Can you imagine Jesus asking you for a drink from the well? 

Can you imagine Jesus asking you for a drink from the well?  It is likely that the Samaritan woman at the well was confused Jesus asked “Will you give me a drink?”  After all, she was a Samaritan woman and He is a Jew. It is a known fact that the Jews and Samaritans did not share a mutual love of one another.

There are countless modern parallels to the Jewish-Samaritan enmity—at that time people were divided by racial and ethnic barriers, just as our culture is today over the issues of transgenderism and homosexuality. Sometimes reaching out to someone across the world is easier then reaching out someone who identifies themselves as transgender or homosexual.

Jews had no dealings with the Samaritan people, yet we read that this did not detour Jesus from seeking further conversation with the woman. He also draws her in with even more curiosity when Jesus answers her “If you knew the gift of God and who it is that asks you for a drink, you would age asked him and he would have given you living water?” (John 4:10). She becomes  intrigued by the Him.

How could he draw any water when He has nothing to pull the water into? Jesus has her full attention as He continues “Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again, but whoever drinks the water I give them will never thirst.” John 4:14.

Remember, this conversation and drawing the attention of the woman began by Jesus asking for a drink. Secondly, Jesus not only asked her for a drink of water, but more so with the idea that she would thirst no more.  Lastly, Jesus begins to address her in a spiritual manner.

As the Samaritan woman asked for the living water in which Jesus spoke of, He asked her to “Go, call your husband and come back.” The woman answered “I have no husband” John 4:17.   Jesus never stops meeting people where they are, nor addressing the sin.

Now I can’t help but to wonder, how would Jesus have reached out to my dad, or your loved one who is transgender or homosexual? I believe he would have asked him for a drink, for Jesus uses conversations to draw people into relationship with Him. Jesus was always relational, and still seeks that today with His people through prayer.  Jesus wanted the Samaritan woman to see her need for the Living Water, where she would thirst no more. And it worked, she did.

However where the conversation draws a bit tricky here, is when ask the woman to bring her husband. However, Jesus provided a safe environment for her the to share that she had no husband.  Then Jesus says “You are right when you say you have no husband. The fact is you have had five husbands, and the man you now have is not your husband. What you have just said is quite true.” John 4:18

The relationship was seeded, yet Jesus gently but firmly addresses the sin her life with no sugar coating. If my dad appeared as a woman to Jesus, do you not believe that Jesus would have asked my dad his name?  If the name Harold came out his lips, Jesus may have said “you are right, that is who you are.” But if my dad said Becky?  I believe Jesus would have said “That is not who you are, now tell me really who are you?” Jesus is all about love, yes, but also truth. Deception is not part of Jesus, nor could it be for He is the trinity, Father, Son and Holy Spirit. Jesus would reach out in compassion in the conversation, but He would not nor could He lie to someone other than who they really are.  If He did, Jesus would participate in spirit of deceiving His Father’s creation in what they were from the beginning of life, man and female.

When a love one wants to be known as someone they are not, do we point our finger and condemn? No, this is not how Jesus demonstrated in this illustration. We see a couple things demonstrated in this illustration. One, Jesus is persistent in drawing the woman into conversation with Him. He does not allow culture differences to scare Him off or snub the woman as she comes to the well.   Instead He erased any culture line that one should not talk to the other. In fact, just the opposite was demonstrated. Lastly, he addressed her life with truth, and showed mercy to the woman. Jesus offered the woman the gift of God. He offered the Samaritan woman the power of the gospel. It is the gospel that can heal the wounds of any person, not only the Samaritan woman lived in sin

Some key points in this story are that Jesus doesn’t look down on others. And even though He is Lord and King to many, He did not act like a superior person.

 

Jesus did address sin, but He did so in with humility, truth and compassion. He did not attempt to make the Samaritan woman feel less than as a person. If a loved one identifies by their sexuality as a homosexual, pray that the quest for their true identity is found that freedom is the chains that hold someone in sin is loosened. Pray that they come to know who they are to Christ Jesus.  If your loved one identifies as transgender, ask yourself “what would Jesus do” if your loved one was sitting at the well. May you have the humility to address the truth of who they are and how much they are and how much they are loved by Christ Jesus.

Either scenario here is difficult, but then again addressing sin with humility is exactly what Jesus did.