Divine Engagements

"You are not greater than our father Jacob, are You, who gave us the well, and drank of it himself and his sons and his cattle?" Jesus answered and said to her, "Everyone who drinks of this water will thirst again; but whoever drinks of the water that I will give him shall never thirst; but the water that I will give him will become in him a well of water springing up to eternal life." (John 4:12-14)

What caused the woman to bring up the subject of who was greater?

Jesus did not directly respond to her question about being greater than Jacob. He did indirectly, but He allowed her to come to her own conclusion about Him instead of simply answering the question straightforward.

I have noticed that Jesus seldom responded directly to questions under the multiple choice options that people offered Him. Instead, He very often brought up something else that sometimes seemed almost unrelated at first. He was speaking from a very different view of reality and of what is important. If He had responded directly to many of the questions put to Him that would have allowed the other person to determine the direction of the conversation. But He did not allow that, for to determine the direction and content of a conversation is to have great influence over the assumptions of what is most important.

Not answering questions directly is viewed by many as being disrespectful. But Jesus did not convey an attitude of disrespect, while still choosing to decide the direction of the conversation. He also quite often used questions Himself to stimulate others to think more clearly instead of just responding directly to their questions. He would use questions to get people to reexamine their own assumptions inherent in their logic.

In this story He could have been accused of not being willing to face reality, of not being practical. After all, He really was thirsty and He had asked the lady for a drink. She did have the wherewithal to provide it for Him and yet He seemed to immediately steer the conversation away from the very thing that He needed and had asked for Himself. Instead of continuing to encourage her to help Him based on His initial request, He steered the conversation to a completely different plane of existence that He viewed as far more urgent than His own need for a drink of water.

I believe that likely He considered her thirst of much greater intensity and importance than His own, even though hers was not so obvious physically. And being the selfless being that He was He was always eager to provide for other's needs ahead of His own. As He told His disciples a short time later, He was in the process of consuming food by engaging the heart of this woman and offering her the means whereby she could feel much more alive than she had felt in many years. The joy that this kind of ministry produced in His own heart acted as the means of producing so much satisfaction in His soul that His own physical needs nearly disappeared in contrast.

How often do I miss enjoying this kind of overwhelming satisfaction because I remain too focused on meeting my own physical needs ahead of ministering to others? Too often I think that if I could just first get my own thirst or hunger or tiredness addressed, then I would be better situated to offer other people spiritual help. And I am not saying that this may sometimes be necessary. But there may also be times when opportunities only offer a very narrow window of time for me to act instantly, times when a person's spirit is only open and receptive for immediate initiative and the Spirit prompts me to take advantage of it before my own discomfort is dealt with. It is those times when my choices can make the difference between seeing miracles happen or missing out altogether because I allow selfishness to resist the promptings of God. And if I miss those opportunities I may not even know what I could have enjoyed, for many times it is only by allowing the Spirit of Jesus to move without hindrance through my life that I can become aware afterwards of the very existence of some opportunity that at first looked like just another chance encounter with an average person.

I want to surrender myself completely to the indwelling presence of Jesus so that my encounters with others no longer are apparently just coincidences. I want the kind of life where every engagement is ordained by God as an opportunity for Him to offer real life or joy or ministry to another thirsty heart. And as I do so I, like Jesus did here, will experience the overwhelming satisfaction of joy that will eclipse even my own physical needs and bring life and energy into my own being. And more importantly, I can be involved in seeing first hand what God may want to accomplish in the heart and life of some other person by using me as His agent of hope and blessing.