The One About Being Looked For {DWITW 365}
A baby comes into the world looking for someone to look for them. – Curt Thompson
I wonder if we ever outgrow this? Curt Thompson uses the noun “baby,” but I have to believe we could substitute any variety of other nouns, and it would be true: A vulnerable adolescent. An angst-ridden teen. A widowed man. A woman with a reputation. Even in the hardest of seasons, I believe one is always looking for someone to look for them.
In John chapter 4, we meet a woman of Samaria with a reputation that could widen many eyes. Five times she’s been married, and her current beau isn’t even her betrothed. I can imagine the people of Sychar whispering behind their hands as this woman walked past them to the well. I imagine her walking with her eyes fixed on the ground, not wanting to address the truths and fallacies of what her townspeople were saying. And yet, I feel convinced she was hoping to find someone looking for her; I don’t think a woman uninterested in being sought would go to the trouble of marrying five times and then sharing a bed with a man who wasn’t hers in the first place. She was in the pursuit of looking for someone looking for her.
Each day we rise with the knowledge of our own stories. Whether self-awareness is in play or not, we know what our histories hold. Each day, this woman of Samaria faced the people who lived alongside her in Sychar, knowing the beds she’d shared, the loves she’d buried, the hope she still held - despite it all. We know all those intricacies about ourselves, but it isn’t often many others have full disclosure on our personal privacies. Either because it’s none of their business, or we are simply private people, or perhaps others don’t know because they are just too heavy or they feel too undignified to offer up to another. So, we stifle, keep to ourselves, remain tight-lipped, but we are ever looking.
He just doesn’t care what other people think. He’s not concerned about labels, He doesn’t follow normative, societal patterns. He just wants to bring folks to His Dad and love the stuffing out of them.
Imagine with me what that day must have felt like for the woman of Samaria . . . it’s just another day. She needs water, so she goes to the source. Not expecting anything abnormal, she’s perhaps thinking about whatever she did the night before, the last conversation she shared, maybe pondering the situation she’s currently in with a married man. She arrives at the well and finds a Jewish man, sealing the deal that she will not be speaking, free to remain in her thoughts.
But Jesus has another plan.
“Give me a drink,” He says. I imagine she whirled around, stunned by the audacity and boldness of this stranger to speak to her, a woman of Samaria. And in this moment, everything changes.
Now I think we could dive into a variety of reasons why this passage holds importance. The one I always hone in on, however, and the one I wrote in my sloppy handwriting in the margins between the text, is simple: He speaks to her.
This is unique for a couple reasons – He’s a Jew and she a citizen of Samaria – these were not folks who mingled at the annual block party. He’s a man and she’s a woman - and unless you were married, men and women just didn’t talk shop at the local watering hole. Jesus is scandalous, ya’ll.
And I don’t want us to overlook these things. In fact, these things add up to one of the biggest reasons I’m so crazy about Jesus – He just doesn’t care what other people think. He’s not concerned about labels, He doesn’t follow normative, societal patterns. He just wants to bring folks to His Dad and love the stuffing out of them. It’s a big deal.
But let’s go back to that first quote in the beginning; a baby comes into the world looking for someone to look for them. Now substitute some words to describe our gal at the well, in for “baby.”
A woman with a reputation is in the world looking for someone to look for her.
A woman with questionable relationship patterns is in the world looking for someone to look for her.
A woman yearning for relationship is in the world looking for someone to look for her.
A traumatized woman is in the world looking for someone to look for her.
Sound familiar? This woman then, doesn’t seem so different than us. How often, when we are seeking something or someone, do we look up? (Or in her case, right in front of us?)
I imagine the woman of Samaria and I probably would’ve been fast friends. I’ve never been married, and I don’t share beds with men who belong to another woman, but I’ve had some missteps in my narrative. And even knowing everything I know about my own story, I still look to be looked for.
And I know Jesus is still waiting at the proverbial well. He will always ask the questions, though He’s got the answers. He will always seek us out, though He’s aware of our coordinates. He speaks to us - no matter where we’ve been, where we’re thinking about going, no matter what.
He is waiting, sisters, with our full history in hand, to ensure that, whether we even know to look for Him in the first place, He never stops looking for us.
Steph Duff wants to live in a world where every human, whether small or regular-sized, learns to use their voice and is seen and known. When she's not traveling and story telling with Back2Back Ministries, you'll likely find her drinking excessive cups of coffee, with her nose in a book, or daydreaming about India. Her favorite scripture is Habakkuk 1:5, and she prays for a world in which Jesus is the name on every lip. Learn a little more about her love for semi-colons, what stirs her blood, and the yearnings of her heart over at www.stephaniduff.wordpress.com.