Out of the Mouth of a Child

At our Diakonos Community Gathering last night, we were discussing the stories of Jesus' encounters with Nicodemus (John 3) and the Samaritan woman at the well (John 4).  All of us grown-ups were trying to sound so sophisticated with our comments as we delved into the "mysteries of God."  Elaina, our second child, sat quietly next to Tina and listened to our conversation for a while.  She had a quizzical look on her face, so I kept an eye toward her to see if she would have a comment to add to the discussion.

In a quite moment, she bravely spoke up, "Dad, I have a question?"

"Yes."

"When Jesus asked her (the Samaritan woman) to bring her husband, how did she feel?"

Giving her a chance to formulate her thoughts, I asked, "What do you think?"

"I think she was embarrassed." (Proud smile on dad's face)

In the midst of all our discussion last night, that was truly the Gospel moment.  It captured one of the key truths about what can happens when our lives are encountered by the presence of God.  Jesus will sometimes draw our attention to things that embarrass us, but he doesn't leave us in our embarrassment.  The woman Jesus was speaking to did not only feel embarrassment, she felt acceptance in spite of her frailty.  It is the combination of the two that brought her to a place of faith in Jesus.  The same thing can be true in our lives, too.