I Met Someone

“Come with me, and meet a man who told me everything I’ve ever done. Could he be the Messiah?” (John 4:29).

I remember learning the Bible story of The Woman at the Well as a child. From the tiny chairs, the story was clean, nice. I also remember being both shocked and a little appalled when as an adult, I learned the woman at the well wasn’t just any woman. She was an adulteress. I wasn’t shocked and appalled that Jesus would speak to someone like her. I was shocked and appalled that no one in my Sunday “school” told me that part! That dirty little detail takes the bleached version of religion’s Jesus and colors His life’s mission with some genuinely filthy Grace. While the word “adulteress” isn’t appropriate for five year-olds dressed in white tights and hair bows, it is significant for a thirty-something year-old woman looking for an escape from her own messed-up virtue.

I’ll refrain from commentary on traditional “church” and its antiseptic version of Jesus, and instead focus on the point of the woman at the well’s Romance. Maybe you heard this story as a child; maybe you haven’t a clue what I’m talking about. You’d like this blog post better if you read John chapter 4 real quick. Worth noting: it is the longest recorded conversation between Jesus and another person in the Bible. If nothing else, it should encourage us women that Jesus can engage with female verbosity.

“Avoid using the word ‘very’ because it’s lazy. A man is not very tired, he is exhausted. Don’t use very sad, use morose. Language was invented for one reason, boys – to woo women – and, in that endeavor, laziness will not do.” –Dead Poet’s Society.

Like all the Words of the Bible, this account is alive and active with rich love, justice, grace, and meaning. But for this space, notice just a few points:

1. She is me and she is you. I love how the Bible tells us this woman goes to the well in the heat of the day. She doesn’t want to run into anyone she knows. Have you, kindred friend, ever pulled a ball cap over your big, dark sunglasses, sped through Wal-mart at a time of the week you are sure everyone you know is home being super-mom or sitting in a church pew? Ever sat alone with a glass of wine, wishing for a moment’s peace or sweet death, and a strange man strikes up a conversation? I imagine she has a hard edge and a snarky attitude. Do you know any women who’ve been promised and let down in love one time, two times who doesn’t? She’s been married five times and the man she has now is not her husband. Yeah, she’s hard. But she’s smart. She has some dignity about her, a tough will; she’s a survivor of life and bull. Obviously, she’s looked into, even probably tried the religious rules and customs. Yet, here she is, entertaining a slim hope for truth.
2. She met Jesus. I sincerely hope you’ve met Him, too. I don’t mean that I hope you’ve sat as a passive child in a tiny church chair, or looked for Him in the vitriol arguments of the religious, conservative “right” with their rules and customs. I pray you’ve met the real person of Jesus, the Son of Man, who interrupts your monotony of morose when you least want to be found and offers not only what you need, but everything you’ve longed for. Have you met The One who told you everything you ever did yet sees the real you when nobody else acknowledges your presence? He engaged her in a long conversation, one with some real depth and breadth. Tired as He was, this man wasn’t lazy or predictable in handling a woman’s heart.
3. He gave her credibility. I’m sure she was dogged by the thoughts of what “they” thought of her, what “they” said behind her back, and what “they” believed about her life. Can you imagine the courage it took for her to rush back to her town and acknowledge she met a man who told her everything she ever did? I bet you can. Did she worry if making eye-contact with “those” who pretended not to notice her shame all these years would break her once and for all? When a weak-willed woman meets Jesus, He never fails in making her strong, brave, and bold. She risked death by public self-inflicted embarrassment to make His identity known. This man she met, He is Jesus, the Christ. Her risk caused others to believe. Probably, for the first time in her adult life, she was credible to “them.” He gave her a voice worth hearing, worth believing. Incredible.

Maybe today, you’ve met a friend in this woman at the well. She’s not perfect, white-washed, or fake. She’s wounded, a little hard, smart, a survivor. Perhaps you realize you have more in common with her than you once thought. I think we all can be one hell of a Bride. But more than anything else, I pray you’ve met the One who is the Savior of the world, who relentlessly pursues your heart with action-verb Love.

{John 4:1-42}

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angienichols

My name is Angela, but I prefer Angie. I am the proud wife of Chris, my best friend and high school sweetheart. We have a beautiful, living-miracle daughter. I am a writer, author, and speaker in love with Jesus.