Loving God, you pour out your Spirit on your people just like streams of living water.  Open our hearts as we gather together today for worship, that we might be filled with your Spirit and have our deepest thirst quenched; through Jesus Christ our Lord.  Amen.

    If you have ever thirsted for love and acceptance, today’s gospel is for you.  If you have ever thirsted for dignity and respect, or inclusion in a community, today’s gospel is for you.  And if you have ever thirsted for the living God, today’s gospel will speak to you, too.

    When the Samaritan woman comes to the well, she is thirsting in so many different ways.  In fact, her heart probably sank as soon as she saw a Jewish man sitting by the well.  Simply because she was a woman and also a Samaritan, she would have expected to be either ignored or treated with contempt, or perhaps even treated as if she had no right to be there.  And so, imagine her surprise when Jesus actually speaks to her!  In fact, not only does he speak to her, but he asks her for a drink of water.

    By making this very simple request, Jesus has just crossed at least two different lines.  First of all, he breaks the taboo against actually speaking to a woman in a public place.  At the same time, he ignores the taboo against sharing anything with a Samaritan – even a simple thing like a drink of water.  Once we know these things, it is easy to see why this woman would have been asking some pretty incredulous questions!  Is this guy totally off his rocker, or is he actually as compassionate as he seems to be?

    Of course, when Jesus starts talking about giving her living water, she has even more questions for him.  She is not questioning the existence of living water, but rather where Jesus would get it from.  You see, in Palestine there are wells, and then there are springs.  Jacob’s well (which you can see here - picture) was dug in such a way that it gives access to an underground spring.  It would have been hard work to dig it, and it is hard work even today to crank it long enough to bring up a bucket of water.  This woman was not kidding when she said that the well is deep.

    On the other hand, this is one of the springs in the Holy Land (picture of Banias).  This particular spring is the source of the River Jordan, and simply bubbles up out of the ground.  It is springs like this that are referred to as living water (as opposed to the Dead Sea, in which the water doesn’t go anywhere).  And so, by comparison, living water is an incredible gift that comes from God – and not nearly as much work as a well!

    Of course, this whole conversation about water becomes a conversation about so much more, for soon they are talking about husbands and worship.  While many over the years have assumed that Jesus is pointing out the woman’s sinfulness, there is nothing in this gospel that suggests any sort of focus on sin.  We are not told why there have been five husbands, but any number of reasons are possible.  The husbands could have died, or could have divorced her, or could have abandoned her.  This is a woman who has been rejected, and cast aside, and abandoned, and yet still has to depend on a man who is not considered to be her husband in order to have anything to live on.

    Jesus’ purpose does not seem to be to point out sin, but to let this woman know that he sees her as she is.  He knows her situation, and he knows how she has been excluded, and he knows how she has not had any security or dignity.  Jesus knows this, and then proceeds to speak about worship in a way that includes her.

    One of the ongoing disagreements between Jews and Samaritans was, and continues to be, where to worship.  According to the Jews, the only “true” worship happened in the Jerusalem Temple.  According to the Samaritans, the temple on Mount Gerizim is the only place to worship.  However, Jesus goes way beyond this argument over place.  In fact, Jesus basically says that it doesn’t matter where you worship.  What matters is that you worship “in spirit and truth” (Jn. 4:23).  This is an answer that not only includes both Jews and Samaritans, but everybody – in every time and every place!

    So over the course of this conversation, this woman who is thirsting for love and acceptance, and for dignity and respect, and for inclusion in a community, and for the living God, finds all of these things in Jesus.  As a result of this amazing encounter with Jesus, we see this woman totally transformed.

    She leaves her water jar sitting by the well and goes back to the city to tell others about Jesus.  She says, “Come and see a man who told me everything I have ever done!  He cannot be the Messiah, can he?” (Jn. 4:29).  Keep in mind that these are the same people that this woman was trying to avoid by going to the well at noon.  These are the same people who had been treating her as an outsider, and as damaged goods.  But none of this matters once the woman has encountered Jesus.  In fact, the water jar becomes a symbol of the burdens that she has left behind.

    And so, this gospel becomes an opportunity for us to ask what the burdens are that we need to leave behind.  Are there things that have prevented us from being transformed by the love of Christ?  Are there things that we have been holding onto with white knuckles where we would experience the freedom of the gospel if we would just let it go?  Are there things that are holding us back from living into the future that God has prepared for us?

    Many people have asked me about the bilum that hangs on the cross behind the altar.  It is a symbol of those burdens that we have been thinking about, and a reminder to take those burdens and to leave them on the cross.  For Jesus has carried those burdens for us and has taken them onto himself.  We don’t need to hang onto them any longer!

    The thing is that Jesus came in order to transform hearts and lives.  We see how this happens for the woman at the well, but has it happened for us?  And if not, what do we need to leave behind?  What do we need to hand over to Jesus in order that we, too, might live a new life?

    That living water of which Jesus speaks is poured out on all those who are baptized.  It is the gift of the Holy Spirit, which flows from believers’ hearts like rivers of living water (Jn. 7:38).  And so, drink deeply!  Drink deeply from the wells of salvation, for God also sees us, just as we are, and calls us to live a new life.  Thanks be to God!  Amen.

Lent 3(A)                                    John 4:5-42
March 23, 2014
St. Luke’s Zion Lutheran Church
Pastor Lynne Hutchison

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