March 13

The Unlikely Evangelist

            Many Samaritans from that city believed in him because of the woman’s testimony, “He told me everything I have ever done.”  So when the Samaritans came to him, they asked him to stay with them; and he stayed there two days.  And many more believed because of his word. They said to the woman, “It is no longer because of what you said that we believe, for we have heard for ourselves, and we know that this is truly the Savior of the world.”

John 4:39-42

            

          Jesus met the Woman at the Well…at a well.  They struck up a conversation that ranged from worship traditions to messianic prophecy to water with mystical properties.  Everything changed when they broached the topic of marital status.  Jesus asked her to bring her husband and she admitted that she was not married.  He conceded her point and then added that she had been married 5 times and was now living with a man to whom she was not married.  Having just met Jesus, the woman was shocked.  How could he know her story?  She came to the well in the heat of the Middle-Eastern sun to avoid the judgment and accusations that the other villagers levelled at her.  It was hot and miserable work, but it was better than being around the sharp words and accusing glances and veiled threats.  She had been mistreated through her life, discarded in her previous five marriages and shame weighed heavily on her shoulders.  She was just trying to stay out of the spotlight and survive for another day.

            Jesus reached in to her story and pulled out the source of her greatest pain, bringing it from the shadows into the light.  He offered her wholeness and purpose, showing her that God did not reject her, did not despise her, and still saw her as a Beloved Child.  This woman, who had hidden her past from her community, ran through the streets, inviting people to come and meet a man who “told me everything I have ever done.”  Her witness, her transformation, was enough to spark the people’s curiosity and they flocked out of the village to meet this man.  Jesus transforms people.

            He transforms by taking the places that are shame-filled and hidden away and bringing them into the light, transforming our weaknesses into strengths and redeeming our pain into opportunity.  The places that we have struggled in parenting?  Jesus can transform them into opportunities to encourage others.  The long nights and short fuses?  The times we were so angry with our kids or our spouses?  Fuel for speaking encouragement to parents who are just starting out on this journey. 

            The hole that I put in my wall because my son would not stop crying at 3am and I had to get up in 3 hours for work and I was at the end of my rope and knew that I needed to lash out at something?  It was at that point that I realized how over my head I was, how much I needed Jesus to sustain and transform me, and that was the initial seed of compassion for other parents.  When I see a child in a wheelchair and a parent struggling to get them into their car, or the parent who has to leave work to calm down their kid, or when I am trying to talk to a parent who is constantly glancing at the cell phone to see if school is calling…I remember that hole.  I remember feeling like I was drowning and I look for how to serve and encourage that parent instead of being frustrated by them.

            I’ve never fixed that hole.  It is not just because I am lazy and I dislike home repair…although that is part of it.  It is also because that is the reminder that Jesus transforms us, just like he did with the Woman at the Well.  The Unlikely Evangelist.

A moment to reflect:

What are the places of shame and failure that Jesus wants to bring into the light and transform for you?