Sermon for March 15,2020 by Stephanie Workman - John 4: 5 - 42
Sermon by Stephanie Workman - written for Sunday, March 15, 2020
Our lectionary text for today, John 4:5-42, is lengthy, but reading its totality gives us a fuller, clearer picture of what transpired and its implications for this Samaritan, for her people and for us. Listen now for the Word of the Lord:
John 4:5-42
4:5 So he came to a Samaritan city called Sychar, near the plot of ground that Jacob had given to his son Joseph.
4:6 Jacob's well was there, and Jesus, tired out by his journey, was sitting by the well. It was about noon.
4:7 A Samaritan woman came to draw water, and Jesus said to her, "Give me a drink."
4:8 (His disciples had gone to the city to buy food.)
4:9 The Samaritan woman said to him, "How is it that you, a Jew, ask a drink of me, a woman of Samaria?" (Jews do not share things in common with Samaritans.)
4:10 Jesus answered her, "If you knew the gift of God, and who it is that is saying to you, 'Give me a drink,' you would have asked him, and he would have given you living water."
4:11 The woman said to him, "Sir, you have no bucket, and the well is deep. Where do you get that living water?
4:12 Are you greater than our ancestor Jacob, who gave us the well, and with his sons and his flocks drank from it?"
4:13 Jesus said to her, "Everyone who drinks of this water will be thirsty again,
4:14 but those who drink of the water that I will give them will never be thirsty. The water that I will give will become in them a spring of water gushing up to eternal life."
4:15 The woman said to him, "Sir, give me this water, so that I may never be thirsty or have to keep coming here to draw water."
4:16 Jesus said to her, "Go, call your husband, and come back."
4:17 The woman answered him, "I have no husband." Jesus said to her, "You are right in saying, 'I have no husband';
4:18 for you have had five husbands, and the one you have now is not your husband. What you have said is true!"
4:19 The woman said to him, "Sir, I see that you are a prophet.
4:20 Our ancestors worshiped on this mountain, but you say that the place where people must worship is in Jerusalem."
4:21 Jesus said to her, "Woman, believe me, the hour is coming when you will worship the Father neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem.
4:22 You worship what you do not know; we worship what we know, for salvation is from the Jews.
4:23 But the hour is coming, and is now here, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for the Father seeks such as these to worship him.
4:24 God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth."
4:25 The woman said to him, "I know that Messiah is coming" (who is called Christ). "When he comes, he will proclaim all things to us."
4:26 Jesus said to her, "I am he, the one who is speaking to you."
4:27 Just then his disciples came. They were astonished that he was speaking with a woman, but no one said, "What do you want?" or, "Why are you speaking with her?"
4:28 Then the woman left her water jar and went back to the city. She said to the people,
4:29 "Come and see a man who told me everything I have ever done! He cannot be the Messiah, can he?"
4:30 They left the city and were on their way to him.
4:31 Meanwhile the disciples were urging him, "Rabbi, eat something."
4:32 But he said to them, "I have food to eat that you do not know about."
4:33 So the disciples said to one another, "Surely no one has brought him something to eat?"
4:34 Jesus said to them, "My food is to do the will of him who sent me and to complete his work.
4:35 Do you not say, 'Four months more, then comes the harvest'? But I tell you, look around you, and see how the fields are ripe for harvesting.
4:36 The reaper is already receiving wages and is gathering fruit for eternal life, so that sower and reaper may rejoice together.
4:37 For here the saying holds true, 'One sows and another reaps.'
4:38 I sent you to reap that for which you did not labor. Others have labored, and you have entered into their labor."
4:39 Many Samaritans from that city believed in him because of the woman's testimony, "He told me everything I have ever done."
4:40 So when the Samaritans came to him, they asked him to stay with them; and he stayed there two days.
4:41 And many more believed because of his word.
4:42 They said to the woman, "It is no longer because of what you said that we believe, for we have heard for ourselves, and we know that this is truly the Savior of the world."
This is the Word of the Lord.
Thanks be to God.
This story is really significant because it is the longest, single conversation Jesus has with anyone in the Bible. Unlike many other conversations Jesus has with people, this one does not turn into a monologue. She holds her own quite well with considerable back and forth, seeking and responding. She was very bold and courageous to approach a man, let alone a Jewish man with her pointed questions.
Jews and Samaritans originated from the same heritage, but had very different worship and religious practices, gender and ethnic makeup. There was long-standing division of hostility and prejudice. This woman isn’t named; all we know about her is what can be discerned at face value, her gender and ethnicity. John’s author, in verse 9, wants to make it clear that Jews do not share things in common with Samaritans. The picture is being painted that their identity and life experience couldn’t be more diverse. All these factors, made this encounter frankly inappropriate during this time period. Adding to this reality, Jesus could have easily avoided Samaria, which is now the West Bank. Most Jews traveled around Samaria, not through it, but Jesus was uninhibited by the cultural norms.
The disciples would have disapproved of this exchange that pushed the envelope. The fact that the disciples weren’t present creates opportunity for the Samaritan woman and Jesus to talk candidly that likely wouldn’t have transpired with an audience. Therefore, it was timely and perhaps fortuitous that the disciples went to buy food. They sought food that nourishes the body, yet what Jesus offers this woman is spiritual food. She is seeking something so much more and he meets her at her point of need.
This text really shows Jesus’ pastoral and counselor skills. He meets the Samaritan woman where she is at, answering her questions without pontificating in a way that she couldn’t understand and follow. He gives her enough deep, profound thoughts to ponder while still staying with her train of thought. He shows just how pastoral he was because the number of husbands she has is brought forth, yet he doesn’t use this as an opportunity to judge and condemn her; rather he acknowledges her reality, showing that he really sees her. Having 5 husbands would cause many people to judge, but as tradition and the law enforced, only men could divorce their wives in those days. She was likely widowed and divorced repeatedly, some speculate because of barrenness. We just don’t know all the facts. Sometimes we are too quick to judge people at face value without knowing the full story, their particular struggles and past that inform the decisions they have made or that have been made for them, which was likely her case. Jesus gently reminds us through the Samaritan woman that there is no place for judgment. Jesus’ willingness to cross boundaries and engage in this discussion and open-hearted posture invite us to do the same. It also invites us into the grace that Jesus offers her and that Jesus offers us. Jesus uses the most unlikely people that we, as humans, would not choose to do God’s kingdom work and share the good news.
The story unfolds to reveal how God’s kingdom work is at play. Just like the fishermen left their nets to follow Jesus and share the Gospel’s good news, this woman left her water jar and headed for the city. Like the fishermen, this gesture is symbolic for what she is willing to leave behind as she heads toward change and newness. She shares this exciting encounter with her Samaritan people, although she is still uncertain, in verse 29, whether this is the Messiah. Her initial witness is tentative. In verse 39, we learn that many believe because of the woman’s testimony. She is new to faith and understanding. She doesn’t have the full picture, yet in her enthusiasm she shares it and leads her people to the gospel. Do you think that Jesus’ Jewish disciples would have been effective in sharing the Gospel with the Samaritans? It seems unlikely with all the barriers that were in place. This Samaritan woman was able to point her people to Jesus and then over the course of the next couple days they came to believe him as Savior. Ordained minister and theologian from Emory, Fred Craddock, casts a refreshing light on the Samaritan woman’s experience
Her witness…..is invitational (come and see), not judgmental; it is within the range permitted by her experience; it is honest with its own uncertainty; it is for everyone who will hear. How refreshing. Her witness avoids triumphalism, hawking someone else’s conclusions, packaged answers to unasked questions, thinly veiled ultimatums and threats of hell, and assumptions of certainty on theological matters. She does convey, however, her willingness to let her hearers arrive at their own affirmations about Jesus, and they do: “This is indeed the Savior of the world.”
This whole dialogue is centered around a well. Drawing water was a significant part of this Samaritan woman’s survival and existence. This story is so transformative because Jesus takes the every day elements, like water, that we can’t live without and transforms them. Jesus offers her living water, his water that will never wear out. Jesus’ well never runs dry, his grace never fails, his truths never falter. In case you didn’t let that sink in, let me reiterate this in light of our fragile world: Jesus’ well never runs dry, his grace never fails, his truths never falter. Both the Old Testament and New Testament texts for this week focus on water and are so closely woven together. I invite you to read and study Exodus 17:1-7 for yourself. The Israelites are complaining, as usual, to Moses about unmet needs. This time it is water. They are so parched they believe they might die. Jump to our text in John. Jesus offers living water, his water that never runs dry. How often do we forget to trust the physical and spiritual water is here and available for us? How often do we panic that the well will run dry? This week it is not a well of water running dry; it is disinfectant wipes and toilet paper running dry. With the Coronavirus, there is understandable cause for panic, for fear, for anxiety. We live in very uncertain times without always having a clear and discernable path forward.
This text points us to our mission, found in and for Jesus Christ. Before unpacking and claiming that mission, we can point out significant names for Jesus in this text that help inform our awe, reverence and commitment to do mission in his name. In this pericope, Jesus is named as Messiah, the Savior of the world, Rabbi, meaning teacher, and is described as the gift of God and living water. God is named as the Father and God is named as spirit. Jesus also says I am. God and Jesus refer to themselves as I am more than 300 times throughout the Bible. I am reminded that Jesus is all these things, who he claims to be, and so much more than we can name and understand. I am period. I am all you need and should be all you want. With these worthy names in the forefront of our minds, let us look to what the text tells us about mission.
Jesus’ mission was to carry out the mission and will of his Father. He didn’t shirk or avert responsibility by avoiding Samaria, but instead went there, knowing this Samaritan woman and her people needed him to inform and change their lives. This situation reminds us of the cross; Jesus doesn’t shirk going to the cross knowing that abiding by God’s will would change people and human history. Professor and theologian Frances Taylor Gench, in her book Back to the Well, reminds us, “John 4 gives expression to Jesus’ thirst and hunger to carry out his Father’s mission and will. This thirst, which initiates his engagement with the Samaritan woman (Give me a drink 4:7) is not mentioned again in John 4, apparently his thirst is assuaged by his encounter with her.” The book of John marked the commencement, not the finality of conversion, of missionary activity, since those who believed needed to be urged to live out their belief practically. Through this sincere dialogue in which Jesus engages the woman, he models the humbleness, his respect for the woman, and his ability to lead the woman and the disciples through their own “process of discovery”. He meets them where they are at, but does not leave any of them there. This passage also shows the challenge of mission, to engage and reorient people toward faith; it took two days for the Samaritans to confess faith in Jesus. The woman’s example of mission is instructive; she marks one of the main tenets of discipleship by bearing witness to Jesus, sharing her encounter with others eagerly, bringing not just her “husband” to Jesus, but a whole Samaritan village.
What is the mission expressed in this passage calling us to do, especially in light of the coronavirus? At a time when people are scared and isolated and this reality may continue to become exacerbated, we are called like Jesus to not avert situations where we can tangibly help. Practically speaking who needs water right now, or other supplies for sustenance in this quarantine? Theologically speaking who needs the living water that Jesus offers? How can we listen faithfully, as Jesus did, to those with questions and with fears? We may be limited in our physical contact, but this is an opportunity to pick up our phones to connect. This invites us, as Melissa Mayes suggested in Richmond Times-Dispatch and Cathy Howard suggested, that we can bring food to those homebound or to schools where needy kids will be struggling in the coming weeks for sustenance.
Let us bring the Living Water of Jesus to our neighbors, our schools, our communities, in whatever way the Spirit is guiding us, bringing the spirit and truth (vs. 23) of this living, holy” I am” to all. We just may be able to transform a whole Samaritan village in word and deed. Amen.