John 4:5-42
Jesus came to a Samaritan city… Tired from his journey, he sat by a well… A Samaritan woman came to draw water, and Jesus said to her, “Give me a drink.”
If you were to research Ancient Palestine, you’d discover that it was roughly 120 miles long – the shortest route from Judea in the south from where Jesus begins his journey in today’s gospel, to the region of Galilee up north where he’s heading, ran right through the region of Samaria. A region, because of religious and ethnic differences, that any, quote “good and faithful Jew” would have avoided.
For at least four centuries prior to today’s gospel story taking place, Jews and Samaritans living in Palestine had been at odds. The Jewish faithful – descendants of Abraham, of pure bloodline, claiming to be heirs of God’s promise, the true religion of the land. The Samaritans – descendants of the northern Israelite tribes… A group, who, over the centuries, intermarried with those outside of the faith – though, like the Jewish faithful, claiming to be heirs of the promise… to be the guardians and keepers of the Torah…
As if this conflict wasn’t enough, to make Jesus’ conversation with the Samaritan woman all the more taboo, Jewish law strictly prohibited a man, let alone a rabbi, from greeting a woman in public… even a sister or mother…
Yet, Samaria is exactly where Jesus chooses to go… A Samaritan woman – exactly the one Jesus chooses to go to…
A moment of pastoral confession – I had a tough time deciding where to go in this weekend’s sermon. I sat down to work and gave up, moving on to other things… Sat down and gave up… Typed and deleted… Typed and deleted… You get the routine…
I just couldn’t find the words to express the significance, the importance, of this story of the Samaritan woman, for those of us who claim to be people of faith…
The act of seeing bears a lot of weight throughout the Bible. The Greek word θεωρῶ (theh-o-reh-o), “to see”, is found a total of 22 times in John’s gospel alone…
Also translated as “to perceive”, “to experience”, “to consider”, “to come to a knowledge of” – seeing is an action, that leads to faith. When it comes to Jesus, seeing is believing… To see Jesus is to discover Christ… to come to faith… to be changed forever…
So, today, we meet the Samaritan woman. A woman, of mixed bloodline, who, according to Gospel writer John, has been married five times – divorced or widowed or abandoned – the text doesn’t tell us… Who’s been left alone to provide for and fend for herself, in a time and culture in which women were highly discriminated against… that regarded her as uneducable, subservient, and inferior to men… and restricted her to a spectator role – forbidden to work and to worship…
In all of this, within minutes of meeting Jesus, she confesses her faith in him and went on to be his missionary to the Samaritans. Why? Because Jesus first saw her…
The late Presbyterian minister William Sloan Coffin, when preaching on today’s gospel, reflecting on those difficult realities and injustices of the world, suggests that “few of us have a sticking point, a causa confessiones that makes us say with Luther, “Here I stand, I can do no other.”
Again and again throughout the gospel story, Jesus’ sticking point – his cause, that leads him to take a stand? To see people the rest of the world has refused to see… to believe in those no one else would… to bring life to those whose life has been stripped away…
I had some unusually tough conversations this the past week.
A man, a member of our local lgbtq community, reflecting on those moments in his life when he hasn’t been seen – on the pain he’s experienced at times in his life simply because of who he was born to be – the church among the list of those inflicting…
A mother who, out of fear, recently pulled her daughter out of Gettysburg schools because of the number of self-inflicted deaths that have taken place within the student body over the past year… afraid of what it could mean for her child to not be seen by those entrusted to her care…
Talking with Adam, our Minister of Youth and Family – a young person who’s peers have failed to see him for who he is on the inside… the victim of prejudice because of the color of his skin…
Here I stand, I can do no other…
In a world where women were discriminated against, Jesus not only saw them as equal, but held them as some of his closest friends and most faithful followers. He entered those places no one else would, and extended his lifegiving good news to those left outcast by others… calling for a lifestyle of inclusive love over everything else…
Today, we’re called to reflect on some difficult questions for ourselves. So, I ask you; Who is it that you have failed to see? That you are currently failing to see? That you have failed to believe in? Who is it that you have judged, cast out, and secluded? When have you failed to bring life to those in need? Have you neglected to offer a drink to those who thirst? Who is it that you have failed to see?
Jesus came to a Samaritan city… Tired from his journey, he sat by a well… A Samaritan woman came to draw water, and Jesus said to her, “Give me a drink.”
In a few short weeks, we’ll gather in this space for Good Friday to draw our attention to those final hours of Jesus’ life. Just before he breathes his last, he’ll ask for a drink again… And then, once the sponge has left his lips, he’ll breath his last, bow his head, and give up his spirit… His side will pierced by the spear of a Roman soldier, the scripture will be fulfilled, and his living water will be poured out for the life of the world… For you and me and those Samaritans of our lives…
As you come to this table and drink of the cup of salvation – in whatever brokenness you carry, whatever hurts and pains you hold, whatever insecurities you have… in whatever thoughts you have about not being good enough – know that you, just as the Samaritan woman, have been seen by Christ…
Acknowledge your thirst, see him for who he truly is, and receive his living water given freely… Strengthened and renewed, go forth and see others as they, like you, have been seen by him, that they too may come to believe… For in the eyes of Christ – the Savior of the world – all are seen through the lens of love…
Thanks be to God. Amen.
~Pastor Andrew Geib
Sermons at St. James Gettysburg 