4. Walking the Walk
Teaching all over the land
Matthew 15; John 4
Joanna Poddar is a high school science teacher. She likes reading books, Gary Larson cartoons and being right. She is also a big fan of praying and feels we should all do it more.
It is a truth universally acknowledged that children in the company of their friends – and teenagers in particular – will fear, or will actually be embarrassed by their parents. Put a group of teenagers from almost anywhere in the world into the same room, send in one of their parents and watch to see who cringes.
As a teenager, I was no different. It didn’t matter that in reality my parents were very normal and well-respected people, I would still feel awkward. My father could be especially embarrassing, partly because he was very different from me. My father is one of those outgoing people who can strike up a conversation with anyone – from the checkout girl at ASDA; to an old man walking his dog; to random strangers on a plane.
The aeroplane situation I found particularly awkward because on a plane there’s nowhere to hide. My father would be helping some woman to put her luggage into the overhead lockers and would start talking with her. “Are you on holiday? Who are you visiting? Is this your first time?” etc. which turned into “Where are you family from? What do you do?” to even more personal questions, while I hunkered down in my seat doing my best to ignore what was going on next to me.
Worst of all were the times when the conversation turned to religion. My father has no compunction about sharing his beliefs. He’d get up to take his Bible out of his bag and starting pointing out Scriptural references to support what he was saying – on the plane! While everyone else was watching the in flight movie or dozing under their blue plane blankets, my father would be sharing the gospel.
Jesus was travelling with his disciples through Samaria, near the town of Sychar. He’d been with his disciples, baptising and teaching, near the Jordan River and was on his way back to Galilee. Most Jews would have taken the long way round, avoiding Samaria, doubling the length of their journey. Even taking the direct route, such a journey would have taken three days. It was a tough walk – the path twisted and turned through the mountains, and it was not only the landscape that was hostile. As they near Sychar, the disciples went into town to buy food, temporarily putting aside their prejudices out of sheer necessity. Jesus, tired, sat down to rest by Jacob’s well.
It is here that Jesus has a shocking, unconventional, even embarrassing encounter with a Samaritan woman who comes to draw water. Sitting in the shade of the well, sheltering from the heat of the day, Jesus asks the woman “Will you give me a drink?”1 The Samaritan woman is startled – Jewish men did not initiate conversations with women in publicnot even with their own wives, let alone a despised Samaritan! Furthermore, Jews would not touch or drink from a cup that an ‘unclean’ Samaritan had touched. How could this man make such a request of her?
Throughout their conversation, Jesus constantly surprises the woman with his answers. He is not like anyone she has ever met. He doesn’t conform to the attitudes or hold beliefs that she is familiar with. When she mentions the ‘Mount Gerizim vs. Jerusalem’ issue2, a hot topic of debate among Samaritans and Jews, he tells her the place of worship is not important, but that “true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth.” 3 He appears to know intimate details of her life and yet is not judgmental. He doesn’t make any accusations; he doesn’t look down on her.
She has never had a conversation like this before and cannot fully take it in. She says, “I know the Messiah is coming. When he comes, he will explain everything to us.” And then Jesus drops the bombshell, “I who speak to you am he.” 4
It is at this dramatic point that the disciples return. John says that while they “were surprised to find him talking with a woman” … “no one asked, “What do you want?” or “Why are you talking with her?”” 5 Yet, surely this was what they were thinking. They must have glanced at each other and raised eyebrows. Inwardly, perhaps, they cringed at yet another social faux pas from Jesus. Honestly, you couldn’t take him anywhere. What kind of reputation would he acquire if people heard about this?
How often do we have a similar reaction to that of the disciples? When it comes to sharing the gospel, is our initial reaction embarrassment? Do we limit ourselves to associating with ‘acceptable’ people because we are unwilling to break with social convention? Are there certain groups of people to whom you would not witness out of fear, prejudice or discomfort? What are your priorities – telling people the good news or your own well-being? Do we seek our own comfort, to fulfil our own needs (like the disciples, focused on finding food for Jesus) or the spiritual nourishment of others?
Most of the societies we live in today promote a ‘me first’ attitude – my rights, my happiness, my way. Such attitudes (can) lead to false pride and subtle prejudices which persist despite the prevailing trend toward political correctness. These prejudices are found everywhere, from reality TV shows; to the government and church organizations – sometimes veiled, other times overt. We can get so caught-up in condemning them that we lose sight of more pressing concerns. Like the Pharisees, so determined to follow the letter of the law to keep themselves and others from becoming unclean6 that they refused to associate with ‘unclean’ Samaritans or Gentiles. The Pharisees were quick to judge, to focus on sin rather than sinners, and to uphold traditions rather than the principles behind them.
Do we share such attitudes? Does our practice of certain customs prevent us from reaching people? By judging people on their choice of music or dress, do we fall prey to prejudice? In our attempts to stay ‘clean’ do we lose touch with the needs of people around us?
Jesus highlights such thinking in his encounter with the Canaanite woman. By showing the typical male Jewish response to a heathen woman’s plea, he exposes the pride and prejudice held by the disciples. 7 Jews considered themselves chosen of God and the sole beneficiaries of salvation. They could not comprehend extending such privileges to other, less worthy nations.
Jesus says to the woman, “I was sent only to the lost sheep of Israel. It is not right to take the children’s bread and toss it to their dogs.” 8 To our sensitive ears, such language from Jesu may appear appalling. Yet, the disciples remained unfazed and indifferent. Furthermore, they were annoyed at the persistence of the woman and asked Jesus to send her away Do we allow annoyances to blind us to the needs of others? Do we only help when it is convenient for us to do so?
What is most striking about this story is the woman’s response. She is undaunted by Jesus’ apparent scorn. She has come to Jesus out of desperation, with no other alternatives. She is willing to take whatever he has to give. “She begs for the crumbs that fall from the Master’s table. If she may have the privilege of a dog, she is willing to be regarded as a dog. She has no national or religious prejudice or pride to influence her course, and she immediately acknowledges Jesus as the Redeemer, and as the One able to do all that she asks of Him.” 9 So great is her faith that Jesus instantly, willingly, lovingly grants her request.
How often do we encounter people who are desperate for something more –people who are in need of friendship, or comfort; people with pressing physical and financial needs? How often are we put off from ‘witnessing’ because people seem unreceptive and indifferent to what we have to offer, because what we offer is not meeting their needs? We take part in activities such as delivering leaflets or attending outreach programmes to which we haven’t invited our peers and assume we are doing our part to evangelise. Or, we content ourselves with financially supporting charities or church projects, and then wonder why these efforts do not seem to bear fruit.
“Everywhere there is a tendency to substitute the work of organizations for individual effort. Human wisdom tends to consolidation, to centralization, to the building up of great churches and institutions. Multitudes leave to institutions and organizations the work of benevolence; they excuse themselves from contact with the world and their hearts grow cold. They become selfabsorbed and un-impressible. Love for God and man dies out of the soul. Christ commits to His followers an individual work, a work that cannot be done by proxy. Ministry to the sick and the poor, the giving of the gospel to the lost, is not to be left to committees or organized charities. Individual responsibility, individual effort, personal sacrifice, is the requirement of the gospel.” 10
These are noble ideals, but how can we actually achieve them? How do we go about “giving the gospel to the lost”? To start, we can look at the example of Jesus. From reading the gospels, it is clear that Jesus was in touch with the common people. He was one of them; he worked with them, he ate with them, he lived among them. So should we immerse ourselves in our communities and get to know the people in our immediate environment. Jesus was always accessible, whether to mothers with their little children, outcast lepers, royal officials or Romans. He would talk to anybody, whether it was a religious leader who came at night or a foreign woman in the heat of the day. So should we be able to talk to all people in any situation – in the school playground, in the queue at the post office, at the hairdresser’s, or on a plane.
Jesus was sensitive to the individual needs of people. He used different approaches in different situations. The four thousand hungry people needed bread as much as words. The royal official’s son was healed so that his entire household believed. The Canaanite woman had her faith tested and was rewarded. The woman at the well had a conversation that changed her life. Wherever Jesus went, whoever he met, he took every opportunity to interact with people, not making demands or laying down rules. He didn’t condemn, but met people on their own level. He was attuned to their longings, their thirst, their emptiness and he was able to offer them living water, which would “become in [them] a spring of water welling up to eternal life.” 11
But following Jesus’ example in witnessing is not always easy. After all, he lived in a different time and place. He had a perfect relationship with God. How can we, as imperfect Christians, expect the same kind of results? How can we draw people to God?
Let us return to the experience of the Samaritan woman. “Then, leaving her water jar, the woman went back to the town and said to the people, “Come, see a man who told me everything I ever did. Could this be the Christ?” … Many of the Samaritans from that town believed in him because of the woman’s testimony, “He told me everything I ever did.”” 12
When we first met this woman, she was alone at the well, collecting water in the middle of the day. Commentators suggest this was because she was a social outcast, unaccepted by the other women, who would have visited the well in the evening. She had had five husbands; as Jewish law only allowed men to divorce their wives and not the other way around, she must have suffered the pain of a broken marriage and subsequent rejection, not once but five times! If her last husband had not given her a certificate of divorce, allowing her to marry again, she may have felt compelled to live with a man who was not her husband, for the protection and financial stability it offered. This was a woman with a notorious reputation, well known to people in her town.
But when she meets Jesus, all this is forgotten in her desire to share her experience. Her testimony, simple though it is, is sufficient to convince many of the Samaritans. They believe, even before they meet Jesus, on the strength of this woman’s witness. A brief encounter with Jesus changed the Samaritan woman in ways that were obvious to all who met her. As a result of her sharing this encounter, many became believers.
Do we find it difficult to witness because we have never had a real encounter with Christ? If we have never experienced the effects of the good news, how can we share it with others? If we don’t know Jesus, how can we tell people about him?
I am a fourth generation Adventist. My grandparents, uncles, aunts and parents have spent their lives working for the church. I attended a Seventh-day Adventist school from the age of 5. I grew up well within the church, taking part, attending all the meetings, Pathfinders, AY programmes, everything. And yet, I had never had a real experience with God. During my third year at university, I realised I needed to make a decision one way or another. I had to give a relationship with God a chance, by spending time praying and reading the Bible, consistently. If this didn’t work, I’d live my life without God.
I started and waited to see what would happen and was amazed at how quickly God made himself known. In tiny but tangible ways, God showed me He was working in my life. Prayers were answered in ways that shook me and filled me with wonder. Most of all, I was surprised by the joy; a deep and underlying joy that nothing could shake, based on the knowledge that God was in control of my life. Finally, this was real, this was meaningful. Having a real experience with God may not include amazing conversions or miracles. It may not happen suddenly or dramatically, but once you have encountered God, you know it is good news – news so good, so necessary, and so powerful that you have to share it. My experience did not make for a thrilling story. It wasn’t easy to share something so personal, something that had only made an impact on my life. It didn’t seem enough to convince non-believers of God’s goodness. But I had to share it - within my group of friends and fellow believers, people who knew me, who could see the difference in my life. If you can’t share your experience with God with other believers, how do you expect to tell unbelievers?
Once you have had a real experience with God, sharing it becomes compulsory. You may not be able to convert hundreds of people; you may not even convert one, but you are planting seeds, you are allowing God to work through you and you should never underestimate the power of doing so. You may feel your experience is insignificant but “To every one work has been allotted, and no one can be a substitute for another. Each one has a mission of wonderful importance, which he cannot neglect or ignore …”12
Sharing your experience may not be easy, it may initially be embarrassing and awkward but once you are prepared to do so, you will find more and more people who are willing to listen, people who are seeking something, people who have run out of alternatives. You may feel ill-equipped or inadequate, you may feel that you are not really making much of a difference, but God will use you in surprising ways, both for your benefit and for his glory. “God could have reached His objective in saving sinners without our aid; but in order for us to develop a character like Christ’s, we must share in His work. In order to enter into His joy,-- the joy of seeing souls redeemed by His sacrifice,--we must participate in His labors for their redemption.” 14 By taking every opportunity to share the gospel as we have experienced it, we share in Christ’s mission and His joy.
References:
1John 4:7
2John 4:19 – 21
3John 4:23
4John 4:25, 26
5John 4:27
6Matthew 15:1 – 10
7Desire of Ages, p. 400.
8Matthew 15:24, 26
9Desire of Ages, p. 401.
10The Ministry of Healing, p. 147.
11John 4:14
12John 4: 28 – 30, 39
13Review and Herald, Dec. 12, 1893
14The Desire of Ages, p. 142.
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