(Not) Beyond Hope

[The Midweek Encounter is a ministry of Encounter Church in Kentwood, MI. These posts are a reflection on Sunday's message, which can be heard here each week: http://www.myencounterchurch.org/#/messages-media]


Maybe it’s the coworker who always shows up for work late, leaves early, and seems to leave half their work unfinished. Maybe it’s the fellow student who brags about partying every weekend and cheating on their exams. Or maybe it’s the people we hear about on the news, those who steal and kill and destroy. And maybe we see glimpses of it in ourselves, in the wrongs we commit but have never told anyone about.

Most of us can think of the person, or the types of people, we think will never change. If we’re honest, we may wonder if they can change, or if maybe there are some people who are too far gone and are only capable of spiraling deeper into darkness.

In John 4, we find the story of the Samaritan woman. She came to the well at noon, perhaps because she was unwelcome with the other women or because she wanted to be alone. Or, as Pastor Dirk suggested on Sunday, perhaps she had a hidden motive of going to the well by herself of thinking she may happen upon a lone man. This woman had had 5 husbands, and the man she was living with at the time was not even one of her husbands. In that time, a life like this would have drawn more than its fair share of whispers, gossip, and speculation. Some of her neighbors may have written her off completely by this point, assuming she would never change and could never be better than her circumstances.

Jesus, however, did not see her that way.

He didn’t have to go through Samaria to get to Galilee. He didn’t have to stay by the well while all his disciples went off. He didn’t have to situate himself by or even on the well. And, given the customs of that time, he certainly didn’t have to talk to this Samaritan, much less this Samaritan woman.

But he did. Despite all the reasons he didn’t have to, and despite knowing her story, Jesus spoke to her. He talked to her when maybe no one else would, and he told her who he was, and of the way to a better life--a life of following him. Ultimately, that conversation led to this woman and many other Samaritans believing in Christ.

Jesus knew that even a woman with a messy past was not beyond hope.

As followers of him, he calls us to believe that too. And not just to believe it, but to act on it. He calls us to show his love and tell his story to everyone, without letting our own judgments of who is or who is not capable of change through Jesus, getting in the way. Because of Jesus, no one is ever beyond hope. There is no darkness that he cannot reach into, where his light cannot touch. Jesus was willing to do what it took to reach out to the Samaritan woman.

What could our city, our state, the world look like if we all lived the same way? What if we really believed that no one is beyond hope?


[Brianna DeWitt is a believer in Jesus, surrounding yourself with good people, and that desserts are best when they involve chocolate and peanut butter. She also blogs at http://awritespot.wordpress.com and tweets at @bwitt722.]