3rd Sunday in Lent 02/24/08 Text: John 4:5-26 Title: The Holy Touch
3rd Sunday in Lent
02/24/08
Text: John 4:5-26
Title: The Holy Touch
Today’s Gospel is another story of birthing. Last week we saw Nicodemus being birthed. His birthing was slow. He saw Jesus healing people and that is when his birthing started, for at the time the Holy Spirit caused him to be curious about Jesus. He wanted to know more about him, so under the cover of darkness he came to Jesus. Jesus made him think in a radical different way. Jesus had to do that for Nicodemus was tied in his thinking to earthly things. I have no doubt in my mind that Nicodemus left that night with a totally different understanding of who Jesus is.
We can see some proof of that by what Saint John recorded later in his Gospel. Nicodemus defended Jesus in front of the Sanhedrin. The next being his helping Joseph of Arimithea to take down Jesus’ body and prepare it with spices. At that point Nicodemus disappears from our sight and we know nothing more about him. But there is one thing that we do know, and that he was birthed by the Holy Spirit, not in an instant, but over time.
Nicodemus was at the top of society and his spiritual birth took some time. Today we are going to see another birthing, the spiritual birthing of the woman at the well. Talk about opposites. Nicodemus a man held in honour by those around him. This woman, well, besides being a woman, was evidently not an honourable woman. We do not know the reason behind her having so many husbands, but she is living with a man who is not her husband.
This probably explains why she is out in the middle of day gathering water. The usual time to gather water was early in the morning or just before sunset when it was not so hot, but if she were to gather water then, she would have to put up with the cutting remarks, and stares, or on second thought, being ignored by the other women. This woman was the polar opposite of Nicodemus. She was more than likely at the bottom of society.
Jesus met Nicodemus under the cover of darkness. Jesus met this woman in broad daylight, high-noon to be exact. After Nicodemus met with Jesus he was still not 100% sure that Jesus was the Messiah. This woman after her encounter with Jesus knew for sure that Jesus was the Messiah.
Let’s pick up the story when Jesus in verse seven tells her to give him a drink. She answered, "How is it that you, a Jew, ask a drink of me, a woman of Samaria?" I do not know if she answered him with disdain or humility, but I think it might have been with disdain, for that helps to explain why Jesus said what he said to her, for it is a curious way of talking, but Jesus had to make think in a radical knew way, so he said, "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 could have given you living water." The woman made a very practical observation: "Sir, you have nothing to draw with, and the well is deep; where do you get that living water?" Jesus responded:
"Everyone who drinks of this water will thirst again, but whoever drinks of the water that I shall give him will never thirst; the water that I give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life."
Just like Nicodemus the woman was still thinking in earthly terms. The woman said to Jesus: "Sir, give me this water that I may not thirst, nor come here to draw." Perhaps she spoke in jest, as if Jesus were a bit crazy, for after he was speaking to her, a Samaritan woman. "Give me this water, so I don't have to come to the well every day."
She did not get it the first time; So Jesus goes after her in a way that would make her think differently. He says, "Go, call your husband, and come here." She replies, “I have no husband." Jesus tells her, “ You are right in saying, 'I have no husband'; for you have had five husbands, and he whom you now have is not your husband."
That did it; she knew that this was no ordinary Jew trying to confuse her. He knew something about her that there was no way anyone would have known outside of the village. This was beginning to get personal, just what she was trying to avoid by coming to the well at noon. "Sir, I perceive that you are a prophet. Our fathers worshiped on this mountain; and you say, in the Greek it carries a meaning of “you Jews say” that in Jerusalem is the place where men ought to worship."
Jesus responded with, "Woman, believe me, the hour is coming when neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem will you worship the Father.... The hour is coming, and now is, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for such the Father seeks to worship him. God is spirit and those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth."
Jesus was saying that the old rivalries were on the way out. Furthermore, if God is spirit, worship is not confined to particular places, such as Mount Gerazim or the temple in Jerusalem. Worship becomes an affair of the heart, and true worship became a gift of our hearts.
The woman said, "I know that Messiah is coming (he who is called Christ); when he comes, he will show us all things." Jesus said: "I who speak to you am he." Actually in the Greek it is “I am speaking to you.” Now that might not sound like a big deal, but it was back then and should be for us today a big deal, for anyone familiar with the Torah, what we know as the first five books, would recognize that Jesus just identified himself as being God for in the Torah God used “I am” to identify himself as being God.
After hearing Jesus tell about her about himself and telling her that he is “I am” the woman leaves her water jar and runs back into the city crying out, "Come; see a man who told me all that I ever did. Can this be the Christ?" They came, and we are told that many believed because of the woman's testimony.
Is not that amazing? This woman, until Jesus came along, was practically invisible within her own town. She was more than likely at the bottom of the social ladder. Nobody would have ever sent her into town as their spokeswoman. But in her being birthed with the living water, her life was transformed and her status in the community was bettered.
The people hearing her, and said, "You are right. This is the savior of the world." Those who would avoided her like the plague listened to her and believed. They followed her to Jesus and as we read in verse 41 they believed.
Jesus changed her, for she who had been invisible is now seen. She who had been lost is now found, and she who was a sinner was now redeemed. Jesus does that. He changes people's lives. He especially helps outcasts, because they are the people most in need of transformation. That is the Good News of this text. In this encounter with the Samaritan woman, Jesus not only claims to be the Messiah, he demonstrates what that means when he changes this woman's life with living water.
This same Messiah changes our lives. I remember one time when Billy Graham said, “Jesus stopped dying on the cross long enough to answer the prayer of a thief. He stopped in a big crowd one day because someone touched the hem of His garment. He will stop to touch your life and change you, and forgive you. And that is Good News.
But it does not stop there for we as the body of Christ are his hands for service in this world. Just as he comes to us in the Word and Sacraments he uses us to do his work, and in doing so changes people's lives.
He does it each time we care; each time we listen; each time we reach out; each time we touch each other in love. This is our mission as Christians; to bring the transforming power of Christ's love to the people about us. Do you remember the stories about the princess kissing the frog and changing him into a prince? Well it is the same thing with the church, we are to be about kissing frogs, so that they are turned into Christians. We kiss them with the Word of God, the Living Water that transforms all it touches.
So, let us rejoice that Christ has transforming power. Let us rejoice that he has used that transforming power on us. Let us rejoice that he continues to use that transforming power on us day by day. And let us rejoice that he allows us to touch other people in his name and with his transforming power.
And let us resolve, this week, to allow God so to fill us with his spirit that we might truly become people with his touch, the touch that transforms lives. Amen
02/24/08
Text: John 4:5-26
Title: The Holy Touch
Today’s Gospel is another story of birthing. Last week we saw Nicodemus being birthed. His birthing was slow. He saw Jesus healing people and that is when his birthing started, for at the time the Holy Spirit caused him to be curious about Jesus. He wanted to know more about him, so under the cover of darkness he came to Jesus. Jesus made him think in a radical different way. Jesus had to do that for Nicodemus was tied in his thinking to earthly things. I have no doubt in my mind that Nicodemus left that night with a totally different understanding of who Jesus is.
We can see some proof of that by what Saint John recorded later in his Gospel. Nicodemus defended Jesus in front of the Sanhedrin. The next being his helping Joseph of Arimithea to take down Jesus’ body and prepare it with spices. At that point Nicodemus disappears from our sight and we know nothing more about him. But there is one thing that we do know, and that he was birthed by the Holy Spirit, not in an instant, but over time.
Nicodemus was at the top of society and his spiritual birth took some time. Today we are going to see another birthing, the spiritual birthing of the woman at the well. Talk about opposites. Nicodemus a man held in honour by those around him. This woman, well, besides being a woman, was evidently not an honourable woman. We do not know the reason behind her having so many husbands, but she is living with a man who is not her husband.
This probably explains why she is out in the middle of day gathering water. The usual time to gather water was early in the morning or just before sunset when it was not so hot, but if she were to gather water then, she would have to put up with the cutting remarks, and stares, or on second thought, being ignored by the other women. This woman was the polar opposite of Nicodemus. She was more than likely at the bottom of society.
Jesus met Nicodemus under the cover of darkness. Jesus met this woman in broad daylight, high-noon to be exact. After Nicodemus met with Jesus he was still not 100% sure that Jesus was the Messiah. This woman after her encounter with Jesus knew for sure that Jesus was the Messiah.
Let’s pick up the story when Jesus in verse seven tells her to give him a drink. She answered, "How is it that you, a Jew, ask a drink of me, a woman of Samaria?" I do not know if she answered him with disdain or humility, but I think it might have been with disdain, for that helps to explain why Jesus said what he said to her, for it is a curious way of talking, but Jesus had to make think in a radical knew way, so he said, "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 could have given you living water." The woman made a very practical observation: "Sir, you have nothing to draw with, and the well is deep; where do you get that living water?" Jesus responded:
"Everyone who drinks of this water will thirst again, but whoever drinks of the water that I shall give him will never thirst; the water that I give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life."
Just like Nicodemus the woman was still thinking in earthly terms. The woman said to Jesus: "Sir, give me this water that I may not thirst, nor come here to draw." Perhaps she spoke in jest, as if Jesus were a bit crazy, for after he was speaking to her, a Samaritan woman. "Give me this water, so I don't have to come to the well every day."
She did not get it the first time; So Jesus goes after her in a way that would make her think differently. He says, "Go, call your husband, and come here." She replies, “I have no husband." Jesus tells her, “ You are right in saying, 'I have no husband'; for you have had five husbands, and he whom you now have is not your husband."
That did it; she knew that this was no ordinary Jew trying to confuse her. He knew something about her that there was no way anyone would have known outside of the village. This was beginning to get personal, just what she was trying to avoid by coming to the well at noon. "Sir, I perceive that you are a prophet. Our fathers worshiped on this mountain; and you say, in the Greek it carries a meaning of “you Jews say” that in Jerusalem is the place where men ought to worship."
Jesus responded with, "Woman, believe me, the hour is coming when neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem will you worship the Father.... The hour is coming, and now is, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for such the Father seeks to worship him. God is spirit and those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth."
Jesus was saying that the old rivalries were on the way out. Furthermore, if God is spirit, worship is not confined to particular places, such as Mount Gerazim or the temple in Jerusalem. Worship becomes an affair of the heart, and true worship became a gift of our hearts.
The woman said, "I know that Messiah is coming (he who is called Christ); when he comes, he will show us all things." Jesus said: "I who speak to you am he." Actually in the Greek it is “I am speaking to you.” Now that might not sound like a big deal, but it was back then and should be for us today a big deal, for anyone familiar with the Torah, what we know as the first five books, would recognize that Jesus just identified himself as being God for in the Torah God used “I am” to identify himself as being God.
After hearing Jesus tell about her about himself and telling her that he is “I am” the woman leaves her water jar and runs back into the city crying out, "Come; see a man who told me all that I ever did. Can this be the Christ?" They came, and we are told that many believed because of the woman's testimony.
Is not that amazing? This woman, until Jesus came along, was practically invisible within her own town. She was more than likely at the bottom of the social ladder. Nobody would have ever sent her into town as their spokeswoman. But in her being birthed with the living water, her life was transformed and her status in the community was bettered.
The people hearing her, and said, "You are right. This is the savior of the world." Those who would avoided her like the plague listened to her and believed. They followed her to Jesus and as we read in verse 41 they believed.
Jesus changed her, for she who had been invisible is now seen. She who had been lost is now found, and she who was a sinner was now redeemed. Jesus does that. He changes people's lives. He especially helps outcasts, because they are the people most in need of transformation. That is the Good News of this text. In this encounter with the Samaritan woman, Jesus not only claims to be the Messiah, he demonstrates what that means when he changes this woman's life with living water.
This same Messiah changes our lives. I remember one time when Billy Graham said, “Jesus stopped dying on the cross long enough to answer the prayer of a thief. He stopped in a big crowd one day because someone touched the hem of His garment. He will stop to touch your life and change you, and forgive you. And that is Good News.
But it does not stop there for we as the body of Christ are his hands for service in this world. Just as he comes to us in the Word and Sacraments he uses us to do his work, and in doing so changes people's lives.
He does it each time we care; each time we listen; each time we reach out; each time we touch each other in love. This is our mission as Christians; to bring the transforming power of Christ's love to the people about us. Do you remember the stories about the princess kissing the frog and changing him into a prince? Well it is the same thing with the church, we are to be about kissing frogs, so that they are turned into Christians. We kiss them with the Word of God, the Living Water that transforms all it touches.
So, let us rejoice that Christ has transforming power. Let us rejoice that he has used that transforming power on us. Let us rejoice that he continues to use that transforming power on us day by day. And let us rejoice that he allows us to touch other people in his name and with his transforming power.
And let us resolve, this week, to allow God so to fill us with his spirit that we might truly become people with his touch, the touch that transforms lives. Amen
posted by Pastor Rhoads | 12:08 PM
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