As we prepare for Easter, I think about how Jesus came not for the healthy, but for the sick. He didn’t come for the saints, he came for the sinners. In fact, he was labeled by the religious folks as a “friend of sinners.”
One of the greatest examples of Jesus’ ability to connect with the “least of these” is when he met the Samaritan woman at the well.
Jesus followed a nudge from the Holy Spirit to go through Samaria on his way to Galilee from Judea. On the way he meets a woman with a sketchy past at a well outside of town. We learn that this woman has been married five times and is currently shacking up with her boyfriend.
Needless to say, she had issues, but that didn’t stop Jesus from becoming her friend. As we read John’s account of this story, there are three things we can learn from this encounter.
First, Jesus went out of his way to talk to people nobody else would talk to. He already came through Samaria, which was uncouth for Jews of his time. Now he’s talking to a woman — and not just any woman, but a woman with serious personal problems. Nobody was beneath Jesus. He met her where she was at and engaged with her on her level, and we should do the same.
Aren’t you glad that Jesus cares about you in spite of your current condition? No matter what others have said about you or what you’ve done, Jesus cares about you. In fact, he went out of his way to start a relationship with you. He came from heaven to earth, “giving up his divine privileges” to become your friend.
Back to the story: Jesus offers this woman “living water.” She responds by asking, “But sir, you don’t have a rope or a bucket, and this well is very deep. Where would you get this living water?”
She obviously wasn’t tracking with Jesus quite yet. She’s focused on the natural, while Jesus is speaking to the spiritual.
I want to remind you that no well is too deep for Jesus to draw from, and His well never runs dry! If you need peace, wisdom, joy, comfort, guidance — anything at all — Jesus has plenty to give. Seek and you will find. Ask and you will receive. Knock and the door will be opened to you. He is our heavenly Father, and he wants to give good gifts to his children!
Finally, Jesus tells the woman, “Anyone who drinks this water will soon become thirsty again. But those who drink the water I give will never be thirsty again. It becomes a fresh, bubbling spring within them, giving them eternal life.”
Jesus changes us from the inside out. Man looks at the outside appearance, but God looks at the heart (1 Samuel 16:7). Many people have it together on the outside, but the inside is a wreck. I’m glad Jesus starts with the inside.
This Easter season, let’s engage with those around us the way Jesus would. Go out of your way to talk to someone others may ignore. Don’t judge others on the outside; remember that Jesus changes us from the inside out. He wasn’t afraid to be known as a friend of sinners, and neither should we.
Adam Detamore is pastor of Realife Church in Greenfield. This weekly column is written by local clergy members.
