This sermon was preached at the 8:30am, 11:00am, and 6:00pm Eucharists at the Episcopal Church of the Ascension in Lafayette, Louisiana on March 19, 2017, being the Third Sunday in Lent.
Readings: Exodus 17.1-7; Psalm 95; Romans 5.1-11; John 4.5-42
Collect: Almighty God, You know that we have no power in ourselves to help ourselves: Keep us both outwardly in our bodies and inwardly in our souls, that we may be defended from all adversities which may happen to the body, and from all evil thoughts which may assault and hurt the soul; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with You and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.
“We know that this is in truth the Savior of the world.”—John 4.42[1]
In the Name of God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Ghost. Amen.
There is an old song that was sung by the likes of Dean Martin, Bing Crosby, Julie London, and many other popular singers back in the day that starts out like this
I can’t show my face,
Can’t go anyplace,
People stop an’ stare,
It’s so hard to bear,
Everybody knows you left me,
It’s the talk of the town.[2]
The singer has been shamed. Their significant other has walked out on them, being fodder for neighborhood gossip. Because of this, for the singer, going out in public has become a personal burden. The staring, murmurs, and sneers from their friends has become too much. “How can [I] face them? What can [I] say?” they ask.[3]
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It is under similar circumstances that we meet the woman at Jacob’s Well in the Samaritan town of Sychar. To the locals, she is “that woman.” She has no husband, is currently living with a man that is not her husband, and has been married five times before. She draws water from Jacob’s Well during the noonday hour, in the extreme heat of the day, instead of during the early morning or evening hours, all to avoid the staring and sneering from the other community women. She is an outcast in her own town. In many aspects, she is truly alone.
Jesus is passing through Sychar on His way to Galilee. Tired from the journey, he sits down by the well. Christ’s humanity is clearly communicated: “Give me a drink.” Jesus’ request shocks the woman, because, back then, Jews and Samaritans did not share anything with each other. Although similar in many ways to Jewish religion, Samaritan religion was deemed utterly repugnant by the Jews, viewing it as nothing more than defective Judaism mixed with heathen elements. So, in addition to her “complicated” background, the woman at the well has two more social strikes against her. One, to the Jews, she is an unclean Samaritan, a heathen half-breed Jew left over from the Assyrian conquest centuries before in Israel’s Northern Kingdom. And two, she is a woman, for whom a man to be seen talking with alone was unusual. Yet, despite all the ethnic, religious, gender, and ceremonial proscriptions, Jesus speaks with her and seeks her help. He meets her as a fellow sufferer.[4]
Despite His own suffering, Jesus’ attention is on this woman’s need.
If only you knew what God gives, and who it is that is asking you for a drink, you would have asked Him and He would have given you living water…Whoever drinks the water that I shall give…will never suffer thirst any more. That water that I shall give…will be an inner spring always welling up for eternal life.
“Sir, give me that water, and then I shall not be thirsty…,” replies the woman. Jesus draws this shunned woman out and awakens her faith. The living water He gives her will justify her “through faith…and peace…through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have been allowed to enter the sphere of God’s grace, where we now stand.”[5] Though she does not know that it is happening, the Holy Spirit is bringing this Samaritan woman closer to the Lord. Jesus, who knew everything about her, instead of judging her, draws her in to Himself. In this she hears and experiences the Good News that is Jesus Christ, the Messiah.
The woman runs into town, excitedly telling everybody
“Come and see a man who has told me everything I ever did. Could this be the Messiah?” Many Samaritans…became believers because of what they heard from [Jesus] lips. They told the woman, “We know that this is in truth the Savior of the world.”
Never will this woman’s life ever be the same. It is Jesus who is now the talk of the town!
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Like the Samaritan woman at the well, we are all sinners. But as she helps remind us this morning
There’s a wideness in God’s mercy
Like the wideness of the sea;
There’s a kindness in His justice
Which is more than liberty.
For the love of God is broader
Than the measures of the mind;
And the heart of the Eternal
Is most wonderfully kind.[6]
Jesus knows everything there is to know about every single one of us. Yet, He still wishes to give us the Good News
“The time approaches, indeed it is already here, when those who are real worshippers will worship the Father in spirit and in truth. Such are the worshippers whom the Father wants. God is spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and in truth.”
“Sir, I can see that you are a prophet.” Yes, Jesus is a prophet, but He is also much more. Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the living God! He is the Messiah who thirsts for our faith. He wants to give us living water.
Though we do not know what exactly happens to the Samaritan woman in the days following today’s Gospel, I have a feeling that her life became much better than it previously was. But we do know what happens to Christ. To His disciples, Jesus says
“I have food to eat of which you know nothing…It is meat and drink for me to do the will of Him who sent me until I have finished His work.”
This Jesus will die on the cross, rise from and defeat death, and ascend to the Father’s right hand, all for us sinners. He will not pass judgment, but offer grace and redemption. “We know that this is in truth the Savior of the world.”
Not only is Jesus now the talk of the town, but of the whole world. Come to Jesus and drink from Him, the living Well of life.
In the Name of God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Ghost. Amen.
[1] All Scripture quotations contained herein are from the New English Bible, copyright © 1961, 1970 by the Delegates of the Oxford University Press and the Syndics of the Cambridge University Press.
[2] “It’s the Talk of the Town” (1933), music by Jerry Livingston, lyrics by Al J. Neiburg and Marty Symes.
[3] Ibid.
[4] “Living Water,” The Living Church (March 12, 2017), p. 35.
[5] Romans 5.2
[6] “There’s a Wideness in God’s Mercy,” written by F. W. Faber (1814-1863).
THE ANGLO-CATHOLIC GENTLEMAN 