She was in a rut. As she trudged through the routine, she ticked off the mental litany: get water, wash dishes, do laundry, cook meal.
He was in a rut. He’d learned how to think along straight lines. Follow those direct paths, don’t deviate from safe assumptions, and success was certain.
Then they both got nudged out of the rut and into another world.
Sound familiar? You may know them by other names: the Samaritan woman, Nicodemus.
They may seem like ourselves. The woman approaching the well follows a worn path which continues, even in her thinking, when she’s surprised by a stranger. His request for a drink is preposterous. Orthodox Jews even today don’t share meals or vessels with those whose dietary practices are less strict.
Furthermore, he comes thirsty and tired to a well without a bucket! Even more shocking, he who isn’t supposed to talk publicly with a woman takes a playful, conversational tone with her. Jesus also nudges Nicodemus: for a teacher of Israel, he stays complacently with tired concepts, which Jesus tries to broaden and expand.
From his interactions with these two figures, it appears that Jesus is no lover of ruts. It’s heartening to hear that “in him all the fullness was pleased to dwell” (Colossians 1: 19). And “from his fullness we have all received: grace in place of grace” (John 1:16). Repeatedly, Jesus reminds he came to bring us abundant life, spilling over any rut.
He entered human life in a totally unexpected way—born in a stable, not a palace, to young peasants, not royalty. He refused to believe the teachers who protested, “but we’ve always done it this way!”
His effect on people seems to be shaking up their comfy grooves. He broke the taboos, he healed and he invited people to more compassionate life. Blind Bartimaeus gladly gave up his begging routine; Matthew abandoned the daily grind of tax collecting. Jesus startled his disciples, upsetting their calcified notions of holiness. And we who follow Christ: what do we do when we’re stuck?
To be continued… Originally published in Everyday Catholic
Kathy Coffey 