Without Discrimination

The week’s Gospel was taken from John 4:5-42.  It’s quite a long one and having two children with you made it much difficult to focus and listen to the gospel and the priest’s homily.  But so far, this is what I digested and my personal views, backed-up by some readings.

The Gospel shows us that Jesus does not look at a person’s status to bear witness to Him.  Here, He shows us that even the people whom we looked down and we thought least important are significant for Him.  He sees us all without discrimination... like the Samaritan woman.

Jesus and the Samaritan Woman
picture taken from:  www.eons.com

Just to show the barrier between Jesus and the Samaritan woman, Jesus is a Jew while she is a Samaritan.  Due to their inter-marriage with non-Jewish people, Samaritans lost their ethnic identity.  Thus, they were regarded with less respect and importance.  This is still a reality nowadays, I heard of these countries that offer privileges to those who would marry their own nationality or pure breed.  And those who do not, more especially women, will be stripped off of all rights and privileges they are enjoying.

More is that, Jesus is a man with high stature, a rabbi, most respected by His followers and disciples, is conversing with a woman, which is not considered proper in that time and place.  Further, the woman is a cast off by her own kind, considered misfit for she had five husbands.  But none of this matters to Jesus.  He accepts the woman and treats her with respect by conversing with her and answering her doubts and queries.

The woman asks Jesus, who’s right in worship and where is its rightful place?  Many, if not all of us have not yet resolve this issue... until now, we often fight for the answer.  Maybe we are not just listening to His answer, or we’re just too shut to accept it... Jesus tells us that it does not matter where we worship God, what is important is that we worship God in Spirit and in truth.

Jesus shares with us His deepest secret, that He is the living water Whom whoever takes It would never thirst again for the truth.  He is the Messiah and He shares this with us without any reservations... without any discrimination on what we are or who we are.  If we truly say who we are as believers of Christ, then we must not only say what He does... but also do what He says and do.  God bless.