A couple of weekends ago, I had the privilege of taking my two grandies (aged 6 and 4) to the zoo. I hadn’t been to the zoo for a very long time and was suitably impressed at the changes the Council have made to ensure people have the best animal experiences, and that the animals are cared for in environments that are as similar as they can be to what would be natural for them. All that takes money of course, and one way of supporting the funding is to provide animal ENCOUNTERS.
The one I saw advertised, on that day, was the Rhino ENCOUNTER. It meant you were taken into the area where they are housed. One of the Rhino’s is brought into where huge metal slats are all that separates you from it, sort of I suppose (if a rhino was a farm animal), it would be the “yards”.
The ENCOUNTER then allowed you to be up close and personal with this mighty beast, and you could touch it and feel its leathery skin etc.
Some years ago, when I was much younger and more reckless, I visited Orana Park, near Christchurch. Orana park is classed as an Open Range Zoo. It used to be that you could drive through the lion paddock and have a “Lion ENCOUNTER”. Thousands of people flocked to have this experience, until people began testing limits and breaking rules, meaning lions began jumping on cars that parked up (which was not allowed) and later eating tyres etc. So, in order to still provide ENCOUNTERS, Orana Park, allowed people to climb into the meat wagon, which then drove into the lion paddock. While safe behind bars and mesh, you could observe the lions being fed, be amongst the snarls and growls as they fought over chunks of meat and see them up close as they climbed on and over the truck. It was so powerful, and certainly an ENCOUNTER that has stayed memorable.
Interesting word: ENCOUNTER.
If you look it up in the dictionary it is defined as “An unexpected or casual meeting with someone or something”
In many instances it has a “negative” connotation. For example,
“We have ENCOUNTERED a problem….”
Or “She felt totally unnerved by the ENCOUNTER”.
In John 3 we read of a visit at night by a chap called Nicodemus to Jesus. Not exactly an ENCOUNTER, as Nicodemus appears to have planned his visit, but what he experienced was definitely unexpected, as he ENCOUNTERED the Light of the World in the darkness of night.
Nicodemus was a scholarly fellow, a Pharisee, wealthy and respected. He knew his Scriptures and was a devout and upright Jew, but his conversation with Jesus took an unexpected turn when Jesus upends Nicodemus’s preconceived ideas by unveiling his need to be born again.
I guess, if we were to summarize this “ENCOUNTER” and the unexpectedness of it, it would be the challenge that Jesus gave to Nicodemus, which was to acknowledge His divine authority and accept Him as the promised Messiah.
As we follow the conversation, we see that despite Nicodemus’s knowledge of the Old Testament, and his extensive learning he remains perplexed and blinded by unbelief.
However, we see later that Nicodemus’s ENCOUNTER with Jesus, had a lasting effect. Later in the Gospel we see Nicodemus speak up for Jesus, and even much later, after the crucifixion, Nicodemus spared no expense in buying many spices to anoint the body of Jesus for burial.
The ENCOUNTER had lasting impact.
John’s next chapter (Four) tells of another ENCOUNTER.
That of the Samaritan woman. Poor, immoral, outcast, and unnamed. She is at the well in the middle of the day to get water. All the other ladies would have been there at first light to get the water for the day, and they would have made it a social gathering. But this woman had to come alone and in the hottest part of the day. Jesus arrives at the well tired and thirsty from travel. He speaks to her, breaking down all manmade cultural and racial barriers. He asks her for a drink, placing Himself in her care, and beginning the divine process of softening her heart.
She wasn’t expecting that!
What follows is Jesus progressively revealing Himself to her, and seemingly offering the impossible. He gently opens a wound in the woman’s heart so healing can begin. The ENCOUNTER both CONFRONTS her with the truth and CONVICTS her of her sin.
She wants what Jesus is offering. She came to the well for physical refreshment but left with so much more.
So, what could be the “take home” from these two accounts?
That through a series of targeted ENCOUNTERS and meaningful conversations, Jesus engaged with people to open their hearts to truth. That Jesus pursues ALL people, both the favoured and the forgotten.
May we determine to ENCOUNTER Jesus daily, allowing Him to progressively reveal Himself to us in more unexpected ways, and open our hearts to truth. May we, in our ENCOUNTER with Him, hear Him say, “I, the One speaking to you – I AM He”
The simplest words carry the deepest meaning.
Blessings
Carole