Sermon for
February 27, 2005
3rd Sunday in Lent
Making Disciples 1: An Invitation to Life— A
Water Jar Left at the Well
Exodus 17:1-7; John 4:5-42
A water jar left at Jacob’s well in
the noonday sun…that is all you would see if you went to the well to draw
water for yourself that afternoon. And you would be surprised to find
such an essential thing as someone’s water jar left behind, misplaced,
forgotten. You see, the well in ancient times was a precious place
especially in dry and often barren Samaria. Early in the morning, before
the sun bore down its scorching heat, the women gathered at the well each
day to draw their day’s supply. The well was at the very center of the
people’s lives for there not only did they draw this essential element of
life for cleansing, for cooking, and for quenching their thirst, in a real
sense they drew life itself from one another as they joined in lively
conversation, greeting one another, and sharing in supportive community at
the start of each day.
This forgotten water
jar—a jar brought by a woman who draws her water each day not in the
morning, when respectable women gather to fellowship together and talk
about the news. No, this water jar was left behind by a woman who comes
at noon—when no one is here and she can draw her water in peace. Because
she is one of the people they talk about in the morning and she knows she
is not welcome among them.
It is from her jar
that Jesus asked for a drink..this water jar. This woman whose jar this
is…Jesus talks to her. A Jewish man never initiated conversation with an
unknown woman. Certainly a Jewish teacher would not engage in public
conversation with women at all. Women, of course, were not even allowed
to worship with men, men whose morning devotions often included the
prayer, “Thank God I am not a woman.” Holy men did not speak to their own
wives in public. One group of men who were religious leaders was know as
“the bruised and bleeding Pharisees” because when they saw a woman coming
down the street they closed their eyes, even if it meant walking into a
wall and breaking their noses.
Not only that but
Jesus is traveling the shortest route from Judea to Galilee, a route that
takes him right through Samaria. To the Jews Samaritans were unclean
people—they didn’t worship God in the right place; they did not perform
the proper religious rituals; in their past they intermarried with
non-Jews. So for lots of reasons, if a Jew was touched by a Samaritan an
extensive ritual cleansing was required before one could be declared clean
again.
Jesus knows this, of
course, and, as his insightful conversation with her reveals, he even
knows more about her than she herself would care to admit. Jesus talks
longer to her than he does to anyone else in all the Gospels—longer than
he talks to his disciples, to any of his accusers, to any of his own
family. Jesus asks her for a drink from her water jar, and, as John tells
the story, willfully exposing himself to contamination in this one
conversation at the very beginning of his ministry.
Contaminated. That
must be how she felt, this fallen Samaritan woman. As she, this woman,
this Samaritan woman, this fallen Samaritan woman, comes to the well in
the noonday sun alone, surely the water she draws in this water jar is all
the life she really has. And she leaves it behind, forgets to take it
with her, this water jar. Why?
Something happens in
her conversation with Jesus. And all she did was come to the well where
Jesus happened to be waiting for her. As she comes to draw water he asks
simply, as if it were just the most natural thing in the world for a
Jewish man, a religious leader, to speak with a woman, “May I have a drink
of your water?” She is shocked and responds, “How is it that you, a Jew,
ask a drink of me, a woman of Samaria?” In essence she says to Jesus,
“Look, you know as well as I do that in your eyes I am contaminated and so
is my water.”
Jesus knows he is not
the only one who suffers from thirst at the well this noon. Before him is
a woman, a Samaritan woman, marginalized, exploited, oppressed, considered
contaminated by a culture more concerned with purity law than with persons
of God and Jesus would have none of this. Jesus knows she is desperately
thirsty herself; she thirsts for life—life that her culture denied her; a
life she had to literally struggle and scrape out of a culture that is
mercilessly unyielding in its giving of value, purpose, and self-esteem.
Yes, Jesus knows she struggles to draw life for herself much as she
struggles to draw water alone in the noonday sun in this water jar.
So Jesus persists and
says to her, “If you knew the gift of God, and who it is that is saying to
you, ‘Give me a drink,’ you would have asked him, and he would have given
you living water.” She is intrigued, especially when he goes on to say,
“those who drink of the water that I will give them will never be
thirsty. That water that I will give will become in them a spring of
water gushing up to eternal life.” She is so intrigued and fascinated, in
fact, that she puts down her water jar and says, “Sir, give me this water
so that I may never be thirsty or have to keep coming here to draw
water.” She is intrigued, yes, but she misunderstands what this living
water is. It quenches a thirst deeper, you see, than any endless flow of
ordinary water will ever satisfy. It is not until Jesus asks one more
thing of her that she begins to understand. It is at this request of
Jesus that something really begins to happen to her in her conversation
with him.
Jesus said to her,
“Go, call your husband, and come back.” As she answers Jesus and he then
reveals to her that he really does know everything there is to know about
her, she begins to acknowledge him as more than just a miracle-worker, but
a prophet. It is only now, at this point in the conversation, that Jesus
is ready to reveal and she is ready to hear and accept that he is the
Messiah, the one who proclaims all things. Jesus in essence says to her,
“I know you—you are a woman, you are a Samaritan woman, and I know you
very well, indeed. Now let me tell you who I am and let me tell you who
you are. I am the Messiah and you, my daughter, are a precious child of
God.”
In Christ God
delivers people from so desperately seeking to draw out a life from a
culture that yields nothing of value, or purpose, or self-esteem. In
Christ, God makes people whole again. Just like the people of Jesus’ time
do you feel just as lost as they were in making life so determined by the
values of the culture? You are so sorely tempted in our day to center
your life on so many things other than God. So you find purpose and
meaning and security in life in your social status, or your financial
position, or good health, perhaps even say to yourself much as the holy
men prayed in Jesus’ day, “Thank God I am not poor or sick or old.”
Before long you lose your way and you need to hear again the invitation of
Jesus to accept the gift of God, this living water.
This anonymous woman
of Samaria heard the invitation, she accepted it, and was so excited to
tell others about it that she left her water jar at the well—this water
jar, left behind, misplaced, forgotten. In her joy in the fullness of
life she experienced in her encounter with her Lord
--she gave up on trying to scrape up life for herself from the
culture,for she received her
life as a gift of God
--she was set free from the bondage of a merciless allegiance to
status,
place, and sin and was received joyously in the arms of her loving creator
who
had never let her go in the first place.
She left the water jar at the well and rushed out in the community
proclaiming life to all who would hear her. And those Samaritans did hear
and they came—they spent two wonderful days with the Savior of the world.
According to the Gospel of John, this fallen Samaritan woman became the
first evangelist in Jesus’ ministry.
She brought her water
jar to the well because she was thirsty. Only Jesus knew how truly
thirsty she was. The love of God in Christ Jesus satisfied her every
thirst with living water and, the Scripture says, “she left her water jar
and went back to the city.” This water jar—she left it at his feet,
entrusting to him her burdens, her troubles, and her struggles because she
knew now she did not need to so desperately draw out a life for herself—a
life she now receives freely as a gift. All she did was come to the well
where Jesus was waiting to meet her.
What about you? If
you come today in this season of Lent with your water jar under your arm
full of the life you desperately try to draw from the world of success,
status, wealth, health, youth, and success then you, too, are still
thirsty. You thirst for the water only Jesus can give you. You need the
life that only disciples of Jesus share—the life of discipleship. As our
Lord invited the woman of Samaria that day so your Lord invites you.
Leave your water jar here at his feet and let him give you your life back
again as a gift.
What about you? Have
you found such life in Jesus Christ that you leave your burdens and
troubles and struggles right here at the feet of Jesus at the well. Have
you found such life in Jesus Christ that you can’t wait to go tell others
about him; can’t wait to invite others to come down to the well and see
this man. There are persons in the surrounding community with water jars
full to the brim of everything the world can ever give them but they’re
still thirsty. You and I are called to make them disciples. But how can
we ever accomplish this command of our Lord? Well, the Gospel says this
morning all this woman did was come to the well and there she met Jesus
where he was waiting for her. How do disciples make disciples? How do
disciples extend this invitation to life? According to the Gospel all you
have to do is bring them to the well where Jesus is already waiting for
them. That’s all.
As we approach the
celebration of the resurrection leave your water jar behind and follow him
as his disciple. Then bring somebody with you on Easter Sunday—just get
them to the well on Easter for Jesus is already here waiting for both of
you!
