Read: John 4:5-42

The theme I chose for this reflection was in the category “shame.” Perhaps I should be a bit more “reflective” in my choice of Scriptural sources, but I look for the holes in the editorial schedule and boldly go where my better angels might otherwise fear to tread, trusting in the Almighty to put the right words to digital ink when the time comes.

I think the most obvious takeaway from Jesus’ encounter with the Samaritan woman at the well (talk about the perfect set-up for some brilliant biblical metaphor, right?), at least from the standpoint of “shame,” is that someone (a woman, no less) from a marginalized community would see the truth of the Gospel message when all the holier-than-thou folks in Jerusalem were blind to it.

But, of course, me being me, what I couldn’t get past in this part of John 4 was the shameless beauty of verses 35-38: “Do you not say, ‘There are yet four months, then comes the harvest’? I tell you, lift up your eyes, and see how the fields are already white for harvest. He who reaps receives wages, and gathers fruit for eternal life, so that sower and reaper may rejoice together. For here the saying holds true, ‘One sows and another reaps.’ I sent you to reap that for which you did not labor; others have labored, and you have entered into their labor.”

It’s a shame that those of us here in Jerusalem have such a hard time with that concept.

Lord, may we all be like the Samaritan woman in our openness to, and trust in, your Word. Help us find the strength and courage to share the living waters with which we have been blessed with those who thirst or are in need. Let the sower and reaper rejoice together. Amen.
-Michael Boss