John 4:16

Jesus tells her, “Run, go call you husband and come back.  We’ll talk some more then.” John 4:16 EFP

Jesus is a very perceptive individual.  This is a very critical part of the conversation.  The woman is at the brink of a breakthrough.  She has just asked for some of the mysterious water this Jewish stranger has been bold enough to offer her when, from her vantage point, he can’t even get water for himself.

She is intrigued and curious, but not quite ready to take that leap of faith.  She is scratching and sniffing, but not ready to bite.  She wants to open up, but life has taught her that extreme caution is needed to protect herself from men.  She is not quite sure if she can trust this man.  Jesus knows this, so he pulls the husband card.  “Go call your husband!”  He should be in on this conversation is the implication of his statement.  It is not all too proper for a man to be speaking to a woman alone, especially a woman who only comes out when there is no one else around.  Jesus is wise; it can be argued he does not want disrepute to damage his ministry due to some scandal.  But there is more to it than that.

Jesus knows her struggle—he knows her history.  He knows the sensitive subject of men in her life.  He is trying to help her, but he can’t unless she lets him in to her darkest place.  So he removes the cover and waits.  I don’t like opening up my dark places to people.  I am a very private person.  But God knows everything about me already, but he needs me to admit what He already knows.  “Run, Ruben, go bring me your secrets, your struggles, your failures,” he tells me today.  I have a choice to make today and every day.  I can leave my struggles hidden and boxed, or I can come out of the shadows and sit down with my Creator and talk to him about it.  The story line in Sychar is thickening.  So is mine….