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Come Now; Let Us Reason Together
A literal bag lady, or man for that matter, is one who is usually homeless, and carries their entire earthly possessions with them wherever they go. To do that, they store their possessions in bags and bundles. Because they carry everything, they are burdened down from the weight of the load. They guard their possessions as if they were extremely valuable, and never allow anyone to touch much less come near their possessions. It's theirs, and they will never give it up.
In like manner, the trials of life can create another kind of bag lady; an emotional one.
The emotional bag lady (man or woman) is one who carries all the emotional history of their life bottled up inside. Every hurt, pain, disappointment, and betrayal of their past is stored within, down to who, what, when, where, and how. In doing this, they become emotionally burdened down from all the weight.
In the Gospel of John, chapter 4, we read of such a person, a woman of the region of Samaria. She was weighed down with emotional baggage. However, thanks to the Father's direction, by the power of the Holy Spirit, the obedient Son, Jesus, needed to go through Samaria (verse 4).
The account begins; "It was about the sixth hour. A woman of Samaria came to draw water. Jesus said to her, Give Me a drink. Then the woman of Samaria said to Him, How is it that You, being a Jew, ask a drink from me, a Samaritan woman? For Jews have no dealings with Samaritans. Jesus answered her, If you knew the gift of God, and who it is that is saying to you, Give me a drink, you would have asked him, and he would have given you living water."
The woman said to him, "Sir, you have nothing to draw water with, and the well is deep. Where do you get that living water?( John 4:7-11)"
From the outset, we see we have a woman who is not afraid to speak her mind. However, Jesus knows she is over-compensating to hide the bags she is carrying on the inside. Jesus replies,
"Everyone who drinks of this water will be thirsty again, but whoever drinks of the water that I will give him will never be thirsty again. The water that I will give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life" (verse 13-14).
She pleads with this stranger, in verse 15. "Sir, give me this water, so that I will not be thirsty or have to come here to draw water." At this point, the first crack in the armor of this bag lady appears. A sense of desperation was in her voice as she hoped that this man could deliver on his word. She understood that the word thirst is so much bigger then the desire for water. We thirst for so many things, affection, money, love, acceptance, forgiveness, etc. Thirst is what drives us all, and all of our actions are attempts to relieve that thirst.
Jesus, the master counselor, follows with a spiritual gut punch that sets in motion the process for the woman to receive the water that only He can give. "Go call your husband, and come here." Imagine, if you can, the emotional blow to this woman. She went from great expectation to here we go again, in a matter of seconds. She quickly covers up the crack in her armor and responds, "I have no husband." Her response to Jesus is designed to keep the contents of her bags hidden from Jesus view. It was a futile attempt, but she had to give it a try; it has worked many times before.
Let's not be too hard on her; many of us are just like her. We too are emotional bag ladies, holding on to the junk of our past. We falsely think that no one can see it, and sadly believe that it is not having a negative effect on our present life. I said many of us, which certainly includes me. You see it in others as well, especially other Christians. Everyone knows at least one Christian sister or brother who is always having relationship problems, with a spouse, siblings, coworkers, and supervisor. They attempt to cover it up, but you can tell they are in crisis. Every time you asked them is everything all right, they quickly reply, Praise the Lord.; "God is good.", or "I'm blessed and highly favored." You later learn to avoid them because when they do talk about their problems, they will tell you how evil everyone else is and how others need to admit their faults. You look at them and think, "Are they serious? Can't they see that their problem is them self?"
Jesus, unknown to the Samaritan woman, was walking her through the painful but temporary process or purging her soul of junk, so she could receive the everlasting pleasure of the living waters. Jesus gut punches her again.
"You are right in saying, I have no husband; for you have had five husbands, and the one you now have is not your husband. What you have said is true" (John 4:17-18).
Ouch! That had to hurt. We all need someone who is obedient to the Holy Spirit and not afraid to love us enough to say, "You are the problem!" We need someone to face the root of the problem and to challenge us to forgive those who have sinned against us and to forgive ourselves. The Samaritan woman tries to change the subject, and says, "Sir, I perceive that you are a prophet. Our fathers worshiped on this mountain, but you [the Jews] say that in Jerusalem is the place where people ought to worship."
The next word from Jesus melts the heart of this bag lady. Jesus replies, "Woman, believe me, . . ." Up to this point, Jesus had not addressed her. He spoke direct commands "Give Me a drink.", "Go call your husband, and come here." When Jesus addressed her as woman, she dropped all her bags. Let me explain.
In our modern culture, the addressing of her as woman would be considered an insult, but this was not so in the culture of the 1st Century. It was an address of affection and endearment. Jesus addresses his mother Mary as Woman when she requested of Him to assist at the wedding feast of Canaan (John 2:4), when He is on the cross (John 19:26), and to Mary Magdalene when she comes to the tomb to seek His body. Addressing the Samaritan as "woman" is the equivalent to handing her a bouquet of roses. I know of no woman who does not light up when presented with flowers. However, what makes a change in the Samaritan woman's life is that Jesus addresses her with endearing terms even though He knows all about her. He knows all the emotional bags of five husbands she has collected and the shame of her living with one now that is not her husband. She sees herself as damaged goods, but Jesus gives her what she has always thirst for: unconditional love and forgiveness. After Jesus produced a purging of the woman's past, the text reads in verse 28, "The woman then left her water pot, went her way into the city, and said to the men, "Come, see a Man who told me all things that I ever did. Could this be the Christ?""
The beautiful completeness of her purging is seen in her ability to go to the very type of people in which she had collected most of her baggage. Unfortunately, men can often be mean, cruel, arrogant, prideful, inconsiderate, unappreciative, selfish, and abusive toward woman and their own wives. However, wives and woman do themselves no good by holding on to the sins of men. Although Jesus knew the contents of her bags and understood her reason for carrying them, He also knew that she could not hold to them and be any good for the Kingdom of God .
Let each of us ask ourselves; am I holding on to past pains, hurts, problems, disappointments that could be stopping me from receiving what God has prepared for me? Am I possibly ineffective to the Kingdom of God because of emotional baggage?
I conclude with excerpt lyrics of a song by Erykah Badu titled, Bag Lady.
Bag lady you gone hurt your back, Dragging all them bags like that.
Bag lady you gone miss your bus. You can't hurry up, cause you got too much stuff.
I guess nobody ever told you, All you must hold on to, Is you, is you, is you.
Girl I know sometimes it's hard, And we can't let go.
Oh, when someone hurts you oh so bad inside. You can't deny it you can't stop crying.
So. If you start breathin, then you won't believe it. You'll feel so much better.
I betcha love can make it better. Betcha love can make it better.
Need someone to love you right.
Although earthly relationship can be joyful, pleasurable, and peaceful, only God can love us 'right'. "Therefore, cast all your care upon Him, for He (Jesus) cares for you (1st Peter 5:7).
The Holy Bible, English Standard Version (ESV), Copyright 2000, 2001 by Crossway Bibles
The Bag Lady of Samaria