Sermon for March 8th
Sermon for March 8th
I have a hard time asking something for myself. I can ask in a professional context. I can ask for chores to be done at the house when I am too busy to get to everything. But I have a hard time asking for something for myself. Ask my wife. It drives her crazy. I will ask to go to a movie and then feel guilty and instead find an excuse not to go.
The worst example was this fall. The Edmonton Fan expo takes place each year in late September. Last year, the four actors who played the Hobbits in the Lord of the Rings trilogy were attending. Afterward, they had a panel, where they would share stories and answer questions. I bought a ticket to go and was looking forward to the event. But when the day came, I gave all measure of excuses as to why I couldn’t go and gave my ticket to my son. I sat in the parking lot of a Tim Horton’s and read instead.
To say I regretted that choice would be an understatement. I am a huge Tolkien fan, and I have always loved those movies. My Grandma, the one who taught me to embrace the opportunities that life put in front of me, would have been disappointed.
But that’s the way of it, when it comes to the choices we make in this life. Either we are too afraid to ask, or we ask the wrong questions. We miss the opportunities that life gives us.
How different then is the example of the woman at the well? In the historical context of this text, this woman should have been nothing more than a passing character. In many respects, she shouldn’t have been noted at all. First off, she was a woman. Women often didn’t warrant any real attention in Christ’s time. They were figures in the background. Even in the context of the Gospels, which manage to highlight women more than one would expect, it is a wonder that she figures into the story at all.
The second strike against her was the fact that she was a Samaritan. Samaritans were ancient Jews, but after Samaria broke from the United Kingdom of Israel, they were hamstrung by a series of bad kings and their eventual destruction at the hands of the Assyrians. Their culture became diluted with the other groups from the area, and by the time of Jesus, they were considered distant cousins at best, or as traitors to their faith at the worst. In other words, a true Judean and a Samaritan did not interact with each other.
The third strike was the fact that she had been married many times in her life. This was hardly her fault. She had lost her previous husbands. Under the ancient laws, she was likely married to the next of kin to her late husband. This was to ensure she would never be left destitute. It was only bad luck that would have caused her to have so many husbands. Now, she seems to be living with someone outside of wedlock. Strike three, or so it would seem.
By all rights, Jesus shouldn’t have even talked to her. She wasn’t “proper” company. Yet Jesus asks her for a drink. The woman seems genuinely surprised by this and references the cultural differences that have often stood between Israelites and Samaritans. At this point, she could have gone quietly on her way, either ignoring Jesus or giving him what he asked for. But she engages with him. A Samaritan woman, many times married, engages with Jesus and in the process of their conversation, Jesus sees her and tells her of the water of life. Again, it would have been easy enough for her to dismiss this. Often times, when Jesus references spiritual truths it fall on deaf ears. Nicodemus, from last weeks reading, didn’t get it and he was a religious leader. The woman at the well didn’t truly understand either, but instead of letting that stop her, she asked for Jesus to give her that water. She wanted what Jesus had to offer, even if she didn’t fully understand what it was about. She makes an impertinent request of Jesus. She wants that water and as they talk longer, she recognizes Jesus for who he is. She is one of the few who do, pre-crucifixion. And in her daring, two things happen. She comes to feel known by Jesus and her eyes are opened to who he is. From there, she goes back to proclaim to all she meets the truth of what she has learned from Jesus and about Jesus himself.
In the woman at the well, we see someone who is brave, who has nothing to lose, and who, in short order, gives her life to Jesus. It is a powerful moment, and it stands so contrary to so many of the other figures in scripture who just can’t seem to figure out what Jesus is about. Her courage and audacity, so out of keeping for a woman in her situation and at that time in history, end up making her someone to look up to.
We are asked to be bold in our faith. We are called to trust in God in all things and as we do, to open our hearts to where God directs us. But too often, we are not like the woman at the well. Too often, we are like me with the Edmonton Expo. Or we think we know what we need and demand God to answer us on our terms. We don’t like the idea that God may in fact have other ideas for us.
Thus, either in our arrogance or in our timidity, we miss what God is doing. The woman at the well came to the well for water and she left with her heart full, and her life forever changed by God. Not only is this about opening our hearts to where God might be at work in our world but also knowing that God can show up where we least expect. The woman at the well was met by God in the last place she expected, but she was open and brave and her life was changed forever.
Her challenge to us is whether we can be so brave and open in our own lives. Can we put aside our own arrogant desires and come to put God’s priorities ahead of our own? It is easier said than done.
But with examples like the woman at the well and the workings of the Holy Spirit, we are capable of doing things that would normally be beyond us.
The woman at the well went from being a woman struggling to move through life to a great proclaimer of God’s grace. We might think that we are not capable or worthy, but the same Spirit can and does move in our lives. The trick, as the woman showed us, is to be bold, to trust, and to let the Holy Spirit work again in our lives. In that Spirit, great things are truly possible.
Amen