Outcast

When a Samaritan woman came to draw water, Jesus said to her, “Will you give me a drink?” — John 4:7 To read this story well, we need to understand who this Samaritan woman was. As we saw yesterday, the Samaritans were a minority group that was distantly related to the Jews. And most “respectable” Jews in Jesus’ day kept their distance from Samaritans, having determined that they were “not their kind” of people.Further, we need to look at this woman’s place in her own community. As we noted a couple of days ago, she was lugging her heavy water jug to the local well in the heat of midday, though everyone else did that in the cool of the morning. She was keeping her distance even though it made her life more difficult. She was an outcast among outcasts.John 4 observes later that the disciples were surprised to discover Jesus talking to this woman (v. 27). And that’s probably an understatement. Any decent rabbi (teacher) would rarely talk to a woman, much less a Samaritan one. But here was Jesus, having a conversation with this woman at the well near Sychar.This encounter reveals something important about the kind of kingdom Jesus had come to bring. This wasn’t a kingdom where you spent your time with only the people who were like you and could help you get ahead. Jesus seemed drawn to people who had the least to offer him.What about you? Whom has God placed in your life who has little to offer you? Lord, help us to follow your example of seeking people who are overlooked or outcast. Give us the heart to love everyone, trusting you will use it to do good. Amen.