Monday, March 20, 2017

The Abandoned Water Jar

Lent 3A | John 4:5-42

You probably have heard what an exciting Ash Wednesday we had here at St. Christopher’s this year. Kind of sounds funny saying that doesn’t it? “Exciting Ash Wednesday.” Well, I think we did. It was the first official joint venture of St. Christopher’s parish and San Romero fellowship. We began at 7 in the morning – I sent one church member directly to Starbucks to pick up a couple of jugs of coffee – and Uriel Lopez and I started imposing ashes on drivers-by from all walks of life. By 9 a.m. we had placed ashes on 75 foreheads. While I had three other services to prepare for among other things, Father Lopez and his ministers continued their work until after 5 p.m. when they had imposed ashes on nearly 450 people! I think that is very exciting.

While some question the orthodoxy of “Ashes to Go,” others who affirm and support the effort, consider the notion that “instead of waiting for people to come to church; the church must go to the people.” It is, after all, intended for those who would not normally attend church, or who simply cannot because of work or other restrictions. Still, Ashes to Go is intended to be an evangelical tool; a way of making the church’s presence known beyond its walls; and our own San Romero, with God’s help and the people of St. Christopher’s great support, had a fantastic start for the new mission.


In the long gospel lesson this morning, Jesus seems to be doing the practice of “the church going to the people.” Last week, Nicodemus comes to Jesus at night, but today, we hear about Jesus out and about in a foreign land, Samaria, where one of the best stories in John’s gospel takes place: the woman at the well.

Today we hear a contrast in John’s narrative, where last week, the Pharisee and teacher of the Jews, Nicodemus comes to Jesus at night, we hear in this very next chapter, a Samaritan woman who meets Jesus in broad daylight. Symbols are important for John and should always be taken be taken seriously. The symbols we heard today: A woman from Samaria. Jacob’s well. Living water. An abandoned water jar.

Now the story goes that Jesus was tired from his journey and took a seat next to the well. Then, when a Samaritan woman came to draw water from the well, Jesus asks her to give him a drink, all while the disciples were away buying food.

I think it’s important to pause for a moment in this message today about the content of this passage in John. We hear today of a wonderful and significant story about the breaking in of God’s kingdom: everywhere. It is a story about a Samaritan woman, a foreigner, but about so much more. It is a story about the world being offered life through Jesus. It is about worship and it is about eternal life. It is about mission and reconciliation; not just to the house of Israel, but to the whole world. (And yes, the story eventually does lead to evangelism. That “E” word that Portia brought up last week.)


Taken at face value, we can get easily distracted by the prophetic knowledge that Jesus shares with and about this woman. There are many opinions out there about why Jesus discusses the Samaritan woman’s marital status. Opinions that assume Jesus is calling her out on a sinful life demonstrated through serial relations with many men are most irresponsible and cause us to miss the point of this beautiful story about the life and joy that Jesus offers the world. To understand the conversation about marriage, we should understand what John is trying to convey to us about what Jesus is up to.

So let’s explore the plight of our woman friend from Samaria. John scholar Cynthia Kittredge notes that wells are places of engagements. We know the woman is unmarried (which doesn’t mean she’s a horrible person), and that she has had serial marriages; but we don’t know why they ended. Perhaps she has been widowed once or twice; or maybe deserted by one husband or another. The text doesn’t say, nor does Jesus call her a sinner or pronounce any forgiveness of sin. [i]

Professor Kittredge in her book recalls the history of Samaria whose people have worshipped five false gods after the Assyrian captivity. Perhaps she is searching for religious truth, and if so, it is no wonder that Jesus tells her, “Woman, believe me, the hour is coming when you will worship the Father neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem. But the hour is coming and is now here, when the true worshippers will worship the Father in spirit and truth.” [ii]

In both scenarios Jesus is proclaiming good news. He is proclaiming the promise of salvation and reconciliation, security and life everlasting to a woman who needs to hear this news; indeed to a world who needs to hear it. Nowhere in this story does Jesus forgive her for any sin. Nor does he perform any miracle. There are any number of ways, in fact, that one might imagine this woman’s story as tragic rather than scandalous.

This story, as with many stories we read in the gospels, have little to do with the focal character of the story and so much more to do with Jesus. Now that we have hopefully laid to rest the story of a judging Jesus who sees an outcast, an adulteress, or a woman to be most pitied, let’s now focus on Jesus, the Savior of the world who lives out a mission of salvation and reconciliation to all the world.

Now, the Jews and Samaritans are related peoples. Both are Hebrews. The Samaritans are from the old northern kingdom of Israel, while the Jews are from the old southern kingdom of Judah. The Samaritans inter-married with non-Jewish peoples and lost much of their ethnic identity, while the Jews maintained theirs. Each group ended up with their own temple, the Samaritans on Mount Gerizim, the Jews on Mount Zion. And so it is a strange choice Jesus makes to travel through Samaritan territory. That he strikes up a conversation with a Samaritan is even stranger.

There’s something additional that makes this conversation beside the well a surprise. In that place and time, men and women are not to talk to one another in public. It is not considered proper. Especially when the man is, like Jesus, a rabbi, a teacher, someone looked up to and revered. And thus the disciples, when they return, are astonished that Jesus is speaking with a woman.

Like Jesus, we are called to break down barriers and divisions to speak God’s word of life to others. How often do we allow ourselves to be surprised? The work we are to be doing within the life of the church is the work of transformation: for others and ourselves, from life lived in the world, to that of the spirit. (Remember Jesus’ conversation with Nicodemus? “What is born of the flesh is flesh, and what is born of the Spirit is spirit.”) Jesus now has two conversations in a row about living life in the spirit. He finds a woman who has been searching, and he knows this because the conversation he has with her keeps her attention.

He asks her for water – she says, “but you have no bucket”. He offers her water and when she drinks of it she will never be thirsty again; as the water that Jesus gives will become a spring of water gushing up to eternal life; and she pleads for this water - “Sir, give me this water, so that I may never be thirsty or have to keep coming here to draw water.”

And after the personal conversation they have, the nameless woman runs back to her village, leaving her water jar behind, and tells everyone that she has found the Savior of the world. Our lady friend here is not a sinner who needs fixing. She, as Professor Kittredge claims, is the hero. She is the first missionary in John’s Gospel and the first woman to proclaim the Good News.

And here, I believe, is the part of the story that witnesses to her transformation. In terms of John’s story and world, this nameless woman has pretty much everything stacked against her: she is a Samaritan in this Jewish story, a woman in a male-dominated world, has lived a challenging and probably tragic life, and is very likely dependent on others.

And yet after her encounter with Jesus she leaves her water jar behind -- perhaps symbolic of all the difficulties and let-downs of her life – and of the physical world rather than spiritual - to live a new and different life and to share with others what God has done for her.

What, I wonder, holds us back from living into the future God has prepared for us and sharing the news of what God has done? What, that is, are the jars we need to leave behind, trading our past tragedies and present challenges for the living water Jesus offers?

Perhaps it’s problems in a job or the difficulty of finding one. Perhaps it’s an unfulfilling or difficult relationship or a painful one. Perhaps it’s a past wound or fear about the future. Maybe it’s an illness of the mind, body, or spirit; or grief or anxiety or guilt or sadness.

It could be any number of things. But the woman left her water jar and ran back to the city, telling the people, “Come and see this man…” Perhaps she comprehended life in the spirit more quickly than Nicodemus did and realized she no longer needed the burden of doing things her own way and on her own terms, that is, clinging to her own water jar, because she now has everything she needs after her encounter with Jesus.

Last week we heard the story of Nicodemus who came searching for Jesus at night. Today we hear the story of the woman at the well who in broad daylight was found by Jesus. Jesus in this gospel is inviting us into a new reality, a new community, a new family. The person sitting next to you is your gift from God in this Jesus community. You did not come to St. Christopher’s on your own accord. Listen to the stories: you either came searching for Jesus in darkness, or he came and found you in his light. This place, this parish, this community, this family is God’s. Paid for by Jesus. It is Jesus who creates our fellowship and our community. So whatever reasons you have for being part of this faith community, always remember who called you into it; and remember that each one of us is a gift to each other. This is the identity of Jesus: the family of God, working together for the purposes of God’s kingdom.

The stories are written so that you get the feeling that you too are at the well listening to Jesus’ lessons and insights into your life, so that you too will abandon your water jar, then run and tell others of this Savior and invite them to “come and see”.

May you find and be found by Jesus again. May you come to the living waters. May you drink into your lives the ever-changing, ever-cleansing, life-giving and sustaining water that Jesus offers; then go and tell others what God in Jesus has done for you. Amen.



[i] Kittredge, Cynthia Briggs (2007) Conversations with Scripture: The Gospel of John. New York, New York: Morehouse Publishing
[ii] Kittredge, Cynthia Briggs (2007) Conversations with Scripture: The Gospel of John. New York, New York: Morehouse Publishing


Monday, March 6, 2017

In God We Trust (?)

In November of 1861, letters were written between the Rev. M.R. Watkinson of Pennsylvania and then Secretary of the Treasury, Salmon Chase on the subject of inscribing “In God We Trust” on U.S. coinage. The pastor thought that something was “seriously overlooked” on the coined currency of our nation, and by that he meant “the recognition of the Almighty God in some form on our coins.”

As a result, Secretary Chase instructed James Pollock, Director of the Mint at Philadelphia, to prepare a motto, in a letter dated later that month:

Dear Sir: No nation can be strong except in the strength of God, or safe except in His defense. The trust of our people in God should be declared on our national coins.

Working out some tweaks in verbiage along the way, in 1873 Congress passed the Coinage Act and had the motto, “In God We Trust” inscribed on all coins. But the use of this motto over the years did not go uninterrupted. And the Act only included coinage. Paper currency did not have the motto, In God We Trust, printed on it.

It wasn’t until a law was passed by the 84th Congress and approved by the President in July of 1956, some 83 years later, declaring “In God We Trust” the national motto of the United States. In God We Trust was first used on paper money in 1957, when it appeared on the one-dollar silver certificate. By October of the same year, In God We Trust was printed on every denomination of paper currency, and has been since.

I’ve found it curious over the years, why we continue to have this motto written on our currency. I wonder if this sentiment is really what is in our hearts: In God we trust.

I find it curious because we live in a culture and society that teaches, and well, preaches that our self worth is wrapped up in our own financial success. We are bombarded constantly with advertisements about what clothes to wear, what products to buy, and what vehicles we should drive. We are labeled as “consumers” by those who compete feverishly for the money that is in our bank accounts. In God We Trust. Do we even notice it on our currency anymore? This is especially difficult in a time when we use our debit cards and automatic payments for most of our transactions. But regardless of how we use our income, the question for me remains, ‘what does it mean to trust in God?’

The first Sunday in Lent always begins with the temptation of Christ in the wilderness, where he fasts for forty days and nights. There he is tempted by the devil three times.

Jesus’ forty days in the desert echo Israel’s forty years there. Like the people of Israel in their
exodus from Egypt, Jesus is out in the wilderness, hungry and tempted. “If you are the son of God,” the devil says, “command these stones to become bread.” In other words, if you really are either royal or divine, prove it by using your power to your own benefit. What kind of god sits around listening to his stomach growl instead of showing off his power and feeding himself? What kind of king ever goes hungry?
In response, Jesus places himself not among the privileged few but among the ordinary people of God. Quoting Deuteronomy, Jesus replies, “one does not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God.” For Jesus, being the Son of God means accepting his humanity and depending on God for daily bread.

After his first failure to lure Jesus into misusing his status, the devil tries again, taking him to Jerusalem (“the holy city”), to the very highest point of the temple. This time the tempter challenges Jesus to prove his identity by throwing himself down and letting the angels rescue him.

In the final temptation, the devil promises to give Jesus all the kingdoms of the world if only Jesus will worship him. The implications are stunning. The devil assumes that all authority in the world belongs to him, to give to others as he chooses. But Jesus orders Satan to leave, saying, “Worship the Lord your God, and serve only him.”

The temptation of turning stones to bread for food, the temptation to test God’s power to rescue, and the temptation to rule with power and influence, and his subsequent refusal of each, are not stories meant to set Jesus apart from us. Matthew does not tell the story to make us feel inadequate by showing us things that Jesus can do and we can’t. On the contrary! This story is meant to encourage us – because Jesus “was tempted in every way that we were, yet did not sin” reminds us that Jesus was tempted by the very things that we are tempted by, that is, dependency on our own doing and trust in ourselves by our own right. Matthew’s story of the temptations proves to commend the faith that is already in us.

The temptations of Jesus are not about that shady, sneaky devil that has nothing better to do than trip us up and make us bad people, not at all. These temptations are about Jesus putting his whole trust in God’s grace and love, intertwined in the life of Jesus that empowers us to do the same; with God’s help and grace.

Do you trust God?

Let’s go back to that first temptation in the Garden; the one that Adam and Eve blundered big time. The serpent offers Adam and Eve the promise of ultimate, God-like knowledge, at the outset of his exchange with the woman the serpent suggests that God is not trustworthy. The serpent begins, sowing the seeds of doubt, and then asserts, “You will not die,” contradicting the words of God.
Having undermined Adam and Eve’s confidence in God, the serpent then invites them to establish themselves -- that is, craft their own identity -- independent of their relationship with God: “when you eat of the fruit your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.” Who needs God, after all, when you can be “like God” all on your own?

Now back to Matthew. While the content of the devil’s temptations include the capacity to turn stones to bread, call upon angels for safety, and the promise of power and dominion, each again is primarily about the devil trying to undermine Jesus’ trust in God. And I think the devil continues his work around us.

The question of whether we trust God is an important one. Because when we trust God, it shows; in our lives, in our dealings, and in our habits. It’s not to say that we won’t be tempted; we will be. Again, realize the consumer-driven culture that you and I live in. We are constantly being told that we are not smart enough, pretty enough, skinny enough, insured enough, or just simply not cool enough, unless we purchase “x”.

So we take matters into our own hands. And when we do, we believe that we must take control of our own lives. We nudge God to the side, and say that the stories we hear in church are nice, but we come to church for other reasons. When we take matters into our own hands we deny the promise of the trust we are to have in God that we made at our baptism. So we satiate our desires as we see fit. We test God to see if God will give us what we desire, rather than what we need. We seek reckless ambition to achieve status and wealth and to be accepted by others who have achieved the same.

David Lose writes inspiringly, “that Jesus resists [these temptations] not through an act of brute force or sheer will, but rather by taking refuge in an identity founded and secured through his relationship with God, a relationship that implies absolute dependence on God and identification with all others. Jesus will be content to be hungry as others are hungry, dependent on God’s Word and grace for all good things. He will be at risk and vulnerable as are all others, finding safety in the promises of God. And he will refuse to define himself or seek power apart from his relationship with God, giving his worship and allegiance only to the Lord God who created and sustains him.”

When we decide rather that we are not in control; that we are not owners of our lives and possessions, but that everything is God’s, then we don’t nudge God out of the picture of our lives. We place God at the very center of our lives. Why? Because we trust. And when we trust in God, we start seeing the world differently and acting accordingly.

When we trust God it becomes easier for us to follow his commandments; to love God and our neighbor, to put no other god before our God, to seek peace and justice among others, especially for the poor and those who differ from us, because we trust that God is in control and that God will work things out. To trust God is to love others.

When we trust God we more easily share our money and possessions and for the right reasons! We don’t use money to get our way or withhold money when something happens that we disagree with. Money should never be used as a weapon. Yes, I speak of the very money that has printed on it, “In God We Trust,” but too often it seems that it is the money that we trust, not God. So we grip tighter. So instead when we give as Christians, we do so generously, because we are God’s children and we trust that he is in control and will make all things right.

Today is the first Sunday in Lent. We began this holy season on Wednesday, but we begin anew today. We begin once again to look into our own lives and wonder how we can begin to trust God more. Jesus was not given special powers so he could ward off the evil one and continue on his merry way. No. Jesus trusted God. He trusted God when he was tempted, which was probably many more times than just three, he trusted God when he was betrayed, he trusted God when he was arrested, and he trusted God even to his death.


And during this season of Lent we are reminded of God’s grace all around us. The ashes on our foreheads from Ash Wednesday remind us more than that we are dust, but that we are God’s children. We are called to self-examination, but we are also reminded of God’s grace and love and forgiveness. May our focus this Lent not be our shortcomings, but rather the abundant grace that God continues to offer us in Jesus.