Read: John 4:16-26
I who speak to you am he. (v. 26)
We often avoid people when we feel shame and loneliness. We don’t want others to learn the truth that we believe about ourselves. “I am the worst . . .”—you fill in the blank. We hide from our pain and isolate from others.
That’s the story found in John 4. The Samaritan woman avoided others by drawing her water from the well during the heat of the day rather than coming with other women during a cooler time. When she arrived at the well, she encountered Jesus resting there. Jesus and the woman engaged in conversation about the living water Jesus offers. Then, Jesus addressed her shame directly by asking her to call her husband. The woman confessed that she had no husband. Jesus commended her for telling the truth, and she recognized Jesus as a prophet, but once again, the woman tried to hide her shame. She deflected the conversation to the subject of worship. She told Jesus she believed the Messiah was coming. She said, “When he comes, he will tell us all things” (v. 25). Jesus said to her, “I who speak to you am he” (v. 26). Then she told her neighbors, “Come, see . . . Can this be the Christ?” (v. 29).
Jesus comes to us in our shame. We are not alone. He replaces the lies that we believe about ourselves with his truth that we are his beloved children. Will you allow his living water to wash all your shame away?
As you pray, give Jesus your pain and shame.
Nancy Boote, an ordained minister in the Reformed Church in America, lives in Holland, Michigan, with her husband. She serves in a variety of leadership positions within the denomination. Besides being a wife, mother, and grandmother, Nancy enjoys taking prayer walks, hiking in nature, mentoring, and has a heart for justice matters.
