The Flow of Living Water

The Flow of the Living Water

John 4:5-42  

Today we have a relatively long passage from the gospel of John. Many of John’s stories are relatively long. John is all about the power and authority of Jesus, even the authority to provide entirely new ways of understanding God. Just last week John encouraged us to have a new take on the perception of God as love, and talked about it in a way that we could imitate. Today, the passage encourages us to again try to check our egos at the door. 

I showed pictures of Jacob’s Well, located in the modern city of Nablus in Samaria. We assume that this is also the location of today’s gospel story. Jesus sits by the well, as the disciples run into town to McDonalds to get some cheeseburgers. A woman approaches the well  by herself to draw some water, and Jesus asks for a drink. 

Samaritans are regarded by the Jews as half-breeds. The Samaritans have intermingled with the locals in mixed marriages. Rejected by the Temple Jews, the Samaritans have their own version of the Jewish religion, and regard the Temple worshippers as arrogant and self-serving.

One thing these people share, are pretty strict cultural rules about women’s work, and communication between the genders. It was pretty bold of Jewish Jesus to speak with this woman, let alone think that he would drink water from a Samaritan’s bucket. This violates a whole host of purity laws, and this was not lost on the woman at all. 

Women were uneducated, even among people who were not known for great learning. She was a product of the culture, so  conversation between Jesus and the woman was rather unexpected. It turns out she knew a lot about the rules of the Jews. 

Jesus asks her to get her husband. This might be seen as resolving the issue about speaking to a woman who was alone. In the Christian church we always see this as Jesus creating the opportunity to demonstrate that he knew her personal situation. How odd is that, the this traveling Jewish prophet would not only speak with a Samaritan woman, but recognize her individuality? 

We might notice that going to the well for water is a social event for poor women all over the world. They go to the well in groups to chat, and share stories. This woman is alone. We have to believe that the other women do not hang out with this woman - who has a reputation with men. She has a particular status in town. 

Jesus tells her that he knows who she is. That knowledge not only does not stop Jesus from talking with her, it seems to empower his invitation to her - to recognize him as God’s anointed. 

This woman - who knows who she is, runs into town to proclaim she met a man who might be the Messiah. The people, who know her reputation, also seem to find her a reliable witness. Interesting, don’t you think? She might be a sinner, but what she says can be taken for the truth. Whatever else she might be, she is no liar. 

Meanwhile, Jesus decides the bag of sliders the disciples returned with do not interest him. He is anticipating a crowd of curious Samaritans who will want to know about him - and hear him talk about who God is. The disciples are puzzled by Jesus. He leads them through this territory that “good Jews” always avoid. He is chatting up a strange, lone woman, who leaves her water bucket to run to town.  Jesus is doing things that the disciples were taught was wrong. They are uncomfortable. 

What makes you uncomfortable identifying yourself with Jesus? Many of us have had over-enthusiastic born-again Christians - anxious to share what they have discovered, and share their judgments about those who do not have their own sense of enthusiasm. Many of us were trained to treat our faith as a private matter. Avoid talk of politics, sex, and religion in polite company.  

A good part of the message today includes asking us to be more aware of how quick we are to judge others by their labels. - She is just a woman, what could she know? - She is only a Samaritan, and they do not believe the right stuff. - She is out by herself during the day, that can’t be good. - Why waste our time with these inconsequential people? 

But Jesus found her to be articulate. She knows about her faith, the practices of the Jews, and some of the things that they share. She quickly sees that Jesus is a holy man, a prophet, and he may well be the Messiah. She reveals herself to be a pretty sharp woman. 

Jesus reveals God has a sincere and specific interest in all of creation. The love of God is not reserved for those with an engraved invitation, or a birthright, or the best reputations in town. What is being revealed is a model of interactive caring. 

In the sermon last week, we considered the image of the Holy Spirit, flying between and amongst the faithful, nurturing courage and wisdom. We considered how that might be a more useful way for us to consider the person of God, and even be a model for how we can imitate God’s love for the world. 

Here Jesus has gone down to Jacob’s Well, and set aside a host of traditions. He has dealt with a woman who is a classic outsider. Not welcomed by the Jews, not even respected by her own people. Jesus treats this woman with interactive caring. He talks with her, and listens to her. He talks about things that are true and important. He avoids passing judgment, setting aside even the most ordinary of ego needs. 

It is basic for us to have respect for ourselves, and treat our needs for nourishment, rest, and respect, as important. When we know ourselves, we are able to keep our ego needs in check. This allows us  to extend to every other person the understanding - that they also have legitimate needs. The love of God is alive in the world, whenever we demonstrate interactive caring for another, while setting our own ego needs aside while we honor theirs. 

A Posture of Confession - is simply a willingness to accept that we may need correction. A Christian during Lent assumes that posture, accepting the probability that God may pull back the curtain, and reveal sins we had hidden from our eyes. Only then can we choose to repent, - to change our ways and our habits. 

When I visited Israel I was struck by the pattern of the Israelis, when asked about the Occupation of the West Bank, how they used a standard practice of changing the subject. They avoided the issue of the Occupation, by never saying the word, and shifting to a standard rant about “All Arabs,” and security concerns, and a need for Israel to feel safe from attack. The pattern is so ingrained, they do not realize they are changing the subject. They ignore any specific question, and go into the litany of diversions. This is a model of how we all deceive ourselves from recognizing our own sins. 

Even though change is hard, a Christian has to be willing to let their sins be revealed, and then change the sinful behavior and make way for sharing the love of God.  

This turns out to be a useful definition of being faithful. We do not have to leave home and homeland like Abram to be faithful. We may simply need to recognize our own bad habits, that make it hard for us to be like the Christ, sharing interactive caring each and every day. 

The woman at the well is a woman; with a past, and a reputation, and a pretty healthy sense of herself. She did not have a whole load of ego baggage to keep her at a distance from the love of God in Jesus. 

Today I pray that we can learn to make peace with our real selves, and honor our legitimate needs. Then we might quiet our appetites, because it is not all about us, and respect the legitimate needs of others. It is only in the lives of the faithful, that the love of God can be shared, and doing so - we can hear the flow of the Living Water in the world today Amen.