- John 4:1-42 - read this passage online here »
- Exodus 17:1-7 - read this passage online here »
If you are like most people, I suspect you are careful who you let into your personal space and how close they may get to you. Whether we recognize it or not, we each have our own personal space that surrounds us like an invisible bubble. It grows larger or smaller depending upon who we are with and the circumstances at the moment. If the other person is someone who is not a friend or someone we don’t know very well, their presence could become too close for our comfort. So we don’t let them get too close to us – even physically. Those who measure such things suggest we do not let them closer than four feet or so. But if he or she is someone we really like or even love, then the personal space between us may be small or even non-existent. The same is true of our psychological and spiritual spaces as well. Consciously or unconsciously, we are careful whom we allow to come closer to us at different stages in our lives. It depends on who they are – are they strangers? or adversaries? or friends? Do we like them or do we love them? Do we trust them? And do the circumstances of our lives welcome them to come close to us? Will they be helpful to us? What will happen if we let them come closer into our personal space?
We heard again this morning, in the Gospel of John, Chapter 4, the story of Jesus and his conversation with the Samaritan woman. I know she was not given a name but I’d like to give her one because she was a person with character and personality. Let’s call her “Samantha” from Samaria – or “Sam” for short. The relationship between Jesus and Sam focused on each of them opening the entrance to their personal spaces to include the other. As they did so, both moved closer to each other. As I ponder their conversation with each other, I see three movements within their personal spaces.
The first movement occurred in their public or social space. Sam did not know at that time who Jesus was but she did recognize immediately that he was a Jew. She was really taken aback that he would talk with her – first, because she was a woman and, second, because she was a Samaritan. As The Message Bible puts it: “Jews in those days would not be caught dead talking to Samaritans.” There was strong racial prejudice on both sides. But Jesus took the first step in moving a little closer into her personal space. He was tired and thirsty and so was vulnerable with her. “Please, give me a drink of water,” he said. He simply wanted a drink. Jesus was not impolite or demanding or demeaning. So while Sam may have been suspicious of Jesus, she was not afraid to talk with him. She did not run away or back away from him, and she did not cower before him.
The first movement between Jesus and Sam from Samaria was all about water. It was a strange conversation. After they went back and forth for a bit with Jesus asking for water and Sam being surprised that he would talk with her, Jesus said:
Think back to our Call to Worship:
The second movement of the interaction between Jesus and Sam of Samaria was Jesus’ personal advance into her private space – Sam’s private, personal life. As soon as she asked for the thirst-quenching living water, the conversation turned to her personal life. And Jesus let her know he knew all about her – “everything I had ever done,” she told the people of her town later on in the passage. When Jesus moved into her private, personal life, something significant happened between them. He let her move further into his personal life. Now Jesus didn’t do that with everyone he met -- even with those who, on other occasions, said they believed in him. That’s because he knew what was really going in their hearts [see John 2:25]. They considered Jesus “a nine-day wonder,” as William Barclay put it. They only responded to him because he did some miracles. Jesus possessed a keen sense of human nature and knew these people would leave him once the miracles stopped. But he also knew there were others, like Sam, to whom he could entrust himself. In other words, he let people like Sam, who truly believed, into his personal space. He knew their hearts.
Although Jesus knew everything about Sam’s life, it intrigues me he did not say anything about sin or sinfulness with respect to her life. There was no word of condemnation from Jesus against her at all. He simply asked her to call her husband. When she said she had no husband, he said to her she was being truthful because, he told her, she had been married to five men and the man she was living with currently was not her husband.
Sam’s life was quite tragic but not necessarily scandalous. She very easily could have been widowed or, more likely, divorced and abandoned -- in those days pretty much the same thing -- by five men for any old reason they wanted to give. And wouldn’t five such experiences be heartbreaking and demeaning and a reason for local gossip?
According to Sam, what was life-changing for her was that Jesus knew all about her life. Jesus saw her plight and her isolation – there were no other women who came to the well in the hot mid-day sun to draw water. What Jesus saw did not cause him to condemn her. Instead, he moved into her personal private space with respect. She knew he knew all about her and yet, for perhaps the first time in her life, she found someone who believed she had worth and value and significance. So when Jesus spoke of her past both knowingly and compassionately, she realized she was in the presence of someone exceptional -- a prophet, maybe. And because she realized Jesus knew her, she was open to know him.
So we observe the third movement of the relationship between Jesus and Sam from Samaria. She now trusted Jesus enough, even though he was a Jew, to let him move even further into her personal space. She risked talking to Jesus about one of the central questions that had divided Samaritans and Jews for centuries. Samaritans said one thing about worshipping God while Jews said another. She asked a serious and intelligent question, and Jesus gave a serious answer. As one commentator said: “This is no awkward dodge or academic diversion; this is a heartfelt question that gets to the core of what separates her from Jesus.”
What did Jesus tell her? In essence, he said to worship God as God wanted had everything to do with the Holy Spirit. To worship God as God desired had everything to do with truth. And Sam, like us, would discover that this truth was embodied in Jesus himself. He told his followers on another occasion, “I am the way, the truth and the life.” Worship then has everything to do with a relationship with God, with Jesus, through the Holy Spirit.
When Jesus told Sam about the meaning of true worship, that led her to speak about the Messiah who was to come. One thing she knew was that, when the Messiah came, he would tell them (Samaritans and Jews alike) everything they needed to know about worshipping God. Jesus then did something he did not do with anyone else in John’s Gospel: he let Sam deep into his personal space by revealing to her that he – Jesus – was the Messiah she expected. “I am he, I who am talking with you,” Jesus said to her. That was startling for Sam. And with the arrival of the disciples at that moment, she went back to the town and told the people there: “Come and see the man who told me everything I have ever done. Could he be the Messiah?”
When Sam let Jesus into her personal space, Jesus also let her into his personal space. She began to see and believe who Jesus is, even if she framed it as a question for the people to consider. Her witness was startling or convincing enough for the townspeople that they wanted to discover for themselves if Jesus really could be the Messiah – the one they had been expecting for so long. Sam may not have known it then, but God’s Holy Spirit was using her as a channel to share God’s life-giving message of love for the people of her town.
The primary theme for our journey through Lent is that being a Christian means that, when Jesus calls us, we follow him. For the woman of Samaria, that meant letting Jesus into her personal space and allowing him to move closer to her. It also meant that Jesus invited her to move ever closer to him. When this movement – actually, this relationship -- was developing with Jesus, it was more than helpful for the woman from Samaria. Her new relationship with Jesus transformed her life! She was filled with new dignity and hope and value.
Who do you let into your most private and personal spaces? Certainly someone you trust. Certainly someone you love or who loves you. Certainly someone who is there to build you up, not tear you down. Today, we live in an intriguing religious and spiritual climate. It is not always clear, even in the church, that Jesus today is someone whom we can invite into our most personal and private spaces.
The Christian faith is not a philosophy or ideology. The Christian faith is not “our” type of morality or “our” social ethic. The Christian faith is the amazing “good news” that truth and beauty and goodness are found in the person of Jesus. Like Sam, we too can find our true humanity as we connect with Jesus Christ. And like Sam, we too can experience our true dignity and worth as we continually open up our personal and private spaces to Jesus. For he has already opened his personal space of love and grace to us -- on the cross.
May this be so for you and for me.
Rev. Chris Miller,
Lent 2, March 27, 2011
We heard again this morning, in the Gospel of John, Chapter 4, the story of Jesus and his conversation with the Samaritan woman. I know she was not given a name but I’d like to give her one because she was a person with character and personality. Let’s call her “Samantha” from Samaria – or “Sam” for short. The relationship between Jesus and Sam focused on each of them opening the entrance to their personal spaces to include the other. As they did so, both moved closer to each other. As I ponder their conversation with each other, I see three movements within their personal spaces.
The first movement occurred in their public or social space. Sam did not know at that time who Jesus was but she did recognize immediately that he was a Jew. She was really taken aback that he would talk with her – first, because she was a woman and, second, because she was a Samaritan. As The Message Bible puts it: “Jews in those days would not be caught dead talking to Samaritans.” There was strong racial prejudice on both sides. But Jesus took the first step in moving a little closer into her personal space. He was tired and thirsty and so was vulnerable with her. “Please, give me a drink of water,” he said. He simply wanted a drink. Jesus was not impolite or demanding or demeaning. So while Sam may have been suspicious of Jesus, she was not afraid to talk with him. She did not run away or back away from him, and she did not cower before him.
The first movement between Jesus and Sam from Samaria was all about water. It was a strange conversation. After they went back and forth for a bit with Jesus asking for water and Sam being surprised that he would talk with her, Jesus said:
“If you knew the generosity of God and who I am, you would be asking me for a drink, and I would give you fresh, living [life-giving] water.”How do you respond to that! At first, Sam thought Jesus was somehow referring to water from the well and asked how he would give her this water without a bucket. Then Jesus answered:
“Everyone who drinks this water [in the well] will get thirsty again and again. Anyone who drinks the water I give will never thirst -- not ever. The water I give will be like a spring from within, gushing fountains of [eternal] life.”Sam’s interest was piqued and she asked Jesus for this water. If he could really give her such thirst-quenching water, she would never be thirsty and never have to make the trek back and forth to this well again and again. With this request, she opened up to Jesus a bit more and allowed Jesus a little closer into her personal space. She realized his water was not ordinary but did not yet understand in what way Jesus’ water was out of the ordinary.
Think back to our Call to Worship:
Like a peaceful stream running through the desert ...What Sam would eventually come to realize is that the living water Jesus offers is the all-important, life-giving presence of the Holy Spirit. We know this because of what Jesus later said in John 7:37-40 [NLT] on the last great day of the Feast of Tabernacles:
God's Spirit brings life.
Like a powerful waterfall dropping into a deep pool ...
Christ's Spirit pulls us along.
Like a cool, clear cup of water ...
The Spirit refreshes our lives.
Come, Holy Spirit, come!
Here and now, renew our spirits.
Come, Holy Spirit, Come!
Make us vessels
for your presence,
for Christ's presence,
for God's presence
in the world.
Come, Holy Spirit! Come!
Jesus was quite emphatic when he stood up in the crowd and said in a loud voice: “Anyone who is thirsty may come to me! Anyone who believes in me may come and drink! For the Scriptures declare, ‘Rivers of living water will flow from [the believer’s] heart.’”And the Apostle John identified this “living water” with the Holy Spirit who, after the resurrected Jesus returned to heaven, would be given to everyone who believes in Jesus. So the believer is the one who is promised and who receives this “living water” – the Holy Spirit – to experience the life-giving presence of Jesus. The believer is also the one who is the vessel – the channel – for this life-giving presence of God, this life-giving presence of Christ through the life-giving presence of the Holy Spirit to be a blessing for his and her world.
The second movement of the interaction between Jesus and Sam of Samaria was Jesus’ personal advance into her private space – Sam’s private, personal life. As soon as she asked for the thirst-quenching living water, the conversation turned to her personal life. And Jesus let her know he knew all about her – “everything I had ever done,” she told the people of her town later on in the passage. When Jesus moved into her private, personal life, something significant happened between them. He let her move further into his personal life. Now Jesus didn’t do that with everyone he met -- even with those who, on other occasions, said they believed in him. That’s because he knew what was really going in their hearts [see John 2:25]. They considered Jesus “a nine-day wonder,” as William Barclay put it. They only responded to him because he did some miracles. Jesus possessed a keen sense of human nature and knew these people would leave him once the miracles stopped. But he also knew there were others, like Sam, to whom he could entrust himself. In other words, he let people like Sam, who truly believed, into his personal space. He knew their hearts.
Although Jesus knew everything about Sam’s life, it intrigues me he did not say anything about sin or sinfulness with respect to her life. There was no word of condemnation from Jesus against her at all. He simply asked her to call her husband. When she said she had no husband, he said to her she was being truthful because, he told her, she had been married to five men and the man she was living with currently was not her husband.
Sam’s life was quite tragic but not necessarily scandalous. She very easily could have been widowed or, more likely, divorced and abandoned -- in those days pretty much the same thing -- by five men for any old reason they wanted to give. And wouldn’t five such experiences be heartbreaking and demeaning and a reason for local gossip?
According to Sam, what was life-changing for her was that Jesus knew all about her life. Jesus saw her plight and her isolation – there were no other women who came to the well in the hot mid-day sun to draw water. What Jesus saw did not cause him to condemn her. Instead, he moved into her personal private space with respect. She knew he knew all about her and yet, for perhaps the first time in her life, she found someone who believed she had worth and value and significance. So when Jesus spoke of her past both knowingly and compassionately, she realized she was in the presence of someone exceptional -- a prophet, maybe. And because she realized Jesus knew her, she was open to know him.
So we observe the third movement of the relationship between Jesus and Sam from Samaria. She now trusted Jesus enough, even though he was a Jew, to let him move even further into her personal space. She risked talking to Jesus about one of the central questions that had divided Samaritans and Jews for centuries. Samaritans said one thing about worshipping God while Jews said another. She asked a serious and intelligent question, and Jesus gave a serious answer. As one commentator said: “This is no awkward dodge or academic diversion; this is a heartfelt question that gets to the core of what separates her from Jesus.”
What did Jesus tell her? In essence, he said to worship God as God wanted had everything to do with the Holy Spirit. To worship God as God desired had everything to do with truth. And Sam, like us, would discover that this truth was embodied in Jesus himself. He told his followers on another occasion, “I am the way, the truth and the life.” Worship then has everything to do with a relationship with God, with Jesus, through the Holy Spirit.
When Jesus told Sam about the meaning of true worship, that led her to speak about the Messiah who was to come. One thing she knew was that, when the Messiah came, he would tell them (Samaritans and Jews alike) everything they needed to know about worshipping God. Jesus then did something he did not do with anyone else in John’s Gospel: he let Sam deep into his personal space by revealing to her that he – Jesus – was the Messiah she expected. “I am he, I who am talking with you,” Jesus said to her. That was startling for Sam. And with the arrival of the disciples at that moment, she went back to the town and told the people there: “Come and see the man who told me everything I have ever done. Could he be the Messiah?”
When Sam let Jesus into her personal space, Jesus also let her into his personal space. She began to see and believe who Jesus is, even if she framed it as a question for the people to consider. Her witness was startling or convincing enough for the townspeople that they wanted to discover for themselves if Jesus really could be the Messiah – the one they had been expecting for so long. Sam may not have known it then, but God’s Holy Spirit was using her as a channel to share God’s life-giving message of love for the people of her town.
The primary theme for our journey through Lent is that being a Christian means that, when Jesus calls us, we follow him. For the woman of Samaria, that meant letting Jesus into her personal space and allowing him to move closer to her. It also meant that Jesus invited her to move ever closer to him. When this movement – actually, this relationship -- was developing with Jesus, it was more than helpful for the woman from Samaria. Her new relationship with Jesus transformed her life! She was filled with new dignity and hope and value.
Who do you let into your most private and personal spaces? Certainly someone you trust. Certainly someone you love or who loves you. Certainly someone who is there to build you up, not tear you down. Today, we live in an intriguing religious and spiritual climate. It is not always clear, even in the church, that Jesus today is someone whom we can invite into our most personal and private spaces.
The Christian faith is not a philosophy or ideology. The Christian faith is not “our” type of morality or “our” social ethic. The Christian faith is the amazing “good news” that truth and beauty and goodness are found in the person of Jesus. Like Sam, we too can find our true humanity as we connect with Jesus Christ. And like Sam, we too can experience our true dignity and worth as we continually open up our personal and private spaces to Jesus. For he has already opened his personal space of love and grace to us -- on the cross.
May this be so for you and for me.
Rev. Chris Miller,
Lent 2, March 27, 2011
OYM Oriole-York Mills United Church, Toronto
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