A few weeks ago, when I was visiting in Seoul with friends, we were approached on the subway by an apparent homeless man asking for money. The always awkward encounter was exacerbated by the fact that I didn't speak the beggar's language, and thus could really not communicate with him at all.
But after the man left was when things got really unpleasant. One of my friends started talking about how much he hates it when people ask him for money, and how he never gives them anything - they're just going to go spend it on some nefarious substance, anyway. And we've all heard the stories about people who make their living - and a very good living, at that - by pretending to be destitute and taking advantage of the mercy of strangers. So, on one hand, I couldn't really argue with my friend that the man was more than likely to spend any money we gave him on something other than food.
But every time I am approached by a person in need, I am reminded of an encounter I had in a Wal-mart parking lot a few years ago, when I was still in college. I had just bought a few things for my dorm room, and was walking back to my car, when all of a sudden I was approached by a big burly man, who asked me for some money to buy toilet paper. It was dark, the man was intimidating, and I was tired and didn't want to deal with him, but something told me to help this man, anyway. I prefer not to give money to strangers if I can avoid it, however, so I offered to go back into the store with him and buy some toilet paper for him.
While we were walking back into the store, he apparently decided that I should know all about his life - so he told me. He told me how his mother was sick and his father was dead, and so he was trying to take care of her. He told me about his long-term girlfriend that he was trying to save up enough money to marry. He told me about his recent release from prison, and how difficult it's been since then to try to get back on his feet, and about the welfare checks that for some reason the government had stopped sending. It's possible that he was just a really good liar, but I think it's far more likely that he really needed help, and either way, ever since then it's been impossible for me to look upon someone in need with disdain.
It's so easy for us to shrug off the entreaties of others, assuming things like "they don't really need my help....someone else will help them....they'll just spend the money on drugs or alcohol, anyway." Whatever the excuse may be, we have a tendency to group people together and make assumptions about them as a whole...it makes them seem less human, somehow, which makes it much easier to ignore their troubles.
But the only person who really has the ability to make a judgement on someone's past is Jesus...and He loves us anyway. If He, knowing our pasts, knowing our flaws, loves us and cares for us anyway, then who are we to react any differently when people around us need our help?
4 Now he had to go through Samaria. 5 So he came to a town in Samaria called Sychar, near the plot of ground Jacob had given to his son Joseph. 6 Jacob’s well was there, and Jesus, tired as he was from the journey, sat down by the well. It was about noon.
7 When a Samaritan woman came to draw water, Jesus said to her, “Will you give me a drink?” 8 (His disciples had gone into the town to buy food.)
9 The Samaritan woman said to him, “You are a Jew and I am a Samaritan woman. How can you ask me for a drink?” (For Jews do not associate with Samaritans.[a])
10 Jesus answered her, “If you knew the gift of God and who it is that asks you for a drink, you would have asked him and he would have given you living water.”
11 “Sir,” the woman said, “you have nothing to draw with and the well is deep. Where can you get this living water? 12Are you greater than our father Jacob, who gave us the well and drank from it himself, as did also his sons and his livestock?”
13 Jesus answered, “Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again, 14 but whoever drinks the water I give them will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give them will become in them a spring of water welling up to eternal life.”
15 The woman said to him, “Sir, give me this water so that I won’t get thirsty and have to keep coming here to draw water.”
16 He told her, “Go, call your husband and come back.”
17 “I have no husband,” she replied.
Jesus said to her, “You are right when you say you have no husband. 18 The fact is, you have had five husbands, and the man you now have is not your husband. What you have just said is quite true.”
19 “Sir,” the woman said, “I can see that you are a prophet. 20 Our ancestors worshiped on this mountain, but you Jews claim that the place where we must worship is in Jerusalem.”
21 “Woman,” Jesus replied, “believe me, a time is coming when you will worship the Father neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem. 22 You Samaritans worship what you do not know; we worship what we do know, for salvation is from the Jews. 23 Yet a time is coming and has now come when the true worshipers will worship the Father in the Spirit and in truth, for they are the kind of worshipers the Father seeks. 24 God is spirit, and his worshipers must worship in the Spirit and in truth.”
25 The woman said, “I know that Messiah” (called Christ) “is coming. When he comes, he will explain everything to us.”
26 Then Jesus declared, “I, the one speaking to you—I am he.”
But after the man left was when things got really unpleasant. One of my friends started talking about how much he hates it when people ask him for money, and how he never gives them anything - they're just going to go spend it on some nefarious substance, anyway. And we've all heard the stories about people who make their living - and a very good living, at that - by pretending to be destitute and taking advantage of the mercy of strangers. So, on one hand, I couldn't really argue with my friend that the man was more than likely to spend any money we gave him on something other than food.
But every time I am approached by a person in need, I am reminded of an encounter I had in a Wal-mart parking lot a few years ago, when I was still in college. I had just bought a few things for my dorm room, and was walking back to my car, when all of a sudden I was approached by a big burly man, who asked me for some money to buy toilet paper. It was dark, the man was intimidating, and I was tired and didn't want to deal with him, but something told me to help this man, anyway. I prefer not to give money to strangers if I can avoid it, however, so I offered to go back into the store with him and buy some toilet paper for him.
While we were walking back into the store, he apparently decided that I should know all about his life - so he told me. He told me how his mother was sick and his father was dead, and so he was trying to take care of her. He told me about his long-term girlfriend that he was trying to save up enough money to marry. He told me about his recent release from prison, and how difficult it's been since then to try to get back on his feet, and about the welfare checks that for some reason the government had stopped sending. It's possible that he was just a really good liar, but I think it's far more likely that he really needed help, and either way, ever since then it's been impossible for me to look upon someone in need with disdain.
It's so easy for us to shrug off the entreaties of others, assuming things like "they don't really need my help....someone else will help them....they'll just spend the money on drugs or alcohol, anyway." Whatever the excuse may be, we have a tendency to group people together and make assumptions about them as a whole...it makes them seem less human, somehow, which makes it much easier to ignore their troubles.
But the only person who really has the ability to make a judgement on someone's past is Jesus...and He loves us anyway. If He, knowing our pasts, knowing our flaws, loves us and cares for us anyway, then who are we to react any differently when people around us need our help?
John 4:1-26
1 Now Jesus learned that the Pharisees had heard that he was gaining and baptizing more disciples than John— 2although in fact it was not Jesus who baptized, but his disciples. 3 So he left Judea and went back once more to Galilee.4 Now he had to go through Samaria. 5 So he came to a town in Samaria called Sychar, near the plot of ground Jacob had given to his son Joseph. 6 Jacob’s well was there, and Jesus, tired as he was from the journey, sat down by the well. It was about noon.
7 When a Samaritan woman came to draw water, Jesus said to her, “Will you give me a drink?” 8 (His disciples had gone into the town to buy food.)
9 The Samaritan woman said to him, “You are a Jew and I am a Samaritan woman. How can you ask me for a drink?” (For Jews do not associate with Samaritans.[a])
10 Jesus answered her, “If you knew the gift of God and who it is that asks you for a drink, you would have asked him and he would have given you living water.”
11 “Sir,” the woman said, “you have nothing to draw with and the well is deep. Where can you get this living water? 12Are you greater than our father Jacob, who gave us the well and drank from it himself, as did also his sons and his livestock?”
13 Jesus answered, “Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again, 14 but whoever drinks the water I give them will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give them will become in them a spring of water welling up to eternal life.”
15 The woman said to him, “Sir, give me this water so that I won’t get thirsty and have to keep coming here to draw water.”
16 He told her, “Go, call your husband and come back.”
17 “I have no husband,” she replied.
Jesus said to her, “You are right when you say you have no husband. 18 The fact is, you have had five husbands, and the man you now have is not your husband. What you have just said is quite true.”
19 “Sir,” the woman said, “I can see that you are a prophet. 20 Our ancestors worshiped on this mountain, but you Jews claim that the place where we must worship is in Jerusalem.”
21 “Woman,” Jesus replied, “believe me, a time is coming when you will worship the Father neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem. 22 You Samaritans worship what you do not know; we worship what we do know, for salvation is from the Jews. 23 Yet a time is coming and has now come when the true worshipers will worship the Father in the Spirit and in truth, for they are the kind of worshipers the Father seeks. 24 God is spirit, and his worshipers must worship in the Spirit and in truth.”
25 The woman said, “I know that Messiah” (called Christ) “is coming. When he comes, he will explain everything to us.”
26 Then Jesus declared, “I, the one speaking to you—I am he.”
No comments:
Post a Comment