Sunday Sermon 15th March 2020
John 4: 5-42
Today as we approach the halfway point of the Lenten period, we can see that each Sunday the readings have been about Jesus and the conversations he has with the people he meets. Jesus and Satan, Jesus and Nicodemus and now Jesus and Samaritan woman gathering water.
Perhaps like me you can remember this gospel passage from your Sunday school, but this is one of those passages which invites us to look beyond the superficial. It is not about water at all, it is about inclusion in the kingdom of god.
It is no wonder that the disciples were shocked at times by Jesus behaviour. Jesus could be very determined and provocative, and this is one of those occasions.
Jesus has been ministering to the Jews, his own people, and now he is not only traveling in gentile territory, he 2 is having a conversation with a woman who is a stranger to him, something a good Jewish man would not do
And to make matters worse, she appears to be the kind of woman other people go out of their way to avoid. Why else would she go out to Jacob’s well at noon, the hottest part of the day, when all the other women go to the well in the cool of the morning? She goes out in public when no one else is around,
We are told that the disciples were astonished to see Jesus apparently engaged in deep conversation with the woman. This woman was the last person in the world with whom Jesus should discuss theology. She’s a woman, she’s a hated Samaritan, and she is has a terrible reputation.
And Jesus the rabbi engages her in conversation. What was he thinking? Not only that, if he accepts a drink 3 from her, he will become ritually unclean and unable to go into the Temple in Jerusalem.
We don’t even know her name, and yet she has become one of the most memorable people in the Gospels. Up until now, Jesus has given people only glimpses of who he really is. He doesn’t even tell the Temple scholar Nicodemus who he is. And yet to this woman, Jesus reveals the truth. He tells her that he will give her a spring of living water so she will never again be thirsty. And he reveals that he is the Messiah for whom everyone is waiting.
She becomes the first Christian missionary, running off to share the good news with everyone she knows. Jesus was constantly surrounded by his disciples, he debated with temple scholars and he healed the sick.
And yet none of them received what this woman received. None of them was chosen to go out and shout the good news.
Why would Jesus chose this woman above everyone else to hear the truth about him. She was a most unlikely choice to be the bearer of the news of the arrival of the Messiah, having so much against her.
Firstly, she is a woman. Jewish rabbis did not engage women in conversation. They spoke only with the women in their immediate families, and only with men the rest of the time. She was simply a second-class citizen, and yet Jesus treated her as an equal.
Secondly, she is a Samaritan, hated by the Jews. She is a person of mixed race, part Jew and part-Assyrian. The purebred Jews despised those of mixed race, and the Samaritans in turn hated the Jews.
The Jews worshipped in the Temple in Jerusalem, and the Samaritans worshipped at Mount Gerazim. She is technically an enemy and yet Jesus treated her as an equal.
Thirdly, Jesus knows what kind of life she has led. She cannot go out and earn a living so she had become dependant on men to provide for her. And these men had not even married her, giving her a social status. She seems to have been ill-used by others, and despised by her society. Everything is stacked against her, and yet Jesus treats her as equal.
Friends, nothing has changed about Jesus choice of disciples. We might look at our family background and think that might disqualify us from faith. My family never goes to church, my mother was appalled when I gave up a career in banking to train for the priesthood, and yet here I am.
For those of you who are reading the Lenten prayers, they were written by a man called David Adams, who used to be a coalminer. We know that John Newton was a slave trader.
I was watching a TV programme just last week about Greg Laurie, an American evangelist. He is a gifted speaker and runs crusades along the lines of Billy Graham. He fills sports arenas everywhere in the US with people who want to hear his message. And yet his childhood was horrendous.
His mother was an alcoholic who married 7 times, 4 times before she was 25. He has no idea who his biological father is, and his childhood was marred by his mother’s drunken rages and her assorted boyfriends. Not the background you might expect for such a wonderful minister.
There are countless stories of people who have received ministry in prison and have become a new creation.
Wherever we have come from, whatever we have done or whoever we might be, none of that matters to Jesus. Jesus doesn’t look at our labels, he looks at our hearts.
That was then and this is now, and that is why the Lenten period is so important to us – it is a chance for us to repent and to refocus. The Greek word for repentance is metanoia, which literally means to turn around.
The Samaritan woman turned her life around. Not only that but she was able to share what she now knew to be true. That is the ministry in which we all share.
We know the messiah and we have been giving the living water. Let us all live such lives that the living water flows from us to touch the lives of others AMEN
Revd Cheryl
Today as we approach the halfway point of the Lenten period, we can see that each Sunday the readings have been about Jesus and the conversations he has with the people he meets. Jesus and Satan, Jesus and Nicodemus and now Jesus and Samaritan woman gathering water.
Perhaps like me you can remember this gospel passage from your Sunday school, but this is one of those passages which invites us to look beyond the superficial. It is not about water at all, it is about inclusion in the kingdom of god.
It is no wonder that the disciples were shocked at times by Jesus behaviour. Jesus could be very determined and provocative, and this is one of those occasions.
Jesus has been ministering to the Jews, his own people, and now he is not only traveling in gentile territory, he 2 is having a conversation with a woman who is a stranger to him, something a good Jewish man would not do
And to make matters worse, she appears to be the kind of woman other people go out of their way to avoid. Why else would she go out to Jacob’s well at noon, the hottest part of the day, when all the other women go to the well in the cool of the morning? She goes out in public when no one else is around,
We are told that the disciples were astonished to see Jesus apparently engaged in deep conversation with the woman. This woman was the last person in the world with whom Jesus should discuss theology. She’s a woman, she’s a hated Samaritan, and she is has a terrible reputation.
And Jesus the rabbi engages her in conversation. What was he thinking? Not only that, if he accepts a drink 3 from her, he will become ritually unclean and unable to go into the Temple in Jerusalem.
We don’t even know her name, and yet she has become one of the most memorable people in the Gospels. Up until now, Jesus has given people only glimpses of who he really is. He doesn’t even tell the Temple scholar Nicodemus who he is. And yet to this woman, Jesus reveals the truth. He tells her that he will give her a spring of living water so she will never again be thirsty. And he reveals that he is the Messiah for whom everyone is waiting.
She becomes the first Christian missionary, running off to share the good news with everyone she knows. Jesus was constantly surrounded by his disciples, he debated with temple scholars and he healed the sick.
And yet none of them received what this woman received. None of them was chosen to go out and shout the good news.
Why would Jesus chose this woman above everyone else to hear the truth about him. She was a most unlikely choice to be the bearer of the news of the arrival of the Messiah, having so much against her.
Firstly, she is a woman. Jewish rabbis did not engage women in conversation. They spoke only with the women in their immediate families, and only with men the rest of the time. She was simply a second-class citizen, and yet Jesus treated her as an equal.
Secondly, she is a Samaritan, hated by the Jews. She is a person of mixed race, part Jew and part-Assyrian. The purebred Jews despised those of mixed race, and the Samaritans in turn hated the Jews.
The Jews worshipped in the Temple in Jerusalem, and the Samaritans worshipped at Mount Gerazim. She is technically an enemy and yet Jesus treated her as an equal.
Thirdly, Jesus knows what kind of life she has led. She cannot go out and earn a living so she had become dependant on men to provide for her. And these men had not even married her, giving her a social status. She seems to have been ill-used by others, and despised by her society. Everything is stacked against her, and yet Jesus treats her as equal.
Friends, nothing has changed about Jesus choice of disciples. We might look at our family background and think that might disqualify us from faith. My family never goes to church, my mother was appalled when I gave up a career in banking to train for the priesthood, and yet here I am.
For those of you who are reading the Lenten prayers, they were written by a man called David Adams, who used to be a coalminer. We know that John Newton was a slave trader.
I was watching a TV programme just last week about Greg Laurie, an American evangelist. He is a gifted speaker and runs crusades along the lines of Billy Graham. He fills sports arenas everywhere in the US with people who want to hear his message. And yet his childhood was horrendous.
His mother was an alcoholic who married 7 times, 4 times before she was 25. He has no idea who his biological father is, and his childhood was marred by his mother’s drunken rages and her assorted boyfriends. Not the background you might expect for such a wonderful minister.
There are countless stories of people who have received ministry in prison and have become a new creation.
Wherever we have come from, whatever we have done or whoever we might be, none of that matters to Jesus. Jesus doesn’t look at our labels, he looks at our hearts.
That was then and this is now, and that is why the Lenten period is so important to us – it is a chance for us to repent and to refocus. The Greek word for repentance is metanoia, which literally means to turn around.
The Samaritan woman turned her life around. Not only that but she was able to share what she now knew to be true. That is the ministry in which we all share.
We know the messiah and we have been giving the living water. Let us all live such lives that the living water flows from us to touch the lives of others AMEN
Revd Cheryl
Comments
Post a Comment