【双语灵修】禁止入内NO TRESPASSING?

约翰福音 4:7-10

有一个撒马利亚的妇人来打水。耶稣对她说：“请你给我水喝。”那时门徒进城买食物去了。撒马利亚的妇人对他说：“你既是犹太人，怎么向我一个撒马利亚妇人要水喝呢？”原来犹太人和撒马利亚人没有来往。耶稣回答说：“你若知道神的恩赐，和对你说‘给我水喝’的是谁，你必早求他，他也必早给你活水。”

11月7日

禁止入内

“你既是犹太人，怎么向我一个撒玛利亚妇人要水喝呢？” - 约 4:9

我们多数都喜欢有一个可称为家的地方的，喜欢身处熟悉的环境，和与我们同声同气的人一起。

耶稣却不一样，我们在《约翰福音》第4章看到，祂在一天最不舒适的时刻，在一口陌生的井旁，与一个外族妇人交谈起来。耶稣似乎喜欢跨越那些界限，就是被人标签了“禁止入内”的社交和地域限制。（身为一个祖先住在离开犹大和撒玛利亚很远的地方的外邦人，我个人为此深深感恩。）

或许在熟识的环境与人一起时，或甚至在自己的朋友和家人中间，你有没有尝过自己是一个局外人的感受？如果有的话，这种感受如何影响你？置身在神的子民中的人，你知道有谁可能感到自己是局外人呢？神会告诉你，应该怎样关顾他们？

在今天的经文中，我们或许意会到，在井旁遇到一个向她要水喝的犹太人，那撒玛利亚妇人绝不觉得兴奋。（难道耶稣擅自闯进了她的私人空间吗？）然而，耶稣却以神的话回答她，又说祂能够赐她“活水”。庆幸耶稣没有只作一般闲话家常，祂知道自己到世上来是有原因的——祂每次与人的交谈，都是以此为大前题。

你生命中有哪些人际关系，是神可以用来接触人的呢？

祷告

主啊，求你帮助我留意那些我可能会忽视的人，又赐我勇气接近和关怀他们，并且领他们到你那里。奉你的名，阿们。

John 4:7-10

SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 7

NO TRESPASSING?

“You are a Jew and I am a Samaritan woman. How can you ask me for a drink?” —John 4:9

Most of us like to have a place to call home. We prefer to be in familiar territory and with people who are like us.

Jesus was different. That’s why in John 4 we see him chatting with a foreign woman at an unfamiliar well at the least comfortable time of the day. Jesus seems to have loved skipping across social and territorial boundaries that other people had marked with “No Trespassing” signs. (Note: As a Gentile whose ancestors lived a long way away from both Judea and Samaria, I’m personally thankful for that.)

Have you ever felt like an outsider— perhaps even with people in familiar surroundings, or maybe even among your own friends and family? If so, how did that affect you? Whom do you know who might be feeling like an outsider among God’s people today? What might God be saying to you about caring for them?

In our reading today, we may sense that the Samaritan woman wasn’t exactly thrilled to meet a Jew at the local well and to have him ask her for a drink of water. (Was Jesus trespassing on her territory?) Yet Jesus replied with some words about God and said that he could give her “living water.” I’m glad Jesus didn’t just stay in familiar territory. He knew he was on earth for a reason—and every conversation he had was shaped by that awareness.

What relationships in your life could God use in order to reach someone?

Lord, help me to notice people I might overlook. Give me courage to approach them with care and to point them to you. For your sake, Amen.