Ex 17:1-7

12.03.2023 | Andrew Weisner | Ex 17:1-7; Ps 95:1-9 |

The North American Lutheran Church (NALC)
Antioch Lutheran Church, Dallas, North Carolina

Sunday, March 12, AD 2023 — Lent 3 — Antioch

Exodus 17:1-7
From the wilderness of Sin the whole congregation of the Israelites journeyed by stages, as the Lord commanded. They camped at Rephidim, but there was no water for the people to drink. ²The people quarreled with Moses, and said, “Give us water to drink.” Moses said to them, “Why do you quarrel with me? Why do you test he Lord?” ³But the people thirsted there for water; and the people complained against Moses and said, “Why did you bring us out of Egypt, to kill us and our children and livestock with thirst?” ⁴So Moses cried out to the Lord, “What shall I do with this people? They are almost ready to stone me.” ⁵The Lord said to Moses, “Go on ahead of the people, and take some of the elders of Israel with you; take in your hand the staff with which you struck the Nile, and go. ⁶I will be standing there in front of you on the rock at Horeb. Strike the rock, and water will come out of it, so that the people may drink.” Moses did so, in the sight of the elders of Israel. ⁷He called the place Massah and Meribah, because the Israelites quarreled and tested the Lord, saying, “Is the Lord among us or not?”

Psalm 95:1-9

Romans 5:1-8
Therefore, since we are justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, ²through whom we have obtained access to this grace in which we stand; and we boast in our hope of sharing the glory of God. ³And not only that, but we also boast in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, ⁴and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, ⁵and hope does not disappoint us, because God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit that has been given to us. ⁶For while we were still weak, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly. ⁷Indeed, rarely will anyone die for a righteous person—though perhaps for a good person someone might actually dare to die. ⁸But God proves his love for us in that while we still were sinners Christ died for us.

John 4:5-26 (27-30,39-42)
So he 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.”

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Homily

       The “Woman at the Well” is sometimes – I will venture even to say “often” – portrayed as a “wanton woman,” i.e. politely, a woman with a history, and it ain’t necessarily virtuous! There is a reference in the text to her having gone through FIVE husbands, and the fellow with whom she is at the time living is not her husband. Yes! A “loose woman!” Such a floosy that she’s got such a bad reputation that she can’t go to the community watering-hole early in the morning, at the same time as the other – respectable – women, because she’s got such a bad reputation, so she has to go by herself at noon-time in the heat of the day!

       That’s the way that she is often portrayed. And Jesus is then portrayed as such a nice guy because he’s willing to talk to, give attention to, engage in conversation with, such a whore of a woman! And then the sermon goes: Just looky there: As bad as that woman was, Jesus accepted her; and even though you are as bad-awful sinful as she was – or even if just a little bit close to that – as you know you are! – Jesus will accept you too! So come-on! Repent of your wanton sinfulness, and get on-board with Jesus.

       That is an okay, in some context important, worthwhile, and true message….  However: we do not know that such is this woman’s story. We do not know that she’s such a floosy. We do not know that she is, indeed, a “wanton – i.e., un-virtuous – woman”…

       For, in fact: If this woman’s life is anything like the lives of too many women throughout history, her life may have gone something like this….

Yes, she has had 5 husbands. The reason is because of a long and sad history… It could be… She was molested as a young girl by a “friend” of her family. Upon finding it out, her father, considering her spoiled goods, unfit for a husband to take her on and take care of her later, beat her; her older brothers followed their father’s example. As was the custom in those days, she did not select someone to marry; marriages were arranged. Since she was spoiled goods, her father settled-on whoever – anyone – who would take her; and that turned out to be someone as abusive as he was. This new husband, soon enough, turned her away – as was permitted by the law. Her father nor brothers would take her back; she had been married already and turned away by her first husband, but eventually she did find a young widower who needed a young woman to work and cook for him, so he accepted her in marriage. But he was abusive, too, so eventually she ran for her life. Then she wandered from village to village, trying to escape her reputation.

Women, in that society and culture – like too many cultures now – could have no job, could own no property, could do very little, if anything, without a man’s permission.

Man-after-man she lives with, finally taken in by a distant relative, a distant cousin on her mother’s side, a man and his wife. (The text does not tell us anything about the man with whom she is living and to whom Jesus refers, nor does it tell us specifics of the living-arrangement of her life. What I speculate here, could be! We do not know this woman’s story…. And, in fact, we don’t know lots of people’s stories… lots of people, some of them, upon whom we pass judgment, or people who we casually pass every day.

Based on current – and past – realities, it could very well be that this is a woman who experienced abuse and rejection all her life, and had spent her adult life seeking the necessary support of a man as demanded by society; and all the while yearning for kindness and compassion.

And then, in the heat of the noon-day sun, to avoid the whisperings and stares and glares of other women, she goes to fetch water, and she meets Jesus, who kindly engages her conversation, who seems to know her story, who looks at  her with compassion, and does not condemn her.