John 4:5-42
Well…here we are at the 3rd week of Lent. We are one more week closer to that day we are all looking forward to. The day that our Lord and Savior is victorious over sin and death . . . the day that He rises from the tomb to offer us a new life of reconciliation and redemption…the day that we are able to once more have a right relationship with our Creator God . . . as it was in the Garden so long ago. Last time I was here . . . I was talking about the time of Lent and how it should be not just a season but something we do every day of our lives. I talked about how to Lent…or to live a life of Lent…means accepting boundaries . . . the wise boundaries . . . that God has set before us. Boundaries that keep us safe...under His protective wings of love. Something that Adam and Eve didn’t do. Well . . . in reading my Daily Devotional, The Upper Room Disciplines, I learned another way to live a life to Lent. To Lent also means to learn to be an ambassador for Christ, to point away from ourselves to learn what God has done for us in Jesus.
In the Luke passage we read this morning…we read about how when Jesus was sitting by the well…a Samaritan woman came to draw water from the well. When she came to the well…Jesus asked her for a drink. Well…the woman’s first answer to Him made me stop and think…to ponder on what was really going on in this “scene”.
OK…so let’ try to play C.S.I. here (I get to be Grissom…he’s my favorite character on the show and I like his style!)…here is Jesus sitting by the well…along comes a woman. Not just a woman but a “Samaritan woman”…and Jesus starts talking to her. This woman seems almost astonished…bewildered…that Jesus is even talking to her. OK…freeze frame…Why would this woman be so surprised that Jesus would even talk with her? Well…one reason is that Jesus was a Jew and Jew’s did not like Samaritan’s. The breach between Jews and Samaritans can be traced to the Assyrian occupation of No. Palestine. The source of the Feud between them was a dispute about the correct location of the cultic center. The Samaritans built their shrine on Mt. Gerizim and claimed that this was the proper place to worship not the Jerusalem Temple. WOW…things don’t really change do they? We as a society still struggle with the “my way is right and yours is wrong and if you don’t agree with me then there is something wrong with you”…Or how about…”your different from me so there must be something wrong with you…you are nothing but an outcast.” I don’t know if history is repeating or if we are still living the same history and just haven’t learned yet.
OK…in order to get the real feel for this scene…let’s fast forward to when the disciples show up on the scene. They come to the well and see Jesus talking with someone. Not only was He talking to a woman but He was talking to a Samaritan woman (for shame). They may have been thinking “doesn’t He know who He is talking to? Doesn’t He know that this WOMAN was the ENEMY…a SAMARITAN?” But they said nothing…maybe they were afraid of what Jesus’ answer might be. They didn’t want to think that their teacher…their Rabbi…would intentionally do something wrong. OK…Freeze frame…What does this scene tell you? Does it tell you that the disciples still didn’t realize who Jesus was and what His ministry about? Does it tell you that women were not seen in a good light back then…let alone a SAMARITAN woman? Well…what I see here is something that gives me so much hope and joy that I have to share it with you (and anyone else who will listen).
OK…you ready…what I see here is Jesus’ radical ministry. Jesus could have been like all the other teachers…all the other Rabbis…of that time. He could have been only concerned with the righteous…the chosen ones. He could have just walked away and said nothing to this woman. But is that what Jesus did? No…Jesus started the conversation with this woman. Jesus didn’t come for the righteous…the chosen ones. Jesus came for the least…the lost…the forgotten. Jesus came for the outcast and the sinner. Because of Jesus’ ministry…you and I are counted as part of the chosen ones. We are adopted…through our baptism…into the family. And because of our adoption we can come to the throne of Grace and cry out “ABBA FATHER” to our Creator God. Now that’s something to be joyous about! That’s something that I am forever grateful for! That’s something I want to share with those around me so that they too can be part of the family!
Now…let’s take a look at the rest of this radical scene. After Jesus asks her for water and her initial shock is over He starts talking to her about “Living Water”. Now this was not any ordinary water…this water…after you drink it…you will never thirst again. As a matter of fact…this water will cause a spring of water welling up to eternal life. OK…stop scene…what is this water that Jesus is talking about. Water that He gives that will make us never thirst again? Well…we are baptized by water as a rebirth but there is a water that will sustain us…a water that I myself cannot do without. This water is free of charge. This water quenches the thirst of my soul…of my Spirit that is within me. This water is God’s Word…the Living Water.
Living water…what a wonderful gift we have. In life…we have all kinds of water. There is Spring water and tap water, there is plain water and flavored water…Propel Water, Glacier Water and Perrier Water…there is so many kinds of water to quench our physical thirst but only one kind to quench our Spiritual thirst. Baptismal water renews us but it is the living water that sustains us through our life here on earth and it is within this living water that we find eternal life.
OK…roll scene…as Jesus is talking to her…He knows about her whole life without ever meeting her before. Boy…that must have thrown her for a loop. Here is this man she has never met before telling her about the life she has lived. Then…this part I like…as they are talking Jesus tells her that He is the MESSIAH! OK stop right here…Jesus is telling this woman…this outcast from society…that He is the Messiah. I think this may be one of the only times that He says straight out “I am the Messiah you have been waiting for.” He didn’t say this to too many people…but to this outcast He tells all. This again affirms to me Jesus’ mission…His ministry…was for those who were the outcast and down trodden. Of all the people that He could have told, He told this enemy of the Jews who He really was (talk about loving your enemies and your neighbor).
After the woman heard all that Jesus said she left her water jar and went back to the town to tell the people about this man…this Jesus…that she had just met. She left the jar for the water of man and went to tell about this new “Living Water” she had just learned about that was from this Jew she had just met. She left the jar…went running to share…with others…the news about…the Living Water.
I mentioned earlier in my sermon that one way to live a life of Lent is to learn to be an ambassador of Christ, to point away from ourselves to learn what God has done for us in Jesus. This is exactly what this woman did. She pointed away from herself…away from what she needed…which at that time must have been water for herself. She put aside a personal need she had…put aside the hatred she may have been harboring for Jews in general…and went home to exclaim what she had learned from the Messiah. Her living water had welled up in her to the point that she was able to share it with others who were blessed by what she did. She invited them to come and see and hear Jesus for themselves. The story ends with “Many of the Samaritans from that town believed in Him because of the woman’s testimony.” As a matter of fact…their wells were so high that they asked Him to stay with them and because of His words many more became believers. They had heard for themselves this man called Jesus and realized “that this man really is the Savior of the world.”
WE need to be like the Samaritan woman. We need to set aside self…set aside our fears…set aside our differences so that we can make a difference in the lives of those around us. We need to shout it from the roof tops that we are joyful for our redemption. We need to revitalize the water within us with the Living Word…this life giving…life changing water…so that it can well up in us too and pour out to those who are in need. We need to invite those who need this change to hear the Living Word of God so that they too may believe because they heard it for themselves not just our testimony.
How high is the water in your life? Is it welling up within you, waiting to be poured out as a libation to others? What’s stopping you? I know some of my own barriers have been thinking that people will think I am strange, they may treat me as an outcast, who would listen to me anyway? I am here to tell you today that there is someone in your life…and mine…that needs to hear the Good News today. Someone needs to have this eternal life giving water poured out on them. How will you respond to the Spirits calling? Don’t be afraid of being an outcast. Remember…Jesus came to the sinner…the unrighteous…the outcast to bring them Life…to bring them back to a right relationship with our Creator. To me…being an outcast isn’t so bad…if I wasn’t …I would still be trying to live by the law and failing miserably at it instead of being forgiven and washed as white as snow by the blood of the Lamb…Our Lord Jesus Christ.
AMEN
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