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.
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