Day 26 - GRACE EXPRESSIONS - Hospitality #3 

JOHN 4:4-18, 25-26 

PAUSE – Take a deep breath, offer this time and your focus to the Lord with the Psalmist

      Lord, you have been our dwelling place throughout all generations.
      Before the mountains were born or you brought forth the whole world, from everlasting  to everlasting you    are God.   Psalm 90:1-2

REJOICE in his goodness with Psalm 90:17

      May the favor of the Lord our God rest on us;
      Establish the work of our hands for us -
      Yes, establish the work of our hands.

Thoughts on Hospitality:

Author and Priest, Henri Nouwen reflects on the unseen and avoided people in our world.

In our world full of strangers, estranged from their own past, culture and country, from their neighbors, friends and family, from their deepest self and their God, we witness a painful search for a hospitable place where life can be lived without fear and where community can be found…It is possible for men and women and obligatory for Christians to offer an open and hospitable space where strangers can cast off their strangeness and become our fellow human beings.  (Reaching Out, The Three Movements of the Spiritual Life, Henri Nouwen, p 66)

“…hospitality is both a rhythm we calendar into our Rule of Life, and it’s a way of being in the world, a heart posture toward others. Nouwen called it a ‘fundamental attitude toward our fellow human being, which can be expressed in a great variety of ways.’”  

         (Practicing the Way, John Mark Comer, p. 132)

If we are going to be authentic followers of Jesus, we will create intentional calendar space and have a natural heart posture of hospitality toward others. Let’s consider another example from the life of Jesus today.

Read and REFLECT on the Gospel of John 4:4-18,25-26

Now he (Jesus) had to go through Samaria. So, he came to a town in Samaria called Sychar, near the plot of ground Jacob had given to his son Joseph. Jacob’s well was there, and Jesus, tired as he was from the journey, sat down by the well. It was about the sixth hour. 

When a Samaritan woman came to draw water, Jesus said to her, “Will you give me a drink? (His disciples had gone into the town to buy food.)

The Samaritan woman said to him, “You are a Jew, and I am a Samaritan woman. How can you ask me for a drink?” (For Jews do not associate with Samaritans.)

Jesus answered her, “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.”

“Sir,” the woman said, “you have nothing to draw with and the well is deep. Where can you get this living water? Are you greater than our father Jacob, who gave us the well and drank from it himself, as did also his sons and his flocks and herds?”

Jesus answered, “Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again, but whoever drinks the water I give him will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give him will become in him a spring of water, welling up to eternal life”

The woman said to him, “Sir, give me this water so I won’t get thirsty and have to keep coming here to draw water.” 

He told her, “Go call your husband and come back.” 

“I have no husband,” she replied. Jesus said to her, “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 said is quite true.”

…The woman said, “I know that Messiah” (called Christ) is coming. When he comes, he will explain everything to us.” 

Then Jesus declared, “I who speaks to you, I am he.”

This is a well-known example of Jesus going to unexpected places, interacting with unexpected people, and offering hospitality in unexpected ways.  This time it is not at a table sharing food, but it is at a well sharing water… and eternal life. 

Consider how many times the woman questions the behavior of Jesus.  

• What is this Jew doing in Samaria? 

• What kind of Jewish man asks a Samaritan woman for a drink from the well?

• How can Jesus offer water to her? He has no way to get water from this deep well?

• How does this Jewish man know so much about me – he must be a prophet.

This woman knows much about the culture, the faith, and all the reasons this conversation and interaction should not be taking place. She even notes the expectation that a Messiah is coming who will help make sense of all the questions about worship and who is right. 

Reread and REFLECT –
Take your time. Read it aloud. This is a very familiar story to most of us.  Invite the Lord to reveal a perspective you have not considered before.  What stands out to you in this reading? 

Now he (Jesus) had to go through Samaria. So, he came to a town in Samaria called Sychar, near the plot of ground Jacob had given to his son Joseph. Jacob’s well was there, and Jesus, tired as he was from the journey, sat down by the well. It was about the sixth hour. 

When a Samaritan woman came to draw water, Jesus said to her, “Will you give me a drink? (His disciples had gone into the town to buy food.)

The Samaritan woman said to him, “You are a Jew and I am a Samaritan woman. How can you ask me for a drink?” (For Jews do not associate with Samaritans.)

Jesus answered her, “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.”

“Sir,” the woman said, “you have nothing to draw with and the well is deep. Where can you get this living water? Are you greater than our father Jacob, who gave us the well and drank from it himself, as did also his sons and his flocks and herds?”

Jesus answered, “Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again, but whoever drinks the water I give him will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give him will become in him a spring of water, welling up to eternal life”

The woman said to him, “Sir, give me this water so I won’t get thirsty and have to keep coming here to draw water.” 

He told her, “Go call your husband and come back.” 

“I have no husband,” she replied. Jesus said to her, “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 said is quite true.”

…The woman said, “I know that Messiah” (called Christ) is coming. When he comes, he will explain everything to us.” 

Then Jesus declared, “I who speaks to you, I am he.”

As I reread the text I’m struck by the questions of the Samaritan woman – and her focus on the things that create division between them. Hospitality can trigger skepticism in people. What does this person want? Why are they being so nice? What’s their real motive? 

Jesus avoids the debates but offers an alternative conversation about who he is, and what he has to offer her. He does not become combative or accusatory – he remains invitational and hopeful. 

ASK –
Ask the Lord to bring to memory those who have welcomed you, given you grace and space to ask questions, and treated you with dignity and respect in spite of differences and doubts. Ask the Lord to soften hearts and open doors between you and others with whom you differ.  Pray for a window of opportunity to extend hospitality to someone who might be the perceived enemy, or who might perceive you as the enemy. 

YIELD –
In a culture where many are quick to debate that their side of the issue is the right one, how might Jesus be calling us to listen, ask questions, and overlook differences to provide a space for sharing living water? Lord, help us to overlook differences to see humanity that is thirsty. Teach us to practice hospitality on hostile ground.

Lord, help us as we join in your mission to proclaim and provide…

• Freedom – of those held captive, imprisoned

• Recovery – of sight for the blind (restoration of what once was)

• Release – of those held in bondage, trapped, with no rights or resources

• Favor – Jubilee, the year/season of forgiveness of debts and new beginnings

For the Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost.