Monday, March 2: Judy Katri

John 4:27. They were astonished that [Jesus] was speaking with a woman.

Sometime ago when I worshipped at Grace Cathedral in San Francisco, I noted the mission statement printed in the service program: “We believe in one God, known to us in Jesus Christ, also known by different names in different traditions. We seek to challenge and transform the world beginning with ourselves and to celebrate the image of God in every person…”

In the fourth chapter of John’s Gospel Jesus is traveling from Southern Israel to Northern Israel through Samaria where He encounters a Samaritan woman at Jacob’s well. Considering the cultural context of the time, it is shocking that Jesus reaches out to a woman; particularly a marginalized woman from a different culture and background. The Samaritans were despised by the Jews for many historical and religious reasons. They did know Yahweh as the God who gave Moses the law, and yet they also worshipped idols. Both the Jews and the Samaritans were hoping expectantly for the coming of their Messiah.

In their earlier conversation, Jesus says to the Samaritan woman, “If you only knew what a wonderful gift God has for you, and who I am you would ask for living water.” (4:10) The woman asks where this water comes from and if Jesus is greater than their ancestor Jacob. Here Jesus begins to reveal His person and purpose. The two unlikely strangers also discover a commonality in their shared patriarch, Jacob.

In rushing back to town to tell her neighbors about her encounter the woman symbolically leaves her water jar at the well. She proclaims, “Come and see the man who told me everything I ever did. Could this be the Christ?” (4:29) Now the Samaritans see something different about this unnamed woman. The people of the village went streaming to the well to meet Jesus. “Many of the Samaritans from that town believed in Him because of the woman’s testimony.” (4:40)

We, too, like the woman at the well and the people of Grace Cathedral. can be messengers of God’s grace, regardless of our diverse backgrounds or circumstances. In seeking the image of God in every person, even we can make a difference in the world- beginning with ourselves. 

  

—Judy Katri