Susan LaffertyIt’s one of those days. Weeks. Seasons. In various places and spaces of our life. And I struggle with restlessness. Discontentment. Distraction.
Hungry for something I can’t quite put my finger on.
In the middle of such a season, I read John 4. During morning time in His Word. And pause on the verses that come after the woman at the well heads back to her village.
The conversation between Jesus and His disciples.
Today is the day. Yes, today. While panic swirls in the atmosphere. Surging through conversations and broadcasts and social media. As a global pandemic postpones, cancels, locks down.
Today is the day. To remember what is true. And focus on the lifeblood of this walk by faith. The only way we live and breathe and have our being.
Jesus invites us. Right in the middle of the normal and the upside down. Whether we’re walking through the ordinary or the unprecedented.
They are traveling. Jesus and the disciples. They enter a village, then a house. Martha’s house.
Right before this, Jesus sends the disciples out into the harvest. Two by two. With several instructions. Including the following directive for entering a village.
“Whatever house you enter, first say, ‘Peace to this household.’ If a person of peace is there, your peace will rest on him; but if not, it will return to you” (Luke 10:5-6). The person of peace is their welcome. Their home base. For each particular village.
Now they enter a new village. Then Martha’s house. Perhaps they say “Peace to this household.”
“And a woman named Martha welcomed Him into her home” (Luke 10:38). A person of peace.
