Our Dean of Men here at the seminary has a saying which I like a lot. He says, “Jesus scandalizes many people, but he does not get scandalized by anything.”
There is a lot of truth to that saying, especially in the context of today’s Gospel reading.
The disciples were obviously scandalized when they, upon returning from getting food, found their Teacher sitting by the well talking with a woman – a Samaritan woman. Samaritans were Jews’ mortal enemy. And, yet, there Jesus was sitting and chatting casually with a Samaritan.
Even the woman herself was surprised by Jesus’ action, “How can you, a Jew, ask me, a Samaritan woman, for a drink?”
Yet, it was in the midst of such a scandalizing incident that Christ demonstrated the beauty of God-reaching-out-to-all-sinners.
To see that, let us take a closer look at the two main characters of today’s reading:
The first character we will look at is the Samaritan woman herself. She arrived at the well that sunny day, around noon, to draw water. The timing was rather strange. Why at noon? Wouldn’t people prefer getting water in the morning when it wasn’t as hot? No woman certainly in her right mind would want to carry a heavy jar of water in the middle of day when she might face the chance of getting a heat stroke. Truly so, no one in their right mind would that. But, the woman wasn’t in her right mind. She was ashamed.
What was she ashamed of? Well, the lady had been married for five times, and now she was living with another man whom she wasn’t married to. It wasn’t something that women in those days would be proud of. For that reason, she decided to go and get water at noon because she knew the other women from her town would not be there. She would not be looked upon with contempt and criticism. She would not have to become the topic for gossiping. She wanted to avoid seeing anyone. As we could see, her intention was not successful. But that, too, turned out to be her advantage. At the well, she met a man, a Jew, named Jesus.
He was sitting there, tired from the journey. He saw her approaching. He knew of her past. He knew of her sins. He decided to enter into a conversation with her, so he asked her for a drink.
His attempt to strike a conversation was met with some attitudes from her. She was one of those “spicy” women who weren’t afraid to say anything. But this attitude of her came from the turmoil of hurt and shame, of loneliness and the feeling of being an outcast, and Jesus was aware of that. So, patiently, he continued engaging in talking with her. He continued reaching out to her.
In the midst of their conversation, the woman’s attitude softened. And when Jesus revealed to her what she had done in her life, how many times she had married and who she was living with, she realized that Christ knew everything about her. He told her everything she did, yet without a single tone of condemnation and judgment. She realized that the man with whom she was speaking wasn’t just an ordinary man. Despite it all, in his present, she felt accepted. She felt loved.
He wasn’t judging her. He wasn’t condemning her. He was there offering her living water – water which would purify her, cleanse her from her sins, and heal her from the wounds that her past had inflicted on her. He was there as God reaching out to her to forgive her.
What a joy! What a liberating joy!
She rushed back to her town leaving behind the jar with which she came. She rushed back to her town as a new person – no more shame, no more hurt, only joy. She was no longer an outcast. Her sins had been forgiven. Christ had given her a new life.
I am reminded of a scene from the movie the Elephant Man:
It was the scene where Mrs. Kendal, a famous actress, came to see the elephant man. She held out her hand to take his. And he extended the less deformed of his two hands. Mrs. Kendal stood there and looked him straight in the eye, and shook her head, indicating that was not sufficient.
The elephant man waited a long time. Finally, after a short pause, out from under his coat he brought his more horribly deformed hand. Mrs. Kendal took his hand in hers and she smiled.
That was the first time a woman held his hand. That was the first time he felt he was treated like a human being.
We all do this to God. We come to him, but often, we try to present a less “deformed” part of ourselves to him. Why? Because we are ashamed – ashamed of our imperfections and our sinfulness. We don’t want God to look down upon us with judgment and condemnation.
But God will have none of that. He knows everything about us. There isn’t anything we can hide from him. He wants us to come to him with our most hidden and undesirable self. So he can love us, forgive us, purify us and save us.
There is nothing which can prevent him from reaching out to us – not our sins, not our imperfection, not our secrets, not our wounds – Nothing.
It is in the fact that we all are sinners and imperfect that leads us to realize we need him. We need our savior.
The final point which I wish to reflect in this reflection is the challenge this Gospel presents to each of us.
If Christ had come to reach out to such a sinful woman, what should we, his followers, do?
If he had not looked upon her with judgment and harshness, what should our attitude be to those whom we consider “sinners?”
Hopefully we will not forget that we are all sinners in the eyes of God. None of us is better than the other. All of us are imperfect and sinful. All of us are in need of God’s forgiveness and redemption.
Who are we to condemn our brothers and sisters?
No comments:
Post a Comment