Averting Danger

If a butterfly sees a spider web covered with dew, will he fly around it? If a bear knows where a trap is hidden and can avoid it easily, will he? If a person senses a trap that will surely kill him, will he ignore it? Averting danger is not always so easy. As long as we can see danger, or know where it hides, or sense an imminent threat, life isn’t so dangerous. It’s the unexpected, the unanticipated, the precipice of fear, which snares us. Unless…unless you’re not afraid of anything or anybody. Unless you’re miserable and life has no meaning and darkness is your favorite color.

There was a person like that once. They were walking through life with no feeling, no emotion, and no hope for tomorrow. Life was beyond drudgery, day-to-day chores were the peak of excitement and being alone was the only peace life afforded. Despair, depression, and detachment from life were the days’ highlights. Until one day a stranger walked into their darkness and opened a door of hope. Light poured in and life was rekindled.

A woman in Sychar, Samaria, went, to Jacob’s well late one evening to draw water. Jesus and his disciples had stopped there minutes before the woman came. The disciples went into the town while Jesus rested by the well. When Jesus saw the woman drawing water late in the evening, alone, he asked her for a drink. This simple meeting was fraught with cultural danger. There was a bitter history between the Samaritans and the Jews. The woman talked about her ancient father Jacob drinking from this same well and passing the well along to her and her descendants. Jesus listened politely and talked about “living water” that he could offer. Then she was asking for water from him! After a brief discussion, the woman realized he was some kind of a prophet. She was surprised at what he knew and told him that she knew that the Jewish Messiah (called Christ) was coming, and he would explain everything. Jesus told her, he was that person. The woman did not fully understand what Jesus was talking about. It takes time to accept something that changes the very foundations of your life. Jesus allowed the woman time to ask questions and put the pieces together herself. She tried to pull him into a theological debate. Jesus steered the conversation from general to spiritual and then directed the conversation from superficial to spiritual. He then goes from spiritual to personal. He’s showing her the relevance of the Scriptures. Here she understood Him. After leaving her jar at the well she ran to tell the people about this stranger and said; “Come, see a man who told me everything I ever did? Could this be the Christ?” John 4:29 She brought others to hear him. After she believed Jesus, and because she believed, her life would be forever changed. Her darkness became light, she found hope and safety. Her spiritual thirst was whetted by “living water”.

Bottom line

This was the first time Jesus ever told anyone he was the Messiah.