John 4:4-7 Now [Jesus] 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 noon. When a Samaritan woman came to draw water, Jesus said to her, “Will you give me a drink?” (His disciples had gone into the town to buy food.) The Samaritan woman said to him, “You are a Jew and I am a Samaritan woman. How can you ask me for a drink?”
The woman Jesus met at the well had three strikes against her. Her Samaritan ethnicity – Strike 1. Her female gender – Strike 2. Her social position (a 6-time divorcée) – Strike 3. Normally, three strikes means, “You’re out!” But Jesus, who could have gone “around” Samaria, chooses to speak to her anyway, breaking down the walls of ethnicity, gender and status. Jesus ends up having one of the longest and most theologically meaty conversations recorded in the gospel of John. She may have 3 strikes against her, but Jesus doesn’t call her “out” on strikes. Jesus makes sure she knows she’s still “in.”
Who are the people in our society who have 3 strikes against them? Do you know any of the people who are so labeled? If not, why not? What is one thing you could do to change that?
Prayer: Honestly, God, Jesus makes me uncomfortable. He goes places he shouldn’t. He talks to people he shouldn’t. And he expects me to follow him. I would rather stay where I am. But that would mean that I’m no longer with Jesus. I’m really struggling. Help me break through the walls of exclusion that I’ve accepted as “normal” and “right.” Help me accept the people on the other side of those walls as worthy of God’s love and human dignity. Help!
Tongue on Fire 