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ons beliefs and practices jesus in this story reveals the uniqueness of his identity as messiah and saviour of the world i invite you to join me now as we take a closer look at some of the rich insights of this encounter between jesus and the samaritan woman first of all john tells us that jesus unlike so many devout jews of his day did not avoid travelling in samaria you see at this time in history jews and samaritans were enemies the jews looked down on samaritans as half breeds not purely jewish they also looked down on them because the samaritans only regarded the first five books of the bible as authoritative scripture and they thought that the true place of worship was on mount gerizim where they once had built a temple but it had been destroyed in 128 b c it is noon burning hot jesus in his humanness is tired out and thirsty he stops at jacob s well at the samaritan city of sychar most likely the same place that centuries before was called shechem north of jerusalem which had been part of the old northern israelite kingdom in the heat of the day a samaritan woman we don t even know her name came to draw water jesus then does something totally out of bounds for any other jewish leader of his day he speaks to this woman this samaritan woman in a public place saying give me a drink any male jewish religious leader wanting respect would never speak to a woman including their wife let alone a samaritan woman in a public place this was a shocking radical unexpected thing to do the samaritan woman realizing this answers jesus expressing her surprise how is it that you a jew ask a drink of me a woman of samaria and john adds for readers unfamiliar with the customs of that day this detail jews do not share things in common with samaritans jesus as the messiah and saviour of the world demonstrates here that he refuses to accept the traditions and customs of the jews that placed a barrier between jew and samaritan and male and female he came to remove such walls and divisions of the past as the true messiah and saviour of the whole world jesus then continues the conversation now offering the samaritan woman living water which at first she thinks jesus is still speaking about the water in jacob s well and wonders how he can get the water out of such a deep well without a bucket jesus however speaking on a spiritual level promises that those who drink of the living water will never be thirsty again the water that i will give will become in them a spring of water gushing up to eternal life centuries before jeremiah referred to god himself as the fountain of living water jer 2 13 17 13 and in the book of proverbs 13 14 we learn of this promise the teaching of the wise is a fountain of life so that one may avoid the snares of death water of course is also the symbol in this gospel for the sacrament of baptism here however according to professor walter brueggemann it is clear that the gospel narrative has taken the concrete material reality of water and transposed it into a metaphor water is now gospel water is the good news water is sign and symbol that in jesus we are given a new quality of life as the text says a spring of water gushing up to eternal life this is extraordinary good news that in the life of this defeated woman durable quenching is possible it was outrageous good news that from the hard rock of a failed life durable quenching happens good news for ancient israel in the wilderness good news for the woman thirsting for a better life good news for us in a culture of paralyzing anxiety 1 jesus as living water gives us eternal life abundant life which starts right now and flows on without end after jesus offers the samaritan woman this living water she asks jesus for it and jesus responds by sending her on the task of fetching her husband and bringing him back she tells jesus that she has no husband he is very pastoral in his next comment to the woman affirming her for telling him the truth yet at the same time confronting her with the truth of her past marital history and her present status notice here that jesus is not condemning her for having five previous husbands and not being married to the present man she is living with rather he merely states the truth of her past history and present situation this is very instructive for us too we should not draw the conclusion based on an argument out of silence that the woman was sexually immoral given her past history indeed as some feminist scholars have observed we have no detailed information on the sexual history of the woman or her previous husbands therefore we should not jump to the wrong conclusion that the woman was sexually immoral jesus does not make such a comment or judgement therefore neither should we rather jesus states the truth in a way that invites the woman to respond notice then that the woman does not walk away because she feels condemned nor does she feel that she needs to respond in a defensive way rather she remains in conversation with jesus likely surprised at what he had just told her and realising that this was no ordinary person admitting that he was a prophet and then raising a theological issue concerning the appropriate place to worship god is it mount gerizim or jerusalem those in our society or community who feel like outcasts who feel that they are the subjects of malicious gossip who are ostracized and condemned by others these ones need jesus and his love as much as the rest of us the way jesus handles this situation with the samaritan woman is a perfect example of how we can offer pastoral care to the outcasts of our day we like jesus can speak the truth without condemning others and then invite those who hear the truth to respond to it like the woman of samaria jesus then takes the samaritan woman s statement seriously and explains what true worship really means i like the way professor and pastor eugene peterson puts it in the message believe me woman the time is coming when you samaritans will worship the father neither here at this mountain nor there in jerusalem you worship guessing in the dark we jews worship in the clear light of day god s way of salvation is made available through the jews but the time is coming it has in fact come when what you re called will not matter and where you go to worship will not matter it s who you are and the way you live that count before god your worship must engage your spirit in the pursuit of truth that s the kind of people the father is out looking for those who are simply and honestly themselves before him in their worship god is sheer being itself spirit those who worship him must do it out of their very being their spirits their true selves in adoration in other words cities states provinces nations and denominations are not holy god is holy god s people are holy no more artificial divisions jews samaritans protestant catholic presbyterian lutheran no more divisions to separate human beings one from another good news gospel 2 in response to jesus truth concerning true worship and the truth of his own being the woman now continues the conversation by saying the whole truth shall be proclaimed when the messiah comes jesus then gives her the greatest surprise of her life i am he the one who is speaking to you the woman there and then is never the same again joyfully surprised and shocked at this revelation from a conversation about the truth to meeting the truth himself she leaves her water jar behind perhaps a symbol of her old way of life before meeting up with jesus and goes back to the city and preaches the good news come and see a man who told me everything i have ever done he cannot be the messiah can he that truth telling which came from jesus the truth that gospel preaching went right into the hearts minds and lives of many samaritans who heard the woman preacher god s spirit was at work in their spirits to draw them into a living encounter with jesus the truth they too with that samaritan woman came to know that this is truly the saviour of the world to this day that nameless samaritan woman the first unexpected evangelist is revered in many cultures in southern mexico la samaritana is remembered on the fourth friday in lent when specially flavoured water is given to commemorate her gift of water to jesus the orthodox know her as saint photini or svetlana in russian her name means equal to the apostles and she is honoured as apostle and martyr on the feast of the samaritan woman 3 you never know how jesus will surprise and reveal his truth to you in the lenten wilderness of temptations aplenty and countless sins which nailed jesus to the cross there is good news life transforming news jesus the living water jesus the way the truth and the life comes to us through word water bread and wine to satisfy our deepest hunger and thirst to give us free abundant life full of spirit we like that samaritan woman are never the same again as we worship and serve god in spirit and in truth like her we are invited to respond by spreading the good news of jesus to everyone amen prayer cited from a new zealand prayer book hastings new zealand harpercollins publishers inc harpersan fransisco 1989 1997 p 92 1 walter brueggemann anna carter florence editor inscribing the text sermons and prayers of walter brueggemann minneapolis fortress press 2004 p 141 2 david e leininger lectionary tales for the pulpit series vi cycle a lima oh css publishing co inc 2007 p 64 3 david e leininger ibid p 64 filed under sermons tagged with christianity ecumenism homilies john 4 5 42 lectionary lutheran preaching sermons sermon 1 lent yr a february 8 2008 2 comments 1 lent yr a 10 02 2008 gen 2 15 17 3 1 7 rom 5 12 19 rev garth wehrfritz hanson pastor of grace lutheran church chaplain of the good samaritan society s south ridge village medicine hat alberta sin and death christ and new life today one of the taboo words is sin and along with it death we live far too much of our lives in denial of both sin and death in fact many bow down and worship at the altar of sin as for death we like to sanitize it by employing phrases such as passed away and we attempt to confine and control death by the use of science and technology going to all kinds of heroic measures which are nothing more than out and out denial of and rebellion against death attempting to be gods and goddesses in our true god s place the story is told of a fence between heaven and hell which was falling apart it was badly in need of repair saint peter consulted his records and saw that by the terms of an ancient agreement it was satan s turn to fix the fence so he gritted his teeth and sought an audience with the prince of darkness he found him in the nether regions cleaning his pitchfork peter did not sit down the smell of brimstone was heavy in the hot air you need to fix the fence he said the devil twitched his red tail he scratched behind a horn now pete he said you could be a little more friendly after all these years i don t want to be here at all peter said i just came to tell you the fence needs fixing my people are too busy to spend time on your lousy fence fix it yourself see here you devil it s your turn to fix the fence it s the right thing to do and if you don t fix the fence i ll sue the devil laughed his wickedest laugh go ahead and sue where are you going to find a lawyer 1 this joke is rather negative towards lawyers with its demonizing them however theologically i think the joke complements both our first lesson from genesis and second lesson from romans today both of these passages underscore that there is a power existing in the world that is resisting god and god s will a power in rebellion against god in the genesis passage the power is described as the serpent in the text the serpent is not however called satan or the devil even though the serpent s behaviour by questioning god s words to the woman and by telling the woman an out and out lie implies that it is a power resisting god and god s will and in rebellion against god something that is difficult for us in the story of the fall is that god actually must have created the serpent in the first place since he created all creatures why would god create such a serpent which is described in 3 1 as more crafty than any other wild animal that the lord god made a second troublesome question is why would god wish to create the forbidden tree of the knowledge of good and evil according to one jewish tradition creation was flawed from the beginning and god by creating the serpent and the forbidden tree deliberately set up or framed the original human beings so that they would be tempted and choose to eat of the forbidden fruit however for jews the man and woman eating of the fruit from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil is interpreted not necessarily as the fall or the wrong choice rather it is viewed as a necessary choice for human beings in order for them to become full mature adult human beings who exercise their independence and therefore must learn to properly accept and be responsible for the consequences of their decisions christians on the other hand have interpreted this story of the fall differently we have viewed the choice to eat of the fruit from the tree of knowledge of good and evil as a wrong choice a choice that was made in rebellion against god and god s will according to one biblical scholar elizabeth achtemeier knowledge in hebrew includes also the ability to do and the tree of knowledge of good and evil is therefore a symbol of omniscience and omnipotence of the ability to do and know everything including right and wrong in short the tree symbolizes the ability to be gods but we are not gods of course human beings are creatures who are totally dependent on our creator for all good gifts and for life itself 2 therefore the restriction placed on the original man and woman in the garden of eden not to eat of the tree of knowledge of good and evil served at least two purposes first of all it was god s way of reminding the first man and woman of their limitations human beings are god s creatures therefore finite and having to live within certain limitations this limitation here was to protect humans from sin and death second by giving the first man and woman the responsibility and the freedom to choose not to eat of the forbidden tree god was actually treating them with respect as mature adult human beings and giving them the opportunity to face the consequences of their choice god was holding them responsible for their choice and their freedom to choose that is not at all a negative thing it is the reality of life in this world as mature adult human beings however the first man and woman by choosing to give in to the temptation of the serpent and believe the serpent s lie by eating the forbidden fruit sin entered into the world and with it the consequence death ever since that choice every human being has inherited sin and its consequence death paul in our se...