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3rd Sunday in Lent Exodus 17:1-7 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ The Gospel according to John 4:5-42 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, "Sir, 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 your 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 his 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. Meanwhile the disciples were urging him, "Rabbi, eat something." But he said to them, "I have food to eat that you do not know about." So the disciples said to one another, "Surely no one has brought him something to eat?" Jesus said to them, "My food is to do the will of him who sent me and to complete his work. Do you not say, 'Four months more, then comes the harvest'? But I tell you, look around you, and see how the fields are ripe for harvesting. The reaper is already receiving wages and is gathering fruit for eternal life, so that sower and reaper may rejoice together. For here the saying holds true, 'One sows and another reaps.' I sent you to reap that for which you did not labor. Others have labored, and you have entered into their labor." Many Samaritans from that city believed in him because of 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." ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Jesus came to the Samaritan city called Sychar. Sychar is still there. It’s a small mountain town of about 300 people who still consider themselves Samaritans. Sychar is at a crossroads. One road leads west to Galilee, where Jesus was headed, the other north to Bethshan. The primary structure in town is a kind of cellar, which houses a well, the only source of water for miles. This is the place where Jesus stopped for water while his disciples go off looking for food. I hope you’re shocked already. You don’t look very shocked. Well, you should be. You should have your hand over your mouth saying, “Oh! Jesus is in Sychar? Oh, my goodness gracious!” (That’s a very Southern way to be shocked.) You should be shocked because it is shocking that Jesus would be in Sychar. Sychar is in Samaria. Israel is to the south of Samaria and to the north of it, but Jews don’t go through Samaria. They take the long way around. Samaritans are considered mongrels by the Jews. Being in Samaria is a violation of the law. And there Jesus is, in Sychar, in Samaria. He’s breaking the rules. I hope you’re shocked. It’s midday, bright, hot; Jesus is worn out. The climb to Sychar is strenuous, to say the least. Jesus sees a Samaritan woman coming to draw water. He doesn’t have a vessel to lower into the well, so he asks her to give him a drink. He’s asking her to share her dipper with him, the dipper she drinks out of. Oh! My goodness gracious! Shock upon shock! First of all, women come to the well in groups, and they come in the early morning and late evening, when it’s cool. A woman coming alone at midday can mean only one thing: she’s an outcast. We learn later, or course, that she’s an outcast because she’s had five husbands and is now living with a man without the benefit of marriage. This is a loose woman. For a Rabbi to speak to her is, well, shocking! He’s breaking the rules. But she doesn’t even have to be a loose woman. This is a Samaritan woman. Jews considered Samaritan women to be ritually unclean from the moment of their birth to the moment of their death. For Jesus to be speaking to a Samaritan woman is — you’ve got it — shocking. He’s breaking the rules. But she doesn’t even have to be a loose, Samaritan woman. She’s a woman. And for any Jewish man, and especially a Rabbi, to speak to a woman, any woman, alone is — yep — shocking. He’s breaking the rules. And he asks to share her dipper. He’s going to drink after her. This is like Jesus had grown up in a society with water fountains marked, “Jews only,” and he’s drinking after a woman at the “Samaritan,” or the “Colored” fountain. In Jesus’ day, sharing food and drink was considered such an intimate act that it could be done only with those with whom one was in perfect agreement on all matters. To eat and drink with someone was to accept them completely. So what might sound to us like a casual request for a drink of water is actually shocking, even disgusting, to his fellow Jews. He breaks rule after rule after rule. Why? Is he just in a rebellious stage? Is this late onset adolescence? No. Jesus has a vision of God greater than the rules. When the rule tells Jesus that some people are not God’s children, to be treated with dignity and respect, because they have broken the rules themselves, (like a loose woman) he breaks the rule. When the rule tells Jesus that he may not go to any of God’s children (like the Samaritans), he breaks the rule. When the rule says that anyone is a second-class citizen because of their birth (as a female, a person of color, a gay), he breaks the rule. And for Jesus, these people are not “sort of” OK, they are OK; you drink after them. And of course, it is this — unclean because she’s loose, unclean because she’s Samaritan, unclean because she’s female — Child of God who becomes a powerful evangelist. It is she who brings her people to Jesus. She is a simply stunned, amazed, flabbergasted bearer of the Good News. I’ve known so many Christians who think that our faith is all about rules and following them. Sadder still, I’ve known so many people who will never be Christians because they think that our faith is all about rules and following them. And both these people think that because they’ve been told that, often by the Church. I doubt any of us are shocked at that, but we should be sad. As part of our Lenten discipline, perhaps we, on behalf of the Church, should pray to our loving rule-breaker and say, “I’m sorry, Jesus. I’m so sorry that we have, in so many ways, imposed rules which keep us from loving as you love.” But some folks are genuinely afraid when I say that Christianity isn’t about following the rules. The rules give them comfort, and bring a sense of order to their universe. So, for those folks, I’ll leave you with a rule that I learned from someone who was willing to follow it even if it meant being killed: “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and soul and mind, and love your neighbor as yourself.” It’s a good rule, a very good rule. But it’s also a funny rule, because following that rule will make you break a lot of rules. If you don’t believe me, just ask any loose Samaritan woman you find at the well. The Rev. James H. Pritchett, Jr. St. John’s Episcopal Church, College Park, GA
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