Romans 5.1-11

Lent 3 | March 12, 2023 | Romans 5.1-11; John 4.5-42 | Richard O. Johnson |

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

A Samaritan woman came to draw water, and Jesus said to her, “Give me a drink.” (His disciples had gone to the city to buy food.) 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.) 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.” The woman said to him, “Sir, you have no bucket, and the well is deep. Where do you get that living water? Are you greater than our ancestor Jacob, who gave us the well, and with his sons and his flocks drank from it?” Jesus said to her, “Everyone who drinks of this water will be thirsty again, 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.” 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.”

Jesus said to her, “Go, call your husband, and come back.” The woman answered him, “I have no husband.” Jesus said to her, “You are right in saying, ‘I have no husband’; for you have had five husbands, and the one you have now is not your husband. What you have said is true!” The woman said to him, “Sir, I see that you are a prophet. Our ancestors worshiped on this mountain, but you say that the place where people must worship is in Jerusalem.” Jesus said to her, “Woman, believe me, the hour is coming when you will worship the Father neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem. You worship what you do not know; we worship what we know, for salvation is from the Jews. 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. God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth.” 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.” Jesus said to her, “I am he, the one who is speaking to you.”

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?” Then the woman left her water jar and went back to the city. She said to the people, “Come and see a man who told me everything I have ever done! He cannot be the Messiah, can he?” They left the city and were on their way to him.

Meanwhile the disciples were urging him, “Rabbi, eat something.” But he said to them, “I have food to eat that you do not know about.” So the disciples said to one another, “Surely no one has brought him something to eat?” Jesus said to them, “My food is to do the will of him who sent me and to complete his work. 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. The reaper is already receiving wages and is gathering fruit for eternal life, so that sower and reaper may rejoice together. For here the saying holds true, ‘One sows and another reaps.’ I sent you to reap that for which you did not labor. Others have labored, and you have entered into their labor.”

Many Samaritans from that city believed in him because of the woman’s testimony, “He told me everything I have ever done.” So when the Samaritans came to him, they asked him to stay with them; and he stayed there two days. And many more believed because of his word. 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.” (John 4.5-42)

God proves his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. (Romans 5.8)

Let me begin with a parable, a story about T. E. Lawrence, the legendary “Lawrence of Arabia.” Lawrence was a British soldier who became an ally and friend of the Arabs during the early decades of the 20^th century. In 1915, he was traveling across the desert with a rather motley crew of his Arab friends. It was a desperate situation. The wind, the sand was like a stinging flame, and the men had their hoods wrapped as completely around their faces as they could manage and still see to ride on.

Suddenly someone in the group asked, “Where is Jasmin?” Another said, “Who is Jasmin?” A third answered, “He is that yellow-faced man from Maan. He killed a Turkish tax-collector and fled to the desert.” The first said, “Look, Jasmin’s camel has no rider. His rifle is strapped to his saddle, but Jasmin is not there.” Another said, “Someone may have shot him.” Another said, “He is not strong in the head, perhaps he is lost in a mirage.” Another: “He is not strong in body; perhaps he has fainted and fallen off his camel.” Another: “What does it matter anyway? Jasmin was not worth a dime.” Having managed to dispose of Jasmin, the Arabs hunched themselves up on their camels and rode on.

But Lawrence turned and rode back in the direction they had come. Alone, in the heat and sand and nearly without provision, he rode across the scorched desert. After and hour or so he saw a figure in the sand. It was Jasmin, blind and mad with heat and thirst, being murdered by the desert. Lawrence lifted him up on his camel, gave him what was left of his precious water, and then plodded back toward his comrades. When he caught up with them, the Arabs stared in amazement. “Here is Jasmin,” they marveled, “Jasmin, not worth a dime, saved at such great risk by Lawrence, our lord.” [Rita Snowden, as told by Wm. Barclay in Romans volume of Daily Study Bible]

While we were yet sinners

God proves his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. There is hardly a passage in all of Scripture that sets forth the gospel in quite such plain language. Here we have it in all its shame and all its glory.

I say here we have it in all its shame because Paul is so doggoned honest about us human beings. We were powerless, he says. We were ungodly. We were sinners. And of course we still are: We are in bondage to sin and cannot free ourselves; or, as this morning’s prayer of confession puts it, we have sinned in thought, word and deed.  We are like Jasmin—from any objective point of view, not worth a dime.

I wonder if the woman at the well in Samaria felt that way. She must have. She was someone scorned in the eyes of upright and moral people; that is likely why she was coming to this well at noon, in the heat of the day. That way she could come in peace, and not have to be subjected to the gossip and the ridicule and the hostility of more upright women. She was so ashamed of her own life that when Jesus asked her about her husband, she lied to him. Yes, she was ashamed as she came to the well that day, ashamed of her thoughts, words and deeds; ashamed of who she was.

Yet she meets Jesus, who speaks to her only with kindness and who offers her the water of life. She discovers that, though the world doesn’t think much of her, Jesus is not ashamed to be seen with her. He is not ashamed to talk with her, to care for her, to love her.

The glory of the gospel

And that’s the glory, you see, of the gospel. That’s the glory. “God proves his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” For us, who aren’t even worth a dime; for us, who are in bondage to sin; for us, who are sometimes so ashamed of thoughts and words and deeds, things done and things left undone—Christ died for us, while we were still sinners.

In just a moment, we’ll sing a wonderful hymn that is based on this text from Romans 5. Its author was John Newton, the same fellow who wrote “Amazing Grace.” One verse of the hymn goes like this:

When he lived on earth, they scorned him;

“Friend of sinners” was his name.

Though the angels have adored him,

Still he answers to that claim;

Still he calls them dearest friends

And to all their needs attends.

“Friend of sinners.” That means he is my friend, and your friend. He is the friend of us sinners. There was a woman at the well, a sinner, whom Jesus claimed as a friend. He offered her the water of life. And today, he makes a similar offer to us, to us sinners whom he calls his friends. “Come to my table,” he urges. “Come eat the bread of heaven, drink the cup of salvation. Let’s talk about you, about your needs, your desires, even your shame. Let me be your friend.” While we were yet sinners . . . and still today, and every day, he comes for us, invites us, welcomes us.  Friend of sinners. Our friend.

—

Pastor Richard O. Johnson

Webster, NY

roj@nccn.net