In John chapter 4, Jesus sat
beside a well in the Samaritan desert.
He was hot and thirsty so he asked a Samaritan woman for a drink of
water. Then Jesus talked to her. They talked about
worship, cultural conflicts, prophesy, the sin in her life, and His identity as
the promised Messiah. Ironically, as far as the
Scriptures say, He never did get that drink of water but He didn't care.. When the disciples showed up with
refreshments, Jesus told them, “I have food to eat of which you do not know.”
(John 4: 32)
It was hot. He hadn’t eaten. He hadn’t even drunk from the well, but Jesus’
was refreshed.
“My food is to do the will of
Him who sent Me, and to finish His work. “ (John 4: 32, 34)
I thought about Jesus in the
Samaritan heat because I almost didn’t walk through the projects today.
The first part of my Saturday
morning had been spent with visiting alumni in a well-appointed, air-conditioned
upstairs reception room at Miles College.
After that I dutifully changed the wording on our church marquis because
somebody had to do it and I am that somebody. By then it was about 11 A.M. I had paperwork to do, a sermon to polish, and
at least another hour-and-a-half on I-65 before I made it home to my laptop,
but most importantly: IT WAS HOT.
My brain, feet, and sweat
glands had 90 degrees of reasons not to walk back and forth across the asphalt of
the Newton Gardens Housing Projects.
Jesus had lots of reasons not
to sit, drink-less by that well, chatting with a woman His closest buddies
would’ve never talked to. But if Jesus
hadn’t stayed in the heat, talking, He would have missed the chance to turn a
Samaritan into an evangelist.
The
woman then left her waterpot, went her way into the city, and said to the men, “Come,
see a Man who told me all things that I ever did. Could this be the Christ?”
(John 4: 28, 29)
Jesus would’ve missed the
chance to lead many people in that community to faith.
And
many of the Samaritans of that city believed in Him because of the word of the
woman who testified, “He told me all that I ever did.”
And
many more believed because of His own word.
Then
they said to the woman, “Now we believe, not because of what you said, for we
ourselves have heard Him and we know that this is indeed the Christ, the
Savior of the world.” (John 4: 39, 41-42)
If Jesus had done something more
comfortable He wouldn’t have received the blessing of hospitality from the
Samaritans and proven to the disciples that all the stereotypes about “those people”
were wrong.
So
when the Samaritans had come to Him, they urged Him to stay with them; and He
stayed there two days. (John 4: 40)
If I had skipped my rounds in
the projects across the street from our church I would’ve missed the chance to
pray with the sister who’d just gotten back from dialysis. I wouldn’t have talked and prayed with the
lady whose mother died yesterday. I wouldn’t have joked with the kids who were
running through with their football.
(Did you know that kids still play outside with footballs and
stuff?) If I’d made today an inside
air-conditioning only day, I wouldn’t have learned a few things from the lady
who grows the pretty flowers on her porch.
I wouldn’t have talked with the brother who wasn’t doing alright even
though he said he was. I could have
retreated to my air-conditioned office, but then I would’ve missed the chance
to invite the mother and daughter who “were just saying that we need to go to
church somewhere this Sunday.” If I hadn’t
taken my usual walk through the projects I wouldn’t have gotten that Sprite--- the one that a resident went into
her kitchen to get for me when she saw that my bottle of water was empty.
By the time I finished
talking to folks and, praying with folks, and listening to folks my shirt was
soaked with sweat, but I felt strangely refreshed.
My air-conditioning was to do
the will of My Father and to carry on His work.
A lot of the time, we feel
like our evangelistic efforts are unwelcome and ineffective. We stress over strategies and material and
training for neighborhood outreach. But
sometimes, sometimes the simple pastoral act of being there, the act of talking
with whomever’s at the well, or out on the block, or sitting on their stoop, or
hanging on the corner; sometimes that’s enough to bring supernatural deliverance
and refreshing to somebody. Today, I was
that somebody.
---Anderson T. Graves
II is a writer, community organizer and consultant for education, ministry,
and rural leadership development.
Rev.
Anderson T. Graves II is pastor of Miles Chapel CME Church in Fairfield,
Alabama; executive director of the Substance Abuse Youth Networking
Organization (SAYNO); and director of
rural leadership development for the National Institute for Human Development (NIHD).
Email atgravestwo2@aol.com
#Awordtothewise
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