Third Sunday in Lent, rcl yr a, 2023
EXODUS 17:1-7; PSALM 95; ROMANS 5:1-11; JOHN 4:5-42
We have heard for ourselves,
and we know that this is truly the Saviour of the world.
Discovering Samaritans.
Both gospel-writers Luke and John tease us somewhat with innuendo concerning the Jewish attitude toward Samaritans in Jesus’ day. The Good Samaritan is the traditional title of Jesus’ parable in Luke’s gospel, a title used, presumably, to grab our attention as an oxymoron. “How can a Samaritan be good?” readers are prompted to ask. In Chapter 8 of John’s gospel, when Jesus is accused by his adversaries of being possessed by a demon, they attempt to insult him by calling him a Samaritan.
Interestingly, the Samaritans claimed to be true descendants of Jacob, writes biblical scholar John Marsh. Jews didn’t accept them as such, but the Samaritans themselves claimed all the status and privileges of Jews. From a Jewish perspective, though, the Samaritans had become heterodox (as opposed to orthodox) during the time when the Assyrians attacked and then occupied the Northern Kingdom of Israel in the years 721 BCE and following. And so, fast forward a couple of hundred years when Judah was restored after the Babylonian Captivity, and Ezra and Nehemiah led back the exiled Jews to Jerusalem, the exiles had no real interest in reuniting with the inhabitants of Samaria. Predictably, the relationship of the two groups did not improve over time. John Marsh says that suspicion and hostility had arisen between Jews and Samaritans by Jesus’ day.
Enough for now on Samaritans.
In the few verses that precede today’s Gospel, we learn that because of Jesus’ ongoing conflict with the Pharisees, he and his disciples decided to leave Judea and try resuming their mission in Galilee. Although many Jews would have chosen to travel to Galilee by another road in order to avoid encountering Samaritans on the way, Jesus and his disciples elected to go through Samaria as the most direct route. And their decision sets the scene for today’s reading and Jesus’ meeting the Samaritan woman at Jacob’s Well.
The conversation Jesus and the woman share, we learn both from their dialogue and John’s narration, was unlikely. But Jesus chose not to recognize the traditional constraints affecting men talking to women in public and Jews talking to Samaritans. Jesus going rogue, we might call this; but compared to the hostility and resistance he had just received in Judea with the Pharisees, his conversation with the woman at the well was pure grace. And unlike Jesus’ conversation with Nicodemus in last week’s gospel, the Samaritan woman is thirsty for Jesus’ proclamation and open to his teaching. She still struggles with Jesus’ teaching, and questions him, but the woman’s enthusiastic response to Jesus speaks volumes. She is a rock star! She and Jesus have the longest conversation of anyone in John’s gospel. And she listens, understands, and makes the transition from disciple to missionary in record time.
What is so special about living water?
The term “living water,” used in today’s Gospel, refers to moving water or water that springs up from the ground, in contrast to still water. The water in Jacob’s well, for instance, drawn using a bucket, would be considered still water. Water is water, of course, but living, bubbling water is perceived, even in our day, as fresher or perhaps even purer than still water. In today’s Gospel, living water’s principal quality is its abundance: living water doesn’t often run dry.
Enough for now on living water. What is authentic worship?
It is wonderful for us to listen in on this conversation Jesus has with the Samaritan woman – wonderful because the conversation itself is, like living water, able to refresh our life in the Spirit. The water Jesus gives the woman, the water Jesus gives us as we place ourselves into the account, is faith in the living God who is present with us as surely as Jesus was present with the woman at the well and later with her fellow citizens in Sychar.
And Jesus brings her and her people release! Encouraged by their conversation, the woman ventures to ask Jesus about the second-class status relegated to the Samaritans by the Jews. She refers to the two centres of worship – Mount Zion for the Jews and Mount Gerizim for the Samaritans, asking Jesus, essentially, if the second-class status of the Samaritans is valid. Ever the iconoclast, Jesus tells the woman that the true worship of God transcends culture and tradition. “God is spirit,” Jesus says to her, “and those who worship God must worship in spirit and truth.” The woman wants to believe Jesus, but she seeks authority for his teaching. It is then that Jesus reveals himself to her as God’s Messiah.
It is easy for us to question God’s living presence when so many things seem to be wrong in our world. But here is Jesus in a dark and dry corner of his world 2000 years ago proclaiming the liberating light of the gospel and the image of a spring of water gushing up to eternal life as a sign of God’s healing and enduring presence. Moreover, we learn in this passage that Jesus himself is this light and this presence.
Some of you may have known Pastor Paul Bosch whose funeral took place two Saturdays ago in Waterloo. He was often present here at St. John’s, sitting right there in the front pew for the Spiritus Ensemble’s Bach Vespers. Paul was a remarkable human being with a multiplicity of gifts as an inspiring teacher, preacher, liturgist, communicator, visual artist, actor, and director. I mention him today because he is the closest I have ever come in knowing someone comparable to the Samaritan woman after she met Jesus. His whole life, it seemed to me and to others, was proclamation. He often quoted a verse from 1 Peter, a verse he himself lived by, and a verse he would commend to others. “Always be ready,” he would counsel, “to give account of the hope that is within you to anyone who demands it.” Always be ready, in other words, to acknowledge that spring of Christ’s living water gushing up within you.”
And although I can’t help thinking of him when I read the account of the Samaritan woman, his mission was not to Samaritans, but rather to young people who, typically after Sunday School and Confirmation, needed accompaniment as they sought to apply their faith when they inevitably encountered challenges in their late teens and during their twenties. Paul spent close to 40 years as a university chaplain or, using the term he preferred, a campus pastor, coaching young people toward a mature faith.
Ministry to and with young people isn’t quite as daunting as Jesus’ mission to Samaria, but it does require a vision for growth in grace, a reliance on that spring of faith gushing up and always renewing itself, and a deep understanding of the need for God’s saving, refreshing ways in every corner of our world.
Both individually and together as we seek to do ministry as the Church of St. John the Evangelist, today’s Gospel calls us to look for those places in need of God’s saving ways, especially those corners of our world that, like Samaria, are easy to ignore or avoid. We all have that spring of living water gushing up ready to satisfy not only our own thirst but that of others who thirst for the proclamation of God’s real presence in real time. We all have the love of Jesus in our hearts ready to share with our neighbour, and especially our neighbour in need. And we all have the capacity to give account of the hope that is within us to anyone who demands it.
The area that was Samaria in Jesus’ time, became the first identifiable Christian region in the Holy Land after Jesus’ resurrection. The events of today’s Gospel clearly had legs; and as a result, the woman at the well is revered in the Church as the first apostle, she was named Svetlana (meaning light), and has been given a saint’s day on the Russian Orthodox calendar. Thanks be to God for her holy example. Thanks be to God for our shared life in Christ.
The Reverend James Brown
Angus Sinclair was appointed Director of Music of St. John the Evangelist on February 1, 2023. Having graduated in 1981 (Honours B.Mus.) in organ performance from Wilfrid Laurier University, he went on to distinguish himself as a church musician, recitalist and accompanist touring in both Canada and the UK. For over 40 years Angus has served parishes and congregations throughout Southwestern Ontario as director of music. He experiences his present appointment to St. John’s as a welcome homecoming, both spiritually and musically.
As our parish musician, he provides both support and leadership so that a variety of parish programs can find musical expression and attract participation. When our handbell choir is in season, he is one of our ringers. At parish dinners, he provides popular piano music for the guests to dine by. For both worship services and concerts, he will rehearse and accompany vocal and instrumental soloists from our congregation on piano, organ, or even accordion.
Angus Sinclair was appointed Director of Music of St. John the Evangelist on February 1, 2023. Having graduated in 1981 (Honours B.Mus.) in organ performance from Wilfrid Laurier University, he went on to distinguish himself as a church musician, recitalist and accompanist touring in both Canada and the UK. For over 40 years Angus has served parishes and congregations throughout Southwestern Ontario as director of music. He experiences his present appointment to St. John’s as a welcome homecoming, both spiritually and musically.