3-8-26                   Lent 3                    John 4 & Ex 17

John 4:5-42

5 [Jesus] came to a Samaritan city called Sychar, near the plot of ground that Jacob had given to his son Joseph.6 Jacob’s well was there, and Jesus, tired out by his journey, was sitting by the well. It was about noon.
  7 A Samaritan woman came to draw water, and Jesus said to her, “Give me a drink.” 8 (His disciples had gone to the city to buy food.) 9 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.) 10 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.” 11 The woman said to him, “Sir, you have no bucket, and the well is deep. Where do you get that living water? 12 Are you greater than our ancestor Jacob, who gave us the well and with his sons and his flocks drank from it?” 13 Jesus said to her, “Everyone who drinks of this water will be thirsty again, 14 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.” 15 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.”
  16 Jesus said to her, “Go, call your husband, and come back.” 17 The woman answered him, “I have no husband.” Jesus said to her, “You are right in saying, ‘I have no husband,’ 18 for you have had five husbands, and the one you have now is not your husband. What you have said is true!” 19 The woman said to him, “Sir, I see that you are a prophet. 20 Our ancestors worshiped on this mountain, but you say that the place where people must worship is in Jerusalem.” 21 Jesus said to her, “Woman, believe me, the hour is coming when you will worship the Father neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem. 22 You worship what you do not know; we worship what we know, for salvation is from the Jews. 23 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. 24 God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth.” 25 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.” 26 Jesus said to her, “I am he, the one who is speaking to you.”
  27 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?” 28 Then the woman left her water jar and went back to the city. She said to the people, 29 “Come and see a man who told me everything I have ever done! He cannot be the Messiah, can he?” 30 They left the city and were on their way to him.
  31 Meanwhile the disciples were urging him, “Rabbi, eat something.” 32 But he said to them, “I have food to eat that you do not know about.” 33 So the disciples said to one another, “Surely no one has brought him something to eat?” 34 Jesus said to them, “My food is to do the will of him who sent me and to complete his work. 35 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. 36 The reaper is already receiving wages and is gathering fruit for eternal life, so that sower and reaper may rejoice together. 37 For here the saying holds true, ‘One sows and another reaps.’ 38 I sent you to reap that for which you did not labor. Others have labored, and you have entered into their labor.”
  39 Many Samaritans from that city believed in him because of the woman’s testimony, “He told me everything I have ever done.” 40 So when the Samaritans came to him, they asked him to stay with them, and he stayed there two days. 41 And many more believed because of his word. 42 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.”

Grace and peace  come to you as the waters of life pour out upon you.

This gospel story is a contrast in many ways with the story from last week about Nicodemus. Jesus spoke to both these individuals concerning their worship and their relationship with God. Those are topics which are highlighted within our weekly services even today. Our practices of praise and worship are meant to reconnect us with God. They tend to be repetitive and dependent upon specific traditions. We often like it that way because it provides comfort when we know the pattern, can anticipate what is coming next, and are familiar with the words and actions. Much of it was derived by our ethnic heritage and even with all the mixing of backgrounds over the generations, certain traditions have often been maintained. The Scandinavian roots of many of our ELCA congregations are still prominent with the addition of the Finns in this synod. Yet the Germans retain strong control because of Martin Luther. So we can hardly be surprised by the tension felt by the Samaritan woman when she encounters this Jewish prophet, assuming her worship tradition will separate them and make her unacceptable. Even Nicodemus was cautious knowing Jesus was not following in the way he, himself had known to be required.

In John’s gospel we have been presented with two unique and different people. Nicodemus was a religious teacher of Israel, a man, introduced by name and with an emphasis on his authority. The woman is of Samaria, a neighbor and cousin of the Israelites yet they had never been on friendly terms. There had been much contention on the topic of appropriate worship. She is given no name and was currently living with a man, to whom she was not married.  Nicodemus came to Jesus at night, not wanting to be recognized by others. This woman encounters Jesus at noon, at the public well. The placement of this story at the well, the source for the communities’ water supply, is significant, and we will return in a bit to its implications.

Nicodemus initiates the conversation with Jesus; with the woman it is Jesus who speaks first. Both conversations are concerned with worship, implied or with direct reference, they review where and what is the acceptable place and emphasis for worship and the ethnic delineation to which that worship is reserved. The woman spells it out, realizing she is placed outside of the worship the Jews practiced; “Sir, I see you are a prophet. Our ancestors worshiped on this mountain, but you say that the place where people must worship is in Jerusalem.”  Jesus takes her beyond their differences to reveal that for both their peoples a change is coming. He says: “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. 24 God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth.”

Nicodemus too had begun to wonder about Jesus because it was obvious to him that regardless of his unorthodox ways, Jesus was bringing something that needed to be heard and examined. He said: “No one can do these signs that you do apart from the presence of God!” Like the woman, he is aware that Jesus is opening a new connection with God. Coming from very different places these two individuals encountered Jesus for separate reasons and means, but both are curious and want to learn more. Nicodemus however, leaves Jesus quietly and continues further exploration on his own. The woman goes back to town and shares with her neighbors all about what has happened to her with this meeting and invites them to explore with her what it might mean. 

Now it is time for us to go back to the well where we can discover something more this story has to tell. In communities with few streams and lakes, the common well was & is a necessary and very important resource and a place that forms a natural gathering place. Everybody needs water.  In the history of the Hebrews the well was tied to the recipients of the Promise of God to make in them a great nation, a chosen people meant to be a blessing. Abraham’s servant went to the homeland to find a bride for Isaac and it was at the well that Rebekah was discovered. Later their son, Jacob, meet Rachel at the well at noon, when he had left home to escape his brother Esau’s wrath. He fell for her but had to serve her dad, Laban, for 14 years to gain her hand in marriage due to the wily plans of her father. It happened for another famous leader, Moses, who fled to Midian to escape an angry Pharoah. He protects the daughters of a local shepherd at that well. Zipporah and her sisters went home telling of the good deed Moses had done for them and her father gives Zipporah to him as his wife. Those wells almost seems like an early dating/marriage AP. For this developing nation those unions and resulting families were the building blocks of their country. It was the means for giving life to God’s promise and plan. For the Samaritan woman the story was a bit different. Jesus was not seeking a wife, although he had a gift for her. This woman had already had 5 husbands, she was then with a man to whom she was not married, but her experience had shown her that husbands did not guarantee security or provision for her future. Jesus offers her that which no husband would be able to provide: “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.” 

Jesus came to give life-giving water that quenches thirst forever. This woman became excited about the possibilities that Jesus offered and not only wondered if he indeed was the Messiah, she also shared her experience and invited her neighbors to come and see for themselves. That led them to accept Jesus for themselves. Jesus came with a message that made known that the well is deep and is meant to be available to all people. As those Samaritans proclaimed - this is the Savior for the world. Worship and salvation is not confined to any one people. All people thirst and require the water which Christ provides. We are to be led in the spirit, and truth will be revealed to us. That truth, the grace which is provided to us, brings life. Jesus meets us at the well, making it known that all will be well with us as we put our trust in Him.