Many Samaritans from that town believed in Jesus on the strength of the woman's words of testimony: "He told me everything I ever did." The result was that, when these Samaritans came to him, they begged him to stay with them awhile. So he stayed there two days, and through his own spoken word many more came to faith. As they told the woman: "No longer does our faith depend on your story. We have heard for ourselves, and we know that this really is the Savior of the world." 

"I found God on the corner of First and Amistad, all alone, smoking his last cigarette. I said, 'Where you been?' He said, 'Ask anything.' Where were you when everything was falling apart? All my days were spent by the telephone. It never rang, and all I needed was a call. Lost and insecure, you found me, you found me lyin’ on the floor, surrounded. Why’d you have to wait? Where were you? Just a little late, you found me." 

The Samaritan woman in John's Gospel had a very difficult life. She had made some glaring mistakes, but finally had begun to understand some things as she interacted with Jesus. She had done things that hardly anyone else knew about, things of which she was not at all proud. This man Jesus told her everything that she had done, but he had not condemned her for it. Instead he had told her that he was the Messiah and had treated her in a loving way. She had consequently spread the news that he was the savior of the world, had come to believe in him, and, one is led to believe, finally changed her ways. She had been loved as a person, and it affected her entire life. God, through Jesus had found her, and her life could now make sense.

The Fray's song "You Found Me" is an incredible song for popular music. It states outright that God is in charge of life, but often we do not feel that way. In the end, however, God will help us in the situations in which we find ourselves.

Isaac Slade, a member of the group The Fray, says this about the song: "'You Found Me' is a tough song for me. It’s about the disappointment, the heart ache, the let down that comes with life. Sometimes you’re let down, sometimes you’re the one who lets someone else down. It gets hard to know who you can trust, who you can count on. This song came out of a tough time, and I’m still right in the thick of it. There’s some difficult circumstances my family and friends have been going through over the past year or so and can be overwhelming. It wears on me. It demands so much of my faith to keep believing, keep hoping in the unseen. Sometimes the tunnel has a light at the end, but usually they just look black as night. This song is about that feeling, and the hope that I still have, buried deep in my chest." For him, the song is a statement of faith in God, even though things are not going the way he wishes.

Perhaps the most difficult time for a person of faith is the time when we know that God is in charge of what is going on, but things in our lives are just not working out the way we want. We know that there is light somewhere, but we cannot see it--we see only darkness. As the Samaritan woman discovered, it is at those times, times when we feel lost and insecure, that God is actually working with us, working out the problems, making everything make sense. God is finding us right now. Things are getting better, even if we feel it is a little late. 

PRAYER

Good and gracious God, there are crises in our lives because we often do not behave the way we should. Help us understand that you are always working with us, always finding us, no matter how we feel. Be with us, we pray.

+++++

Questions, comments? Let me know. Email Fr. Mike

©2007 Capuchin Province of Mid-America
Fr. Mike Scully is a member of the Capuchin Province of Mid-America