It's again been over a year since I last blogged. My wife and I had a baby (which I wrote about back then), and I started seminary. Life's been crazy. So here goes...
Have you ever felt like you didn't belong some where? Maybe it was a church service where you didn't seem to be dressed like everyone else. Maybe you were invited to a party and quickly realized that it wasn't the kind of place you should be at. Have you ever been a fan of the visiting team at a sporting event? Any of these circumstances can make you feel uncomfortable, or worse, question who you are in the first place. It's not a fun place to be (unless your team ends up winning the game, but then the locals might make things more uncomfortable for you in other ways).
In John 4, we read of a woman caught in that exact situation. Jesus comes to her home town in the neighboring region of Samaria (note that Jews had a strong disliking for Samaritans) and sits down at the town well, exhausted from a long trip. It's about noon, and the woman approaches the well to get water. Now, many have commented that the custom then and now in regions like Palestine was for the women to travel together to the well early in the morning to avoid the heat of the day, and spend some time socializing. That this woman gets her water alone at the hottest part of the day let's us know that something isn't right.
As this unnamed woman and Jesus interact, we find out what's wrong. Jesus tells her that he can offer her "living water" which will ensure that she never thirsts again, and if she wants it then she needs to only go get her husband. When the woman admits that she has no husband, Jesus responds, "You are correct in saying you have no husband. For your have had five husbands, and the man you are with now is not your husband." Awkward.
Clearly, this is a sensitive subject. The woman responds by declaring, "Sir, I can see that you are a prophet..." and proceeds to ask him about the proper place for worship. Should people worship at the Temple in Jerusalem, or on the Samaritan holy mountain, Gerazim. Most preachers I've listened to attribute this sudden shift in topic to the woman being uncomfortable and wanting to avoid the issue of her marital status.
I think there's more to it.
When I think of worship, I think of belonging. When I walk into a worship space with my Church family, I belong there. I am (hopefully) accepted as I am, flaws and all. I know that in worship, I can come before God without hesitation because the sacrifice and resurrection of Jesus has granted me full access to His presence. This truth was even more real for first century Jews and Samaritans. Your life revolved around your place of worship. You lived among those you worshiped with. You brought sacrifices and sung songs in this community. They knew you, and you knew them. Your worship was intimately tied into your sense of belonging.
But this woman, as evidenced by her coming to the well alone in the middle of day, was trying to avoid this sense of community. Maybe she was the brunt of the town's gossip, as they wondered why she was on to guy number six. It's hard to imagine that she would have felt welcomed in worship. On the other hand, she was a Samaritan who would have never been greeted with open arms in Jerusalem either. So where did she belong?
I believe that is at the heart of why she addresses worship with Jesus. In other words, if she is hated by the Jews and could never fit in at the Temple in Jerusalem, and if she is judged and ridiculed by her own people in Samaria, then where does she belong? What an honest, vulnerable question to pose to Jesus. And his response reveals that he acknowledges and validates her pain. "Woman," he said, "A time is coming and is now here when true worshipers will worship neither on this mountain or in Jerusalem." Instead, he tells her, true worshipers of God will do so, "In spirit and in truth" (that's a whole different blog post entirely).
Even in her painful circumstances, Jesus tells her that she belongs in the presence of God anyway. And at this news, and the confirmation that Jesus was truly the Messiah who had come to make this possible, the woman leaped for joy to run and tell her townsfolk about this man who had, "Told me everything I ever did". She would never be the same again.
This is great news! It means that we don't have to be perfect, or look a certain way to be able to come before God. We belong there. And in His presence, we find the thirst-quenching living water we've always wanted. It restores the soul, and transforms us from being timid and ashamed, to bold and confident in His love.
So don't hide from God. Don't hide from your past. Don't hide your sin and shame. Bring it all before God and know that you belong there. Know that he will take, forgive and transform it all for His glory. He will truly quench your spiritual thirst.
Oh, and don't stop anyone else from entering his presence (or your church) because they don't look or act like you, either.
In His Grace
