Power, status and being human
The story of Jesus and the woman of Samaria provides rich teaching - on evangelism, gender and ethnicity issues, genuine worship - but the implications of the first few verses are often overlooked.
These two were on their own. The disciples were off looking for lunch. The woman was making a solitary trip to the well at noon. Between them lay cultural barriers of status that would normally rule out any kind of genuine communication. He was a rabbi, a man and a Jew. He was also the Lord of Creation, the promised Messiah. He was tired, hot, hungry and thirsty. She may well have been kept by some man as an unloved drudge. She expected him to stand up and walk away leaving her until she had finished her solitary task.
But he didn't. He didn't hide his vulnerability and need - he was thirsty and the well was deep. He didn't pull rank and he didn't insist on his status. He had already faced that temptation. Beginning 'If you are the Son of God', the tempter had suggested that if Jesus did have the authority, then as he was hungry, he should turn stones into bread. And if people didn't realise who he was, then he should demonstrate his divinity so that all could see. But he chose not to go that way.
How much is status worth to us? How difficult do we find it to allow others to see our weaknesses and our vulnerabilities, fearing that our authority will be diminished by such openness? Any one who has any kind of authority faces the temptation to ensure that everyone 'beneath' them knows the extent of that power, and that any weakness is well hidden.
Jesus stayed sitting on the wall of the well, and asked her for a drink. He put himself in her debt. Later he began to tell her who he really was and to startle her with his words of knowledge. But not before he had established that he was just another human being. In doing so he shocked her, and his disciples. What barriers do we need to break down today?
Comments
There are currently no comments for this article.
