this discomfort to realize that the lies they believe about God are the real problem and not God Himself. When they come to a knowledge of this profound truth and allow God to reveal His real character of love and compassion to their heart and to bring healing and wholeness to them, they can experience salvation and come into harmony with His character through the transformation process called sanctification.

But not everyone is willing to take that path of repentance that leads to life. Many continue to cling to the lies about God because of pride, ignorance, stubbornness or some other reason and refuse to accept the healing grace offered them. They live in darkness and deception in their perceptions of how God feels toward them and the result is increasing discomfort whenever the real presence of God is near. Those in this last condition who keep resisting the love and grace of God tend to seek relief from that pain by denying the truth about God and trying to stop it from operating altogether. In this situation sometimes, God in His mercy and compassion will withdraw from them for a time to relieve them of the discomfort of this pressure of love in their life and give them time to think about it more in hopes that they will change their minds and hearts about Him.

That is what I see happening in this passage. John is pointing out here that anyone who does not respond positively to the revelation of God in the Son cannot see the truth about life and consequently what they experience will always be perceived as wrath inside their souls. Because these Pharisees were resisting Jesus and His loving ministry for people that was exposing their selfishness by contrast, they were becoming highly uncomfortable inside and were experiencing the wrath of God as described above. In order to allow them time and relief from this painful condition for a season, Jesus chose to move His ministry away from their vicinity in order to give them opportunity to see and consider the wrongness of their ways and to allow the real truth about Him to hopefully soften their hearts.

Unfortunately most of the leaders failed to accept the greatest revelations of grace and truth and love that this world has ever seen. Instead they continued to fight against Him, hardening their hearts over and over again to His appeals for them to repent until they were so filled with their own wrath against Him that they were driven to kill Him in the most torturous way that could be found.

Many Christians live in fear of a God that they believe is going to torture those who refuse His love and grace in the fires of a hell that has been described to them by religious leaders who desire to control and manipulate them through fear. There is even a very famous sermon entitled “Sinners in the hands of an angry God” that is nearly the epitome of the lies that sinners believe about God, fueled by the father of all lies. But the actual truth is nearly the exact opposite. Far from desiring to torture humans who fight against His love and compassion for them, it is actually God who came to earth, became a human being Himself and then humbled Himself among us to the point where He submitted to being tortured at the hands of angry sinners. Instead of preaching about an angry God torturing sinners, true Christians will be speaking of a God so loving and so passionate to save us that He is willing to suffer the wrath of perverted men who have taken on the character of Satan, God's worst enemy in order to reveal the extent to which God will go to change our beliefs about Him.

The wrath of God is the wrath that is produced in the heart whenever God's love is resisted and resented. It is not God who is angry with sinners but it is sinners who are angry with the false pictures of God that the father of lies has foisted upon them. Those lies have the power to create their own version of reality which is all false but feels very true to us because of the pervasiveness of these lies in the world in which we grew up. God is doing everything possible to bring light into this deep darkness about Him but He always allows us the freedom to choose for ourselves who we will believe.

If we refuse to let go of the lies about God and cling to them as if they are true, then the unavoidable consequences will be that we will experience wrath as a result of the presence of God coming into close proximity with the resistance inherent in sin. If we surrender our hearts and allow God to repair them, heal them and replace the many lies about Him with the real truth about Him, then instead of experiencing pain and wrath inside whenever He comes near we will experience passion, joy and fulfillment at levels we never dreamed imaginable. The choice is up to us.

Thirsty

...Jesus, being wearied from His journey, was sitting thus by the well. It was about the sixth hour (high noon). There came a woman of Samaria to draw water. Jesus said to her, "Give Me a drink." For His disciples had gone away.... (John 4:6-8)

Thirsty. I think about it and contemplate what it feels like, what it does to a person's mind and body, what it can motivate one to do.

Thirsty. Most of us experience thirst every once in awhile. But how often do we experience thirst to the degree that it becomes very vivid and focused, pushing aside other needs and concerns and riveting our attention to use all our resources to find something to satisfy our thirst?

Thirsty. It is something that can be felt only inwardly at first as a gentle reminder, but as it intensifies it becomes more evident outwardly. After a time the whole body gets involved and the face reflects and projects a clear message that we want a drink, we need a drink, we are desperate for a drink. Thirsty!

Thirsty. It can drive a person to insanity, to do things they would never consider doing under different circumstances. Thirst involves a deep, intuitive drive for self-preservation. Water is essential for human life. Our bodies are over 90% water and we need water both internally and externally to survive. So when we run short of water, especially internal hydration, our reactions are hardwired to activate all our circuits to begin focusing on finding and imbibing water immediately. It is a matter of survival.

Thirsty. Our minds can play tricks on us when we are thirsty. When a person gets thirsty enough in the desert they can begin to hallucinate and see all sorts of things that are not there. They may be fooled into believing things that are not really true. They may come to believe that something will give life and refreshment when in fact it may bring pain and death.

Thirsty. It is in fact a gift from God. If we did not feel thirsty and crave getting a drink when we needed it we could actually dehydrate and die without even knowing the reason why. Thirst is a good thing just like pain and other things are actually healthy but not pleasant. Pain alerts us that something is wrong and needs attention. Thirst is a little like that in that it amplifies our motivation to seek something that God designed for our bodies in order to thrive.

Thirsty. But for what? More and more people are being fooled into thinking that what their body needs is a drink of whatever it is they see advertised that will truly satisfy their deepest need for liquid refreshment. Marketers study this part of our psyche in order to fine-tune their advertising for financial enrichment. Chemists study the effects of different substances on the brain in order to introduce elements into our drinks to create a craving to buy more of their products so that we will become loyal to a certain brand. Alcohol has long been a product that exploits our desire to satisfy our thirst. It entraps the mind into an addiction and locks it into false reality while slowly destroying the body using perverted thirst to keep one coming back for more.

Thirsty. Is thirst only about water? Most of us are aware that we feel very similar cravings that are very similar to those that our body feels when we are thirsty. Our emotions feel a deep craving for satisfaction, affection, acceptance, affirmation just as our bodies have need for water. When a person is very thirsty and they are able to enjoy a big drink of cool, clean water, the intense wave of satisfaction that sweeps over the whole being is very real and memorable. We suddenly are reminded of what it is that really satisfies our deep longing – it is clean, pure water that our bodies need and crave. But it is not nearly so easy to be clear about the makeup of what can really satisfy our emotions and the deepest longings of the heart and soul.

Thirsty. The most frustrating thirst is the thirst that cannot be identified so it can be satisfied. Like hidden hungers, hidden thirst only tends to intensify when drink after drink only leaves you feeling more thirsty than before. We try to look for different mixtures in hopes of satisfying that craving of thirst only to find a few minutes later that the craving is still there. But now the problem is even more complicated because our stomach is so full that we can't try something else. But even though our stomach is full to the max our body still feels very thirsty. It is baffling, confusing, puzzling, almost bizarre.

Thirsty. What if we are really very dehydrated but don't realize it? What if our thirst has been so medicated that we no longer realize what our true need is? What if we are in fact drying up and losing touch with reality while all the time thinking that we are fine, that life is good and nothing is wrong? Maybe it is not such a bad idea to ask for thirst, to pray for thirst, to embrace thirst so that we can more clearly realize our true condition and take more deliberate measures to have our real needs addressed. One of the most important lessons to be learned in maturity is to become clearly aware of what really satisfies verses what simply brings pleasure. To neglect this task is to set one's self up for exploitation by addictions. Addictions are the false answers that masquerade and promise to satisfy the real needs and desires of the body and the heart.

*******

Soul thirst is a far deeper problem than the simple need to receive a drink of water. Soul thirst can become so intense that it will eventually overpower even the body's desire for essential needs at times. Soul thirst involves parts of our makeup and design that are far less identifiable to many people and so it is not nearly so plain how to satisfy this intense thirst of the heart.

Just like with physical thirst, the world has come up with all kinds of very appealing and promising attractions that claim to be able to satisfy our deep thirst of the heart. But as we try thing after thing, relationship after relationship but come up still feeling thirsty, often even more than before, we begin to think that maybe there is something inherently wrong inside of us that is causing this thirst. Maybe the problem is that we just shouldn't feel thirsty, that it is a false expectation or something, that maybe the best solution is to just suppress our thirst and try to get along as best we can without seeking to find a resolution for it.

Or maybe we go all out and try everything that comes along in a wild gamble that by trial and error somehow we will one day stumble across the right formula and finally feel whole and at peace. Since many can't even remember if they ever emotionally did not feel thirsty, at least since they were little children, they begin to think that this is just the way life is. They may decide they are going to just have to take it as it comes, get what they can extract from others to make themselves feel better and take the pain and consequences when things go sour. But a lot of deep wounds are created inside the heart along the way and the scars become very thick and the heart becomes hardened, filled with hopelessness, fear and despair. This is the legacy of living in a world filled with sin and its control over our thinking.

But what lies behind this deep thirst of the soul that all of us have, that is unavoidable even though many times it may not be obvious to us consciously? We generally can see that physical thirst is fundamentally focused on a need for H₂O and that all the alternatives are really enhancements or perversions of that. But what about the parallel thirst that burns in our hearts and stirs our emotions sometimes at most inconvenient moments? What is the real cause, the real thing that we were designed to receive that would truly satisfy this fundamental desire, this thirst that God designed us to have?

I know, I know – the pat answer that is supposed to be plugged into this spot is – love. All the world needs is love, right? We sing about it, we talk endlessly about it, we make movies about it, we play with it, make jokes about it and have come to the point where we begin to wonder if we really know anything about it.

In our culture (but we are not the first) we have largely linked the word love and many activities involving sex inextricably together. So when a person refers to love and our need for love, many automatically move in their imagination, if not in their conversation, toward thinking that what will really satisfy their craving of the heart is a more dramatic sexual encounter of some sort. One doesn't have to look very far to realize that a great part of the economy of the world is driven by this passion. Economics uses the fuel of emotional thirst along this line to drive the economy forward through advertising, entertainment and all sorts of other means whether the methods are legitimate or exploitive. This thirst of the heart that is assumed to be satisfied by sex in some way can be seen in nearly every product and in every culture.

But it is also quite obvious that sex at best is only a short-term fix for the deep craving of satisfaction for the heart. And short-term fixes are almost always along the line of an addiction rather than a true need. Addictions are methods whereby the brain is tricked into believing a lie about what really brings satisfaction. Something supplants the real object or experience that would bring true satisfaction and in its place offers an intense pleasure that causes one to forget or ignore the original hunger. But this pleasure is always much shorter than the effects of the real satisfaction that we desire and it also causes us to want to come back and experience that momentary pleasure repeatedly. But the problem is, the intensity of the pleasure wanes more and more with each experience. As a result an addiction will usually lead to a desire for something even more intense to try to get us back to that level of pleasure that we felt the first time we indulged in it. All the while the addictions are taking us farther and farther from having our real needs met and our original desires satisfied.

So instead of truly satisfying our thirst, most counterfeits only tend to intensify our thirst over time. This is the typical nature of sin and all of its deceptions. We are lied to about what will really satisfy, what will make us be more alive, what can cause us to thrive and what will bring more life into our lives. But because lies don't look like lies when they appeal to us, we believe them and fall for their promises. But their promises can't deliver the life that God can give us and so we find ourselves in the mad clamor of life trying to get life for ourselves while generally employing methods that drain life from others. Of course, because all of us are caught up in this madness, we are also on the receiving end of others trying to drain life from us so that they can feel more alive. Thus we find ourselves like so many fleas trying to suck blood from other fleas while all the time hoping that the others might actually be a source of life for us – like a big dog.

But what is it that we really want and crave at the heart level? What is this thirst of the soul really longing for that will bring satisfaction that will be far more effective to help us thrive instead of the temporary pleasures that drain the life out of us? What is the real causes, effects and most importantly, the real answers or experiences that address this deep, intense thirst of the heart?

That is what I want to look at more next time.

Prejudice

There came a woman of Samaria to draw water. Jesus said to her, "Give Me a drink." For His disciples had gone away into the city to buy food. Therefore the Samaritan woman said to Him, "How is it that You, being a Jew, ask me for a drink since I am a Samaritan woman?" (For Jews have no dealings with Samaritans.) (John 4:7-9)

So, here is the scene. It is high noon and Jesus is possibly collapsed by the well looking fatigued, weak, thirsty, hot and even vulnerable. In this condition He certainly does not appear very threatening to anyone which allows this very apprehensive woman to feel safe enough to approach the well even though this strange man is hanging around there. She is likely hoping that she can just discreetly come up and take care of her business quickly and leave as soon as possible without having to have any interaction with this guy. After all, men have been the greatest source of problems in her life and she is in no mood to have to have any interactions with another one if she can avoid it – especially a Jew.

For us to understand this a little better we have to apply our own experience with racism to this scene. These people were on opposite sides of the tracks so to speak. The Samaritans were viewed something like black people were viewed in the South back in the 1950's or 60's. And the Samaritans likewise had very little use for the Jews whom they considered bigots, aloof, hypocritical and even dangerous. There was no love lost between these two groups of people and this woman had no clue that anything should be any different with this Jew. Just because He looked tired and thirsty did not give her any logical reason to feel like responding to His obvious needs herself. He was a big boy and should be able to take care of Himself.

I have no problem believing that this may have been what this woman was thinking when approaching the well at this time of day. After all, the reason she was coming at noon instead of in the morning or evening when most people would come to get water was to avoid social interaction, so why should she be interested in striking up a conversation with someone who belonged to a group of people that was well-known for hating and despising people like her. And on top of being part of a despised race she also lived in a time when women were treated nearly like cattle by most all men. They were considered property for men, not fellow humans in need of respect and love. So on top of being ignored through racial bigotry she fully expected Jesus to disdain her because she was a woman.

But something else comes up in my imagination that I can't help wondering about. Was there something else about this woman that maybe had been part of what caused her to get so entangled with a number of men emotionally that was actually a gift from God into her heart? Did she have a sense of love or compassion early on that was so irrepressible that she couldn't help herself from being nice to men even though she knew it might lead to them taking advantage of her? And had life been so cruel to her as a result of this characteristic in her personality that she had come to the place where she felt she had to repress this urge to avoid enduring any more emotional pain from those she tried to connect with?

I think I have known people like that. They have such an open personality and a desire to connect deeply with other people. But each time they spend time talking with people and opening themselves up they find that it always backfires and sooner or later they are misjudged, accused of immoral or false motives and are labeled as dangerous by those around them. Over and over they find themselves putting themselves out in attempts to find love and acceptance with someone who appears safe but over and over it always comes out wrong after awhile until finally they decide it is just not meant to be for them. Meaningful relationships may be something that others are able to form, but for them it seems to be their destiny to have to live in grief, loneliness of heart and frustrated desires. Their reputation is ruined, their social status has bottomed out and they feel that there is no option left for them but to succumb to the stigma that society has imposed on them and live life out as the kind of person that others have accused them of being.

There may be no way of knowing if this was the condition of this woman when she met Jesus, but somehow it seems to fit very well, at least in my thinking. I believe that Jesus was led by the Spirit to know that this woman had something special that had been abused and repressed and scorned by everyone around her but that He wanted to bring back to life and infuse it with the real purpose for which it had been placed in her heart to begin with. God had gifted her with a special kind of caring heart and a desire to connect with others and bless them that was reflective of something in His own heart. He wanted to reignite that fire that had been mostly snuffed out by the uncaring people who had derided and taken advantage of her for so many years.

Clearly, Jesus was at this place at this specific time to meet this specific woman alone in order to fulfill God's desire to connect her with His own heart and bring hope and life and joy back into a heart that He had designed in her in the first place. She had given up hope of feeling fulfilled in a relationship ever again, but God had not forgotten her. He had special plans for her that were far beyond her wildest dreams. Consequently a most unusual encounter with a most vulnerable-looking man at the most unexpected place would suddenly offer her the chance of a lifetime. Everything she had given up on could suddenly come back into focus and she could discover a sense of deep and rich fulfillment and joy in ways she had not dared to think about for many years.

In the beginning of this conversation Jesus initiates connection with her by asking for the obvious – a drink of water for a very thirsty person on a hot day. If I look at this in its simplest way it seems to be easy to accept – logically speaking there should be no problem at all with asking for a drink from anyone while sitting by a well of water without equipment to get anything out of it. Someone else comes along with more ability and resources than I have that can meet my needs and the answer is simple and obvious. What is wrong with asking for someone to meet my needs in such an innocent way?

One thing that I find striking about Jesus is the plain simplicity with which He approaches situations. We often dwell on how profound His words were in given situations and that is completely true. But at the same time, some of that profoundness is a result of the fact that He completely bypassed our built-in prejudices, social assumptions and preconceived ideas/lies about reality and about God and viewed each situation or relationship from a completely different perspective. To say that Jesus was outside the box is an understatement. And yet even today we seem busy trying to offer explanations and formulas to somehow put God back into a box of our own formulation for whatever reasons may motivate us.

In this story I see Jesus starting off a conversation that from heaven's viewpoint should be very simple and straightforward. Here is an exhausted and very thirsty man resting by a source of water from which He cannot get His needs met through His own resources. Another person comes along who can meet His needs and has the resources to do so. From a straightforward view of these circumstances it is clear that human compassion should compel anyone to do the obvious and get some water as quickly as possible even if no request was verbalized. And I believe that in this woman's heart that very urge welled up initially because of the very nature of how God had designed her. She likely wanted to offer hospitality to Jesus because is was just like her to do that. But years of living around people who had abused her heart, derided her compassion, scorned her motives and enforced their prejudices on her had taken precedence over her inborn desires to bless others. The fear of what others would think of her along with the fears of what others might do to her that might cause more pain became dominant in her thinking over her natural desires to spontaneously bless someone in need.

As a result of these fears overpowering her urge to help, she interpreted the simple request of Jesus as a possible threat instead of an innocent offer of social interaction. She had come to the place where she was following the same prejudices and suspicions that had been used to hurt her own heart for so many years. She was now a victim that had come to the place of acting like an abuser herself. For this is the pattern of all abuse. Victims are the most likely people to eventually become abusers themselves and the cycle is extended to yet another set of victims. Instead of listening to her heart's initial desires to assist a thirsty man in obvious need, she chose the pattern of trying to ignore Him and to view Him through the suspicions and prejudices that marked the lives of all the people around her.

This is the artificial reality that we create as prejudiced humans. Instead of living from the heart God has given us, we instead indulge in the suspicions, fears and assumptions about others that tends to victimize them and separate us from helping them in their needs. We give more preference to our fears than to our compassions and in doing so we harden our hearts against others and sink deeper into selfishness and isolation. To some degree or another all of us are caught up in this cycle of abuse. All of us are victims and all of us are abusers. That is the very nature of sin in our hearts. It perverts and suppresses our God-implanted desires to bless others and highlights the potential dangers and pain that might come to us if we put ourselves out of our comfort zones.

Prejudice is an interesting word if you take it apart. Simply put it means to pre-judge someone. That means that when we indulge in prejudice, we are setting ourselves up as their judge and then passing judgment on them ahead of the proper time. We are in fact setting ourselves up in the place of God who is the only right judge and thinking that our opinions about some group of people is in fact the ultimate truth about them. Prejudice then, is really the spirit of anti-Christ, for Jesus Christ is the one who has been appointed as the only judge of all men. If we engage in any prejudice then we are preempting the job of Christ and are attempting to displace God's authority over other people's lives.

But how does one become free from this diabolical spell of prejudice? How does God free us from this pernicious spirit that permeates so much of our thinking about others around us? Does He judge us and condemn us and attack us to make us stop doing it? Is this the way to cure us of prejudice?

I think this story can tell me a lot about God deals with prejudice. This Samaritan woman clearly was involved in prejudice against Jesus as a Jew. She knew almost nothing about Him except that it was clear to her that He was a Jew and she was considered one of the political and social enemies of His kind of people. Based on that pre-judgment of Him she had predetermined that she should ignore Him and His problems and suppress the natural desires of her heart to meet His needs.

But Jesus did not come to condemn the world but that the world through Him might be saved. (John 3:17) When He came face to face with prejudice, the way that He responded is full of relevance for everyone of us today as well as back then. The scene is set up, the actors are all in place and the lines are starting to be spoken. As I move deeper into this story I do so with anticipation of what rich insights await me as to how God interacts with prejudiced, hurting people who have suffered abuse and are now unwittingly abusing those around them.