Chapter One: Borders of Belief

At its simplest level, what prompted Jesus to enter the inner sanctum of the common man? There were boundaries established -- there still are. A benevolent kind of Santa Claus might be a popular image, but the real Jesus painted a different picture. "Son of man", he called himself. Literally, the Hebrew translation was "son of Adam." Without doubt he had his own distinctive marks of individuality,but in many ways the picture in the life he lived also reflected the unpolished,unsophisticated crowd that he spent most of his days with.

Why is it that the really great words of Jesus were spoken to the unfit? It was no accident. This penchant for the ordinary was, in essence, his chosen ministry. By that I do not mean that he was pious and condescending. "A winebibber and friend of sinners" doesn't get offered a chief seat in the temple -- he doesn't even get invited in. Often I think of the phrase "finding Jesus in the wilderness." It refers to the multitudes who walked down the lane, into the countryside, and into the wilderness to hear Jesus. Also, it refers to the way God is found: not always where one thinks to look, but where He may be found -- in the least likely places.

Didn't the inscription say, "He said he was King of the Jews"? That was one side of the message of the cross, but not usually good stuff for the pulpit. It was the voice of the righteous controlling leadership of the Jews -- of course we know that. What we often fail to see is that their message was real. Jesus knew he provoked their hatred by taking his "Good News" to the multitudes who fell under their control. Was Jesus saying that empowered faith can transcend the walls that humanity has erected -- the walls that bind believers and keep them within established boundaries?

People build walls. In the case of the Samaritans, these walls served to keep them out. That was what made the story of the Good Samaritan raise hair on the backs of the necks of Jewish leadership. It's not that being a Jew was evil; it is a characteristic of humanity to set boundaries. The fourth chapter of John begins with Jesus on his way to Galilee. John says he had to go through Samaria. No mention of why,unless it related directly to the story that John was about to tell. Samaritans were considered fuel for the fires of hell and God-fearing people made sure the fires were stoked.

At Jacob's well he met a woman. She was alone. He was alone. The significance of the site was not its location, but its history. This was Jacob, from whom Israel took its name; told and retold from past generations. The details of her life may explain why she was fetching water in the heat of mid-day instead of the cool of the morning exchanging chit chat with the "ladies" of the village. "Give me a drink." Her surprise was evident in her response, "You are a JEW, I am a SAMARITAN. How can you ask me for a drink?" Notice how well she percieved the boundaries of belief.

The words that followed are among Jesus' greatest. "If you knew the gift of God and who it is that asks you for a drink, you would have asked him and he would have given you living water." Living water was the symbol he chose; it was an important choice both in context of what he was trying to communicate to the woman, and in terms of what John was trying to communicate in his writing (more will be said about John's writing in a later chapter). Water, meaning the universal symbol of life -- not just life, but whole earth life. This living giver of life, Jesus mystically described as so quenching one would never thirst again and a wellspring unto life in the ages, Jn 4:14. Some comment that Jesus meant the living water WAS eternal life, but I read it as a well springing to the eternal.

Some view the revelation of her sordid past as her need to be convicted, but I believe that notion says more about one's own beliefs than it does about what Jesus was teaching. "Sir, give me this water so I won't get thirsty and have to keep coming here to draw water." Wasn't that an expected response? But first, there was something she needed to understand..."Go, call your husband and come back...You have no husband." Do you think Jesus was really interested in showing this person that her life was known beyond the whispering and backbiting of her own village? Notice her response, "I can see that you are a prophet." Now that's what Jesus wanted to hear -- a realization that would take things to the next level. She began to talk about worshipping God. Peter did the same thing when he saw the glory of Christ in the Transfiguration; his first thoughts were of worship.

"Our fathers worship on this mountain, but you JEWS claim that the place where we must worship is in Jerusalem", Jn4:20. Most human of thought patterns, her mind was on place and who is and who is not. Not that the Jews were to be discounted in God's work, but Jesus went on to say, "Yet a time is coming and has now come when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and in truth." Paramount to Jesus conversation and the theme of this book is the fact that worship of God transcends all limitations of time, place, and source. It comes from the heart, in spirit and in a sincerity known only to God and the worshiper.

But wait, Jesus has more to illuminate surrounding this church without walls. As is often the case, the disciples demonstrated themselves to be among the least informed. There are two sides to this coin. What good would it be for the humblest and most common of men to embrace the concept that God has opened a door that no man can close, if Jesus' own disciples would not accept them? His disciples returned to find their leader surrounded by a throng of listeners. Their immediate concern was whether he had eaten. "Do you not say there are yet three months and then the harvest will come? Lift up your eyes and see that the fields are already white for harvest!",Jn 4:35. This passage has long been used to spur the faithful to evangelize and convert the lost. Listen for a moment to what Jesus was saying: "See...ARE white...harvest." For eons the faithful have been concerned about the sin problem. It has become the hard ground of the much trodden path. Yes, sin is a problem. But you know what? It's everyone's problem, not just a judgmental whip for the righteous. What is the real problem? Love and acceptance.

"Oh,good brother, you will taint the holy church with sinners." One wonders if the Jesus that people believe in is actually the Jesus that the narratives describe. But no, the holy church has nothing to fear -- their sanctity will be preserved because people today are really not very different from people in Jesus' day. As long as the walls of exclusion stand, people will continue to stay away. As Jesus once said, "You have your reward."

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