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Quench Your Thirst

I began my sermon last week by commenting that there was so much to talk about in that text, John 3:1-17, that to cover it all would have taken all day. Well, today, and for the next several weeks, the same is true. Our lectionary for this Lent is filled with powerful texts that offer incredible insight into not only who Jesus is, but also what is expected of us, his followers. So, allow me to breeze through a few facts about this story to set the stage.

As we heard last week, Jesus had been in Judea, specifically Jerusalem, teaching and preaching and he had raised the ire of the Jewish leadership with his actions and his words. Nicodemus came to him one night to learn more about him and as that story came to an end, John then shared that Jesus and his disciples went into the countryside to continue teaching and to baptize those who sought to be baptized. Most likely, this was not baptism as we know it today, but the baptism of repentance, that John was offering.

Now, John had not, yet, been arrested, so he was still out doing his thing, as well, and so we are told just before our story begins today, that the Jewish leadership went to John the Baptist to ask him more about Jesus and in answering questions, John was all to willing to imply that Jesus had been sent from God (John 3:34). Now when word of this questioning by the religious authorities reached Jesus, John says that Jesus decided it was time to leave Judea and to head to Galilee. (Show map) Now, to get from Judea to Galilee caused problems for many Jews because in-between these two lands, both Jewish lands, lay Samaria, the land of the Samaritans. For an orthodox Jew, this meant traveling way out of the way to avoid entering the land of their enemy and to avoid any interactions with the Samaritans. But John tells us Jesus “had to go through Samaria” (4:4). I would argue that he had to go that way because of one of two reasons. The first one would be that he was in a hurry to get away from the Jewish leadership in Jerusalem. The second reason, and the one I would argue is the most compelling reason, is that Jesus had work to do in Samaria. Jesus had a divine purpose there and that was to be, as we will learn later in this Gospel, to be the “light of the world” to non-Jews, as well.

After a long journey, John says Jesus comes to Sychar, a place in Samaria and while his disciples go into town to buy some food, Jesus chooses to rest next to a well. John even gives us the time of day, the sixth hour,” which most scholars argue would have been about noon, a time when no one ought to be at the well. It would have been too hot to haul water now, but something strange happens while Jesus is setting there, a woman, a Samaritan, shows up to fetch water and Jesus asks her to get him a drink. Jesus’ divine work begins.

But, let’s acknowledge the problem here. First, Jesus is speaking to a woman in public. This is a cultural ‘no, no.” No respectable man, especially a rabbi, would speak to an adult woman, alone, in public. Secondly, as I have said, Jews and Samaritans don’t like each other and they prefer not to even acknowledge each other. The Samaritans were Israelites that intermarried with other races and faith traditions during the period of exile. Although they professed Yahweh as the one true God, when it came to scripture they only recognized the Torah, the first five books of the bible, as valid. They did not recognize the Psalms, the Prophets and the other writings of the Hebrew Testament as valid. They believed that the holy place of worship was on Mt. Gerizim and not in Jerusalem. When the Jews returned from Babylonian exile, the Samaritans offered to help them rebuild the temple, but the according to the prophet Ezra, the Jews refused their help (Ezra 4:2-3) and thus a bitterness between the two people began. And, to make matters worse, according to historians, over a century before the birth of Jesus, the Jews burned down the Samarian temple on Mt. Gerizim. This feud between these two people was deep and it caused much conflict, but for Jesus none of this was important. For Jesus, it was all irrelevant.

We have many of these same issues in the world today, don’t we? Christians argue over how bread and wine become Jesus’ body and blood. We argue over worship styles and practices. We argue over our church buildings and what they should look like. We argue over who has the “right” to preach and teach in the church and who is “qualified” to come to the table when the meal is offered. But, as we hear in this story today, Jesus did not come to take sides on our petty differences. No, Jesus came to attempt to show us that if are ever going to come to fully experience the presence of God in our lives, that we come to know what God desires of us, which, according to Jesus is that we learn to worship God in “spirit and truth.” In other words, the only thing that is critical is that we are completely sincere in our approach to worship. Where and how we do this is unimportant as along as our worship is authentic. That is, are we here filled with joy and song, as Psalm 100 says to do, or are we here because the law says we have to come to “church.” Are we here because we desire to be in the presence of God and in God’s community, or are we here because this building is important to us? Are we here because it is what we are supposed to do on Sunday morning, or are we here because it is this communal worship that we receive the spiritual food and drink we need to sustain our everyday life?

When Jesus first spoke to this woman, he first and foremost knocked down a barrier that God did not desire be there. Secondly, once that barrier was down, Jesus acknowledged the realities of this woman’s sinful life and instead of condemning her, as the world had already done, he offered her a renewal in life. He offered her “living water,’ that would quench her thirst for forgiveness and for acceptance. That life giving water is God’s word and God’s Spirit and that same life-giving water and Sprit are offered to you and I today.

When this woman, who was a Samaritan, received these words of assurance and acceptance from Jesus, it changed her life. Instead of avoiding the community that had rejected her because of her life style and forced her to come to the well in the middle of the day and not in the early morning with the rest of the women, she ran to them to tell them about Jesus. And in turn, because of her witness, they, too, came to Jesus and came to believe. Jesus offered this woman renewal and in her renewal, she shared her faith. In sharing her faith, others, too, came to believe.

So, what does the mean for us today? Are we here so that we might renew ourselves for our sake? Or, are we here, seeking renewal so that we might go and share our lives and our Lord with the world? The world is thirsty. The world is filled with people who are longing for community, acceptance, mercy, kindness, forgiveness and so much more. But, for the most part what we receive in the world is rejection, condemnation for who and what we are, judgment, and loneliness. There is only one way to quench the thirst of this world and that is with the “living-water” of God’s word and God’s Spirit. You and I have already received it. Are we ready to go and tell the world around us to “Come and see?” As we receive this “living-water” this Lenten season; as we seek renewal, I pray we are also filled to go and share this same Spirit and truth with the world. Amen.

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