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From Part 1

Jesus, the Samaritan

In John chapter 4, we learn of a Samaritan woman who was privileged to meet the Messiah. Master Jesus coming back from a 3-day journey away from Judah, decided to do the uncommon: walkthrough Samaria to Galilee. The Jews Samaritans were viewed by Jews as a mixed-race – half-Jew, half-Gentiles. Thus, not only were they in social disparity with one another, but they also maintained religious distancing. For example, although boycotting Samaria was Father, travelling to Judea or Jerusalem, Jews will typically take the longer route to avoid contact with the Samaritans. If the average moral Jew observes this, I wonder what stricter measures their teachers of Mosaic laws will apply. I reckon that she will not get an audience. Condescending so low in this manner to seek and to save the lost fitted Jesus for no other narrative than the Samaritan He described in one of His parables (see Luke 10:25-37).

The Samaritan woman

This young gentle-looking man then opened his mouth and spoke to a Samaritan woman. It is worth noting that a woman coming to the well at noon alone to fetch water means she had no friend. And she may have been notorious but friendless and therefore lonely. This loneliness might have accounted for her frolicking around 5 men. Now this young man was also alone. And the opening line was, “Please give me a drink.” This shocked all her defences, and a fascinating story of salvation in a smooth flow of conversation ensued. In what follows, we shall observe the names and manners she addressed or approach the Master. As we shall see, she went from seeing Christ as a prospect, an imposter and finally a prophet. Jesus percived as an impersonator shall be the center of this discuss.

Jesus the Imposter

When Jesus would not fall so easily but confronting her with more detailed questions, she libelled Jesus. She addressed the King of kings as if claiming to be greater than Jacob was too great an assertion. “Are you greater than Jacob, our father who gave us this well? (Jn 4:12)" asked the woman. It would not be too long before Jesus made her know that Jacob was never her father. She was a mere proselyte Jew, not a real one, but with the tenor of His life consistently runs: in tenderness. This insinuated Jesus when He said: “You worship what you do not know; we know what we worship, for salvation is of the Jews.(Jn 4:22)"

Has libel or disgraceful labels not been the badge of Christian faithfuls, who traverse past the seduction of this world triumphantly? Should we be afraid or even ashamed? I fear not. Instead, look to the robe of Jesus. Are the badges of denigration, accusation, opposition, or contradiction missing on it? If not, we are numbered amongst a glorious army with a valiant Captain. Through celebrations as persecution, these crests of honour are affixed to our garments.

Doesn’t the trend of our lives swing along the same lines as with Jesus? Don’t we start out in the Christian service by their recipients taking our tenderness for timidity? Or by others receiving our kind demeanour for their uses driven by ulterior motives? Haven’t those that endure till the end been saved from the misconceptions people have about them? Our beloved brother John encouraged us in his letter that we are like Jesus on this earth. As He is so, we are in this world (1 John 4:17). Not as He was but probably as he would be. But certainly, as He is in heaven, so we are in this world. But when He was on earth, the world did not recognize Him. His glory was hidden or, better still, preserved by shame and suffering as gold muddled up in dross. So it was not surprising when like a horse that mocks fear, Jesus despised the shame of the cross.

Therefore, having this fearless Captain, we need not be afraid or ashamed of putting on the badges of antagonism or accusations for a righteous cause. For, like this Captain, if we cast our eyes on the joy of being ever with Jesus set before us, we will endure the cross. Or if our inner eyes are so scaly with tears that we cannot perceive this joy, reach out for the sight of the Captain. Reach out for the circumstances which he endured and follow through. Though the future may be clouded, if Christ is our leader, we can be sure His destination is our destination. His honour, our honour. His glory, our glory. Therefore, we should not be ashamed to make the shame for His course our shame. For He said, “Surely there is a future [and a reward], And your hope and expectation will not be cut off. (Proverbs 23:18 AMP)”

On the other hand, Christians are often perceived to take too much upon themselves. As Christian history has shown, Christians are, in the real sense, more significant than what the world thinks they impose. In her statement, “are you greater than…?" Yes, indeed, “greater” is the word. Moses was accused by Mariam, saying, “Has the Lord indeed spoken only through Moses? Has He not spoken through us also? (Numbers 12:2)” God answered her by saying He spoke to Moses face-to-face (Numbers 12:8). And not any prophet before Moses, Abraham the progenitor of the Jewish race inclusive, has enjoyed such privilege. The only known time God spoke to Mariam was in anger (Numbers 12:9). The projection here is that, in the negative statements made about you in the form of questions or assertions, people only express their truth-containing doubts about your spiritual status. For example, the naming of disciples Christian, meaning Christ-like, was an intended denigration. But it will take Bro. John the beloved about 40 years later to affirm their statement when he said, “As Christ is, so we are in this world.” “All things work together for the good of they that love the Lord,” sometimes, the good is already wrapped up in the muddy depressing statements targeted at us. Extract it and thank God for the comfort He sent through those words. They are mostly submission of God’s estimations of our spiritual status or strivings.

Misunderstood we may be when we have decided not to use the gift of God for frivolous unpurifying adventures. We might be suspected because of us not yielding to the world’s seductive wiles through the deception of every form. But it is worthwhile to endure with this knowledge. Some will start their Christian pilgrimage due to your refusal of their alluring gestures and tag as an imposter. Such will bow to the Lord in you as His prophet when their impoverished state’s reality dawns on them.