Vulnerability: A Sabbath Worship Experience

I wonder if it was dusty at the well where Jesus met the Samaritan woman.  I would like it if it was.  The woman came to the well for water.  Water washes dust away.  Jesus asked her for water.  To ask for anything is to admit that one needs something from someone else.  Jesus, it seems, makes it a point to put himself in her debt.  She points out to him how far out of the norm it was for a Jew to submit himself to the place where he admits his need of a Samaritan.  I have found that when I ask people for something, it often reminds me of my own deficiencies.  However, we have a theological picture of Christ in which He is shown to have no deficiencies.  Why does he ask her this favor?  Why does I place himself in this position of needing something from her?  Was it just a ploy to get a conversation started?  Was it an honest request?  I read it as such, though I have no way of knowing for sure.  I see a man comfortable with vulnerability.  Was He truly vulnerable?  One could assume Him capable of getting His own water, but He still models vulnerability.  It reminds me of another time when He approached a man dressed in camel hair with a vulnerable request.  I often wonder to what extent He took up this vulnerable stance as a model.  Perhaps Jesus meant to challenge our assumptions that strength is self-sufficiency.  Perhaps He wanted to model vulnerability for me.  I know that I don’t like to show that I am deficient.  I like to imagine the dirt in Jesus’ world.  I like the idea that Jesus did messy.  If Jesus worked with messy then, I have more hope that he will work with me now.  He was vulnerable first, and that opened her vulnerability.  That is perhaps why it is so freeing to be under His Kingdom.

Introit: Simple Gifts – Blast

Opening Hymn: Come Thou Fount – Mormon Tabernacle Choir

Call to Prayer: Will You be There? – Boyce Avenue

Opening Prayer: Lord, I Need You – Matt Maher

Spoken Word: Brené Brown – The Power of Vulnerablity