I
love today’s Gospel story about Jesus’ experience at the well. And I am especially intrigued by his partner
in conversation. It’s the longest chat
that Jesus has with anyone and listen to the list of no-no’s that he breaks:
men were not to engage single women in conversation; she’s a Samaritan, whom Jews
hated and avoided like the plague; and it seems that she is being shunned even
by her own people.
The
time to draw water from the city’s well was early in the cool of the
morning. It was a community affair; an
opportunity to visit with friends, hear the latest news, strengthen bonds of respect...
except for those who were rejected by the community. They were forced to come for water
when it was hot. Jesus meets the woman
at
Now
current liberal theology asserts that the woman has been given a bad
rap, that there might be some very good reasons why she’s been married
five times, is living with a man who is not her husband, and is collecting
water in the heat of the day. But a
plain reading of the Bible seems to say otherwise.
Conservative theology, on the other
hand, has always seemed to want to portray this woman is a complete wretch, an
immoral madam, a prostitute of the worst repute. But, again, a plain reading of the Bible
seems to say otherwise. She’s smart
and she also seems to be a person of faith.
Somewhere
in the middle is probably the truth. At
the very least, we come to know that she is a person who is ripe to hear the
good news of God’s love.
In
this sense, she is much like many people that Jesus seeks out: lepers and tax
collectors, the blind and the lame, liars and cheaters, idlers and dreamers,
people just like you and me. If it’s true,
then every day this Samaritan woman is forced to collect her water when the sun
is high in the sky, after all the “good” folks have come and enjoyed each
other’s wholesome company. Kind
of like that movie Groundhog Day in which Bill Murray is forced to
relive the same day over and over until he finally “gets it right.”
So,
with this woman every day is the same, a brand new experience of the same old
shunning…waiting by herself, walking by herself,
working by herself, returning by herself.
Strike one. Strike two. Strike three.
She’s out! There is no reason on
God’s green earth why Jesus should speak to her, or with
her, or, heaven forbid, drink water from her defiled hands. Yet he does, in fact, he engages her in a
sweeping conversation. And the result
is…that it changes her both her life and the lives of her
neighbors.
His
opening words to the woman in v. 7 are a command Give me a drink. What, if anything, is significant about
that? At the very least, it
shows her that Jesus is working with a brand new set of rules. Look at her reply, How
is it that you, a Jew, ask a drink of me, a woman of
But
then take a look at v. 16. With both
feet, he jumps right into the middle of her personal life and says to her Go,
call your husband, and come back. She replies, I don’t have one. And Jesus says, You’re
right – you’ve had five, and the guy you’re living with now is not your husband.
Why
do that? Why push her? What does he hope to accomplish?
1.
I think he wants the woman to be honest with herself about the condition of her
life. To recognize our brokenness, our
sin, is the first step toward a true sense of freedom from it.
2.
I also think he wants to free her from her shunning. Look at her impassioned response to Jesus’
offer of life-giving water. She says, Sir,
give me this water, so that I may never be thirsty or have to keep coming
here to draw water (v. 15).
Think of the glimmer of hope that starts to spark in her heart at the
thought of being able to thrive in spite of her neighbors’ spite.
But
Jesus tells her, I’m offering you a gift that will do even more than
that. I want you to be connected with
your God and your neighbors in a wonderful guilt-ending,
relationship-mending, sin-rending, heart-tending, mind-bending, love-sending,
grace-wending way. And…she gets it!
In this conversation, Jesus demonstrates how eager God is to reach each one of us. So passionate is he to reach this goal that he lays to waste every barrier that stands between people and God, between us and our neighbors.
This woman, this hated Samaritan, a pariah even in her own community, gets it – so much so that we’re told in v. 28 that she leaves her precious water jar in order to spread this word of good news…Look at the amazing power of God that is unleashed through this conversation. One to one, Jesus speaks with this woman. One to one, the Spirit breathes life into her suffering spirit, breathes love into her hurting heart. One to one, God sends her off to proclaim the good news…!!!
She who could never even join the water-gatherers, probably would have sworn up and down that she would never be interested in speaking with other people about her life. Yet speak, she does, and the results are amazing.
…That
leads me to tell you about a new friend of mine by the name of
In
a one-to-one visit with someone from her congregation, she was asked to share
her story and was pleased to hear that some people were getting together to try
and do something about their problems.
In fact, she was so appreciative that she volunteered to help…as long as
no one ever asked her to speak with other people, especially in front of a
group.
That
was
A
week from this coming Wednesday, on March 9th, our Gloria Dei family
is going to travel across town to join with our brothers and sisters in the
faith at St. Anthony’s Catholic parish.
As you can see in your flyer, we’re going to eat soup, then join in the
Holden Evening Prayer worship, then chat for an hour with the Mayor and Chief of
Police about a stronger police force throughout our community. There you’ll get to meet Alice and lots of
other people who get it, who, like this woman at the well, have
been blessed by the Spirit to spread the good news.
In
Jesus, the barriers are broken down: between upright and downtrodden, female
and male, Samaritan and Jew. Together we
are invited to break bread, build relationships and share the good news. We are all recipients of the Lord’s blessing
that was spoken to and through the woman at the well. This same Spirit continues to live and
breathe God’s healing into old hurts, God’s hope into old pain, God’s
possibilities into old problems, God’s trust into old suspicions, and God’s
love into everyone that we meet and in all that we do, for the sake of Jesus
Christ. Amen.