"Past, Present, and Future"- John 4:5-42
A Sermon by Alex W. Evans, Pastor
Second Presbyterian Church, Richmond, VA
Sunday, March 12, 2023
Text: John 4:5-42
“Past, Present, and Future”
Once upon a time there was a woman who lived with her husband, two small children, and her elderly parents in a tiny house near a village. She tried to be patient and gracious, but the noise and crowded conditions wore her down so much. In desperation, she consulted the village wise man. The wise man asked, “do you have a rooster?”
“Yes,” the woman replied.
“Well, keep the rooster inside with your family and come and see me next week.”
The next week, the woman came to see the wise man again and told him that living conditions were worse. The rooster was crowing and making a mess.
“Do you have a goats?” asked the wise man. The woman nodded, but with hesitation. “Take the goats into the house with you as well, and come see me next week.”
Over the next few weeks, on the advice of the wise man, the woman made room in the small house for two dogs, a guinea pig, and her brother’s children. Finally, she could take it no more, and in a fit of anger kicked out all the animals and guests, leaving only her husband, two children, and her parents. The home suddenly became so spacious and quiet; and everyone lived happily ever after.
I guess it is all in your perspective. The way we see life, the way we live life, is so much determined by our perspective on our circumstances.
We would do well to pay attention always to our perspectives. The season of Lent is always a time to give attention to our perspective. Whom do we trust? What receives our time and energy? How can we be more loving and faithful?
We have a long story today from John – this is Jesus’ longest recorded conversation. And it is one that invites us to think about perspective. What do we focus on? Our past? Our present? Our future?
Listen now to the text for today – from John 4:
5So Jesus came to a Samaritan city called Sychar, near the plot of ground that Jacob had given to his son Joseph. 6Jacob’s well was there, and Jesus, tired out by his journey, was sitting by the well. It was about noon.7A Samaritan woman came to draw water, and Jesus said to her, “Give me a drink.” 8(His disciples had gone to the city to buy food.) 9The 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.) 10Jesus 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.” 11The woman said to him, “Sir, you have no bucket, and the well is deep. Where do you get that living water? 12Are you greater than our ancestor Jacob, who gave us the well, and with his sons and his flocks drank from it?” 13Jesus said to her, “Everyone who drinks of this water will be thirsty again, 14but 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.” 15The 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.” 16Jesus said to her, “Go, call your husband, and come back.” 17The woman answered him, “I have no husband.” Jesus said to her, “You are right in saying, ‘I have no husband’; 18for you have had five husbands, and the one you have now is not your husband. What you have said is true!”19The woman said to him, “Sir, I see that you are a prophet. 20Our ancestors worshiped on this mountain, but you say that the place where people must worship is in Jerusalem.” 21Jesus said to her, “Woman, believe me, the hour is coming when you will worship the Father neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem. 22You worship what you do not know; we worship what we know, for salvation is from the Jews. 23But 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. 24God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth.” 25The woman said to him, “I know that Messiah is coming” (who is called Christ). “When he comes, he will proclaim all things to us.”26Jesus said to her, “I am he, the one who is speaking to you.”
27Just 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?” 28Then the woman left her water jar and went back to the city. She said to the people, 29“Come and see a man who told me everything I have ever done! He cannot be the Messiah, can he?” 30They left the city and were on their way to him. . . . . . . . 39Many Samaritans from that city believed in him because of the woman’s testimony, “He told me everything I have ever done.” 40So when the Samaritans came to him, they asked him to stay with them; and he stayed there two days. 41And many more believed because of his word. 42They 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.
So many things are interesting about this conversation between Jesus and this woman. Maybe what we should say first: it is most interesting that this long conversation even happened. Two taboos are violated here: first, a religious teacher is speaking to a woman in public; and second, we have Jews and Samaritans – who have a long history of animosity - interacting in such intimate ways – talking about personal things and even possibly sharing water.
There are other interesting issues in this long conversation – the woman is a Samaritan but remains unnamed; she has a complex past - 5 husbands; and finally, this is a remarkable story of people – especially Samaritans - coming to faith because Jesus keeps crossing boundaries and surpassing assumptions about God and grace and God’s purposes.
Let’s start with some attention on this woman – a person, I think, like many of us. She has lost her perspective. Her perspective is so askew because she is haunted and held down by her past. She is also perplexed about the present; and she seems pretty unsure about her future, what to live for, or toward. Maybe like we sometimes find ourselves – at an impasse. Stuck. Discouraged. Wandering in a maze that has no center.
Think about it. Here is a woman whose past continues to plague her. She has had five husbands and is working on a sixth. Now, we must we careful to recall that divorce in the ancient world could be quite random, easily accomplished by the men in that culture, the men in her life. We cannot jump to conclusions about the woman because of this number – 5 and working on 6. Moreover, John, the gospel writer, uses lots of numbers – and who knows if they are to be taken literally or figuratively. What we can conclude is that the woman’s past has problems – problems that plague her present and her future.
But Jesus engages with her, lures her into a conversation that includes honest talk about her past, but also a way forward into a present and a future that gives her life. This is most instructive. Jesus can deal with the past – this woman’s past, your past, my past, and whatever might be paralyzing and problematic about our past. And Jesus keeps calling us into a better present and promising future.
Charlie Brown and his buddy Linus are walking along and talking. Linus turns to his friend and says, “You know Charlie Brown, I guess we spend too much time worrying about tomorrow. I guess we ought to spend more time savoring today – living in the present.” Charlie Brown responds, “Oh, . . . there is no hope in that. I am still hoping that yesterday will get better.”
Isn’t that how we find ourselves sometimes? Our yesterdays can consume us. Like the woman at the well – we have a hard time shaking the past – maybe hoping it will get better. Do you think God wants us dwelling on the past? Jesus did not condemn the woman for her past, even with many husbands. He invites her into a present – full of spirit and truth – onto a journey of wholeness and hope – toward life – “a spring gushing to eternal life.”
Can’t we take more seriously those familiar words of the psalmist? “This is the day the Lord has made; let us rejoice and be glad in it.” As we see with Jesus in this story, God is always calling us out of our past, no matter what happened in our past – to a present and a future with God.
But it is not just our past that can haunt us. We can be limited so much in life by things very much in our present. What gets your attention in these days? Medical concerns and doctor visits can sometimes take over our days. Frustrations, . . . . Transitions, . . . and worries about our loved ones, can change our perspectives so fast. Financial uncertainties, global and environmental concerns can really haunt us. Our emphasis – our attention - is often only on the immediate problems or circumstances that are ours. Present circumstances – whatever they are – tend to limit our horizon – what and how we see everything. Certain things in our lives might warrant our attention – but when they paralyze us, or fully perplex us, we are off track.
The woman at the well is there all alone – so loneliness and isolation seem to shape her present. It is the middle of the day – not the early morning or evening when others would be at the famous well. When Jesus engages her, she thinks in very concrete terms – “Sir, you have no bucket – what do you mean – living water?”
Do you sense her perspective, as can happen to all of us? It appears clear that her present is dry - parched like the desert that surrounds that well. She says, “I know the Messiah is coming,” but she is so caught up in life’s challenges. She wants relief, not only from her past, but from her present circumstances and struggles.
Jesus responds to her question – “I am he, the one who is speaking to you.”
Actually, in the original Greek, there is no “he” in Jesus’ comment. That is added in English in an attempt to have it make sense. As far as the Gospel of John is concerned, Jesus essentially utters the name of God: "I am." It's a name first revealed to Moses in Exodus 3. Moses said to God, “if they ask me who is sending me to speak to Pharoah, what shall I say?” God said to Moses “I AM.” So, we have heard this before.
Jesus' point is this: "If you want to know how and where God can be authentically known...well, I'm right here. In your presence - not limited to a temple, but here, dwelling with you, beside this well." The Messiah. And it is message for our lives – God is always in our present moments, our days!
So – when you drink from the “living water” – when you encounter and follow Jesus – you are no longer haunted by your past, you are freed to live out of it, from it, away from it. When you drink from the “living water,” – encounter and strive to follow Jesus in faithfulness – your present - no matter who you are, what you may be fighting, takes on wholly new dimensions. Christ meets us right where we are and calls us to a new life of faith, hope, and love that never lets us go.
So, Jesus’ response here – “I am” is the first of many sayings in this gospel of John. Jesus will later say “I am . . . the Bread, . . . . I am . . . the Vine, . . . I am . . the Light, . . . I am . . . the Way.”
And, . . . . When you drink from the “living water” – when you eat of the Bread, connect to the Vine, open to the Light, seek to follow the Way, . . . you have courage in the present AND something to live toward – and it is not some pie in the sky prosperity that is waiting for you. It is the Creator of the universe, the God of Life, who holds us forever and offers us hope regardless of what happens to us.
In other words, the living water that Jesus speaks about with the Samaritan woman – an ancient conversation – an encounter at a famous well – reminds us of powerful and important truths: God keeps calling us out of our pasts; God meets us and blesses us in our present, regardless of what we are struggling with; and God gives us a future – with love and hope – life in God’s abiding care, forever.
If you are hoping for some good news for your life today, there it is. Our regrets and failings in the past – whatever they might be – our worries and stresses of the present, as complex as they may seem, and our uncertainties and concerns about the future – just like the Samaritan woman at the well - they are all enfolded in God’s abounding love and care.
It is so often about our perspectives. The living water gushing to eternal life is for all of us – no matter what! We seek to open our hearts, lean into God’s love and care, drink from the living water, be fed by that boundless grace, and commit our lives to loving and serving as faithful disciples of Jesus. May it be so! Amen
Prayer of Commitment: Holy God, pour out your Spirit upon us. Cover us with your grace and care. We seek to drink deep of your living water and faithfully follow Christ our Lord. Amen
Alex W. Evans, Pastor, Second Presbyterian Church, Richmond, VA preached this sermon during Sunday morning worship on March 12, 2023. This is a rough manuscript.