A teenage girl writes to Rosie O'Donnell about getting a tattoo that runs the length of her forearm. She is afraid of what her parents and kids at school might think. Rosie responds: "its ur body aime, color it as u choose, wear it proud."

In the gospel of John (chapter 4) Jesus converses with a woman who had spent her life doing with her body "what she chose." The woman was anything but "proud." There is no reason to doubt the conventional wisdom that she lived with a great deal of shame. She came to a well in the heat of the day to draw water, probably in a lame attempt to avoid her neighbors who performed that particular task in the cool of the morning. She was surprised to find a man at the well, and even more surprised
when this Jew began speaking to her.

Who was responsible for her shame. If we follow the logic of Rosie we would blame anyone except the woman for her plight. The shame is not hers. It is the people around her who should be ashamed. The shame belongs to her five husbands and the man she is living with who doesn't have the decency to marry her. The shame belongs to the people of her village, especially the women, who have scorned her. The shame belongs to Jesus. What right does this Jewish man have to ask her for anything. She knows how hypocritical Jews are, especially towards Samaritans.

I wonder how the conversation might have turned out if Rosie had been with her when she met Jesus. I imagine Rosie would have said something to the Samaritan woman similar to what she said to Aime.

"Its your body, do with it as you please. What gives this Jew the right to talk to you about your sin. So what if you've had five husbands. What business is that of his?"

Fortunately for her Jesus did bring up her past and present misdeeds. She was ashamed because she had done shameful things. In Jesus' presence she was brought up short by a man who dared talk to her like she were a person, not an object. She had made herself an object. Jesus offered her living water. She didn't have to be an object any more, she could be a person again, but her sin was in the way. If she could only get past her sin and shame, then she could receive the living water Jesus offered.

Shame has its place. When we do wrong we should be ashamed. The Apostle Paul tells us not to be ashamed of the gospel. How odd that we are no longer ashamed of sin, but are often ashamed of God's word. As long as Aime continues to treat her body like an object with which she can do as she pleases, she will not know what it means to be a person created in God's image, and neither will you nor I.

Pastor John