The Accepting Christ
Scripture Reading: John 4:1-42
Meditation
She’s a Samaritan; he’s a Jew. Woman. Man. Her life is a mess and he is the Messiah.
Culturally she’s not allowed to mix with him, socially she’s not allowed to be seen with him and spiritually she’s not allowed to talk to him. She’s prohibited from being anywhere near him.
It is he, therefore, not she, who arranges a meeting.
As he leaves Judea, he leaves with a sense of divine necessity. He must go through Samaria, he must go to the town of Sychar to sit at Jacob’s well and he must see her. He predestines the events of the encounter. He premeditates the appointed time and place. He predetermines the subject, direction, and outcome of their conversation.
“Now he had to go through Samaria. So he came to a town in Samaria called Sychar, near the plot of ground Jacob had given to his son Joseph. Jacob’s well was there, and Jesus, tired as he was from the journey, sat down by the well. It was about the sixth hour.
When a Samaritan woman came to draw water, Jesus said to her, ‘Will you give me a drink?’ ”
She comes at the sixth hour. It’s the noon hour, the hottest part of the day, the time when everyone else is resting inside. As she carries her water jar, she tries to position it in such a way as to veil her eyes from the glare of the sun.
Noon may be the hottest part of the day, but for her, it’s emotionally the most refreshing. The sixth hour is an oasis because, at noon, she’s alone. When she comes at noon, she’s exposed only to the sun. At the sixth hour, there is no blistering gossip from the local women, no searing stares, no scorching judgment, no exposure of her sins, no disclosure of personal indiscretions.
At noon, the mistakes of her past and the problems in her present can stay eclipsed, covered, and blurred in the shadows of loneliness.
But at noon he’s there.
Jesus is sitting alone up against her well. He asks her for a drink. But he’s a Jew and she’s a Samaritan and pure bloods and mixed bloods don’t mix. Instead, they defile, detest, and despise each other.
“The Samaritan woman said to him, ‘You are a Jew and I am a Samaritan woman. How can you ask me for a drink?’ (For Jews do not associate with Samaritans.)
Jesus answered her, ‘If you knew the gift of God and who it is that asks you for a drink, you would have asked him and he would have given you living water.’ ”
He’s thirsty and she has water. But that’s just the trickle that starts the stream of dialogue. The real flow of the conversation is that she’s dying of thirst and he has living water.
Her soul is barren, her spirit of worship is parched, her attitude is arid, and her relationships with men are like dust in the wind: here with her today, blown away tomorrow.
“ ‘I have no husband,’ she replied. Jesus said to her, ‘You are right when you say you have no husband. The fact is, you have had five husbands, and the man you now have is not your husband. What you have just said is quite true.’ ”
She tries to divert this deluge of intimate facts with a theological question. She asks him about the proper place of worship,
“Is it my mountain, Mt. Gerizim, or your mountain, Jerusalem?”
He breaks the dam open by saying,
“Neither! It’s not about a place; it’s about a Person. It’s not about sanctuary and Torah; it’s about spirit and truth. It’s about worshiping the one you know and knowing the one you worship.”
Swept away by his words, she responds,
“ ‘I know that Messiah’ (called Christ) ‘is coming.
When he comes, he will explain everything to us.’ Then Jesus declared, ‘I who speak to you am he.’ ”
Living Water floods her life with grace, overwhelms her with love and overflows her with hope. Her old life has been drowned. Its shame has been swept away. A new life has blossomed out of the wilderness.
The Accepting Christ doesn’t accept her behavior but he accepts her.
He sits at the well alone, at noon. He had made an appointment. Jew was going to meet Samaritan, Messiah was going to meet with a woman whose life was a mess, and living water was going to meet wilderness.
Prayer
Father,
Your Son’s ministry consisted of divine appointments. No meeting was an accident, no conversation a coincidence, and no “hello” a happenstance.
His day was deliberate, his interactions intentional—every step of his foot had the imprint of divine necessity. Therefore, it was no mistake that he approached, acquainted himself with, and accepted the “unacceptables” of society.
He had grace full conversations with grace less individuals.
He mixed with the “mixed bloods”: the Samaritans. He touched the “untouchables”: the lepers. He picked up and pieced together the shambles of a broken woman’s life—five times she was a marital failure and now she was living with a man who could represent the sixth.
But your Son didn’t sweep her away with judgment; rather he swept her up into the kingdom of God. He didn’t overlook the ugliness of the sin but he did look through it and past it to the beauty of the sinner.
Approval? No.
Acceptance? Yes!
During this day, I want to experience the divine appointments of the Accepting Christ. Help me see the divine imprint of his footsteps on every pebble of my path, the touch of his hand on the hours of my day, and the sweep of his love over all the broken areas of my life. Remind me that approval may be based on works but acceptance is by grace.
In the name of the Accepting Christ I pray. Amen
Reflection
What’s the thirst that the Accepting Christ wants to quench in your life?
How has the Accepting Christ gone out of his way to meet you? What well does Jesus sit at as he waits for you?
What’s the difference between approval and acceptance? How does Jesus accept you without approving of your actions?
What would you do if someone told you everything you ever did? (John 4:27-42)
All Scripture references in the meditation are marked by italics and are taken from the Gospel reading for the day (John 4:1-42). Those verses quoted outside of the chosen reading for the day are noted in parenthesis. All Scripture quoted on this site is taken from THE HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION®, NIV® Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.™ Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.
