A Samaritan woman came to draw water, and Jesus said to her, "Give me a drink." (His disciples had gone to the city to buy food.) The Samaritan woman said to him, "How is it that you, a Jew, ask a drink of me, a woman of Samaria?" (Jews do not share things in common with Samaritans.)... Many Samaritans from that city believed in him because of the woman's testimony, "He told me everything I have ever done." So when the Samaritans came to him, they asked him to stay with them; and he stayed there two days. -John 4:7-40
Jesus often crossed paths with others not from his "tribe." He did not shy away. Actually, he most often sought out these opportunities. He met people in their daily lives and locales, such as the Samaritan woman at the well and her community, and engaged with them at the point of their deepest yearning. When we seek out and are open to new encounters, new people, and new relationships, we allow ourselves a spiritual rendezvous with humanity. And in this act, we discover more spiritual depth within us than we previously imagined. How can we shift our perception, redefining "strangers" as "friends we have not yet met?"