Seeing the Pit Stop as a Divine Opportunity

It was supposed to be a quick stop. Pull of the interstate, get some supplies, keep moving. This wasn’t the good part of town. In fact, this was the part of town where you rolled up your windows and locked your doors. This was Samaria.

In John 4, Jesus and his disciples are traveling through a section of country that most good Jews avoided if they could. And yet, Jesus goes through the heart of it. Here’s how the Bible sets it up, “Jacob’s well was there, and Jesus, tired as he was from the journey, sat down by the well. It was about noon. When a Samaritan woman came to draw water, Jesus said to her, “Will you give me a drink?” ⁸ (His disciples had gone into the town to buy food.)” John 4:6-8

Jesus wasn’t in Samaria on an evangelistic crusade or a door-to-door witnessing campaign. They’d simply stopped for some supplies. What’s interesting is that the disciples most likely encountered this Samaritan woman as they passed each other on the road to town. They didn’t interact with her. They couldn’t see past her gender or her race. In fact, when they came back with food and saw Jesus talking with her, they wanted to ask her incredulously “what do you want” and chide Jesus, “why are you talking with her?” (John 4:27).

Catch this: both Jesus and his disciples were looking at the same thing, but only Jesus’ eyes were open to see the opportunity before him. Jesus was willing to see past gender and race to see a woman ready to believe in him. But more than just her: her entire village. Many of the Samaritans from that town believed in him because of the woman’s testimony, “He told me everything I ever did” (John 4:39)

The disciples saw a pit stop and a group of people they’d rather avoid. Jesus saw a woman and ultimately a village ready to believe in him. They were both looking at the same thing, but only Jesus saw the opportunity.

QUESTION: Have you ever had God turn a ‘pit stop’ into a divine opportunity?