February 24, 2008
| Lent 3, 2008 | Exodus 17:1-7 | |
| Romans 5:1-11 | ||
| John 4:5-42 |
"Jesus met the woman at the well and he told her everything she'd ever done." That's from a folk song about it. Was this a chance encounter? For those who assume Jesus knew everything, there was no such thing as a chance encounter. Those who stress the human limits within which Jesus agreed to live might call it unforeseen.
Have you ever met anyone by chance? Did anything significant ever come from a chance meeting? Think of someone you know that you met by being in the right place at the right time. It happens.
There are three things that give me hope here.
First, that Jesus took time to speak with her. Second, that she experienced transformation. Third, the townspeople she invited were not dependant on her claims after meeting Jesus.
First: Jesus took time to speak with her. He had every reason not to speak. He had to ignore a host of social and religious taboos. He talked to her as a person of worth. This is both Good News AND an example for us to follow.
Second. She experienced transformation in his presence. This was not immediate. At first she misunderstood. She asked him how could he get living water when he had no bucket. She also added a little zinger- "Are you greater than our ancestor Jacob, who gave us the well...?"
That's the first-century version of, "Who do you think you are, Mr. Smartypants? After all, this stranger was breaking the rules to speak with her- maybe he was just a creep. Of course he proved otherwise by telling her life story. Now she calls him Prophet.
Jesus tells her who he is.
At the close of this conversation, she speculates about the Messiah and Jesus says "I am. The one speaking to you." He used the Divine Name, the words given to Moses way back at the burning bush in Exodus. She went out to fetch water, and she met the Son of God.
Then comes a detail so small as to be dismissed. She returned to the city, and she left her water jar. Going back to the city there is no thought of hauling water. The implication is she does not need to draw water now. Now her only thought is of making invitations. "Come see a man who told me everything I have ever done." She experienced transformation in his presence.
Thirdly, The people who came on her invitation were not dependant on her testimony alone. Her fellow Samaritans said, "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."
So how do we read this story in our lives? I'm going to revisit those three things in reverse order.
So Thirdly, God's word and work are much more than our words. This is good news.
We tend to think of ourselves as less enthusiastic than the average Baptist, less effusive than the average Italian, less exciting than the average Rock Star. Truth be told, some of us Lutherans are less exciting than the weather channel, but I'm not naming names.
We need to trust that people who come to this place will meet God. They need not rely on our words, our personalities. They DO need an invitation, but beyond that we don't have to play the part of miracle worker. This is crucial for us to understand. God will not be more present by our shouting louder. God is not less present because of our reserve.
Invite people! God will speak. God will nourish and forgive and challenge and encourage. This means salvation doesn't depend on us,- -though inviting IS up to us. Which brings us from the third point to the second.
Secondly, Transformation. In the conversation with Jesus, the woman has moved from doubt to faith. She has gone from drudgery to mission. She came for ordinary water, and left spilling over with Good News.
In the story we see that already Jesus' words have come true. From out of her heart- already- flows the living water.
No one can live without water. And to receive living water is to receive spiritual life and refreshment. You are here, and you leave with the water of life.
John's gospel is all about how God is revealed to humanity in Jesus. And later in this gospel the same Jesus makes the promise that God would send a Spirit who will always be present, always speaking to the followers. The power present at that WELL,- is present here. This place too is a well, only and always because God promised the Holy Spirit.
Transformation. We come here with our ordinary lives and our ordinary plans, our thirst and our water-buckets, and we meet the God who says I AM- always in the present tense, I AM. Forever in the here and now.
And firstly. God takes the time and trouble to speak to you.
Jews were not supposed to speak to Samaritans, and Men were not supposed to speak to women.
What are the barriers between you and Jesus? Guilt. Anger. Resentment. Apathy. There are barriers. Sin. Arrogance. The crushing disappointments that make us question God- illness, estrangement.
Doubt- the very thing that keeps us from inviting -for fear of being a hypocrite. That's a barrier.
The hardest barrier of all was mentioned by this woman. False Worship. It occurs to me that in Scripture there is little talk of atheism, and much talk about false gods. Perhaps the most stubborn false god is the supreme self that prefers to be god rather than see God.
Jesus steps forward and speaks across all barriers. What we declare and celebrate is that God sent a Son in flesh and blood to infiltrate- to seek and find- to speak to those expecting nothing.
Perhaps you have met someone who made a difference in your life. Maybe you had a certain high school teacher who influenced you on your choice of career or college. Or you meet a friend of a friend at a party and ended up taking a new job because of the conversation. You moved to a new City for work reasons and ended up meeting your spouse.
The Canadian Poet Alden Nowlan wrote about how his whole adult career grew out of a chance encounter at a grocery store. He only went there for a loaf of bread, and the man he met had only stopped for a bottle of soda pop. Ten minutes wither way and none of it would have happened, at least not in the way it did.
The poet concludes, "God knows there is not much to boast about when so much depends on what time a boy goes to the store for a loaf of bread."
I offer this as comparison rather than as proof. The woman at the well had no idea of the significance of this one trip to the well.
What I can say is that Jesus visits our wells. The living Holy Spirit breathes around us with sighs too deep for words. Transformation will not erase your memory. We are who we are. But Christ knows all about that, and still breaks barriers to be near you, to speak, to save, to fill you with Living Water.
He's meeting you. What are the chances?