Exodus 17:1-7; Psalm 95 Romans 5:1-11; John 4:5-42
The Rev. Drew Brislin
As we continue in this season of Lent, this season of preparation, we continue to learn more deeply about who Jesus is not just in terms of relationships but also in relationship to what it is he is doing in the world to transform not just those with whom he encounters but what he is doing in the world. Last Sunday, Jesus encountered Nicodemus in the middle of the night. Nicodemus was an educated and respected man whose name is revealed to us and who seems to have a somewhat difficult time understanding the message of baptism and rebirth spiritually that Jesus is trying to convey. This morning we hear of Jesus’ encounter with a Samaritan woman in the middle of the day by a well where they would have been seen together in public. This woman gets who Jesus is and runs off to go and tell others. This woman whose name we do not learn was probably uneducated and lived on the margins of society. So where is our lectionary and more importantly Jesus leading us with this story this morning?
Many of you probably noticed that I was absent last Sunday morning. I was gifted with the opportunity to staff Happening #82 at Grace Episcopal Church out in Pike Road as one the spiritual directors. Happening is a ministry of our diocese for youth in tenth through twelfth grade. Some of our youths have attended a weekend in the past and we have more who are looking forward to attending in the future. It is very similar to Cursillo in that it is run by youth for youth with the assistance of young adults, volunteers and priests who volunteer to celebrate communion, offer confession and serve as chaplains. Happening is an experience that invites youth to take off their masks and to open themselves to the spiritual reality of Christ that is permanent, reliable and sure and is a firm foundation on which to build a secure life both secularly and spiritually. On their Happening Weekend the Happeners work and play, sing, share, pray and worship. They experience the sacramental life as we have received it in The Episcopal Church and lean into God’s abundant, unearned, and undeserved grace as he gives to his church. In order to be understood, Happening must be experienced. Watching these young people as their parents dropped them off there was at the same time a sense of comfort as they saw familiar faces in the friends who were serving on staff greet them, but at the same time there was an uneasiness as I’m sure they wondered what they were about to experience. What was about to happen to the Happeners? Without giving anything away, I will simply say that they were loved, that they were given opportunities to explore their spiritual lives, they were given opportunity to build community, they were given a glimpse of what the kingdom looks like, what the real world looks like. So often when we find ourselves in a place and state of bliss whether in church, at camp or on vacation somewhere like the beach, we will often comment that we do not want to return to the real world. As the irony of this statement has been explained to me so many times, this indeed is the real world, this is the world of the kingdom. Not the humdrum of life and work that occupies so much of our time and talents. The woman at the well this morning reminded me of all those young Happeners that I watched grow so much over the last weekend.
Why is this story so important? Why would a conversation with an unnamed Samaritan woman by a well figure so prominently in our spiritual paths this Lent season? Jesus is traveling from Judea making his way to Galilee. In John’s gospel, geographic demarcations are not so much for stage setting but always imply something spiritually. Quite possibly the author is wanting us to know that in order for Jesus to reconcile the whole world he must go not only geographically but also spiritually through Samaria. At the well Jesus engages in a conversation with a woman who most likely would have given his disciples a heart attack if they had been present. Furthermore, Jesus invites her to serve him by asking for help to get a drink of water. As they continue to converse, Jesus reveals who he is after drinking the water by telling her that no one will be thirsty after they drink of the water that he gives. Furthermore, in revealing that he knows how many husbands she has had the woman comes to know that Jesus is the Messiah. Many scholars think this important because there would have been no judgment in this situation and most likely it is an indication of the woman as someone who lived on the margins and not a moral judgement. Her husbands may have died, or she may have been barren leaving her with no one to take care of her. This comment is rather meant to move the woman to the next level of understanding. Sin is not considered a moral category in John’s Gospel but rather disbelief. One of the main conflicts between Samaritans and the rest of the Jewish people revolved around which temple was the one where God resided. The woman poses this question to Jesus, Does God dwell at Mount Garazim (which is where the Samaritan temple was located) or did he dwell in Jerusalem? Jesus continues to flip things upside down by responding that he is the word made flesh and that God has now chosen to dwell with his people. In Jesus, God is building a community where he will dwell with his creation. God will not be confined to physical structures and our ability to meet him will no longer be restricted.
I got a peak of that beautiful community last weekend. I got to see what happens too when you invite God to come and dwell in that community. Can an act as simple as a cool cup of water offered in love be the beginning of a salvation journey? I think so, but we must be willing to meet the stranger and to tend to the human need first. I think the first step may be realizing that in asking the stranger for a cup of water we are allowing both the stranger and us to be filled with the water of the spirit. What I learned from my time with those wonderful young people last weekend who opened up their hearts and their minds to the Holy Spirit is what maybe the woman at the well doesn’t say but I think she implies in our reading this morning when she runs back to the city. Come and see a man who has told me everything I have ever done……and he loved me anyways.