“Full of surprises”

By Rev. Michael Stonhouse

Meditation – Saturday, January 22, 2022

John 4:27-42 (Forward, p. 85) CEV p. 1105

The cast in today’s little drama have every reason to be astounded by the turn of events. One of the principal characters, the Samaritan woman, had every reason to be surprised, given Jesus’ seemingly miraculous ability to ‘read’ and understand her situation. And then there are her fellow villagers. She had just told them, ‘He told me everything I have ever done.’ I can just see her neighbours, neighbours who were quite familiar with her seemingly sullied past, shaking their heads and muttered, ‘boy, now that’s quite a mouthful.’

And then there are Jesus’ disciples. They have two reasons to be surprised, firstly by Jesus’ very unusual action in speaking to a hated Samaritan, and to a woman at that, and secondly, by His comment about having ‘food that they nothing about,’ a comment that they later learn has to do with doing God’s work of bringing others to salvation. And, then there is His cryptic remark about the fields being ripe and ready for harvest. I can just hear the disciples muttering to themselves in response to it: “Who ever said anything about a harvest? We were just here for food, nothing else.”

And finally, coming to the villagers again, there was their amazement, their surprise, concerning Jesus. Not only had He revealed the woman’s past to her, which was incredible, but somehow, somehow by just meeting Him, He had convinced them that He was the Messiah, the Saviour of the world. Yes, in the person of a Jew, the very kind of person they would normally have nothing to do with, and often reject automatically, merely out of hand for where He came from. Here Jesus’ remark about fields being ripe and ready for harvest begins to make sense: here was a harvest of souls, and somehow Jesus was already aware of it.

Now, here is what I find truly amazing: Jesus makes use of a very unexpected opportunity, one afforded by the need for His disciples to go into town to buy food. Jesus, by His compassionate presence and listening to an unlikely person, a Samaritan woman no less, has engineered an incredible evangelistic opportunity. What this says to me is that no setting, no opportunity, is without promise, and no person, no matter who he or she might be, is beyond redemption or beyond being used or part of God’s plan to save the world. So, we never know, just how we, you and I, might be used by God in this regard, or where or when it might take place.

Here I think of how the eminent evangelist, Billy Graham, came to faith. A friend of his, eager for him to hear God’s word, cajoled him into being the truck driver for the event. Or how a leading pastor from the Jesus People days was led to the Lord. He had been on a bad drug trip and a fellow hippy, a died in the wool unbeliever, said to him, ‘You need the Lord. He can save you from your drugs.’ He did just that and look what happened!

I can testify to that in my own life and experience. A chance conversation at a service station, a discussion of church finances, and a relaxed time chatting after a hike in the mountains, have all been the occasion for someone coming to faith.

You can never know just how or when God will move and make Himself known in someone’s life. So, be ready for God’s surprises. Let us be continually ready for how God might decide to surprise us by making use of us in this most holy and unexpected way. Amen.

Forward notes: “Then the woman left her water jar and went back to the city. She said to the people, ‘Come and see a man who told me everything I have ever done! He cannot be the Messiah, can he?’ They left the city and were on their way to him” (verses 28-30).

“I find it compelling that Jesus spoke to a woman when it was not commonplace to do so. In Jesus’s time, the word of a woman generally did not carry as much weight as the word of a man. Yet, Jesus knew the woman’s words would stir the people. Jesus empowered her to speak, to go and tell.

“This story reminds me of the Philadelphia Eleven, the first women ordained as priests in the Episcopal Church—even though at the time the ordination of women wasn’t officially allowed in the denomination. God spoke through these women to bring us where we are today, with women as ordained clergy serving as deacons, priests, bishops, and even as presiding bishop. Like the Philadelphia Eleven, the woman at the well believed that she had the power and authority to be a witness to Jesus’s ministry, and her words inspired a movement. How are you using your voice to go and tell?”

Moving Forward: “How can you amplify the voices of women in your community?”