JOHN 4:1-42; 8:1-11
Once upon a time, they were two little girls with hopes and dreams. They thought about what it would be like to grow up, get married and have children of their own. They imagined what they would wear on that day, who would be invited, what the party would be like and how long it would last. Like so many little girls, they played that scenario out in their minds as the day drew closer and closer.
They never stopped to think that their lives might end up the way they did.
One woman went through five husbands. We don’t know why. Maybe they all died. Maybe they all left her. Maybe she left some of them and some of them left her. We don’t know, but there are several possible scenarios, all leading to the same outcome: Her heart had been broken more than once.
The end of a marriage is like a death in the family. Nothing prepares a person for it. And to some extent, it doesn’t matter whose fault it is; when a marriage ends, a heart breaks. Maybe it was her fault; maybe it wasn’t. Maybe it wasn’t anyone’s fault; maybe it just happened. Regardless, she must have been devastated.
Now imagine what it was like to go through it again, and again, and again, and again. Five times she gave her heart away. Five times it was broken. We can understand if she was willing to only go halfway now; she might live with a guy, but get married? No thanks.
The other woman had been caught, the door broken down just as dawn was breaking. She was still in bed with the man when they came in and dragged her out. Did she even know his name? Was he a long-time friend? We know nothing of the man; it was the woman these religious ruffians wanted to shame.
They hustled her through the streets to the Temple, throwing her to the ground at the feet of Jesus. To them, she had ceased to be a person; she was an object, wielded for their purposes. They were using her to make a point, to win an argument, to defeat the enemy they found in this traveling rabbi.
Two little girls — full of innocence and wide-eyed wonder — had grown up to be two women who knew the pain of this world. Their eyes had been opened, and they shuddered at what they were forced to see, until the moment they saw Him.
In this strange man, whose name they did not even know, they found the ultimate fulfilment of all the hopes and dreams they had carried in their hearts since childhood. They found a faithful Man who didn’t want them because of what they could do for Him. They found a Rescuer who refused to condemn. They found a Provider who would never abandon them. They found a Messiah who knew everything about their pasts and loved them anyway.
Prayer
Lord Jesus, life in this broken world is fraught with so much sorrow and pain and with so many broken dreams and hopes. In our heart of hearts, we know what the world should be like and we long for that better world. Yet we do not have the power to make it happen, because we lack the inner resources to become the people You intended us to be. I thank and praise You that You have come into the world to rescue us from ourselves by drawing us to You. In spite of the ravages of human rebellion, You have come with compassion and grace to transform us into Your image and empower us to live a new kind of life with dignity, purpose and hope. In spite of our sinful and broken lives, You come to us with the gifts of acceptance, forgiveness and love. I magnify Your Name because of the awful price You paid with Your own blood to give us this new and eternal life.
In Jesus’s name, Amen
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