Loving God, you provide springs of living water for the hearts of your people, refreshing and renewing us by the power of your Holy Spirit.  May we find that same refreshment as we gather together today, even as you help us to know you better through Jesus Christ our Lord.  Amen.

    In any of the biblical stories, the challenge is always to find ourselves in that story and to allow God to speak to us and teach us through the story.  People often say that it’s fine to hear about things from the Bible, but they want to know what it has to do with their lives - today.  And so, today I’d like to invite you to dig a little deeper with me into the gospel story of Jesus’ encounter with the woman at the well - and in doing so, I invite you to find where the biblical story connects with your own story.

    In any story, there are the details that the author chooses to share, and then there are the gaps: the parts that are not shared that we need to fill in with our imagination.  For example, in today’s gospel, one of the details that is shared is that it is about noon when this woman goes to draw water from the well.  This one detail suggests a few other things that are not explicitly stated in the text.

    Why would noon be a really odd time to go and draw water from the well?  (Hottest part of the day)  And so why would somebody choose to go at that time to draw water?  (Avoid meeting other people) And so what does this one detail tell us about the Samaritan woman who meets Jesus?  (She is an outcast; subject of gossip; looked down on by others)

    Now, later on in the story we find out why some of this might be.  Apparently this woman has had five different husbands, and currently relies on a man for her subsistence who is not her husband.  Many might see this as a cause for judgment, but in the gospel it comes from Jesus as a simple statement of fact.  A little bit of digging into the culture at the time reveals that it is most likely that this woman was divorced or abandoned by each of those husbands.

    And so, here we have a woman who is the subject of ridicule - who has been abandoned or rejected more than once - who carries heavy burdens in the heat of the day - and who is disdained by her neighbours.  If any of you have ever had similar experiences, you will find some of yourself in this woman.  And in the gospel, she comes to the well, hoping not to meet anybody, and discovers a Jewish man sitting there.  How she must have sighed as she braced herself for one more rejection.

    Do you have any idea why she would have expected rejection from Jesus? (A woman & a Samaritan)  It helps to know a little bit about Jews and Samaritans.  We are told in the gospel that they don’t share things in common and that they disagree over where to worship, but do you have any idea why Jews hated Samaritans so much?  It actually goes back to the time when the Assyrians gained control over the Northern Kingdom of Israel and settled many of their own people there in place of the people of Israel (2 Ki. 17).  Over time, those people intermarried with the Israelites and set up shrines to accommodate the gods of the Assyrians.  And so, Samaritans became known as those who worship false gods and who have “mixed” ancestry. – In other words, they’re not purely Jewish, but have Gentile blood in them as well.

    At the same time, a little more digging will tell us that at that time, in that culture, no self-respecting Jewish rabbi would ever speak to a woman in a public place.  That’s why Jesus’ disciples are so surprised when they come and find Jesus speaking to a woman.  And so, this woman had every reason to expect that Jesus would absolutely reject her and probably not even speak to her.

    Now, we are not Samaritans, and we are not first century Jewish women.  However, how many of us would expect Jesus to reject us if he were sitting right here today?  How many of us would expect to be judged by Jesus, or perhaps chastised a little bit, or at least told what we “should” be doing?  Is any part of this woman’s story kind of like our stories?

    In the gospel you may have noticed that as soon as this woman discovers that Jesus knows her through and through, she asks him the number one serious question that is on her mind: Where are you supposed to worship?  Are the Jews right, or are the Samaritans right?  Most of us, I suspect, would have different questions.  In fact, I’d like to invite you to turn to 2 or 3 people close by to you today and discuss what one question you would like to ask Jesus.  You have an opportunity to ask Jesus anything you would like.  What is the one question you would ask? (Time for conversation)

    Any groups willing to share one question?

    Some might be for future sermons.

    This is just one example of the type of things you can do when you’re reading a story from the gospels.  It is a way to connect our own faith and life to the people in the stories and to Jesus.  And today’s gospel is a great way for us to encounter Jesus in a new way and to lay our questions before him.

    In the gospel, this woman who had expected rejection and scorn finds herself talking to the Saviour of the world about living water, and about her personal life, and about worshipping God in spirit and in truth.  It is life-changing for her as soon as she discovers that she is known through and through by Jesus.  It frees her to talk to him about the most serious question that is on her mind, and releases her to go back to the city joyfully, sharing her experience and inviting the other people to “come and see.”

    Today, we, too, are invited to encounter Jesus, and to realize how thoroughly he knows each one of us and how greatly he loves us.  Not only was he willing to die for us, but he also invites us into a relationship with God through himself and through the Holy Spirit, that we, too, might be able to worship in Spirit and in truth.  Thanks be to God for this indescribable gift.  Amen.

Lent 3(A)                                        John 4:5-42
March 27, 2011
St. Luke’s Zion Lutheran Church
Pastor Lynne Hutchison

© 2011 Lynne Hutchison  All Rights Reserved