Nuggets 52: Holy Forgetfulness

  • B. Shelburne
  • Jan 14, 2007
  • Series: Nuggets

Ruth and I sat by a well and ate a sandwich lunch.  Jacob had dug the well almost 4,000 years ago.  2000 years ago Jesus sat there resting from his journey and waiting for his disciples to bring him lunch.  It was unusual for a Jew to even be there.  Jews and Samaritans hated each other as much as any two races today.  Jews normally detoured far so as not to set foot in Samaria.

A Samaritan woman approached the well to draw water.  She was surprised when Jesus asked her for a drink.  Jews normally wouldn't drink from vessels used by Samaritans.  Jesus asked for water not just because he was thirsty, but to start a conversation about God's living water.  This woman had lived a troubled, sinful life and greatly needed God's grace.  She saw that Jesus was different from men she had known.  He treated her with respect and valued her enough to break taboos in order to help her.

The woman, largely convinced that Jesus was the promised Messiah, rushed back to the village and told her friends.  At their invitation Jesus stayed two days and many believed in him.  They had forgotten that he was a Jew!  It is impossible to love with the love of Jesus and still hate people racially.  Nor can people who really know each other keep on hating.  When we get past our foolish, inherited prejudices, we find that we have in common the things that really matter. 

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John 4;  Galatians 3:28;  1 John 4:19-21;  Ephesians 2:11-22

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