The text today, John 4:1-26, is about Jesus and the Samaritan Woman at the Well
at midday in the town of Sychar, a town in route to Galilee, about 40 miles
from Jerusalem. It gives us a glimpse of two people engaging in conversation at
Jacobs well. It provides a means to see
an encounter of deep listening and a gracious empathetic response to the
challenges experienced by a Samaritan woman longing to be heard. This conversation is also a means by which to
see Jesus giving full attention to the
words of the Samaritan woman, to experience the intimate encounters of her life. Simone Weil, a French philosopher, activist
and mystic writes in her book Gravity and Grace that attention is the rarest and purest form of generosity. I think attention,
often is the question, “Has anyone heard my cry, does anyone even care.
For Jesus to converse with a Samaritan woman, a
woman not married, considered a nonperson in the Roman context was a profoundly
unorthodox encounter as Jews did not engage in any way with Samaritans. Further,
it was a man’s world and woman, particularly Samaritan woman were outcast and overlooked
in most matters. But for Jesus, speaking
to a woman, even a Samaritan woman as a human being was nothing new, this is
how he moved in the Roman world. Of course, the Samaritan woman, not being used
to being treated as a viable human being with divine importance at first could
not fathom the words spoken by Jesus for her suffering and loneliness were
heavy upon her, yet the more she conversed with Jesus the Son of God the more
she awakened to what Jesus had to offer.
It is at this point her burden of outcast and loneliness was lifted. She
had been undone and awakened by Jesus the Messiah to receive living water, a
most extravagant grace so deep and soothing that she had to share it with her
community. She had experienced the
riches of God’s grace and in the process received the fullness of her humanity. The apostle Paul was so touched by this extravagant
grace, the living water as he writes to Christians at Ephesus
Blessed be the God and Father of
our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing
in the heavenly places, 4 just as he chose us in Christ[b]
before the foundation of the world to be holy and blameless before him in love.
5 He destined us for adoption as his children through Jesus
Christ, according to the good pleasure of his will, 6 to the
praise of his glorious grace that he freely bestowed on us in the Beloved. 7 In
him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses,
according to the riches of his grace 8 that he lavished on us.
With all wisdom and insight 9 he has made known to us the
mystery of his will, according to his good pleasure that he set forth in
Christ, 10 as a plan for the fullness of time, to gather up all
things in him, things in heaven and things on earth. 11 In
Christ we have also obtained an inheritance,[c]
having been destined according to the purpose of him who accomplishes all
things according to his counsel and will, 12 so that we, who
were the first to set our hope on Christ, might live for the praise of his
glory. 13 In him you also, when you had heard the word of
truth, the gospel of your salvation, and had believed in him, were marked with
the seal of the promised Holy Spirit; 14 this[d]
is the pledge of our inheritance toward redemption as God’s own people, to the
praise of his glory.
Ephesians 1:3-14
Amid this life, God offers each of us extravagant
grace, that is, living water so that our souls might be well nourished and our
hopes renewed daily. Each of us should
consider this as we journey through our day recognizing that God has poured out
living water through Jesus Christ to each of us. Like the Samaritan woman at the well we are
called into conversation with Jesus Christ. It may be an unsuspecting encounter or a
moment in time when our way seems foggy, cloudy or without light, yet the living
water, that extravagant grace is near you, it is very present. It is in this illuminating light of Christ that
the Lenten Season appears calling each of us to reflect on our conversations
with Jesus Christ, to, in some sense, like the Samaritan woman at the well, rediscover
the fullness of our humanity. We must not take this lightly as we are living in
a time when our collective humanity is under attack by forces of profound
injustice. Healthcare, education, the
environment, energy, immigration, global warming, and earth herself are all under
attack by powers which seek to deny the fullness of our collective humanity and
the sacredness of mother earth.
This past Friday I attended the Earl Lectures at
Pacific School of Religion. The topic
for this year’s Earl Lectures was Border Identifies. The keynote speaker was
Jose’ Antonio Vargas, a Pulitzer prize winning journalist, activist and
undocumented immigrant. He shared
stories of his experiences as an undocumented immigrant and the injustice of the
present immigration system. He described
the danger, challenge and the risk many go through as human beings
undocumented. He described the fear, the
suffering and the oppression experienced at the feet of an immigration system
broken. And though the situation is real it was his faith that has held him. It
is his community that maintains his hope.
He reminded me that the writings of James Baldwin collectively say, “I
am who I am, deal with it.”
This is the point of the whole conversation
between Jesus and the Samaritan Woman, that she must reclaim her humanity
regardless of her position in society and culture. She was no longer outcast and lonely,
searching for meaning, but a child of God in communion with Jesus Christ the beloved
the Son of God. The message of “Jesus and the woman at the well” is “Amid a
world suffering we must reclaim daily the fullness of our humanity and in the process,
defy powers which seek to deny our humanity through unjust, immoral policies
reflective of revenge politics.” Ephesians
6:12 reminds us that our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this
world's darkness, and
against the spiritual
forces of evil in the heavenly realms. Yet amidst those powers which would deny our
humanity we have a faith defiant, resilient without apology and in this we
stand in the light of the cross and the resurrection.
The Hope and the
Joy of the Well
And what is the hope and joy of the well but a
love so deep that it overcomes the oppressions which seeks daily to deny the
humanity of God’s people. The hope and the Joy is the good news shared by many which
gradually, with intention reveals the Kingdom of God to a world in need of God’s
extravagant grace.