We
have a little four month old baby girl at home.
We also have a rambunctious 3 year old.
I use the word gentle a lot. I
mean a LOT. The older one wants to “pet”
the baby all the time. Or she runs toward
us to tickle and might be a little too rough.
So I’m constantly using the phrase, “be gentle.” I tell her that because I want the oldest
daughter to think about how the baby feels.
That’s what gentleness really is isn’t, when we think about someone else’s
vulnerability in a given situation and try to bring life instead of hurt. The
encounter that comes to mind when I think of Jesus’ gentleness is the woman at
the well.
If
you’ve grown up in the church you’ve heard this encounter I’m sure. It’s found in John 4. The Samaritan woman comes in the middle of
the day to draw water and Jesus is there alone.
He asks her for a drink and she’s like, why ask me I’m a Samaritan and
you’re a Jew. They didn’t
associate. And Jesus says, well if you
knew who I was you’d ask me for living water.
Because I can give you water where you’ll never be thirsty again. Well the woman sees that as a chance to never
have to come back to this well. So she
says tell me how I can get it. But Jesus
says go and get your husband.
To this
the woman replies, "I have no husband." Jesus
proceeds to tell this woman all about her life and the multiple husbands she
has had. He tells her that this current
fella isn’t a husband but more of a live-in-boyfriend. Then they also have a theological discussion
about where to worship. She
finally says well, when the Christ comes he will tell us what to do. And Jesus said that’s me. I’m the Christ.
Then
it says in verse 39 “ Many of the Samaritans from that town
believed in him because of the woman’s testimony, “He told me everything I ever
did.”
In
this scenario Jesus doesn’t just come out and say, hey you can’t keep a man and
you aren’t married to this guy but you’re shacking up with him anyway.
What
he does is sees her broken places and then speaks life into them. This woman didn’t need more shame, she needed
life.
When
we want to bear the gentleness of the spirit dwelling in us we have to see the
brokenness of the people around us and be willing to speak life into those
places not shame.
I feel that our country could use some
gentleness right about now. We are
living in what people keep calling unprecedented times. While most of us have never lived through a
pandemic we have lived through people being sick. We have lived through people being hurt and
taken advantage of. We have lived
through prejudice. And, for those of us
that know Jesus Christ as our savior we will live through this world and on
into eternity with him. So, if we know
that kind of security in these uncertain times it is our responsibility to be
gentle as Jesus was gentle. We need to
look around us and see the vulnerable places in people’s lives and bring them
life not shame and hurt.
Maybe you’re saying, “Great, Jamie,
but how?”
Easy, we just listen to people where
they are, and offer Jesus. That’s what Jesus
does at the well. He listens to this
woman. Even though he knows all about
her, he listens to her. Then he offers
himself. So, today, friends offer Jesus
to those who are hurting. In other
words, “be gentle.”
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