Third Sunday in Lent

John 4:5-42 | The Rev. Dr. Judson F Merrell, STS |

John 4:5-42

⁵ So he (Jesus) came to a Samaritan city called Sychar, near the plot of ground that Jacob had given to his son Joseph. ⁶ Jacob’s well was there, and Jesus, tired out by his journey, was sitting by the well. It was about noon. ⁷ A 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.) 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.)

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.“ ¹¹ The woman said to him, „Sir, you have no bucket, and the well is deep. Where do you get that living water? ¹² Are 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, 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.“ 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.“ ¹⁶ Jesus said to her, „Go, call your husband, and come back.“

¹⁷ The woman answered him, „I have no husband.“ Jesus said to her, „You are right in saying, ‚I have no husband‘; ¹⁸ for you have had five husbands, and the one you have now is not your husband. What you have said is true!“ ¹⁹ The woman said to him, „Sir, I see that you are a prophet. ²⁰ Our ancestors worshiped on this mountain, but you say that the place where people must worship is in Jerusalem.“

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. ²² You worship what you do not know; we worship what we know, for salvation is from the Jews. 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. ²⁴ God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth.“ 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.“

²⁶ Jesus said to her, „I am he, the one who is speaking to you.“ 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?“ ²⁸ Then 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?“ ³⁰ They left the city and were on their way to him. ³¹ Meanwhile the disciples were urging him, „Rabbi, eat something.“ ³² But he said to them, „I have food to eat that you do not know about.“ ³³ So the disciples said to one another, „Surely no one has brought him something to eat?“ ³⁴ Jesus said to them, „My food is to do the will of him who sent me and to complete his work. 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. ³⁶ The reaper is already receiving wages and is gathering fruit for eternal life, so that sower and reaper may rejoice together. ³⁷ For here the saying holds true, ‚One sows and another reaps.‘

³⁸ I sent you to reap that for which you did not labor. Others have labored, and you have entered into their labor.“ ³⁹ Many Samaritans from that city believed in him because of the woman’s testimony, „He told me everything I have ever done.“ ⁴⁰ So when the Samaritans came to him, they asked him to stay with them; and he stayed there two days. ⁴¹ And many more believed because of his word. 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.“

Brothers and sisters in Christ, grace and peace to you from God the Father and our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Amen.

As part of confirmation class last week, our students talked about forgiveness, relationships, and how important it is to talk face to face.  We discussed technology and its prevalence in our society today, and how the use of technology to produce written text makes it extremely hard to communicate emotion.  If a relationship is strained, then written text such as an email may not make it any better.  Arguments happen via written word all the time today, in social media, through email, and through text messages.  Written text may make it easier to say things such as “I’m sorry” or “You’re wrong”, but written text takes out the genuineness of emotion.  Emotion is something we hear through spoken word, and also something we see through facial expression and body movement.  You cannot communicate those things through written text.  Face to face is always better, no matter how difficult it truly is.  That is because face to face communication has a certain power to it that cannot be easily replicated.

In our reading from John’s account of the Gospel, we see our Lord Jesus using the face to face method when it comes to a strained relationship.  We see the power of the spoken word in this relationship, and how God uses it for his good purpose.  As we look at this text, it is important to realize that this strained relationship is not between Jesus and woman, but instead between Jews and Samaritans.  Jews and Samaritans were very hostile towards one another.  Each group considered themselves right and the other wrong.  Even though they came from the same ancestors, the many generations had not healed the division that existed over worship practices and holy customs.  They lifted up different parts of the written Word of God, and because they didn’t talk to each other due to their long standing feud, the fight continued and never seemed to have a resolution.  But here we have Jesus, sitting at Jacob’s well, and intentionally talking to this Samaritan woman.  In the midst of a long standing feud, God enters in and starts the healing process.  As we look through this text today, we can hear the emotion that is present when our Lord speaks:  “The water that I will give will become in them a spring of water gushing up to eternal life.”  “Sir, give me this water, so that I may never be thirsty or have to keep coming here to draw water.”  Despite being written text, we can see the emotion dripping from the pages of the Word.  Jesus, who should not even be talking to this woman, is at work healing the division among God’s people.  He starts small, with this one woman, and as we move through this text we see how his message changes the people who hear it.  In this text, it changes the woman, those to whom she testified to about Jesus, and I would even include the disciples in the mix.  But notice it is Jesus’ spoken words that brings about the change.  At no point in this text does Jesus heal anyone.  Nor does he cast out any demons.  There is no “sign” that he does to show people that he is the Son of God.  It is simply his spoken word of truth:  “I am he, the one who is speaking to you.”  As we near the end of the text John tells us “many more believed because of his word.” Their own testimony was that they no longer believe based on what the woman said but because “we have heard for ourselves, and we know that this is truly the Savior of the world.”

This is the power of the Word that still exists in our world today.  We believe because we have seen and heard.   From an early age we have been taught about God, the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.  We hear of God’s amazing deeds through the scriptures, and we see today how the Spirit still is at work in this world, especially in the church.  Going back to the confirmation class of last week, we also talked about this congregation and how it was formed out of an argument with another local congregation.  What started as a division has become two congregations that are now able to continue to the mission of God’s work in this world, sometimes separate, and sometimes together.  In the midst of that feud that existed before any of us, God entered in and started the healing process through his Word.  And now both churches continue to proclaim that Jesus is truly the Savior of the world, not dependent on what the other said, but because we have heard it for ourselves.  It is an important part of our past, but also an important part of our story today and into the future, because it is a moment where we know God has been, is, and will continue to be present.  For the Jews and the Samaritans, the same is true.  God was present at their beginning, present through the disagreements, and continues to be present even today, because Jesus is not just a Savior of the Jews, but instead the Savior of the World.  In the name of the Father, and the +Son, and the Holy Spirit.  Amen.