John 4:4-9 (NIVUK)
4 Now he had to go through Samaria. 5 So he came to a town in Samaria called Sychar, near the plot of ground Jacob had given to his son Joseph. 6 Jacob’s well was there, and Jesus, tired as he was from the journey, sat down by the well. It was about noon.
7 When a Samaritan woman came to draw water, Jesus said to her, ‘Will you give me a drink?’ 8 (His disciples had gone into the town to buy food.)
9 The Samaritan woman said to him, ‘You are a Jew and I am a Samaritan woman. How can you ask me for a drink?’ (For Jews do not associate with Samaritans.)
With one simple question in verse 7, Jesus cuts through two significant taboos that divided people and communities in his day. One John immediately highlights in verse 9; Samaritans and Jews were deeply divided, the Jews seeing them as heretics that had allowed their beliefs and practices to become affected by their intermingling with Gentiles. Jesus reaches out across this divide. The other he doesn’t comment on until verse 27 when his disciples find him and express surprise that he is talking to …a woman! Again, Jesus reaches out across this social divide that said that women were less important. What divides are their in our lives and the lives of our communities? How can we imitate Jesus and reach across them?
Father, forgive us when we allow differences to prohibit us from sharing the good news about Jesus with others. Open our eyes to those we don’t see, simply because they are different. Help us to have the courage to reach out to them.
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