Lent 3 2008
Exodus 17:1-7
Romans 5:1-11
John 4:5-42
Witness at the Well
A theological conversation in the heat of the noonday sun between a Jew and a Samaritan, a woman and a man, is an amazing situation. The conversation began when Jesus’ requested a drink of water. The transient Jewish man asked that the foreign woman from the country most Jews walked a day to avoid entering gave him a drink of water from Jacob’s well. Jesus talked with her as if he had known her all her life. He was aware of her past, the five marriages, and her current situation. She was intrigued by his knowledge and considered him a prophet. So she launched into a theological inquiry and here the conversation peaks my attention. She asked about the age long conflict between Jews and Samaritans about whether worship of God could take place only in Jerusalem or on Mt. Gerizim. Jesus does not debate the geographical correctness but defines worship as holy, pertaining to God, which is spirit and truth.
We should take this teaching seriously today. Where we worship God is important but the geographical place fades in contrast to the way we worship: in spirit and in truth. God transcends sex, race, tradition, place and (dare I say it) liturgy. This week I met with a woman to plan a funeral for her husband who died suddenly. They have no church home because the church they belonged to disapproved of his divorce and remarriage. How many people do you know that have left the formal structure of religion whose faith is known to God alone because of the rules and judgments made in the name of God. We need to rise above the temptation to judge anyone. The blazing sign over this door shall be: ALL ARE WELCOME HERE!
Not one of us is spiritually pure, none of us are “worthy of God’s grace” but all of us know the taste and feel of forgiveness and acceptance. We must be willing and able to share what we have with all who come here. That is what Jesus did with the woman at the well in Samaria. Telling her that it was not a matter of one physical place or another where proper worship could take place, the woman perceived that Jesus was not an ordinary prophet but more than a prophet. She had only one category greater than a prophet and that was Messiah. With this insight the woman said to Jesus: “I know that Messiah is coming. When he comes he will proclaim all things to us.” Jesus replied, “I am he, the one who is speaking to you.” This is the first of 7 times in John’s Gospel where Jesus uses this name. You will remember that when Moses was on the holy mountain being sent to deliver the Israelites from bondage in Egypt, he asked who shall I say sent me? God named himself, I AM that I AM. When Jesus uses the term, I AM, he is claiming his divine nature.
The disciples returned and were amazed at the scene: Jesus a Jew talking with this foreign Samaritan woman. She is undeterred. Without picking up the water jar, she ran into her village town and proclaimed: “Come, see a man who told me all that I ever did. Can this be the Christ?”
She was not ordained, she was not recruited to be an evangelist, trained to speak in public, educated in a seminary, etc, etc, but she went and without any apology or explanation she just said what she experienced. When did any one of us do the same? In the public square today the only voices we are hearing are those representing the narrowest views of Christian faith…more judgment than good news. Maybe, that is why so many people have dodged church structures and congregations, for fear of judgment and polemical rhetoric about the gospel of Christ. We can do better and we ought to.
The witness of the woman in Sychar was also an invitation. Come and see! Are we as confident as she? When we invite family members or friends to church, are we sure that they will not be bored by the liturgy and music, ignored by the people, uncomfortable with the communion service? Can we feel certain that what we have found comforting and encouraging in our lives will affect them in similar ways? If we can’t we ought to be paying attention to where the gaps are between our faith and our culture.
In the 2+3 meeting in New Orleans, Charles Fulton said, whenever religion and culture clash, culture always wins. He challenged us to approach our church and our services as a stranger, one not familiar with the form, the style, or the message. Why are they all reading from a book? Why are they singing these slow difficult songs?...or…why are a few of them trying to sing? What is this about? Why is that woman dressed in a tent?
It may look, sound, and feel very foreign. The exchange between Jesus and the Samaritan woman shows us that God crosses all boundaries of human circumstance. In praise of her unveiled honest response to Jesus, John’s Gospel immortalizes her by saying “The Samaritan woman spoke ‘the Word’”.
In the Gospel of John, Jesus talked to the woman at the well, this foreign, pagan, woman, longer than to anyone else including the disciples. There the two of them stand, face to face, in the bright light of noonday sun, at Jacobs well, a triple outsider and the Messiah of God. There is no pretense about who they are. They face each other, two people, face to face, while all the rules, taboos and history that separate them fall forgotten to the dust of the ground.
So it should be with us. The Messiah – the Christ – is the ONE in whose presence you and I begin to know who we are, as we slowly grow aware of whose we are. The Christ shows us that there are no boundaries, rules, or disguises that he will not penetrate to be with you. The Christ will cross those lines in order to speak with you, affirm you and your life like the water that he offered the woman that would quench her thirst forever. Once we come face to face with the living Christ and experience the unconditional love given to us, we too can cross all the boundaries, color outside the lines, and image a kingdom of God that embraces all creation. Maybe we will even gain the confidence to say to others, Come and SEE!