We are doing fine. My spouse is still working. I'm trying to decrease the number of knitting and crochet projects before starting something new - don't worry, I have plenty of yarn on hand. I'm trying to keep up with my fitness challenge, walking 7500 steps a day, without going anywhere in particular. And I'm doing some writing.
Here's a sermon on the Lent 3 - Year A lessons from a couple of cycles ago. I haven't updated it for today's circumstances - I think the illustrations stand on their own.
The
Water of Life
We take a lot of
things for granted in our lives. When I
was in Jamaica on a United
Methodist Volunteers in Mission trip, we drove
along the country roads and watched girls and boys, the young and the old,
carrying water in 5-gallon buckets balanced on their heads, having drawn it
from the community well up or down the road.
What would it be like to have to walk to the town's well to bring home
enough water to do things around the house that need water to get done? I am lucky, because I assume that whenever I
want to cook, wash my truck, do a load of laundry, or take a long, hot bubble
bath, there will not only be plenty of water, but also that it will be the
right temperature and clean. For the
villagers of Content Gap and Mavis Bank, Jamaica, going to town for water
two of three times a day is all a part of a normal days chores. And so it was for the women of this Samaritan
village, where a woman encounters Jesus resting in the midday sun.
The gospel lesson
from John contains a lengthy conversation between Jesus and a Samaritan woman
drawing water from the well. Imagine her
surprise when Jesus not only speaks to her, but asks her for a drink. A favor from a Samaritan? What could this Jew be thinking of? But soon into their conversation, this woman
sees that this Jew is no ordinary man, but one who knows who she is and what
she has done with her life, the good and the bad. What must have started as a casual
conversation about the weather and the water gradually looks deeper and deeper
into the mysteries of faith and salvation as the woman questions Jesus about
what he has to share.
Jesus shares with
this woman a word about the living water.
The woman nears Jesus telling her that he knows of water that is running,
not stagnant like the water that comes from that well. But Jesus goes on to explain that people who
drink from the well with living water will never thirst again, but have eternal
life. Again, the woman misunderstands,
and want to know where to get that water, so that she will never have to go to
draw at the well again. Jesus looks into
her soul, and tells her to come back with her husband and he will tell them
about the living water, the water of life.
Startled and
amazed, the woman confesses that she has no husband. Jesus agrees, and tells her of her past, that
she has had five husbands and is now living with a man who is not her
husband. In that moment, she knows that he
is not merely a Jew come to rest from the noonday heat, but a prophet, one sent
from God, and she begins to try to find out more about who Jesus is, and what
he has to say. She believes that the
Messiah is coming, and as Jesus explains to her that the true worshipers of
God, worship him in spirit and truth, not just in Jerusalem, not just the Jews. Salvation came to the Jews, but now it is
available for all who will be faithful to worship the Lord, with their lives. The woman left as the disciples arrived
with food, and went to tell her friends what she had seen and heard. Surely he cannot be the Messiah, CAN HE?
Jesus frames the
same discussion for the disciples, but in terms of food, rather than
water. But they do not see what the
woman has seen, that Jesus can provide both food and water for the soul. The woman returns with her friends, many who
have believed what she has told them about Jesus. And when presented with the opportunity to
stay with they for a few days, Jesus does, and many believe because they, too,
have seen and heard his story.
There is enough
symbolism and imagery to fill a hundred sermons, but I will try to hold on to
one today. There are several points
which I want to make about the parallels this story shares with our lives, and
how we can take Jesus' words to heart as we continue on our own Lenten journeys
this spring.
1
All of us want to
find an easier way. The woman's question
to Jesus was this: "How can I get
this living water, so that I will never have to come to the well again?" She heard Jesus' message and tried to figure
out how it fit into her life in a practical way. "He says he can get me water for eternal
life. I need that, because I spend a lot
of time and energy each day coming here."
We too, have difficulty in seeing how Jesus' message fits into the
ordinary routine of our lives. We want
to know what following Jesus is actually going to mean in terms of how we put
it all together, and live out a life of faith.
Jesus tells us that our thirst for life is only quenched by one thing,
and that is the water of life, Jesus Christ.. When we drink water from the
well, or from the tap, we will get thirsty again. But the living water banishes thirst forever,
so that once we have seen and believed on Christ, and live our lives in him, we
will never thirst again, for we will always be in the presence of our God.
2
Something changed
in the conversation between Jesus and the Samaritan woman after he sees into
her life. She realized that this man who
stood before her was no ordinary man, but one who knew things only the Almighty
could know. It was that realization that
lead her to tell her friends of the Messiah come among them. When she was able to see herself clearly and
admit her sin, then she was free to see Jesus more clearly, too. We too are like that. We spend much of our lives running and hiding
from the past, and trying to figure out how to cheat tomorrow. It is only when we really take a look at
ourselves, and see how we look in the presence of Christ, that we can see how much we really need God.
Christ sees us for
who we really are, just as he saw the Samaritan woman and her sorted past. Was it significant that the woman had had
five husbands, and not just two or three?
Probably not. Trying to rank her
sin, or ours, misses the point of the story.
The point is that Jesus saw her sin, and yet still offered to her the
promise of eternal life, if she would only believe. And likewise, Christ see our sin, and loves
us in spite of ourselves. Because the
sin isn't all that God is looking at.
God looks at us and sees not just the warts and the ugliness, but also
sees the possibility of all that we can be.
We were created in the image of God, and in that we can take great
comfort and can receive much hope.
3
What was the
woman's response after she heard what Jesus had to share with her and believed
in him? She left to tell her friends all
that she had seen and heard, encouraging them to come and see for themselves
all that she had seen. Unbelievable as
it was, saying, "He cannot be the Messiah, can he?" Could they dare hope that they, too might be
in the presence of the Messiah, the one to come from God? It didn't seem to bother them as it did the
Jewish religious leaders and others that Jesus wasn't what they expected in a
Messiah. They could only come and see
for themselves this man which the woman had seen and heard. And their hearing of her story, and
experiencing the Christ for themselves, they were filled with their own belief,
and proclaimed Christ to be "truly the Savior of the world."
Sharing the
gospel, the good news of Jesus Christ, is a natural outgrowth of the sense of
worth that we receive from knowing Christ, and letting him know us. When was the last time each of us felt so
compelled to share with someone the blessings which we know Christ had bestowed
on us, and given the Lord the proper credit?
Remember the excitement, that sense of "if I don't tell someone
I'll just burst!"? Somehow, we need
to get that back, and recapture the sense of awe and amazement that Christ
brings to our lives. Taking our water for
granted isn't the only problem we must protect ourselves from. We cannot allow ourselves to take our faith
and our Lord for granted, either, for it is that constant and continued
communion with God that gives us the strength and the peace and the courage to
face an uncertain and often dangerous world.
Christian
commitment is a balance between what we discover about and what we share about the
faith, about what we have learned about Jesus Christ, and what we have learned
about ourselves as we journey along. In
the midst of this journey, let us begin to believe in ourselves in a way which
inspires us to live out our relationships with Christ and one another, knowing
that all that we have and all that we are belongs to Christ.
====
Peace, Deb
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