"Give me a drink," Jesus says to the Samaritan woman. A simple request. He is sitting by a well, thirsty from his travels, water just a few feet away, but no bucket to get at it. It feels a bit like we are back in the wilderness with Satan tempting Jesus to turn these rocks into stone. But know, Jesus chooses to ask someone for help... a Samaritan no less, someone who would make him unclean... and a woman... two strikes... oh, and living with a man who is not her husband! Jesus really can pick 'em, can't he?
I find it fascinating that Jesus' first words of witness to this woman are not about the living water he provides or about her sinfulness or about the right place to worship... he gets to all of that eventually... rather his first words are a request. A request that makes Jesus vulnerable to this woman, to her "uncleanliness" (in the Biblical sense, of course!) and leaves him indebted to her.
What can this passage teach us about evangelism? What might it mean to approach others not with something to offer, but showing our need? What might it mean to approach the world with a realization that we must rely upon one another? That each person has something valuable to contribute? What might it mean to have acts of service and mercy not be about reaching down to others? But reaching across to them? And being willing to share a cup with them?
What if evangelism begins not with an answer, but with a question?
1 comment:
OK, so just curious. In the picture, is the cup filled or waiting to be filled?
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