Recently a newspaper  ran a little item which I would like to

share with you.  It was titled: “In Times of Stress, Just Call on

Rover”.  It goes like this:

 

When it comes to times of stress, the most reassuring

companion isn’t your sweetheart – it’s your schnauzer.

 

A study has found that people who were under stress showed

the least amount of tension when accompanied by their dog.

The stress levels were highest when the people were with

their husbands or wives.

 

“I think that dogs are non-evaluative, and they love us”,

said Karen Allen, a research scientist at State University

of New York at Buffalo’s medical school.

 

This item caught my attention, not because of what it says about

stress and our spouses — I don’t happen to find its

assertion in this regard to be true in my experience.

NO, it caught my attention because of what asserts about how dogs

love us – and of the benefits that kind of love has.

 

There is something very biblical in the assertion made by Ms.

Allen that non-evaluative love, non-judgmental love, reduces

tension.

 

In fact the scriptures testify that this kind of love does far

more than reduce tension –

it in fact gives life – it gives hope – it gives assurance –

to all who receive it.

 

Non-judgmental – accepting – all embracing love is the essence of

the gospel message: it lies behind such statements as:

“Do not judge others lest you be judged – for the judgment

you give will be the judgment you receive”

and it is at the root of what has happened whenever we find Jesus

being criticized by the scribes and Pharisees for the company

that he keeps.

 

Jesus accepts and embraces those whom others find wanting.

He loves those who seem unlovable – to others – and to

themselves.

 

I’m not much of gardener, but one thing I do know is that every

plant needs water to grow.

 

And I know this as well – the plants that are in the driest soil:

– the ones that are struggling the hardest and beginning to

wither

– the ones whose leaves are beginning to curl and which look

worse than the rest

need more water than those who are in damp ground and whose

leaves are rich and full of moisture.

 

And I know too dry plants respond better to water than they

do to added heat –

that they thrust down their roots to where they can find it

or turn their leaves over so that they better receive it –

and receiving it – they change – they begin to look better – they

begin to grow – and at length – they produce the fruit they

have been designed to produce.

 

We are the plants in God’s garden –

placed here for a reason and a purpose –

and some of us are awfully dry – and some of us aren’t.

 

But each one of us, whether we be dry or moist at this very

moment, needs the living water that Jesus says he has come to

give:

– that water which wells up to eternal life,

– that water which overflows and brings life to other plants near

to it.

 

I give thanks to God today for his love – for that love shown by

Christ – that love which was poured out to me when I was withering

and perishing as a young man – alone in a large city

and which even now is poured out upon me -even though I am far

from perfect –

 

I give thanks for his love which has given me hope that I never

had, a peace that at one time I could only long for, and an

assurance I thought I would never see at work in my life.

 

In giving thanks before you today I do what thousands, indeed

millions of people have done before me,  I do what the woman at

the well did after first encountering Jesus:

I point to the one who is the Saviour promised from long ago,

I point to the one who has accepted me

– the one who calls me brother and does not hold my human

failings against me,

– the one who encourages me and challenges me and never – even

when I argue with him –  rejects or condemns me.

 

That is what Jesus did with the woman at the well.  He accepted

her.

 

He accepted her though she was a Samaritan and an enemy to his

people.

 

He spoke to her of God though she was a woman and not thought

worthy of such conversation.

 

He offered her his blessing – even though she debated with him

and questioned his statements.

 

He regards her as a dear sister – and gives her the same title of

endearment he gave Mary when he calls her woman in verse 21 and

asks her to believe his words concerning how the time is coming

when true worshippers will worship Father in Spirit and in Truth.

 

And that is why she sang his praises in her village.

Because of his acceptance – because of his love.

 

It was not just because he knew her past –

It was not just because he could tell her things that no stranger

should know that she spoke of him to her friends and neighbors.

 

It was because in knowing her —

In knowing her nationality

her gender

her religious attitudes

And the mixed history of her marriages

he none-the-less treats her as if she was an equal,

as if she was a person worthy of respect

worthy of affection –

worthy of love.

 

And that is where it is at.

 

When we treat others as we ourselves would like to be treated

– when we can talk to kings and to beggars and not show any

preferences to the one and not the other,

– when we can debate with sinners and with saints – and have both

feel that you respect them

– when we can open our homes to both friends and strangers – and

have both feel welcomed

– when we can encounter people and not judge them – not put them

down – not patronize them –

then we know something of God’s love

then we show something of God’s love.