Pastor Lorraine's Sermon for January 4, 2004

The Woman at the Well
John 4:1-42

It was noon… Jesus was hot and tired…
They had walked some distance that morning and he ached all over…
  The disciples went on into town to find food
    but Jesus just wanted to sit and rest…
As he waited, a woman came alone to draw water from the well of Jacob
    A familiar task for the woman, but not at noon
      Women usually came together in the cool hours of early morning
  Jesus was thirsty and he asked for a drink of water

The only thing more unusual than a woman alone at the well in the middle of the day
  was a Jewish rabbi speaking to a Samaritan woman
and asking to drink from her water jar

  Jews and Samaritans had been feuding for centuries
    The Samaritans lived in the northern kingdom
      The northern kingdom was conquered by Assyria in 722
      Assyria intermarried and brought in their own culture and religion
        so there was a mix
    Southern kingdom returned from exile in Babylon in 539
      Rebuilt the wall and the temple
      They found the Samaritans and hated these "squatters" or "half-breeds"
          who no longer respected God's ways
      If anything, the Jews had learned in exile that the only way to survive
          was to stay separate
        And hatred keeps us separate
    Jews and Samaritans would not use the same dishes
      so to drink from her water jar was unthinkable

  It was bad enough that she was a Samaritan… but to speak to a woman in public?
    That was not done, especially by the rabbis

  None of this was lost on the woman that day… she knew her place…
    "You are a Jew and I am a Samaritan woman. How can you ask me for a drink?"
  Jesus speaks of living water…
water that is alive… water that comes from an eternal source…
  She reacts impatiently… "You don't even have a bucket…"
  "If you drink this water you'll be thirsty in a few hours,
      but if you drink the water I'm offering you'll never be thirsty again"
  Not knowing what she's asking for she says "give me this water"

  "Then go get your husband" Jesus says
    Unwritten here is her wondering what he knows…
      If he knows why she comes alone to the well in the heat of the day
    She offers the benign response "I have no husband"
    "You're right" Jesus says
      The fact is the woman has had 5 husbands
        when even the most liberal rabbi sys the limit is 3
    But there is no condemnation is Jesus' voice… no name-calling…
      Nor retraction of his offer of living water

  She is discovered-uncovered
    The only thing to do is to throw sand in Jesus' eyes and hope to get away     She resorts to religious banter… to a religious argument…
      Knowing that she has been disqualified by her lifestyle
        she throws the blame onto something less personal
      She resorts to the religious argument about where to worship
        "You Jews demand that we worship in Jerusalem"

  But Jesus isn't thrown off… nor does he accept her disqualification…
    "It is not your mountain or Jerusalem that's the point…
      It is a matter of Spirit and Truth.
      That's what pleases God… not my Jewishness, nor your mountain…
    God loves people who are true, the ones who worship God in spirit
      Those who drink this living water…"

  Her life has been laid bare… yet she has not been condemned…
    She tried to escape through religious banter… but he refused to be derailed
      She had never known anyone like this
  Could it be? Dare she ask?
    The Samaritans had a different name for the Messiah… Tahav, the Revealer…
She whispers,
    "I know when the Messiah comes He will reveal everything to us"       
"I AM"
        I am the Messiah
          I am the revealer of all truth
            I am the giver of Living Water
              I am…
  
It seems that all Jesus' witnesses are questionable
  The shepherds who came to worship him in the stable after his birth
      were not even allowed to give testimony in a court
      Yet they received the announcement of Jesus' birth
  Women also were not allowed to give testimony in a court or to own property
    Now the first missionary to the Samaritans is a woman…
      And a woman of ill repute,
who was not even worthy of drawing water with other women
  Jesus chooses unlikely men and women to tell his unlikely, unbelievable story…
      and people believed them…

Many of the Samaritans from that village committed themselves
to him because of the woman's witness:
"He knew all about the things I did.
He knows me inside and out!"
They asked him to stay on, so Jesus stayed two days.
A lot more people entrusted their lives to him when they heard what he had to say.
They said to the woman, "We're no longer taking this on your say-so.
We've heard it for ourselves and know it for sure.
He's the Savior of the world!"
John 4:39-42 The Message

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