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Tuesday, 03/10/26

Crossing the Distance

 Scripture Reading: John 4:5-15

'Will you give me a drink?' It sounds like such a small request — almost unremarkable. But the distance between Jesus and this woman was enormous. Different ethnic backgrounds. Different religious traditions. Different social standing. Every convention of the day said this conversation should not be happening. And Jesus started it anyway.

This is one of the most striking things about God revealed in Jesus: the Holy One consistently moves toward people the rest of the world moves away from. Jesus didn't wait for the woman to clean up her situation before speaking to her. He didn't require her to cross to his side of the cultural fence first. He asked for water, and in doing so, he opened a door she wasn't expecting.

The United Methodist understanding of grace insists that God's love is not limited to the 'right' kind of people. The woman at the well was a Samaritan — an outsider by any Jewish measure — and yet she's the one who receives one of the longest, most personal conversations Jesus has with anyone in the Gospels. Grace has a habit of showing up where it isn't expected.

Think about the distance you carry — the ways you feel like an outsider, the parts of your story you think would disqualify you from a real relationship with God. Jesus sat at a well in the middle of the day, tired and thirsty, and asked an unlikely person for a drink. That same movement toward you is not a distant theological concept. It is happening right now.

Reflection Question

Is there a place in your life where you have assumed God's love didn't reach — a part of your story you've kept separate from faith?

Action Step

Today, deliberately start one conversation with someone you normally don't talk to — a coworker, a neighbor, someone in the checkout line. Just ask how they're doing. Practice the small grace of crossing distance.

Prayer

God, thank you for moving toward me before I knew to move toward you. Help me see the people around me as you see them — worth crossing every distance to reach.