God Loves You and Me

- July 22, 2023

God Loves You and Me

(July 22, 2023)

There is a story in the life of Jesus that is not as popular as, for example, the story of the Father of the Prodigal Son or the story of the Passion of Christ. I am referring to the encounter of Jesus with the Samaritan woman.

The story of Jesus meeting a Samaritan woman is found in the gospel of John chapter 4. (John 4: 1-41) But I will quote here only a portion of it, John 4:1-9.

4 Now when Jesus^[a] realized that the Pharisees had heard he was making and baptizing more disciples than John— ²although it was not Jesus who did the baptizing but his disciples— ³he left Judea and went back to Galilee. ⁴Now it was necessary for him to go through Samaria. ⁵So he came to a town in Samaria called Sychar, near the piece of land that Jacob had given to his son Joseph. ⁶Jacob’s Well was also there, and Jesus, tired out by the journey, sat down by the well. It was about noon.^[b]

⁷A Samaritan woman came to draw water, and Jesus told her, “Please give me a drink,” ⁸since his disciples had gone off into town to buy food.

⁹The Samaritan woman asked him, “How can you, a Jew, ask for a drink from me, a Samaritan woman?” Because Jews do not have anything to do with Samaritans.^[c]

The Samaritans were considered by Jews as heretics because they practiced an impure and half-pagan religion during the time of Jesus. That is why the Jews avoid meeting them. It was therefore a big surprised for the Samaritan woman to find herself being talked to by Jesus, a Jew.

This encounter between Jesus and the Samaritan woman was a concrete example that God welcomes everyone in His embrace including, or most especially, those we consider as sinners. This story gives us a profound inspiration of hope and love.

Humans as we are, we are weak and oftentimes succumb to sin. We become selfish, ungrateful, judgmental, and on. The list is long. However, because man’s nature is goodness as we are “made in the image and likeness of God,” we are capable of repentance and a real change of heart, a METANOIA. We acknowledge our sinfulness. We repent. We reconcile with God and with our neighbors. We pursue a righteous life again. It is a struggle. Fidelity to the goodness of God is not a smooth journey but more than a roller coaster ride. But the most important thing is, we desire to do good. We put our efforts in sustaining God’s fidelity and love to us. And God sees all our efforts and struggles. He will grace us with the blessings of strength and fortitude to overcome our weaknesses so long as we continue to surrender ourselves to Him.

Jesus sees us not as who we are but who we can become. Sinners though we are, God sees us as capable of repentance and therefore deserving of His forgiveness. God's faithfulness and love to humanity is immeasurable, unconditional. We are called to do the same.

God loves you and me.