“I don’t have a husband!” is the initial and gut-level
response of this wounded woman’s soul.
Denial! Defense mechanism! Fogging!
We’ve all done it at some point in our lives. “I don’t have a problem!” “I can handle my drinking!” “Porn doesn’t
affect me at all—it’s just a stress-reliever!”
The woman could just as easily said, “Mind your own business!”
Jesus simply asks her to bring her husband and she denies
she has one—which, as far as we know, may be true. We can’t get ahead of ourselves. Shakespeare’s words in Hamlet would have been
appropriate at this moment, “The lady doth protest too much, methinks….” But most of us, most of the time, would
rather throw out a blanket denial than address an area of growth with anyone, especially
a stranger. But denial simply pushes the
splinter deeper into our thick skin of complacency, where it can fester and
infect surrounding areas.
But note Jesus’ initial response. Without really knowing what he is going to
say next, he begins by affirming her statement—“I have no husband.” He does not call her a liar. He does not blow up her obvious attempt to
protect herself. He finds a way to disarm
her. “OK”, he may have thought to
himself, “You want t play a little game?”
But he does not unmask her immediately, he affirms her assertion is
true, albeit technically. Jesus displays
the heart of his Father, who is always seeking to engage us in a
conversation. He is the pursuer; I am
the pursued. When I throw up excuses or
weak defenses in the face of his asking to intervene, He is patient and never
overbearing. But he doesn’t give
up. I, for one, am very thankful.
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