1st Thursday of Lent (February 26). Tired, hot, thirsty, hungry

Prepare to Listen.  In him was life, and the life was the light of all people.
 
Prayerfully Read John 4:1-8
Now when Jesus learned that the Pharisees had heard, “Jesus is making and baptizing more disciples than John”
2(although it was not Jesus himself but his disciples who baptized), 3he left Judea and started back to Galilee.  4But he had to go through Samaria.  5So he came to a Samaritan city called Sychar, near the plot of ground that Jacob had given to his son Joseph.  6Jacob’s well was there, and Jesus, tired out by his journey, was sitting by the well. It was about noon.  7A Samaritan woman came to draw water, and Jesus said to her, “Give me a drink.”  8 (His disciples had gone to the city to buy food.)
 
Prayerfully Wonder
I was always taught that John primarily focused on Jesus as Son of God.  His humanity takes a back seat.  But that’s not exactly accurate.  John tells here that Jesus was tired, hot, thirsty, hungry.  It doesn’t get more human than that.  Yet, he reacts unlike most humans.
 
When we succeed, gain popularity, we want more of it.  Not Jesus.  When he learned that the Pharisees had heard he was “making and baptizing more disciples than John,” he left Judea.  He didn’t need to feed his ego or bask in the glow of a successful mission.  He rejected popularity and walked away.  Would you?
 
He then did something else many of us wouldn’t do.  He chose to enter hostile Samaria.  It was the shortest route from Judea to Galilee, but devout Jews took the long route to avoid contact with the despised Samaritans.  Not Jesus.  “He had to go through Samaria,” says John.
 
Giving in to weariness, he stopped at a common well, while the disciples went for food.  He was alone, but not for long.  A woman showed up.  She could have left in fear of a stranger and Jew.  Jesus could have ignored her.  She remained and was surprised when Jesus, ignoring her sex and race, spoke to her.  “Give me a drink,” he said.  He was tired, hot, thirsty, hungry and needed water, even from someone regarded as an enemy.
 
There’s really nothing in these verses to say that Jesus was more than fully human.  Others verses do, but this passage reveals Jesus as one of us, embracing his humanity, living as God intended humans to live.  How can you embrace your humanity and live more faithfully?
 
Prayerfully Respond
Lord Jesus, you lived truly, embracing your humanity with all its weaknesses yet remaining God-centered.  Help me live more like you today.  Amen.
 
Live obediently.  Embrace Jesus’ humanity, and your own.