Also: in addition to
At the very beginning of
the book of John, we meet an adult Jesus stepping into service. His official ministry is beginning and he
heads to the capital-c Church (the Temple in Jerusalem) for the Passover
celebration. But when he reaches the Temple, he does not like what He sees. In
fact, he creates a very big ruckus with a whip and some very pointed words. (Jn2:13-17)
He was extremely
incensed by what those religious people were selling.
John tells us Jesus taught
and performed signs anyway and then he offers this chilling summation of Jesus
time with the religious elite:
“But Jesus would not entrust himself to them,
for he knew all people. He did not need any testimony about mankind, for he
knew what was in each person.” John 2:24-25
“But Jesus would not entrust himself to
them…”
John 4
His throat was
parched as he sat to rest in the blinding heat of the full force of the noon
day sun.
His eyes squinted to
the overwhelming light force that hid nothing.
The woman approached
alone and he reached out with a simple request,
“Will you give me a drink?”
The woman startled at
this request and smartly required more information. The man was a Jew and she
was a Samaritan and this interaction was ridiculous. A pious Jew would never,
NEVER share a cup with a Samaritan Woman.
The man returns some
nonsense about a thing he calls ‘living water’ and how he has it in his
possession to give to her. Her derisive disbelief is unmasked.
So is her soul.
“Go, call your husband and come
back,” the man speaks.
She replies simply, “I
have no husband.”
The Jewish man then
goes on to fully disclose her life story—one of the most painful parts. The
five divorces that left her marked and scorned. The insecure and dishonored way
she lived currently: “…and the man you now have is not your
husband.”
How, exactly did he
know that?
The woman’s face is
turned. The derision altered.
“Sir, I can see that you are a
prophet.”
She follows with a
curious comment.
Since the moment she
approached the well where this confounding Jewish traveler rested she had moved
within clearly delineated facts:
You are a Jew and I am a Samaritan woman. (Jn4:9)
You are not greater than ‘our father Jacob’. (Jn4:12)
Living water is impossible and thirst can never really be fully
quenched. (Jn4:15)
And then, in the
light of her own painful and sordid reality that the Jewish man somehow simply knew she repeats one further discriminating
separation.
A statement with an
‘us vs them’ quandary of sorts interjected into this odd conversation at an
intriguing time.
“Our ancestors worshiped on this
mountain, but you Jews claim that the place where we must worship is in Jerusalem.”
Was she changing the
subject?
Was she asking a
question?
Was she hiding from
the embarrassment of her current circumstance?
Was she scared? Amused? Arrogant? Humiliated?
I’m not sure.
But I DO clearly know
what that Jewish man returned to her.
“Woman,’ [he] replied, ‘believe
me, a time is coming when YOU will worship the father neither on this mountain
nor in Jerusalem.”
“YOU?!”
Every difference and
the most derogatory life circumstances clearly illuminated all out between them
and the man leans in to say clearly,
“You Samaritans worship what you
do not know; we worship what we do know, for salvation is from the Jews. Yet, a
time is coming and has now come when the true worshipers will worship the
Father in the Spirit and in truth, for they are the kind of worshipers the
Father seeks. God is spirit, and his worshipers must worship in the Spirit and
in truth.”
The man acknowledges
the divisions and even offers a reason why…but he adds one very redeeming ALSO.
The act of worship is accessible to YOU ALSO. And, woman, the place, the locale and any past claim to land and
heritage isn’t going to matter anymore!
The time HAS NOW COME
when true worshipers will meet with God in a NEW WAY.
In Spirit and in
truth.
What do you suppose
the word ‘truth’ meant to the woman who had just had her whole shattered
history spoken out loud between her and this stranger?
No more hiding? No
more differences?
United by Spirit.
Freed in truth.
The truth of all of
us.
Water forgotten, she
persists with the quenching conversation carefully.
“I know that Messiah (called
Christ) is coming. When he comes he will explain everything to us.”
I can almost see his
smile here, as he stands with the full weight of sunlight bearing down and
proclaims,
“I the one speaking to you-- I am he!”
“I am He!”
With resounding declaration, right in
the unlovely truth of this woman’s life and pain, the darkness of exclusion and
rejection floods brilliant with thirst quenching light and Jesus reveals
himself as Messiah.
He entrusts himself.
Not at the Temple.
But to a Woman from among ‘those
others’ who had lost far more than she had gained.
Until that day.
It is well.
“This is the verdict: Light has
come into the world, but people loved darkness instead of light because their
deeds were evil. Everyone who does evil hates the light, and will not come into
the light for fear that their deeds will be exposed.
But whoever lives by the truth comes into the light so that it may be seen
plainly that what they have done has been done in the sight of God.”
John
3:19-21
God sees and knows the truth of all of
us.
But many fear the light because they
will be exposed first.
Characteristics that differentiate and
segregate stand as waypoints—
Moments of awareness that cause us to stop
and consider.
Moments that cause us to choose.
We can step into the intrigue and
value of difference.
We can seek for deeper understanding.
We can hear and respect.
Or.
We can ridicule and disdain.
We can turn our backs.
We can deny.
We are daily offered vast
opportunity to choose well.
All the Different Things command the
spotlight in many arenas while we witness and participate and observe
as foundational values are vastly spoken, challenged, debated and considered.
For my part, I pray deeply for the
courage of Jesus
To work the ALSO.
Jesus made space for ‘in addition to’.
He allowed the ‘the others’ in.
He actually went to find them.
(Jn
4:4 ‘Now he had to go through Samaria…’)
His whole ministry was fraught with
this most daring grace.
“But the Pharisees and the teachers of the law who
belonged to their sect complained to his disciples, “Why do you eat and drink
with tax collectors and sinners?” Jesus answered them, “It is not the healthy
who need a doctor but the sick. I have not come to call the righteous, but
sinners to repentance.”
Luke 5:30-31
“When one of the Pharisees invited Jesus to have dinner
with him, he went to the Pharisee’s house and reclined at the table. A woman in
that town who lived a sinful life learned that Jesus was eating at the Pharisee’s
house, so she came there with an alabaster jar of perfume. As she stood behind
him at his feet weeping, she began to wet his feet with her tears. Then she
wiped them with her hair, kissed them and poured perfume on them.
When the Pharisee who had invited him saw this, he said
to himself, “If this man were a prophet, he would know who is touching him and
what kind of woman she is—that she is as sinner.”
Then [Jesus] turned toward the woman and said to Simon, ‘Do
you see this woman? I came into your house. You did not give me any water for
my feet, but she wet my feet with her tears and wiped them with her hair….
Therefore, I tell you, her many sins have been forgiven--as her great love has
shown.”
Luke 7:36-39,
44,47
“But to you who are listening I say: Love your enemies,
do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you pray for those who
mistreat you.”
Luke 6:27-28
“When they came to the place called the Skull, they
crucified him there, along with the criminals---one on his right, the other on
his left…. One of the criminals who hung there hurled insults at him: ‘Aren’t
you the Messiah? Save yourself and us!’
But the other criminal rebuked him. ‘Don’t you fear God,’
he said, ‘since you are under the same sentence? We are punished justly, for we
are getting what our deeds deserve. But this man has done nothing wrong.’ Then
he said, ‘Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom.’ Jesus answered
him, ‘Truly I tell you, today you will be with me in paradise.”
Luke 23: 33
&39-43
“But Saul began to destroy the church. Going from house
to house, he dragged off both men and women and put them in prison.
“As he neared Damascus on his journey, suddenly a light
from heaven flashed around him. He fell to the ground and heard a voice say to
him, ‘Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me?’
‘Who are you, Lord?’ Saul asked.
“I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting,’ he replied. ‘Now
get up and go into the city and you will be told what you must do.”
Acts 8:3 & Acts 9:3-6
“Then Peter began to speak: ‘I now realize how true it is
that God does not show favoritism but accepts from every nation the one who
fears him and does what is right….
While Peter was still speaking these words, the Holy Spirit
came on all who heard the message. The circumcised believers who had come with
Peter were astonished that the gift of the Holy Spirit had been poured out even
on Gentiles.”
Acts 10:34-35 &44-45
It takes courage to awaken my sensitivity
to every ALSO…
No one can choose this for me. I must
rehearse it diligently.
My story matters.
But it is not the only
one.
My experience matters.
But it is not the only
one.
My choices are important.
But they are not the
only ones.
My interpretation may offer
strengthening diversity to the whole conversation.
But my interpretation is
not the only one.
As a proclaimer of God’s truths, as a
chosen witness of His work I must tell my personal stories in such a way that
allows you to also tell yours.
Jesus was the master of this.
“For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn
the world but to save the world...” John 3:17
To gain the empathy and wisdom
that is a very solid way through all heartbreak, we can create spaces to
make this possible.
Work the also…
I should never tell my own story so
that it shuts off or confines yours.
I can choose to readily accept that my
experience exists in addition to
yours.
This can make a dynamic difference in
a million barely ways.
I see you.
I hear you.
Mercy.
Work the also…
Honoring grief is imperative to this
process.
We must recognize that grief compounds.
(And every single act of isolation or
marginalization across all of time begats grief into communities and identities
and nations and souls.)
It is wise to honor this.
We do not ever sorrow over one thing
at a time.
Our psyche sorrows en masse.
Whole body. Whole soul. Whole witness.
Whole history.
En masse.
Likewise, forgiveness is forever
ongoing and much like grief will never accept the boundaries of experience or
completion established by any other person.
In fact, I believe the process of forgiveness
and grief to be far too important to be defined to a beginning and end; there
may never be a cut off.
The working through of forgiveness and
grief offer much to our development in too many imperative ways.
We absolutely NEED the empathic expanse
of acceptance that the processes of forgiveness and grief implore and defend.
Work the also…
This is my story
In addition to
Yours
Paul has some things to say about
this:
“In the following directives I have no praise for you,
for your meetings do more harm than good. In the first place, I hear that when
you come together as a church, there are divisions among you, and to some
extent I believe it. No doubt there have to be differences among you to show
which of you have God’s approval. So then, when you come together it is not the
Lord’s Supper you eat…” 1 Cor 11:17-20
Those things that distinguish us can
also divide.
(Jewish/Samaritan, male/female,
religious leader/scorned woman, rich/poor)
And so often we divide
to claim “better than”.
This competitive
distribution of favor is not the way of Christ.
Instead.
Communion (coming together) which
fills, sustains, and proclaims is offered
to all equally.
Jesus offered bread even to his
betrayer.
(Jn13:21-30)
Why would he allow anyone else to be
left out?
“For I received from the Lord what I also passed on to you:
The Lord Jesus, on the night he was betrayed, took bread, and when he had given
thanks, he broke it and said, “This is my body, which is for you; do this in
remembrance of me.” In the same way, after supper he took the cup, saying,
“This cup is the new covenant in my blood; do this, whenever you drink it, in
remembrance of me.” For whenever you eat this bread and drink this cup, you
proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes.”
1 Cor 11:23-26
Betrayers and women still neck deep in
rejection.
Jews and Samaritans.
Oppressors and mockers.
Disciples and leaders still afraid of
the light.
The Gentiles!
The feast of His Table
is a communion of every ‘ALSO’.
“Everyone ought to examine themselves before they eat of
the bread and drink from the cup. For those who eat and drink without discerning
the body of Christ eat and drink judgment on themselves.”
1 Cor 11:28-29
“Discern the body of
Christ.”
His physical body.
And His church.
Discern it.
Perceive and recognize it.
Around His table, set for every
beloved one we discover:
Forgiveness which frees
Fellowship which comforts
Friendship that comes alongside and stays
Truth that shelters us into Himself
“For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn
the world but to save the world...” John 3:17
He is for you.
All of you.
Go be like Him.
