Lent 3, 2011
Sermon
Text: John 4:5-42
I'm reading a book by Bill Bryson called, “A Short History of Nearly Everything.” In it he begins at the big bang, and talks about atoms, stars, galaxies, geology, ancient creatures, dinosaurs, medicine, bacteria, viruses, and all manner of other things, and I'm only half done. But, the theme that comes up again and again is that throughout history people have had these profound insights, massive notions that change the very manner in which we view the world, and they seem to be universally disregarded or not seen at first. Einstein's first papers were not seen for a number of years after he wrote them. The man who found the first dinosaur bone was not recognized as doing that until many years later, when someone else had been given that honor for finding a bone later.
It is not an uncommon thing to be ignored or put aside. I have been on the receiving side of trying to tell a story or say something and had someone else jump in instead, cutting me off. I've been on the giving side of cutting someone else off.
There was one girl in college who, just talked, talked, talked, talked. And so on. And on. And on. And on. And on. And on. Ok, you get the picture. And I unconsciously trained myself to just somewhat tune her out. It was not good to do, I know, and knew, but it just happened. One time at the weekly Sunday night dinner we were sitting around my Campus Pastor's dining table and I had a question I needed her to answer. So, I asked her.
And as she asked I, I don't know from a distance, saw myself begin to tune her out. And as she talked I was thinking. ERIK! You just asked a question, and as she answers you are ignoring her. And so I had to say again, umm... can you say that again. It was rather embarrassing for me. I don't think she noticed, but I felt bad about it.
Our woman at the well is even more ignored and put aside. The text says two things about her. She is coming to get water by herself at noon, and she has had 5 husbands, and who she is with is not her husband. The thought then is, well, she's had 5 husbands. What happened to them? At that time she could not have been the one to start the divorce, only men had that power. And so she has been abandoned or widowed 5 times. She has probably been widowed at least the last time. There is a law called the law of leverite marriage found in Deuteronomy, which Samaritans also would have followed, which says that she should marry her dead husband's brother, but the purpose of this law is to carry on the dead husband's lineage, and so a child she has with the brother would be the dead husbands not the brothers. But because of that until she has that child she is not married to the brother, but still the dead husband.
But regardless of how it happened, what is true is that she has either been abandoned or widowed 5 times, or some combination of such. She does not have a happy life, she probably does not have kids, she has no help from them getting the water. She thirsts for relationship, seeks to be known deeper by someone, and so she continues to seek marriage. She can find relationship nowhere else it seems. She is an outcast.
She gathers her water by herself at noon. Shes does not go with the other women and children in the morning when cool to gather, she waits until the heat of the day has come. In the pain of being overlooked by everyone else she has told herself that she is not worthy, not important, not allowed, not loved. She has been so pulled apart by pain of no one seeing who she is, overlooking, ignoring her, that she cannot take being with those others.
Here is one who has been tragically abandoned 5 times, is not welcome to gather water at the same time as others, is a Samaritan, those that worship in the wrong way and place, to be ignored, and is a woman, who should not be addressed, should work and that is all in that culture.
Jesus, a man, a Jew, a rabbi, should NOT be talking to her.
Yet he does. And not only that, he begins the relationship, he asks her for a drink. He tells her that he is the one to give living water. He tells her who she is. He shows that he knows her. Jesus establishes a relationship with her.
She seeks living water. And Jesus gives her such.
She is seeking love. She is seeking to be known. She is seeking to not be ignored by those around her. Jesus does not ignore her. Jesus knows her. Jesus loves her.
She is an outcast. And Jesus does more than draw her back into the pen. Jesus goes out into the muck and dirt of her life and sees her for who she is.
I saw a modern day monologue of this text this week. It states, to be known is to be loved, and to be loved is to be known.
Her thirst is the thirst to be known, to not be overlooked, ignored, pushed aside, and outcast. And Jesus knows who she is, sees all the importance that she does have, sees what others ignore or ridicule, sees how others have told her that she is unworthy, that nothing good can come from her, that she is unnatural. Jesus knows her, and gives her the relationship, the living water, that she so utterly, desperately seeks.
To us Jesus gives that same living water. Jesus sees into each and every part of our being and loves us. Jesus seeks us out before we have the chance. Jesus reaches out and asks us for water, knowing that is what we seek, to be spoken to. Jesus reaches out and sees us and knows who we truly are, and through so doing gives us life beyond imagine.
Jesus knows you. When others overlook you, Jesus sees you. When others ignore you, Jesus hears you. When others push you down, Jesus lifts you up. Jesus, the Messiah, the Christ, the one who speaks to us, gives us the relationship we so utterly, desperately seek, the knowledge that we are loved, and the love that we are known. It is a love that cannot be destroyed, a knowledge that always matters. In the darkness, the darkness this woman found herself in even noonday sun, Jesus spoke to her, and Jesus speaks to us and lights up our world.
Romans says: “While we were still sinners, Jesus died for us.”
While we still seek, Jesus finds us.
While we still feel outcast, Jesus knows us.
While we still feel unknown, Jesus loves us.
While we still thirst, Jesus gives us living water.
Amen
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