Samaria is in Kailua

This morning I was listening to my devotional reading as I was walking from the office to Starbucks. Since I was feeling pretty sleepy, I figured a nice walk would work well together with a hot latte. After crossing the street I saw one of the resident beggars, Michael, sitting on a bench and instantly knew I was going to have a short conversation with him. He stood up and walked with me for a bit talking about how he needed $1.89 to buy a huge bottle of water because he was thirsty and he’s living on $5 a day. I remembered a while back he told me he was getting a check every week, but he kept blowing it on booze and food. I asked him about the check and he said he doesn’t get it anymore because he’s gone to jail a few times since for trespassing on his sister’s house.

The only cash I had on me was $1 and I had planned on using it for coffee but gave it to Mike instead. The whole time I could smell weed on him. I assume that other people have also felt this way, but I wasn’t confident that the dollar was going to go to a bottle of water. The only thing that really pushed me over was the lostness and despair in his eyes. He seemed more lost than before.

I walked away and continued listening to my audio Bible and bought a latte with my debit card. I thought “Isn’t it funny that I would struggle to give a dollar to someone, but have no problem spending three bucks on myself?”

There was a long line, so the New Testament reading that played while I was waiting was John, chapter 4.

I was listening to how a Samarian woman at a well came to draw water and Jesus initiates a conversation with her. He tells her that anyone who comes to this well to drink water will eventually have to come back again, because they’ll get thirsty again. But if anyone drinks of the “living” water that he himself will give to people, they will never be thirsty again (vv.13-15). It just seemed a little too beyond coincidence that Michael had asked me for money to buy water and that he was so thirsty. He’s never asked me for money to buy water before. It’s always been for juice or soda or food. The best I could muster up was one dollar, and I had a hard time with that. Yet I totally missed an opportunity to speak about living water, just like Jesus had done.

Then as I was leaving Starbucks, I had to walk back to my office, so I would cross paths with him again if he was still there. “Good,” I thought, “If he’s still there I’ll totally do it. I have no idea what the first thing I’ll say is, but I’ll give it a shot.” And then I had this conflicting thought that I didn’t really want to do it. He already kinda knows me and knows that I work at the church and I’ve prayed with him once or twice before, but I still somehow felt uncomfortable talking to him about God. So I considered crossing the street so I could be on the opposite side of the crosswalk from where he originally was. Then I realized that Jesus could have gone around Samaria if he had wanted to. In fact, every other Jew made it a point to cross the Jordan River and walk north, then cross the river again when they made it near Galilee, just so they could avoid having to walk through Samaria and *heaven forbid* speak to any Samaritans.

As you can guess, by this point I’m feeling pretty bad about myself. I felt plain horrible to have considered avoiding Michael again so I wouldn’t have to talk about something weird like living water and Jesus. I decided to just go straight and if he’s there, he’s there. I was pretty convinced that the Lord wanted me to have this conversation with him. He wasn’t there. I assume he went to go buy water.

But I missed it. I missed an opportunity. Jesus also told the woman at the well that God’s worshipers must worship him “in spirit and truth” (vv.23-24). My actions this morning show me that I wasn’t willing to live in the Spirit, and I wasn’t willing to speak the truth. The Christian life goes far beyond believing in Jesus and having him in your heart and reading your Bible and praying before meals; there must be a physical element of truth in our faith. One of Jesus’ brothers, James, later wrote that “faith apart from (good) works is dead” (James 2:26).

Lord, please forgive me and grant me another opportunity to speak to Michael words of truth, but also to show him in a real way that I’m not just interested in preaching to him, but that I’m genuinely concerned for his well-being, and for him to know you. Please burn this into my heart so that I cannot resist but speak what you put on my lips. May I be a faithful servant whenever and wherever I am. Help me in this Lord and change me.