THE WHOLE STORY

(5-minute read)

Believers can be stuck in past events and traumas for several reasons. They may find it hard to move forward due to an absence of support, a fear of change or a lack of healthy coping mechanisms. At the same time, they may downplay the gaping hole in their lives and habitually dodge conversations with people who can help them. Perhaps we have been that person for a while. We are active members of different communities but few people really know us. We uphold a normalcy bias that leads us to believe that life is good as long as it continues to be the way it has always been, disregarding the hole in our lives.

The only problem is that minimizing the hole does not stop it from growing larger over time. Make no mistake, however, that Jesus not only sees the whole story of our lives, He also sees the holes in them. In fact, the Bible is full of stories of people with holes in their lives. Holes that are not mended cause our faith to leak and become hazardous to our spiritual freedom. 

So, one day, Jesus deliberately took a more straightforward path through Samaria (while many Jews would rather take a longer detour to avoid interacting with the Samaritans) with the full intent to meet with one new person – a Samaritan woman, no less. 

Let’s dive into John 4:7-18 to see how their unplanned meeting turned her life around.

JESUS’ WHOLE STORY BREAKS DIVIDE AND SEPARATION

The Samaritan woman whom Jesus approached at the well was initially resistant to engage Him because of the ‘hole’ or social mores that separated Jews from Samaritans, men from women, and even women who had husbands from those who didn’t. Having gone through a series of relationships with different men, her entire life had been anything but normal. She stepped out to fetch water at noon only because other village women would stay home to avoid the midday heat. A reclusive life in a community that alienated her seemed to make so much sense; except that Jesus saw a different story playing out. 

So the Lord did what He needed to do to bring down powerful man-made barriers that kept her hidden in the margins of society. But He didn’t give a great religious speech, or debated with moral leaders of the day. Instead, He simply asked her for water to drink because He, too, was out in the hottest part of the day. It was a gesture that made her feel more uncomfortable than the noon-day sun because she felt unfit to even speak to Him, let alone fetch Him water. But Jesus had no problem initiating uncomfortable conversations. He had to show her the hole in her life before He could make her whole.

JESUS’ WHOLE STORY ASSURES NO CONDEMNATION
As they spoke, the Lord began to reveal that He was the Living Water she needed. Skillfully, she pivoted from asking about who He was to the shallower topic of water, “‘Sir, give me this water so that I won’t get thirsty and have to keep coming here to draw water.’” (John 4:15). Wasting no time, the Lord addressed the source of her spiritual thirst by saying, “‘Go, call your husband and come back.’” (John 4:16). 

Their conversation deepened. “‘I have no husband,’ she replied. Jesus said to her, ‘You are right when you say you have no husband.  The fact is, you have had five husbands, and the man you now have is not your husband. What you have just said is quite true.’ (John 4:17-18).

What Jesus did was not to call her out in order to condemn her. Rather, He introduced an honesty that was the opposite of all the hiding in her life.

Often, we let people present themselves the way we want to see them – with problem-free, intact lives – instead of their real selves. We don’t want to get into awkward conversations or uncomfortable silence with each other. We loop our conversations around pleasantries, talking about food, family, and travels that give away nothing about ourselves. In reality, when we downplay each other’s life experiences (happy or sad), we only hinder our collective growth. The entire community becomes superficial and stunted.

But Jesus knows our personal stories – even the parts that are not working for us. While we may not fully understand why some things happen to us, God never keeps us in the dark about what He wants us to do about the hole in our perception of self and life right now. Without seeing the hole the way He does, we would never know we need to be whole. 

So Jesus was in fact preparing the Samaritan woman for a brand new way of life – one that did not need the validation that came from unhealthy relationships.

JESUS’ WHOLE STORY SEEKS TO BRING REVELATION

If only we let Him, God will always lead us to the truth about who He is and how He wants us to respond to Him. “Yet a time is coming and has now come when the true worshipers will worship the Father in the Spirit and in truth, for they are the kind of worshipers the Father seeks. God is spirit, and his worshipers must worship in the Spirit and in truth.” (John 4:23-24). 

The Samaritan woman was unable to be receptive to Jesus because she had learnt to avoid talking about her personal thoughts and private life. Skirting around issues was how she has learned to fly under the radar, going from one man to another.

While she was adept at short, surface-level conversations, Jesus kept up the exchange until He put in the last word, “I the One speaking to you – I am He.” (John 4:26). 

In the next instance, she was telling her community about “a man who told me everything I ever did. Could this be the Messiah?” In that one sentence, she mentioned both humanity and divinity. Suddenly, the stigma of shame in everything she ever did no longer had a hold on her. New hope had outsized her hole.

We, too, can have the assurance that Jesus will fully fill the hole in our lives with a revelation – a perspective that cannot be made up by human thinking. He holds the whole story of our lives, even the parts with holes in it. Will you take time to hear Him out? 

This is a summary and reflection based on a virtual BIR Session held on 28 September 2024.