Initiate Contact

Be Wiling to Be Alone:

“His disciples had gone into the town to buy food” (v8).

 The disciples were focused on something else entirely. They all decided to go to McDonald’s as a group—all Twelve of them.

• This group activity is a lot of fun. It guarantees that you will know someone when you get to town and have a friend to talk to while you take care of your business.

• It makes the trip a social event.

• It does make it a little harder, however, to have a serious or significant conversation when you are traveling in a group. If you split up you can do it. But the entire group has to agree to leave you alone should you make contact with someone. And they all have to be sensitive to the privacy that may be needed.

Jesus stayed behind alone. This is more strategic as a witnessing possibility than staying in a group.

• Even though we are more comfortable when we travel with our friends and do things together, we may be less likely to have significant conversations with strangers.

• Jesus is alone, and he is fine with that. Maybe right now he prefers it. He has been surrounded by thousands of people in the Judean countryside. Crowds have no sense of the whole—what everyone else is demanding of the person in the middle. They just want what they want.

• I had a few private minutes with a governor of our state once in a social setting. And when I found myself alone with him I began to tell him what I wanted him to do about a certain thing. I regretted it immediately. I could tell in his eyes that he was disappointed and that I had lost an opportunity just to let him talk. Maybe he needed me to listen to him, but I had an pre-set agenda, and I became one of the many lobbyists that are omnipresent with our political figures.

Sometimes we need to be alone. We need to put on those headphones and try to get some rest. I understand that to be true.

• Jesus would run from the crowds and retreat into the wilderness to pray. He had special places where he got all alone with the Father and prayed. Sometimes the crowd would panic like Paparazzi when they could not find him. They would chase him in mass around the Sea of Galilee.

• Let’s not feel guilty about needing down time, alone time. But let’s not hide from people either. Let’s find the balance between addressing our own needs and the needs of others.

Notice Other People:

“a Samaritan woman came to draw water” (v7).

Sometimes you just want to keep your head down, I know.

• You don’t want to appear to be a Voyeur or a suspicious person. You may be in situations where you should not interact.

• But normally you should be aware of the people around you. This was the pattern of Jesus. Now it is true—sometimes people got his attention by shouting at him or pulling on his robe. But Jesus was often the one who initiated contact with others.

• He noticed and conversed with this woman even though it could have compromised his reputation. The disciples were startled when they discovered he was talking to her. So we cannot just assume that if our proposed course of action is going to raise eyebrows, then we should not do it.

• Our INWARD ministry raises eyebrows, but it is fruitful for the gospel and the care of those in need.

 Usually You Need to Keep your head up. “It was about noon” (v6).

• Jesus is traveling. Travelers have to stay at it through the heat of the day. We are up all hours of the day and night when we travel. So I can see why Jesus is at the well at noon.

• But the Samaritan woman arriving there is a little bit curious. Some say this is not the usual time to haul water. I would think that to be correct. You don’t want to do hard labor in the heat of the day. In Genesis 24:11 we are told that the women went in the evening to draw water.

• We follow the same patterns in our yard care and gardening. When it is hot, we sit in the shade. If we had to walk to the grocery store instead of riding in our air-conditioned cars, we would make a habit of doing so when the sun was low in the sky. Sheep like to sit in the shade in the heat of the day just like people do. I have seen them doing so all my life.

• If you have run out of water for some reason, then going at noon is in order, and that could be what happened here.

• But I think this woman was probably avoiding social contact by coming to the well at noon. She had a checkered background that people in her village were probably aware of. She was living with a man without the benefit of marriage. In that time and place, there would have been social consequences for her lifestyle.

Ask for a Drink:

Jesus said to her, “Will you give me a drink?” (v7)

Jesus’ contact is natural. Water is vital for health.

• Jesus lived in a dry climate. The name “Galilee” means “circuit” as in a circle of towns around the sea. But my guide in Israel said the circuit referred to by the name Galilee is the water circuit of Israel, the pipeline. A vast amount of fresh water is in the Sea of Galilee, and it waters much of the nation.

• It has never been more politically correct to choose to drink water. Our world is full of purified and bottled water.

• “What do you think about divorce?” was not our first words in my aforementioned travel conversation. And it was startling. I think I must have given the man permission to ask the question, but I don’t remember how.

Jesus’ contact is authentic. Jesus really was thirsty.

• “What do you think of divorce?” is an authentic question.

• Jesus said giving a drink to a thirsty person is a sign of the kingdom: “I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink” (Matthew 25:35).

• On the cross, Jesus said, “I am thirsty” (John 19:28).

• We don’t need be contrived or artificial in our conversation with anyone.

Jesus’ contact is safe. Asking for a drink of water is a low threshold request. It is not threatening to ask for a drink.

• Jesus could have started with, “So tell me about this guy you are living with.” Not a good plan. He will get to that later.

• Jesus used giving a drink as an illustration of minimal helping: “anyone who gives you a cup of water in my name because you belong to the Messiah will certainly not lose their reward” (Mark 9:41).

• We don’t need to give the feeling to others that they are marks, somehow, and that we are salespersons launching into a sales pitch. I don’t want to be treated as a prospect to be recruited for someone’s religion.

Jesus’ contact is loving.

• I think it comes across as loving and kind to the woman from Samaria. She is startled by it.

• I think your contact can come off the same way. We warm up to strangers through these small interchanges—offering our aisle seat or offering to call the waiter.

• I wish that I were naturally perceptive and sensitive to the needs of others. But I am more naturally the absent-minded professor with a very active intellectual world into which I can enter and cut off all outside stimuli. You have to hit me with a two-by-four to get my attention. I have to tell myself to pay attention.

• We communicate our concern for strangers in the smallest ways. It may be a smile or a simple greeting. It may be picking up something they drop. These tiny kindnesses and courtesies are actually vital in establishing connections with strangers.

God has done this with you. He has loved you in so many wonderful ways that confront you in your everyday journey. It is the goodness of God made evident through the gifts of life that lead you to repentance. And it is our response to live a life of love that cares for others and becomes part of the fabric of God’s care for them. This is the context of your witness in travel.