Lent 3 A 2005
Exodus 17:1-7
Psalm 95
Romans 5:1-11
John 4:5-42
I’m thinking about letting my
hair go natural. Naturally gray at this
point! I’m almost 40, have been a pastor
for 13 years now, and am tired of
the “How long have you been a pastor?” “Is this your first church?” “Surely you aren’t old enough to know
much” questions. These have been both spoken and unspoken.
Not that I look that young
any more. I have been called “Ma’am” for quite a few
years now. And I never get carded anymore!
But those questions really
get to me. As I am sure they would get
to you! For we all want to be taken
seriously! Let me give you an example.
At third parish I served was
a very small yet very faithful place.
By small I mean that 20 people in the pews on a Sunday was a good day! Yet
in many ways this was the most faith-filled place I have been.
But I was young…and what
would I know! I dared to suggest
that the money that these frugal folks had stashed away might be better off
being spent. “But Pastor, we need to keep
that for a rainy day. You’ll understand
when you’re older”
All I could think of, and had to refrain
from saying was two things: “I hope I
don’t understand when I’m older!!” and “I think it’s
already raining!!”
It is amazing, isn’t it, the way
we discount what other people say. The
rational we use to push people and messages away when they make us
uncomfortable.
She is so young, what would she know! He hasn’t been there, what would he know?
I kept running into that when
I was working on understanding the Gospel lesson for today.
Some commentators, both male and
female, have worked very hard on this
text. Pushing it away, tapping it
down, trying to tame it.
For here is Jesus, breaking down
boundaries again. Making
people uncomfortable even all these centuries later.
Talking to
a Samaritan Woman.
First, Men in this era do not talk to women in
public. Then there is the whole
Jewish Samaritan thing. Jews thought
Samaritans, both
men and women were unclean, so they
can’t touch them or even drink from the same bucket of water.
They were even considered
enemies.
So Jesus, the nerve of him, goes into enemy territory, and talks to a woman.
But this is no quick
conversation. This is the longest
dialogue we have of Jesus speaking to anyone in the Gospels. And it is a woman.
But hey, we can downplay the importance of this
if we focus on the 5 husband passage. Must be a tramp. Must
love em and leave, the Elizabeth Taylor of the Samariton world.
Jesus is speaking to a loose woman, so what could she know…
But a closer look at the text
doesn’t mention the Samaritan woman’s morality. Perhaps she has been divorced, perhaps her
husbands have all died, as she was
passed on from brother to brother which would fit the custom of the time.
Perhaps… well,
we never really know. And what’s
more, Jesus
doesn’t add comment on it either! He
doesn’t condemn her or lecture her or spit at her or walk away. Jesus
Simply states a fact,
see, I know you, and then he moves on.
We are the ones who get hung
up on the 5 husband line. Not Jesus.
He continues to listen and
talk to this woman. Still offers her
the living water…
And she starts to get it…if
you, rabbi, know so much about my personal life, maybe you can answer the most pressing
theological issue that stands between my culture and yours. Where do we worship? With the Jews in
Jesus takes the question
seriously, like
he has taken the entire conversation. And answers her directly.
Soon you will not have to worry about those man made distinctions. For the Father is Spirit and Truth. And worship is Spirit and Truth. And Spirit and Truth are not confined by
temple walls or mountain height or stained class or varnished wood.
But wherever God is, there is worship.
Okay, she says. The Messiah is coming to tell us these
things…
And for the first time in the Gospel of John, Jesus reveals himself as the
Messiah. And he tells a woman, a Samaritan, an enemy of the state.
I am he.
When the disciples find Jesus, they find him
talking to a Samaritan woman in broad daylight. But you know what, Jesus doesn’t turn on her to save
face. He just calmly continues on.
She leaves to spread the
word.
Jesus stays to teach his
disciples, who
are not quite getting it. Look, Jesus says, you think you need to plant the seed and wait
for the harvest. But the seed has
already been planted and the harvest it ready.
Go to it. Here, now.
And then the harvest arrives, The Samaritan woman
gives witness. This must be the
one! He told me everything I have ever
done!
And the Samaritans arrive and
invite Jesus to stay. And he does. Breaking another page of
Jewish custom by staying and eating and sleeping with the unclean enemy
Samaritans.
And the
woman? The Samaritan Woman? She has brought many people to Jesus, where they then
hear his Words, receive the living
water, for themselves, and believe.
Here is a woman who is not
judged, not belittled, not discounted by Jesus. But accepted for who she is
and treated with respect and dignity.
There is no big repentance
scene, no
dramatic fire and brimstone.
Just Jesus
quietly crossing boundaries and bringing love to a strong woman who is not
afraid to ask her questions and believe the answers.
Surely this must be the one!
We simply can’t discount this
disciple. We can’t explain her away or
shut her up. We can’t fixate on her past
life or make assumptions about her character.
Not if the text, the word, is to speak to us, across the boundaries of time and place.
Bringing to us the acceptance
of Jesus, who is still taking us and our questions seriously. And who offers to us, even now, living water.
Living, life giving, spirit
filled water. And then sending us into
the harvest, saying
“Look! Here the one who knows everything
about me, and
loves me regardless. Come and see”
Come and see!
Amen.