John 4:6 Jesus, tired as He was from the journey, sat down by the well. It was about noon.
Jesus was travelling north from Judea to Galilee and took a transit to have a rest break at Sychar, the Samaritan town. It was very unusual for Jews to have dealings with the Samaritans. During the Babylonian captivity of Judah, the Southern kingdom of Israel and the Assyrian captivity of the northern kingdom of Israel, there were foreign settlements in townships of Israel. The foreign settlers brought their pagan gods, beliefs and culture into Israel. The remaining Jews who were left in the land after the captivity intermarried and also practiced paganism with the heathens. When the Jews returned back to their homeland after seventy years during the reign of King Cyrus, the interbreeds fiercely and vigorously opposed repatriation and reestablishment of the nation. Hence the full-blooded, monotheistic Jews detested the mixed marriages and worship of their northern cousins.
Jesus, fatigued by the afternoon desert sun sat at a well and struck a conversation with a promiscuous woman who did not have a clean record. She was not allowed to fill water with the other virgins hence she was at the well at noonday. This transit encounter changed the life of the loose and licentious woman to a pure and preaching minister. We might be at an unplanned, unpleasant and uncomfortable transit. The transit could be the loss of a dear one, the sting of a slander or an unexpected financial loss. The transit encounters are to transform us to the likeness of Jesus.
Transits are only temporary stops; life goes on but let us allow the transits to transform us:
1. Unplanned: Exhaustion and hunger stopped Jesus and His disciples at Samaria. A sudden jolt of a news can paralyse us emotionally and mentally. The news could have hit us with surprise but there are no surprises for the Lord. Our unplanned stops are God’s planned transits for our life. It is at these unplanned transits does He get our attention to touch the sensitive, hidden and secretive areas of our heart. Unplanned emotional paralysis is to awaken the inner man to the true and valuable treasures of life.
2. Unpleasant: Jesus broke the division of hatred, caste and creed. Over five decades the Jews hated the Samaritans. When the disciples arrived with lunch, they were surprised to see Jesus talking to a woman. Jesus broke the culture of the judgemental society by engaging in an awkward conversation. Our unpleasant encounters with a slanderous sting, a bitter betrayal or a treacherous truth is not to make us angry, bitter and dreadful but to mend us to forgive, forget and forbear.
3. Uncomfortable: The draining scorching summer sun stopped Jesus at Samaria. There are some forced, uncomfortable stops that the Lord permits in our lives to break bigotry, prejudice and chauvinism. The disciples who were uncomfortable for a two hour transit at Samaria stayed two long days with Jesus who preached, healed and performed miracles at the town of Sychar. An uncomfortable transit can become a life changing transfiguration to our mind set. A financial loss or a career change is not to demoralise us but to demolish the prejudice of power and position. Our worth and value is not in the water pot we carry but the purpose of the procession.
The unplanned, unpleasant and uncomfortable transits are transfer points to transform and transfigure our inner man. If you are in transit for longer than expected, allow the Lord to transform so, you can take the next flight to your destiny.
John 4:39 Many of the Samaritans from that town believed in Him because of the woman’s testimony.
Prayer: Heavenly Father, may the unplanned, unpleasant and uncomfortable transits of my life transfigure me to the likeness of Jesus. Amen
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