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February
24, 2008 Scripture: John 4:5-30, 39-42 Sermon: “An Unlikely Savior” Our scripture lesson today is the story of the woman at the well found in the 4th chapter of John’s gospel. And while it is a very well known story, this is the only place that it is found in the Bible. Many of the stories in John’s gospel do not have parallels. That’s not the case with Matthew, Mark, and Luke. Turn with me to the 4th chapter of John. It’s on page of the New Testament in the pew Bible. I’d like to explore a little more in depth with you the details of the story. But, it is so long, I’m going to try to do that only where necessary in the sermon. Listen to the word of the Lord…
So he 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, “Sire, 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 you 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 the 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.
Many Samaritans from that city believed in him because 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.” I knew a couple that celebrated their 70th wedding anniversary a few years ago. I think that’s amazing for a number of reasons. Most folks don’t live long enough be eligible for such a milestone. You’ve both got to be around 90 years old for that to happen. On top of that, a good many of us are suspicious that marriage itself is shortening our life expectancy. For a couple to maintain a relationship for 70 years says something about them that many of us are envious of. They had their big day at the one place that had meant more to them than any other—the church. Right there in the fellowship hall, friends and family gathered around old photographs and big sheet cake. On top of the cake, written in icing, were the words “Burnie and Mayme forever.” And each one of them was asked to say a few words. Mayme told all of us that she was just lucky. She’d found a good man and they just always made it work no matter what. They were best friends. Burnie was a bit more mystified. He said, “the funny thing about this whole life is that here I have the one person who knows me backward and forward, inside out. And she loves me anyway!” I have that feeling sometimes, too. Julie knows me deeper and more fully than I ever imagined another person could. And she loves me anyway. That’s something of the intimacy that our relationship with Jesus embodies, you know. We don’t always think of it that way. But, he knows stuff. And he loves us anyway. This Samaritan woman at Jacob’s old well put it this way, “He told me everything I have ever done.” He knows stuff. And still he wanted to give to her that living water—the stuff that gushes up from your heart and says that you belong in the presence of God for all of time. He knew her deeply…and he loved her anyway. Now, like many of us, she didn’t feel very lovable. There’s a whole list of reasons why. You’ve got your own list. Her list was just as complicated. What Jesus was doing in that neighborhood isn’t entirely clear. Jewish folks didn’t prefer to travel around those parts in those days. Some say that Jews looked down their noses as Samaritans. Maybe Samaritans did the same thing. But, most people of Jesus’ persuasion would just as soon go all the way around that whole area, making the trip to Jerusalem twice as long. I don’t know why he went that way. Do you? To me it’s no coincidence that this place, the town of Sychar, was located in about the same place you’d find a city called Nablus today. And any map will tell you that Nablus is a large town in a place called the West Bank. Israelis are pretty well convinced that Palestinian militants and terrorists call this place home. You know, folks like Hamas and such. And Palestinians are quick to tell you how some Israeli extremists have done their share of violence to folks there. This story about a Jewish man talking to a Samaritan woman at that old well in the Holy Land is probably just as ridiculous today as it was some 2,000 years ago. I don’t know why he was there. And she certainly wasn’t ready to believe he might love her. Not him. And the truth is that this woman probably had no reason to believe in things like love and truth and commitment anymore. You get burned enough times and that’ll happen to you. She’d been passed around from husband to husband like a piece of property. Five times. So much so that she just decided to skip marriage and live with the next guy. You ever get the feeling that life just isn’t going to work out the way you always dreamed? That’s kind of where she was. Maybe your disaster isn’t marriage. Maybe it’s your career. You pour your heart and soul into something only to have it fall apart all around you. Maybe your disaster is this overwhelming sense that an addiction has got you by the ankles and is never ever going to let you go. Goodness knows you never planned on things getting away from you. But, here you are. And, maybe your disaster is marriage. Some folks do make it 70 years. But, let’s face it. We marvel at them because few of us do. This Samaritan woman didn’t imagine herself as lovable. Do you know that feeling? The story says that Jesus, a Jewish man, took the shortcut through her neighborhood. And he came across this woman, knowing all that he somehow did know about her, and said that he’d like to give her the gift of living water—which is something you’ve got to love another person in order to give. Turns out that she wasn’t nearly as unlovable as she thought. And that’s what Jesus is likely to do. He’ll go where good folks wouldn’t normally go and love people that have a hard time even loving themselves. Reminds me of the notion that a shepherd will leave 99 sheep in the pasture to go off into the mud and the briars and the places where wolves are just looking for helpless lost creatures—all in order to find that one lost sheep who’s wandered away. It’s kind of hard to believe. I say it’s hard to believe. But, I’ve got a feeling that you and I are here today because that Savior came and found us at one time or another. And that was the time when we were sure we weren’t very lovable for whatever reason. And Jesus knew what was going on. He knew. But, when we saw him we weren’t embarrassed like we thought we would be. It was like he knew everything about us, and he loved us anyway. I’ve got a feeling that’s why you and I are here. But if it just so happens that nobody’s introduced you to such an unlikely Savior in your life, and unlovable is just about how you imagine yourself, oh, there is good news. Good news. Somebody knows where you are, what you’re going through, what it must feel like to look in the mirror most days, and says, “there’s the one I’ve been looking for.” Now, this Samaritan woman got that living water. She dropped her water jar and went back to town. She didn’t need that ordinary water that only leaves you thirsty again. She had the living water. And she went back into town to tell folks about it. Can you imagine? This is the kind of person who’d just keep her head down on most days. You’ve got a reputation like she does around a place and you learn to keep a low profile. Folks talk. They whisper. They say things when you’re not around. There’s so and so. She’s the one that can’t keep a man. You know she’s shackin’ up with somebody now. Could it be that Jesus is not looking to find you, erase your past like it never even happened, and suddenly make you acceptable? Could it be that Jesus is not appalled by all the things he knows about you and me? Could it be that all you and I have been through and done and experienced has really just prepared us for the way we are supposed to share this good news of God’s love for us? There’s a Presbyterian preacher, Frederick Buechner, who has a good way of putting this. The meaning of your life can best be described by, get this, the intersection where your greatest joy meets the world’s deepest need. Did you get that? The meaning of your life is how your greatest joy meets the deepest needs of the world around you. I know of a psychiatrist that is on the clinical staff of a drug and alcohol treatment house. He got his PhD after breaking out from under his own addiction to cocaine years ago. Greatest joy…deepest need. He’s like that unlikely Savior. There’s a sister that keeps track of the health of sex industry workers in Las Vegas where most of that stuff is legal. I say she’s a sister, you know. I mean that she’s a nun. She visits with these women all the time, making sure that they’re healthy and safe. And most of the women know that she’s not going to make them feel like trash. She listens and offers advice and sees to it that they have medical care. Oh, she’s not just a nun. She used to be on those streets herself. Greatest joy…deepest need. She’s like that unlikely Savior. I had a great man as a coach when I was in college. He treated us like men and loved us like sons. He could draw up a game plan on a chalk board to beat just about anybody. But, he’d always say to us, over and over so that we’d never forget, “I want you to win. Losing isn’t an option. You cannot lose and you will not lose. Not as long as I’m your coach. No matter what that other team does to us on the field, you cannot lose and you will not lose.” He was talking about life, of course. Turns out that he was once in a deep, dark place after the death of his father early in his life. Depression. Self-destruction. Hopelessness. Somewhere on that athletic field he learned that his life could still have meaning, purpose, direction. Maybe it was somewhere in the competition or the comradery of teammates or the things that exercise does to the body and the brain, but this man learned some kind of salvation in his life through all of that. What once was dark and hopeless was now full of possibility. He lived to see others start to dream bigger than they ever had before. Greatest joy…deepest need. He’s like that unlikely Savior. And this woman at the well. You know her story. She was a bit like that unlikely Savior, too. As are you, if you want the truth. If you want to follow this Savior, consider how his greatest joy was meeting you at your deepest need. And then you give your life to doing that very same thing in the way that most makes sense for who you are, what you’ve done, and all that you’ve got to give away to others that they might discover their own salvation. May the meaning of your life be found where your greatest joy meets the deepest needs of the world.
Rev. David James Brown Park Christian Church (Disciples of Christ)
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