On this twenty-second day of Lent, the 40 day devotional, Interruptions, delves deeper into Jesus’ intrusion into the life of a woman who encounters Him at a well to which she has come to draw water. Because His actions break long-held norms and societal expectations, the woman is caught off guard, shaken, confused and perhaps a little afraid (my inference) – after all, she is a woman alone confronted by a strange man at a place customarily peopled by women. What is really going on here? What rests at the core of this interruption? What greater purpose is being served by this intrusion?
On the surface the exchanges between the woman and Jesus seem simple. He’s thirsty and tired. She’s in need of water for herself and household. He has nothing with which to draw the water. She has a water jar. She is shocked by his unorthodox manner, of his crossing the lines of acceptable behavior. He is all-knowing of her status in the community and that her needs go far beyond earthly water and the quenching of thirst it offers. But God as always allows nothing to transpire without His purposes being served. As with every experience of humanity, and in this instance of Jesus’ dual nature, His plans unfold.
From my perspective, the same can be said of this time in human history. On the surface, the raging pandemic can be thought of another onslaught of a new flu-like virus to which people have no immunity. It has happened before ( H2N2 in 1957-58; 1968 Hong Kong flu; the swine flu epidemic of 2009-2010; the infamous Spanish flu of 1918) But this one feels different, and perhaps because it does and the world’s responses to it have been nothing like I’ve seen my lifetime, I’m inclined to look beneath the surface; to look for the Divine’s purposes. Oh, I know many will say, ” That’s so unscientific, so doomsday, so baseless in reality, etc.” But those who do fail to receive scripture as a living document; a guidebook if you will, for understanding and responding to the world in which we live, and ultimately to its Creator.
I’ll end here, and pick up this theme next time; examining today’s pandemic within the framework of the questions raised above.
Love. Joy. Peace.