Living Water - A Sermon for the Third Sunday in Lent March 12, 2023
Reading:: Exodus 17:1-7
Because the thirsty Israelites quarreled with Moses and put the Lord to the test, Moses cried out in desperation to the Lord. The Lord commanded Moses to strike the rock to provide water for the people. The doubt-filled question—”Is the Lord among us or not?”—received a very positive answer.
1From the wilderness of Sin the whole congregation of the Israelites journeyed by stages, as the Lord commanded. They camped at Rephidim, but there was no water for the people to drink. 2The people quarreled with Moses, and said, “Give us water to drink.” Moses said to them, “Why do you quarrel with me? Why do you test the Lord?” 3But the people thirsted there for water; and the people complained against Moses and said, “Why did you bring us out of Egypt, to kill us and our children and livestock with thirst?” 4So Moses cried out to the Lord, “What shall I do with this people? They are almost ready to stone me.” 5The Lord said to Moses, “Go on ahead of the people, and take some of the elders of Israel with you; take in your hand the staff with which you struck the Nile, and go. 6I will be standing there in front of you on the rock at Horeb. Strike the rock, and water will come out of it, so that the people may drink.” Moses did so, in the sight of the elders of Israel. 7He called the place Massah and Meribah, because the Israelites quarreled and tested the Lord, saying, “Is the Lord among us or not?”
The word of the Lord.
Thanks be to God.
Is the Lord among us or not?
The people got their answer.
A resounding yes.
The Israelites,
real people,
released from a life enslaved to empire,
journeying, wandering,
lacking water, desperately thirsting,
are given water from the rock.
God satisfies their thirst.
It’s an image of the life that our God offers.
Amidst the desserts and wildernesses that we face,
Whether God puts us there or we do,
even when we complain and quarrel,
our God is with us,
and our God provides for us.
Our God satisfies thirst.
Today we hear another story
of God satisfying thirst,
from the gospel of John, chapter 4.
Jesus had just met with Nicodemus at night,
and travels with the disciples to Galilee,
taking an unexpected route through Samaria
meeting an unlikely person of faith,
the opposite of Nicodemus:
not named,
female,
Samaritan,
outsider,
She does not meet Jesus
in the darkness of doubt and unbelief,
but at the peak of brightness in the day.
GOSPEL: John 4:5-42
5[Jesus] came to a Samaritan city called Sychar, near the plot of ground that Jacob had given to his son Joseph.6Jacob’s well was there, and Jesus, tired out by his journey, was sitting by the well. It was about noon.
I’m no expert on climate in ancient Samaria,
but I’m guessing that it was hot.
I’m also guessing that
Jesus may not have brought with him
a couple bottles of Evian water
and a snickers bar.
Jesus would have been on the road about 3 days.
He’d be famished.
You may recall the story from Luke 10,
of Jesus sending the 70 apostles
into the various villages and towns
proclaiming that the Kingdom of God is near.
Jesus commands the apostles
“Carry no purse, no bag, no sandals”
Which ever house you enter first, remain there,
eating and drinking whatever they provide”
I’m going to presume that
if anyone can practice what they preach,
it’s Jesus.
Jesus, on his own missional journey,
relies upon the kindness and welcome of strangers,
as he journeys from Jerusalem to Galilee.
Verse 4 says that it was necessary
for Jesus to pass through Samaria
Yet, going through Samaria is not necessary,
it is out of the way,
and as I’ll explain in a moment,
Jews would avoid this route at all costs.
Looking at this map,
Jesus took the middle route, meeting at Mount Gerazim.
Jews would avoid this route through Samaria at all costs,
And instead take the eastern route across the Jordan.
Jesus goes out of his way, perhaps just to meet her, but that’s what Jesus does.
It’s like when Jesus visited the Gerasene Demoniac,
he goes out of his way across the Sea of Galilee
just to meet this one person.
Remember, John 3:16 -
God doesn't so love
just the cultural and religious insiders,
God loves the world,
including the excluded.
And this love is mutual.
Jesus’ needs - physical and missional -
will be met by the woman at the well
The story continues:
7A Samaritan woman came to draw water, and Jesus said to her, “Give me a drink.” 8(His disciples had gone to the city to buy food.) 9The Samaritan woman said to him, “How is it that you, a Jew, ask a drink of me, a woman of Samaria?” (Jews do not share things in common with Samaritans.)
It is true.
There would have been an intense
racial and cultural clash
between Jews and Samaritans.
It’s like Flames fans vs. Oilers fans,
but on a much deeper, religious and cultural level.
Think Ukraine and Russia,
Korea, North and South,
Put it this way,
if Donald Trump were a Samaritan,
he would have tried to build two walls.
In fact, this particular Samaritan city, Sychar,
was enemy territory for Jews.
As early as 100 years prior,
the people in this place would have been considered
alien folk by Jews;
not having status as a nation or as a people.
This riff, this conflict between Jews and Samaritans
is about 150 years old when Jesus arrives at the well,
perhaps even 500 years old,
and the conflict is far more complicated
than I can pretend to understand.
But it is not unlike conflicts between
Christians and Muslims,
Lutherans and Catholics,
or even our brand of Lutheranism
and the other brand down across town.
Nevertheless, Jesus breaks with
religious and cultural protocol,
does not avoid Samaria
and engages this Samaritan woman,
and healing happens.
10Jesus answered 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.”
I don’t know about you,
but if some strange man,
from a different culture,
a travelling outsider
makes this kind of claim,
I’m saying “Okay, pal. Have a nice day”
and moving along.
Living water, is hard to come across.
Much credit to this unnamed woman at the well, however,
for giving Jesus a chance.
I recall hike while I was in Madagascar
back in January 2008.
It was a glorious place,
with majestic cliffs and mountains,
I remember thinking that this like a mini Grand Canyon.
I can’t remember how long the hike was,
but I had the luxury of a 2L frozen water bottle
to keep me cool and hydrated.
The ice was gone less than one hour into the walk.
It was hot.
The high was 40 degrees that day.
And then we saw the oasis.
A natural spring of living water.
It was Cold.
It was Refreshing.
It was life giving.
Thinking of Jesus and the woman at the well,
The message is rather simple:
Jesus spoke their language:
Jesus talked about access to living water
in a place like that,
living water would be,
well, life-saving.
Jesus spoke her language.
The image made sense.
She is intrigued by the possibility
of actual living water,
A luxury of luxuries.
11The woman said to him, “Sir, you have no bucket, and the well is deep. Where do you get that living water? 12Are you greater than our ancestor Jacob, who gave us the well, and with his sons and his flocks drank from it?”
Historical side note,
Jacob’s well is likely at the same place
where Jacob camped and purchased,
as recorded in Genesis 33:18-20.
This land, located at Mount Gerazim,
holds religious and cultural significance for Israel.
It is to be a place of blessing
after Israel crossed over the Jordan river,
as recorded in Deuteronomy 11:29 & 27:11-13.
It is a reminder that God has provided,
and it seems that, with Jesus,
God will continue to provide.
Jacob’s well is also
the place where betrothal has happened:
Isaac and Rebekah, (Genesis 24)
Jacob and Rachel, (Genesis 29)
Moses and Zipporah (Exodus 2).
The original listeners to this story
would have heard the possibility
of romantic, intimate tension.
Encountering Jesus,
relationship with Jesus,
means intimacy.
13Jesus said to her, “Everyone who drinks of this water will be thirsty again, 14but those who drink of the water that I will give them will never be thirsty. The water that I will give will become in them a spring of water gushing up to eternal life.” 15The woman said to him, “Sir, give me this water, so that I may never be thirsty or have to keep coming here to draw water.”
16Jesus said to her, “Go, call your husband, and come back.” 17The woman answered him, “I have no husband.” Jesus said to her, “You are right in saying, ‘I have no husband’; 18for you have had five husbands, and the one you have now is not your husband. What you have said is true!”
Now, we need to pause
and consider what is really happening here.
Jesus is not merely calling out this woman
on some kind of epic life of adultery.
Jesus is not poking fun at her
for being married about as many times as
Larry King,
Jerry Lee Lewis,
Elizabeth Taylor
or Zsa Zsa Gabor.
Jesus is not talking about polygamy or polyamory.
This is not about appropriating Sister wives,
or condemning brother husbands.
This is no cheesy reality TV show.
Jesus is not necessarily calling hers a licentious life.
She was likely trapped in the custom
of levirate marriage,
like Tamar in Genesis 38.
Essentially, Levirate marriage laws require
that if a husband dies,
leaving his wife a widow,
his brother is to marry her.
This was to provide protection for women,
and to help keep family lines secure,
to ensure the survival of the clan.
This also happens when the husband dies childless.
The one she is with is not her husband
could mean that the last male in the family line
had refused to marry her.
5 husbands likely means that
she is bound in the shame of being barren.
Perhaps she arrived at the peak heat of the day
so as to not be seen by others
amidst her shame.
It is also possible that the 5 husbands
refers to the 5 foreign nations
brought as colonists by the Assyrians when they
conquered this region in 721 B.C.E.
as recorded in 2nd Kings 17:24.
So, Jesus speaking the hidden truth of her 5 husbands
is most likely:
either compassion for a trapped widow
or social commentary on imperial colonization.
Regardless of the marriage barrier,
What really matters about her story
is her exemplary faith!
It is a faithful reminder to you and I:
let’s not be too quick to judge each other;
you know,
like I just judged those celebrities
and their many marriages.
Christians are known for being judgmental.
Jesus did not condemn this woman.
Jesus saw her,
saw her thirst,
understood her and her situation,
and loved her.
Jesus gave her living water.
This changed everything for her.
This love opened her heart to Jesus.
We too ought to
look past our own judgments about others,
and simply love.
The story continues,
19The woman said to him, “Sir, I see that you are a prophet. 20Our ancestors worshiped on this mountain, but you say that the place where people must worship is in Jerusalem.”
21Jesus said to her, “Woman, believe me, the hour is coming when you will worship the Father neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem. 22You worship what you do not know; we worship what we know, for salvation is from the Jews.
23But the hour is coming, and is now here, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for the Father seeks such as these to worship him. 24God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth.”
25The woman said to him, “I know that Messiah is coming” (who is called Christ). “When he comes, he will proclaim all things to us.”
A little background here;
Samaritans, like this woman,
knew about the Messiah.
They too are descended from Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.
But the Messiah that she was expecting
was a little different than the Messiah
that the Jews were expecting.
The Jewish Messiah was to be a military, political power;
a king like David.
Samaritans, however,
were expecting a Messiah a little more like Moses;
“A Restorer of all observance in the mold of Moses.”
Also, Samaritans believed the Mountain of God
was understood to be in Samaria: Mount Gerizim,
not in Jerusalem (Based on Deuteronomy 11:29).
In fact, There are still Samaritans today
who celebrate feast days at this mountain.
25The woman said to him, “I know that Messiah is coming” (who is called Christ). “When he comes, he will proclaim all things to us.”
26Jesus said to her, “I am he, the one who is speaking to you.”
There’s something significant lost in translation here.
Jesus doesn’t say “I am he.” per se.
The Greek is Ego Eimi,
which would have been a redundant phrase.
It would be like saying “I - I am”.
You don’t say “I - I am.”
That’s just bad grammar.
You’d say Eimi - I am. Not Ego Eimi.
Except that this is the Greek used
in the book of Exodus for the name of God -
Jesus says Ego Eimi: “I AM.”
As in the Great I Am.
“I AM is the one who is speaking to you.”
It is subtle, but Jesus is saying
“You are longing for the Messiah, the Christ?
well, I am the Messiah, the Christ.”
Put another way,
Jesus is saying to her: “I am God.”
27Just then his disciples came. They were astonished that he was speaking with a woman, but no one said, “What do you want?” or, “Why are you speaking with her?” 28Then the woman left her water jar and went back to the city.
She left her water jar.
The whole reason she came to the well
was to get water,
and she leaves her jar behind.
This is not like going to the grocery story for milk
and coming home with half the candy aisle.
She no longer needed that water jar,
she let go of that water jar,
and with it her shame,
her status,
her ostracism,
her marginalization,
her thirst
for she will never be thirsty again.
Jesus changed her life.
She has been born anew,
born again,
born from above.
28Then the woman left her water jar and went back to the city.
She said to the people, 29“Come and see a man who told me everything I have ever done! He cannot be the Messiah, can he?” 30They left the city and were on their way to him.
Picking up the story at verse 39:
39Many Samaritans from that city believed in Jesus because of the woman’s testimony, “He told me everything I have ever done.” 40So when the Samaritans came to him, they asked him to stay with them; and he stayed there two days. 41And many more believed because of his word.
42They said to the woman, “It is no longer because of what you said that we believe, for we have heard for ourselves, and we know that this is truly the Savior of the world.”
The simple testimony of this woman,
someone who undoubtedly is now
an apostle of Jesus,
moves the community
to the point that they drop what they are doing
just to go see who this Jesus is…
And they believed.
The Samaritan woman invited her friends,
her family,
her neighbours
to come and see Jesus,
and it changed their lives:
Jesus changed their lives.
When we think about the people who taught us faith,
encouraged us in faith;
She was that person for that village.
We can see in her story
the inclusiveness of God’s love,
the lengths that God goes to
in order to provide
for people’s deepest need.
Jesus offers living water
to a person who is completely lesser:
by gender,
by race,
by marriage status.
Jesus says she is not lesser;
she’s an apostle.
In so doing,
Jesus offers healing amidst great division.
Jesus has no time for upholding division,
no matter how deep it is:
Jews and Samaritans,
Slave and free,
women and men,
conservative and liberal,
Jesus’ work is breaking down barriers that divide.
Only Jesus can offer a spring of living water
that gushes up to eternal life.
Only Jesus can offer a way forward
of forgiveness,
reconciliation,
and inclusiveness
for a broken people amidst broken relationships.
Still today,
Jesus offers thirsty people a spring of living water.
So what are you thirsty for?
I mean, what is it,
deep down,
that you long for?
Only Jesus can truly quench our thirst.
But you might not like the answer.
If you’re thirsty for success or wealth,
that cup is not filled here.
But if you’re thirsty
for meaning or purpose for your life,
if you’re thirsty for forgiveness or healing,
if you thirst for hope,
for peace,
for joy,
Come to the fountain and drink
If you thirst
for a life that is more than
what this world has to offer,
if you thirst for justice,
if you thirst for faith,
if you thirst for good news,
come to the fountain and drink.
Taste and see the that Lord is good.
Sources:
Lewis, Karoline M. John. In “Fortress Biblical Preaching Commentaries”. Fortress Press: Minneapolis. 2014.
Sloyan, Gerard S. John. In “Interpretation: A Bible Commentary for Teaching and Preaching.” Mays, James Luther & Achtemeier, Paul J. (Eds.). John Knox Press: Atlanta. 1988.
Commentary on John 4:5-42, Osvaldo Vena. https://www.workingpreacher.org/preaching.aspx?commentary_id=3189
