Who God Is—and Who God Says We Are—in the Midst of SufferingSample

Disregarding Limitations

My track coach was told to wash his hands of me because I was "trouble." Despite what people told him, he continued to meet me at the track every day and train with me.

I love the story of the woman at the well because I think it reflects not just what my track coach went through but also shows us how Jesus treats those who are cast out. Jesus shows us what to do when the world has set limitations on who we can reach by reaching out to them anyway.

In John 4, Jesus met a woman at the well and preached the gospel to her. The cultural limitation said Jews could not speak to Samaritans. That means an entire population was going unreached.

So what does Jesus do? He disregards culture's limitations. And he met this woman where she was—at a well—and told her about the never-ending life-giving water that is the truth of the gospel.

But the interesting thing is that Jesus didn’t go to the woman at the well with his disciples. Verse 8 says His disciples had gone into the town to buy food.

Why wouldn’t he take his disciples and use this as a teaching moment? Why wouldn’t he have brought more people to the woman with hopes of helping her be seen and known and loved by more? The more, the merrier it seems. So why did Jesus go alone?

Because even the people who are closest to Jesus, taking in His every word, being taught by Him, and tangibly loved by Him, would have focused on the limitations of the culture, which said Jews could not approach Samaritans. They would have pulled Jesus away from meeting the woman.

Jesus went to the woman that no one else would go to and purposefully met her where she was. He didn’t say you meet me here. He met her there and changed her life.

These people in my hometown were pulling my track coach away from me. But he still kept showing up where I was, which was one of the only places I was allowed to go—the track. And his persistent mentorship changed the trajectory of my life.

What is pulling you away from reaching out to those who are cast out?

Who could you reach out to that our culture typically stays away from?

Where would you like Jesus to meet you?