In our reading today in John 4, there are so many amazing moments. Yeshua speaks of living water and the spiritual harvest. Samaritans come to faith, Yeshua returns to Galilee and does more miracles and he heals a child without ever being in the child’s presence. All of this is amazing and wonderful, but what I find most beautiful is Yeshua’s interaction with the Samaritan woman.

She was pretty low on society’s totem pole and in fact would probably not even have been admitted into religious circles, but when Yeshua reveals his knowledge of her life, he does it without shaming her, merely mentioning the circumstances of her past and present without judgment as a way to reveal his deity. (John 4:16-18) What stranger but G-d would know the intimate details of her life? As he reveals this, she marvels that he must be a prophet and this gives us a glimpse into her faith. (John 4:19-20)

It is at this moment that Yeshua makes the stunning revelation of who he truly is. “The woman said to him, ‘I know that Messiah is coming (he who is called Christ). When he comes, he will tell us all things.’ Yeshua said to her, ‘I who speak to you am he.’” (John 4:25-26)

The gift of the knowledge of who he was he gave to this woman. She was not worthy by society’s standards. She was not pious, righteous, a tzadik. With the Samaritan woman, we see Yeshua living out his words: “For the Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost.” (Luke 19:10) G-d responded to her faith. How many of us are like the Samaritan woman, our past hanging shamefully around our necks? How many of us feel unworthy to receive from G-d?

Your past does not disqualify you. It doesn’t make you unworthy to receive life and truth and the love and acceptance of G-d. When he looks at you, he doesn’t recoil at all the mistakes you have made or the poor choices that litter the path of your life. He sees you. He sees your worth, your value, your potential. He sees your heart, your desire to walk a different way and he approaches you without judgment, holding out to you the gift of who he is and what he has to offer you.

I challenge you today to release any shame that comes from your past. Accept Yeshua’s love. If you haven’t already, make the decision to believe that he is the Messiah who became the sacrifice for your sins and follow him.

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