Boom! Can you imagine
what races through the woman’s mind when Jesus utters these words? Does she gasp? Does she have one of those “let the earth
open up and swallow me” moments? Do her
eyes well up with tears of embarrassment?
I’d like to think that Jesus speaks in such a way that it makes
her smile sheepishly. Like a very much loved
little girl caught at the wrong time with her hands in the cookie jar of
cookies meant for her. She knows at that
moment that she is guilty as charged, but she does not feel threatened or
afraid. The Samaritan’s heart is
pounding and her brow is glistening under the bright noonday sun, but it is not
out of fear, but out of excitement.
There is a holy fear invading her soul. Like the guilty pair in the garden hiding
from their Loving Creator, so the woman now stands before the one who knows her
best and loves her most, disarmed, defenseless, but unlike the fallen couple, I
don’t think she feels afraid. His point is
not to frighten her, but to let her know that she didn’t need to play
games. He knows! Everything!
But he is not there to condemn but to save her. Boy, the grief I could
save myself, if I could only grasp that concept, and internalize it. God is here with me, there is no need to
hide; he is not on a search and destroy mission—he’s on a search and rescue
mission for me!
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