Why I Can’t Be Color Blind
Well actually I am color blind, the physical eyesight red/green color blind kind. Before you ask, yes I see apples as red and not grey, same with firetrucks and other things that are very red. Grass is green and when I have been to Ireland I have seen more shades of green than I can count. But some shades of green, ones that are more towards yellow, like neon green golf balls, I can’t pick up the green in them and see only yellow, very very bright yellow. Shades of pink that don’t have enough red in them can indeed look grey to me. The color gets washed out and actually looks bland and lifeless most times. Because I am unable to see the range of color that people without color deficiency have, that’s the correct phrase by the way, I am denied the experience of seeing the world in the greater beauty of what God has created. It is something I have lived with my whole life, other people see more of the worlds beauty than I do.
That leads me to why I can’t be color blind in the racial sense. I know that is a common phrase these days as people attempt to say, “I treat everyone the same no matter what color they are”. But I think we miss out on something beautiful and important when we try to be color blind in the racial sense. I miss out on a certain aspect of the beauty of God’s creation by not being able to see some shades of red and green, and I miss out on knowing something for what it really is, because I can’t truly see it. If I try to be color blind in the racial sense I run the risk of the same things and even worse. If I am color blind in the racial sense then I run the risk of seeing everyone in the same bland shade of grey and I will never be able to fully appreciate that they are in fact different from me and their color has given them experiences in life that are different from mine.
A fellow pastor named Darryl, who is black, is the one who opened my eyes to this a few years ago. If I claim to be color blind and not see that he is in fact black, then I will fail to fully appreciate who he is and what his life is like. I will be blind to what his life is like because I will fail to appreciate how life is different because of his being black and my being white. I will never ask the question, what was it like growing up in a black community. I will never want to know about the rich traditions or culture of black society and as a result I will be impoverished. I will fail to see the unique person God made him to be and fail to appreciate the experiences, good and bad, that shaped him into the person he is today. Being black is a part of the uniqueness of who he is and part of the beauty of who he is. Likewise if he looks at me and claims to be color blind and fails to see a white man, there are things about who God made me to be that he will miss. He will not be able to understand who I am and how my experiences as a white man have shaped me as an individual.
The question is not, can I be color blind. The question is, how will I treat you as a person who is different from me? When I see your color will I treat you as equally valuable and deserving of love and respect and dignity as Christ says I should? Will I see an opportunity to love another human being as someone made in the image of God, a God is is so vast and complex that His image is carried by people who are of so many different colors, and sizes, and shapes? Will I see a chance to grow in my understanding and appreciation for the diversity that God has made in the totality of this group called The Human Race? Will I see a chance for your different experiences in life to add richness and understanding to mine, and vice versa?
I don’t want to be color blind. Not in the red/green sense that I am. I want to see all the colors of the spectrum in their beauty and majesty., their richness and fullness. I don’t want to be color blind in the racial sense either. I don’t want to see people as shades of grey like I see shades of pink, washed out and bland, colorless and lifeless. I want to see people of all colors for who they are and see the richness and beauty of those many colors. I want to be able to know what they have experienced, their struggles and their victories, their hurts and their joys, their dreams and their nightmares. I want to know where those things are the same as mine and where they are different. I want that so I can celebrate with them and weep with them. I want to see them and have them know they are seen for who they really are. Just as I want to be seen for who I am and known for who I really am. I want that so I can grow as a Christ follower who loves God with all his heart mind soul and strength and who loves his neighbor as himself.
A Year of Listening to Jesus Day 34 Mark 1:38
38 And he said to them, “Let us go on to the next towns, that I may preach there also, for that is why I came out.”
Jesus has driven the demons out of a man by the power of his word. He has healed numerous people, including Simon Peter’s mother-in-law. But now he is moving on to the next town and for a very specific reason. He wants to preach the Gospel to them as well. That is why he came. It drove him. It consumed him. He launched his ministry by declaring that he came to preach Good News, freedom for the oppressed, the forgiveness of sins, captives set free.
We can never overestimate the critical task of spreading the Gospel. It is so easy for us to get distracted by so many things that seem to be important. Jesus could have easily been distracted by all sorts of things, opposition from his family, religious leaders who wanted to debate him, people with needs of every variety. But he kept his focus on declaring the Good News that salvation was available by following Him in faith.
The salvation Jesus preached about was not just a ticket to heaven. He offered a changed life here and now as well. That is obvious in the lives he changed and the message of freedom and abundant life that he preached. That new life was to be found in a relationship of trust, following Jesus no matter what.
Crucial to the task of following Jesus is being people who live life differently because of the new life we are given. It is also crucial that we proclaim the Good News to others as Jesus did. It is not enough to just live a nice Christian life and hope people get it. It is critical that followers of Jesus also preach the message, meaning we also declare and tell others what Jesus has done for us and what he can do for them.
A Year of Listening to Jesus The Power of The Word
Sorry for the hiatus of writing. It is amazing how a week of being down with an illness can put you weeks behind in so many areas of life. But we are back with A Year of Listening to Jesus.
But Jesus rebuked him, saying, “Be silent, and come out of him!” Mark 1:25
The Bible begins with God speaking and causing all creation to come into existence. The shear magnitude of the power of God’s voice and words is beyond what I can comprehend. That power is bound together with God’s authority as King. When He speaks, all creation must listen and obey.
When Jesus was confronted by a demon possessed man in the early days of his ministry the power of God’s Word became evident. The demon spoke through the man and challenged Jesus. But Jesus would have none of that and commanded the demon to be quiet and to release the man. As a result of just six words from Jesus the demon completely obeyed.
The crowd, including the religious leaders, were stunned at the authority that Jesus spoke with and that the demon obeyed him. This was unlike anything they had ever witnessed. For some it was a source of inspiration and encouragement. Here was a messiah whose words could bring healing and new life. For others it was a source of consternation and anxiety. Here was a man who could challenge their authority and cause them to lose control of their own destiny and power. They saw that they too would have to submit to such power and it did not sit well with them.
For 2,000 years people have had the same two reactions to the Bible. For many, it is God’s Word and a source of comfort and strength. The ability of the Bible to ease their anxiety, give them direction, instill confidence, and answer life’s most difficult questions, makes it a priceless resource. For others the call that Bible places on them for surrendering to God, giving up with idols, and admitting that they are not the center of the universe, maks the Bible a hard task master that they seek to remove from their lives.
If you were to go back and ask the demon possessed man who was freed by Jesus if he wanted his demons back or wanted to remain free, I am certain he would want to remain free. If you asked him his opinion of the words of Jesus I suspect he would want as much of those words spoken into his life as he could possibly get.
What is your reaction to the words of Jesus?
A Year of Listening to Jesus 2/1 John 4:50
50 Jesus said to him, “Go; your son will live.” The man believed the word that Jesus spoke to him and went on his way.
After chastising the crowd for their desire for a show of miracles and wonders, Jesus speaks a very simple command to the man who came and asked for healing for his son. “Go, your son will live”. The man took Jesus at his word. Something in the way Jesus said those words caught the man’s attention as nothing ever before. He believed Jesus. Without any evidence at all, he took Jesus at his word. He demonstrated the exact opposite reaction that the crowd had. They wanted more signs and wonders before they would even consider believing.
Maybe it was the desperation of the man’s situation. He had no place else to turn for his sons life. Maybe it was the power of Jesus words. Maybe it was the work of the Holy Spirit giving the man faith. Maybe it was a combination of all three. Whatever the case, the man believed and began the journey home.
The next day he was met by some friends who told him that his son was well and would live. When he inquired about the time his son recovered it matched exactly with the moment Jesus spoke. How powerful is the healing power of Jesus? He doesn’t need to touch people to heal them, though sometimes he does. He doesn’t need to be near them to heal them though sometimes he is. All he needs to to command that healing take place and it does, even if the person being healed is miles away. Once again Jesus demonstrates his power.
How does that impact your picture of Jesus? So often we see him as this quiet, contemplative, wondering preacher. He is that but he is also the omnipotent God of power who spoke creation into existence. That God of power promises to be by your side no matter what as long as you put your trust in him. You are never alone. Not problem you have is too great for him. Trust him.
A Year of Listening to Jesus 1/31 John 4:48
48 So Jesus said to him, “Unless you see signs and wonders you will not believe.”
Jesus returned to Cana where he changed water into wine. He is meet by a father whose son is near death. The man is desperate for Jesus to heal his son. You would think this is the perfect time for Jesus to jump right in and heal the boy and demonstrate that he is in fact the Lord and Messiah. By he seems to actually chastise the father by claiming that he won’t believe unless he sees sign and wonders. That certainly feels harsh. I mean after all his son is dying. What is Jesus thinking?
Is it possible that he is speaking not only or even primarily to the father but to the whole crowd that has gathered around. The water into wine trick would certainly have become common knowledge. Many of these folks were most likely at the wedding. Have the come looking for another miracle to tickle their spiritual curiosity? Jesus deals with this on several occasions. People just want a show. They want more and more proof. They want him to make more fish and bread to feast on.
I often hear people say that it would have been so much easier to believe in Jesus if they had been there in the first century and seen him perform miracles like the fish and bread or walking on water or raising the dead. But the fact is you and I would be no different from the people who actually say those things. They had a hard time believing Jesus. Some did, many were just curious, some outright rejected him.
That raises the whole question of what does it take for you to trust God? How big a miracle do you need to be able to say, yes I believe? Jesus has previously said that the greatest evidence he will give for his deity is the raising up of his body after three days. That happened on the first Easter morning. We won’t get to that until near the end of the year but fortunately for us we know that is happened and can look at so much of what Jesus said and did in the light of the resurrection.
The evidence for the life and death and resurrection of Jesus is so overwhelmingly strong that we don’t need to have lived back then and seen the miracles he did. We look back on the greatest miracle of all and put our trust in him.
A Year of Listening to Jesus 1/30 Luke 4:33-35
33 And in the synagogue there was a man who had the spirit of an unclean demon, and he cried out with a loud voice, 34 “Ha! What have you to do with us, Jesus of Nazareth? Have you come to destroy us? I know who you are—the Holy One of God.” 35 But Jesus rebuked him, saying, “Be silent and come out of him!” And when the demon had thrown him down in their midst, he came out of him, having done him no harm.
There could not be a more sharp contrast than that of the unbelief on the part of the people of Nazareth, who refused to acknowledge Jesus as the Messiah and the demons who possessed a man and proclaimed exactly who Jesus was. The demons recognized the Messiah, the Holy One of God, when they saw him. Yet, even though they recognized who Jesus was, they refused to submit to him. In that regard they were no different than the people of Nazareth, except maybe even more guilty since they knew who Jesus was.
This shows us that it is possible to have true knowledge about God but still not have faith. Faith requires being willing to trust God and be obedient to him. The demons had knowledge by not trust. Many people today can claim to have a knowledge of God but if they fail to trust him and submit to him, they are no better than the demons.
We also see the power in the words of Jesus. All he needs to do is speak and the demons, who refused to submit to him willingly, are forced to do so by the power of his word. It is that same word that spoke the universe into existence. It is the same word that called forth Lazarus from the grave. It is the same word that pronounced forgiveness on you if you have come to faith in Christ. It is a word of power that accomplishes what God intends it to accomplish. In this case it drove demons out of a man and healed and restored him.
The word of Christ can also heal and restore you. But you need to trust it. You need to believe it is true. When Jesus says you are forgiven you can believe it. When Jesus says you are loved, you can trust it. When Jesus says he will never leave or forsake you, you can depend on it because the word of God is powerful and reliable.
A Year of Listening to Jesus 1/29 Luke 4:23-27
23 And he said to them, “Doubtless you will quote to me this proverb, ‘“Physician, heal yourself.” What we have heard you did at Capernaum, do here in your hometown as well.’” 24 And he said, “Truly, I say to you, no prophet is acceptable in his hometown. 25 But in truth, I tell you, there were many widows in Israel in the days of Elijah, when the heavens were shut up three years and six months, and a great famine came over all the land, 26 and Elijah was sent to none of them but only to Zarephath, in the land of Sidon, to a woman who was a widow. 27 And there were many lepers in Israel in the time of the prophet Elisha, and none of them was cleansed, but only Naaman the Syrian.”
If Jesus wanted to get his hometown folks furious with him he could not have chosen a better way to do so. Upon receiving some pushback and doubt from them about the appropriateness of him identifying himself as the Messiah, he doubles down by calling their faith into question.
First he does it by connecting them to people in the past who rejected messengers sent by God. He especially connects them to people who cannot accept a prophet simply because he grew up among them. In doing this he is targeting their pride. “What makes this guy think he is so much better than us?” “We saw him grow up like the rest of us”. “He is not so special”.
Then he goes a step further and points out situations when people who were not ethnic Jews had greater faith than they did. Again he calls their pride into question. It is a spiritual pride. They think they are better than other people. They are certainly no worse than Jesus.
Spiritual pride is deadly. It eventually crushes the one who has it and the one who is made to feel unworthy. It is critical for followers of Jesus to understand that we are broken sinners who are far worse than we think we are. We have no room to look down on anyone else. We especially don’t have room to do that because we are following Jesus. That is all by the grace of God and is a gift. We cannot take any credit for our spiritual position before Christ and so we cannot look down on anyone whose position is different.
Sadly, the longer one is engaged in the life of the church and following Jesus, the greater the risk of becoming spiritually proud. One tends to forget the depths of their sin and the desperate need for Jesus. Reminding ourselves of our need for the Gospel is a daily exercise. It is needed to keep spiritually humble and to have a compassionate heart for those who do not know Him yet.
A second lesson in this passage is to remember that when you come to faith in Christ, it can be difficult for the people who know you best to accept the change. Being patient and allowing your changed life to speak for itself, and also staying humble, are necessary if you are going to reach the people closest to you. It took twenty years of me following Jesus before my father finally did. There is always hope.
A Year of Listening to Jesus 1/28 Luke 4:17-21
17 And the scroll of the prophet Isaiah was given to him. He unrolled the scroll and found the place where it was written,
18 “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me,
because he has anointed me
to proclaim good news to the poor.
He has sent me to proclaim liberty to the captives
and recovering of sight to the blind,
to set at liberty those who are oppressed,
19 to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.”
20 And he rolled up the scroll and gave it back to the attendant and sat down. And the eyes of all in the synagogue were fixed on him. 21 And he began to say to them, “Today this Scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing.”
The passage from Isaiah was looked upon as a direct reference to what the Messiah would do. Jesus shocks the crowd in the synagogue by reading it and proclaiming that after all these centuries those words have come to pass. The most shocking part was that the audience was the people of Nazareth, the town he grew up in. They thought it would be a great day. Jesus was gaining in popularity so as he comes home they invite him to read the scripture for the day and speak.
In the providence of God the scripture for the day os this passage from Isaiah and it gives Jesus the opportunity to publicly announce that the Messiah has come. It also give him the opportunity to define the Gospel message that he is bringing. It is good news for people who have been down trodden and oppressed and enslaved. In some cases it is physical oppression and enslavement but for everyone it is a spiritual enslavement that he comes to break.
That raises the question of what our message is. Do people outside the Christian faith hear a message of freedom from you or is it a message of duty and religion and a different kind of enslavement? The Gospel is meant to bring freedom from all that weights us down and bring life that is abundant. Far too often the impression Christians give us that following Jesus is a burden. Jesus wants you to be free from your manmade religion and rules and live in the light of the Gospel message of freedom in Christ and a new life that is one of joy and celebration.
A Year of Listening to Jesus 1/27 John 4:35-38
35 Do you not say, ‘There are yet four months, then comes the harvest’? Look, I tell you, lift up your eyes, and see that the fields are white for harvest. 36 Already the one who reaps is receiving wages and gathering fruit for eternal life, so that sower and reaper may rejoice together. 37 For here the saying holds true, ‘One sows and another reaps.’ 38 I sent you to reap that for which you did not labor. Others have labored, and you have entered into their labor.”
You have to have some sympathy for Jesus’ disciples. Just in this event with the woman at the well he rocks their world by having a conversation with her. We know from other accounts of the life of Jesus that James and John wanted to call the wrath of God down on the Samaritans and here is Jesus not only talking to a Samaritan woman but being respectful. They are so dumbfounded and confused that they don’t even ask him about it. They are not sure what to say.
Jesus speaks and seems to answer the questions they must have had but his answer is incredibly cryptic and probably caused them to ask more questions. He speaks of the fields being ready for harvest and of building on the work that others have done. What he is talking about is that the Samaritans are ripe for hearing the Gospel and the disciples need to understand that they are called to reach everyone, including the Samaritans, even if they don’t particularly like the Samaritans.
Jesus is also pointing out that the work of reaching people with the Gospel is a group effort. People have already been doing ministry among the Samaritans to make them ready for the message. We don’t know who those people were but it is obvious from the response of the woman and the rest of the village that they are ready to hear about the Messiah.
This continues to be true even today. People all around you are ready to hear about Jesus. There have been other people in their lives who have prepared the ground and tended the garden of their hearts. They are ready. The question is, how ready are you to let people know about the faith you have in Jesus and the difference he can make in their life? How willing are you to engage in conversations like Jesus did with the woman? That is how we are going to reach people and do what Jesus called us to do, by being willing to be with them, come along side them, befriend them, engage them.
A Year of Listening to Jesus 1/26 John 4:25-26
25 The woman said to him, “I know that Messiah is coming (he who is called Christ). When he comes, he will tell us all things.” 26 Jesus said to her, “I who speak to you am he.”
After debating the proper place for worship the Samaritan woman brings up the messiah. She leans into the idea that when the Messiah comes he will settle the issue of the proper place and way to worship. Jesus shocks the woman by making a bold and clear statement that he is in fact the Messiah she is waiting for.
If there is every a statement by Jesus that fits into the famous trilemma proposed by C.S. Lewis, this would be it. Lewis proposed that when it comes to Jesus there are only three options to understand who he is. He is either the Lord, a liar, or a lunatic. Jesus clearly claimed to be the Messiah. A full understanding of that when we look at the rest of the New Testament also includes that he is God come in the flesh.
Jesus makes a claim that is either true or false. If it is false there are two options. One is he knew it was false and that makes him a liar. If it was false and he believed it, then that makes him a lunatic. He thought he was the messiah but he was not. If however what he said was true then that makes him the Lord he claimed to be.
Jesus the Lord, the long promised Messiah, deserves our obedience and worship. So often we are urged to put our trust in Jesus so we can have eternal life and that is certainly true. But Jesus is worthy of our praise and devotion and obedience, not because of what he can do for us but because of who he is. Obedience of Jesus is part and parcel of being a follower of Jesus, because he is Lord. As Lord he has the authority to call us to obedience.
We live in a time when people do not like being told what to do. We want the freedom to do whatever we want, whenever we want. We want to be able to do what makes us feel happy, or pleasurable, or satisfied. In essence we submit to something else as our Lord other than Jesus. Obedience to Jesus the Messiah is the best way for us to live because of who Jesus is. Sometimes that obedience is difficult. But often times the difficult thing to do is the right thing to do. Followers of Jesus can obey Him out of love and devotion for what he has done. However, followers of Jesus must also obey Jesus simply because he is the Messiah and Lord.
A Year of Listening to Jesus 1/25 John 4:16-24
16 Jesus said to her, “Go, call your husband, and come here.” 17 The woman answered him, “I have no husband.” Jesus said to her, “You are right in saying, ‘I have no husband’; 18 for you have had five husbands, and the one you now have is not your husband. What you have said is true.” 19 The woman said to him, “Sir, I perceive that you are a prophet. 20 Our fathers worshiped on this mountain, but you say that in Jerusalem is the place where people ought to worship.” 21 Jesus said to her, “Woman, believe me, the hour is coming when neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem will you worship the Father. 22 You worship what you do not know; we worship what we know, for salvation is from the Jews. 23 But the hour is coming, and is now here, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for the Father is seeking such people to worship him. 24 God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth.”
A single woman, divorced multiple times, living with the latest man in her life. In the culture of first century Israel she was an outcast of outcasts. Even today there are many who would reject and judge her. What a different encounter she had with Jesus. He not only did not reject her, he actually engaged her in conversation. He treated her with dignity and respect.
Typically we deal in extremes in situations like this. People would either reject the woman or accept he and her lifestyle as being perfectly fine. Jesus did nether of these things. He absolutely accepted her but he also called her life choices into question. He did it without heaping condemnation on her but he did make it clear that her life was not what it could be or ought to be. She knew that was what he was saying, that is why she deflected the conversation. She really didn’t want to talk about her life.
Interestingly, Jesus went with it. He engaged in the conversation she wanted to engage in. He didn’t do it because he didn’t want to talk about her life. He did it because it kept her engaged and allowed that opportunity for further ministry to emerge. And that is exactly what happened. This woman began to feel the love and respect Jesus gave her and as a result she opened up and her life was forever changed.
People often say, hate the sin but love the sinner. Yet rarely to people stay engaged in the relationship long enough for the other person to experience that love. They are already sensitized to being rejected and will sniff out any hint of it and bale. How willing are you to hang in there, over the long haul, with people whose lives are a mess and need Jesus? Do you know how to truly love them while not affirming their poor life choices? The more you watch how Jesus did it the better you will get at it.
A Year of Listening to Jesus 1/24 John 4:16-24
Imagine meeting a perfect stranger who proceeds to tell you some of your darkest secrets. It would certainly be disconcerting to say the least. You might try to deflect the conversation, change the subject, or flat out deny what they say.
The woman at the well decides to change the subject and take advantage of the knowledge Jesus has by engaging him in a theological debate about worship. It is not a bad tactic. If you want to stir up controversy and get people talking, a debate about worship preferences and theology will certainly to that. The Samaritans were not welcome in Jerusalem nor at the Temple there. As a result they established their own place of worship and the Jews despised them even more for it. The woman wants Jesus, whom she perceives to be a prophet, to settle the issue or at least talk about it.
Jesus makes a startling claim. God really doesn’t care much about where you worship. What really matters to God is that you do worship and you do so “in spirit and truth”. Okay, fine. But what does that mean? Given the setting and context of his conversation with the woman we can draw a few conclusions.
The debate over location for worship is also connected to what things you actually do in worship, what practices one follows. The Jews and Samaritans argued over form instead of function. As long as you performed the right actions, in the right place, at the right times, you were worshipping correctly. Jesus makes it clear that worship is first a matter of the Spirit. You have to be connected with God on a spiritual level to actually worship God. Performing the right rituals without the spiritual reality of a connection with God is useless and actually damaging. Because you are actually fooling yourself into thinking you are right with God.
The second aspect of truth is just as crucial. You have to know who God really is in order to worship HIm. You can have some “spiritual” experience that feels wonderful but if it is focused on a false understanding of God then you are worship a false God. This is where God’s Word becomes so important in worship. It is in his Word, his Truth, that God has most clearly made himself known. It is the God of the Bible who we worship and the more we learn of him through his word, the more amazing, beautiful, powerful, awesome, and worthy of worship he will become in our eyes.
A Year of Listening to Jesus 1/23 John 4:7-15
7 A woman from Samaria came to draw water. Jesus said to her, “Give me a drink.” 8 (For his disciples had gone away into the city to buy food.) 9 The Samaritan woman said to him, “How is it that you, a Jew, ask for a drink from me, a woman of Samaria?” (For Jews have no dealings with Samaritans.) 10 Jesus answered her, “If you knew the gift of God, and who it is that is saying to you, ‘Give me a drink,’ you would have asked him, and he would have given you living water.” 11 The woman said to him, “Sir, you have nothing to draw water with, and the well is deep. Where do you get that living water? 12 Are you greater than our father Jacob? He gave us the well and drank from it himself, as did his sons and his livestock.” 13 Jesus said to her, “Everyone who drinks of this water will be thirsty again, 14 but whoever drinks of the water that I will give him will never be thirsty again. The water that I will give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life.” 15 The woman said to him, “Sir, give me this water, so that I will not be thirsty or have to come here to draw water.”
Jesus promised the Samaritan woman that he has living water that if she drank it, she would never thirst again. The woman could only think in very tangible, physical terms. She was not thinking in spiritual terms at all. That should not surprise us. Most of us think more in practical, physical terms than we think about things from a spiritual perspective. All the woman could think about was never have to be physically thirsty again and never having to draw water from the well again.
But Jesus knew that she had a deeper thirst. There was an emotional and spiritual thirst in her life. It manifested itself in the multiple relationships she had with men. She was trying to fill some deep emotional need with physical relationships and it wasn’t working. Jesus was offering to quench her spiritual thirst and in the process heal her emotional needs as well.
So often we try to fill the spiritual void in our lives that exists because we are estranged from God. We try to fill it in ways that promise much but deliver little. In fact they usually end up making things worse. That was certainly that case with this woman. She was an outcast on several levels because she was trying to fill he need for love and acceptance in was that only destroyed her relationships.
What Jesus was promising to do for her was heal her spiritual brokenness and give her the hope and joy of a relationship with God that would satisfy her deepest longings. Not only did he promise a changed life now, but he promised that such a life would extend on into eternity. How sad is it that we recognize that something is not right in our lives and when we try solutions of our own design we only make it worse. How glorious is it that Jesus comes to us, even in our most broken moments and offers a life beyond our wildest dreams and he offers it for free.
Dan Lacich: Provocative Christian Living 