In his book “Tattoos on the Heart,” Father Gregory Boyle writes about a time he took a few of the gang members he was ministering to on a trip with him to Bakersfield. They stopped at a Coco’s Restaurant on the way and as they walked in, the restaurant fell seemingly silent.
Shocked and maybe even a little terrified of these men with their “shaved heads, tattoos, and dressed in all their baggy-clothed gangster finery” the patrons simply stared at Father Boyle and his friends. They whispered to each other “we don’t belong here”. Eventually they sat down and were greeted by a waitress who was kind, attentive and treated them like…humans. Father Boyle refers to her as “Jesus in an apron.”
Early in his ministry, on his way back to Galilee, Jesus took an intentional path to Sychar in Samaria. He sent the disciples into town to purchase food and He is left alone to rest and cool Himself by the well. A Samaritan woman arrives to draw water from the well and immediately Jesus addresses her “Will you give me a drink” -- John 4:7.
Shocked that a man would speak to her and even more stunned that a Jewish man would address her publicly, she responded, “You are a Jew and I am a Samaritan woman. How can you ask me for a drink?” -- John 4:9.
Their conversation continues as Jesus reveals to her that He knows who she is, her sins and her transgressions, and in a surprising twist of events, He reveals - for the very first time - the truth about who He is. Touched by his compassion and in awe of his boldness the Samaritan woman began to realize she is in the presence of the Messiah. Inspired by His kindness and filled to the brim with excitement, she immediately dropped her water jar and ran back into town sharing the good news of the Messiah she had just met. As a result of this interaction, the Samaritan woman and many people in this Samaritan town became believers.
Our brains are designed to put things into categories - to organize all of the sensory information we receive in order to process the world around us. The trouble is that sometimes those categories can cause us to lose sight of all of the potential around us. Water wasn’t the only thing drawn from the well that day - eternal life, forgiveness, grace and mercy were also abundantly drawn. But it required Jesus to deny the categorization of this woman - sinner, adulterous, Samaritan, impure. He looked beyond all of that and saw directly to her heart, to the woman He knew she could be…and it changed her. Her experience with Jesus altered her life and broke her free from the bondage of her categorized story.
I love this interaction for so many reasons; Jesus dispelled gender biases and he broke ethnic and racial barriers. But more than anything I love how Jesus immediately saw through all the reasons this woman felt unworthy. He didn’t ignore them, instead he acknowledged them and affirmed His love for her anyway. He saw into the depths of her heart and reminded her that the only “category” that mattered was that she was a beloved daughter of the most high God. He saw…HER.
As Father Boyle concludes the story of his road trip with his gangster friends, he writes: “We have a chance, sometimes, to create a new jurisdiction, a place of astonishing mutuality, whenever we close both eyes of judgement and open the other eye to pay attention. Reminding each other how acceptable we are. Suddenly we find ourselves in the same room with each other and the walls are gone."
As we seek to be more like Jesus, let’s challenge ourselves to break free of the categories that our brain is so desperately seeking to create. Let’s close our eyes to the way the world wants us to see things and open our eyes to the way God so desperately desires us to see it. And maybe - if we’re lucky enough - we too can be “Jesus in an apron." Be blessed Friends!
For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord. Romans 8:38-39