John 4:1-30 - The Loving, Empowering Encounter

Have you ever met someone who just gets you? One conversation with them and you feel instantly understood and being around them feels comforting and relaxing; it gives you life!

I can't help but wonder if that is what the Samaritan woman feels like when she encounters Jesus. The thing that initially touches her about the encounter is that Jesus acknowledges her. He asks her for a drink, even though she is a Samaritan. The Jews looked down on the Samaritans and she expected that Jesus, as a Jew, would do the same, but he did not, instead he started a conversation with her.

Throughout their conversation, Jesus shows that he knows her, and cares for her, and wants her to have the best that is available; life abundant and in relationship with God. Jesus does not judge her, but after making it clear that he knows her good and bad, he also makes it clear that he cares and points her towards truth. He acknowledges her, accepts her, and challenges her to be better. Could anyone ask for a better friend?

It can be hard for us to get our head around Jesus as that kind of friend if we have never met people who show us what that is like, and in truth, that kind of person can be rare. People often fit one or more of those, but it is the rare person who fills all three; partly because we don't let someone know us intimately enough. To earn trust takes time, and sometimes it is never fully earned by another. We have those secrets we withhold; we believe we know how the person will react, we feel their judgement before it is spoken.

I expect the Samaritan woman was waiting to hear Jesus' judgement after he outlined her situation in life,

¹⁶ He told her, “Go, call your husband and come back.”
¹⁷ “I have no husband,” she replied.
Jesus said to her, “You are right when you say you have no husband. ¹⁸ 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.”

 Yet Jesus did not react with judgement, he continued his conversation with her and revealed himself as Messiah to her. He offered her spiritual life!

I have been blessed with a couple of people in my life that have been and continue to be this kind of friend to me (aside from Jesus and family members). One is my friend PC who has always loved me, maybe not all my choices, but definitely me and has always spoken truth to me; not to condemn me, but to grow me. The other is my boyfriend, Thomas. In spite of my past mistakes and bad choices and my grouchiness, he acknowledges the less than perfect areas of who I am and focuses on the beauty in me. He encourages me to be better and to reminds me when I am about to do something that I will later regret. He always has a hug for me, no matter what.

It is because of people like this in my life that I can better understand and be in relationship with Jesus and understand the encounter the Samaritan woman has with Jesus. She finds that she is valued, she is loved, and the encounter empowers her.

Do you have a person in your life that helps you understand what Jesus is offering you?

Psalm 57 - Intimate Trust

Have you ever had a person that you trusted completely? After reading and rereading this psalm, I kept coming back to this phrase in verse 1, "For my soul trusts in You;" I really love the way the words are used to express a trust that is more than the idea of "I trust you." It is not just me that trusts, but my souls, the core and essence of my being, with all pretense and outward masks stripped away. Something deep inside me trusts. For me, this creates an intimacy to that trust. Not just that I believe the information the other person is sharing, but that I trust in their being and how their being interacts with me.


I know that I crave such intimate trust with people, and I think most people do also, but our society breeds so much distrust that it is difficult to achieve that and believe it is possible. In a world where we see relationships fall apart so easily because of betrayal and selfishness, how can we expose our soul to another person and give them ultimate power over us because in giving this most intimate trust comes the ability for that person to cause us the greatest pain and scar us the most. Would you give someone the key the causing you the deepest pain? Do you believe another the other person will flawlessly guard that gift and never cause pain? Are you willing to risk some level of pain in order to have the joy of that intimacy? Maybe you have walked that road before and now bear the scars.


In this psalm, as David faces trials and difficulties, he has found that intimate trust with Go and I believe that in finding that trust with God, I am able to give that trust to others in my life. When I rest secure in the knowledge that God will care for and guard my soul, I can give that intimate trust to another person, knowing that God will cover the minor scars. I believe that the joy that can be found in sharing that intimate trust with God and a few others in my life is worth the risk of pain, but only because I know the steadfastness of God. Whiler I may get scars from the people I choose to give this intimate trust to, I know that that is never true from God.


What saddens me in the world, is when I listen to the others stories and they feel they are scarred by God and this crushes their ability to find intimate trust with others. I think what is saddest for me is that in listening to the story, it is always a person, who claims to be acting in God's name that has broken trust. With an intangible God, it can be difficult to separate God and people who claim to serve and act for God. These two become mixed in our emotions and we end of putting the pain or betrayal we have received from a person onto God. Now God is big enough to bear it and God will still be there waiting for you when you realize that is wasn't God who caused the pain and God will be there to once again share intimate trust with you.


Have you had an experience that has made trust hard for you? Have you felt betrayed by God? If you have, I urge you to revisit those memories and see if it is God, or a person claiming to act in God's name that is at the root of the pain.