Building Bridges

John 4:13-14 Jesus said to her, "Everyone who drinks of this water will be thirsty again, but whoever drinks of the water that I will give him will never be thirsty again. The water that I will give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life."

These two verses are from the great story of the God ordained encounter between Jesus of Nazareth and a woman of Samaria (to get the full detail, read John 4:1-42). The Lord in His journey this day, seems to take a course that is "out of the way." Yet, as we see, He knew exactly what He was doing. Left alone at a well in Samaria while the disciples go to purchase lunch, Jesus interacts with a lady who has come to draw her water at the time of the day when she is expecting that no one will be at the well. She is a lady who has felt pain, heartache, failure and rejection. Jesus knows this well and even points out that she has had five husbands before and even now she is "co-habitating" with a man. But He didn't come this way to condemn her (her life was already one of condemnation), but He came to set her free. Free from sin, free from guilt, free from a sordid past, free from the weight of meaninglessness. He tells her that what He can offer her will quench her deepest longings and thirsts for love, affection, acceptance and relationship. See, that's what all of humanity desires...love and acceptance and a clear conscience. God offers that through Christ, but like this lady, many times we throw up walls of resistance. She threw up walls of racial barriers (I'm a Samaritan and you're a Jew). She erected a wall of religion (I worship this way). In spite of this, Jesus is not deterred, for He builds bridges over her walls and at the end of this day, we behold a lady and a community who has found a true source of joy and meaning..."indeed, the Savior of the world (vs. 42)."