Lent 3- The woman at the well

Exodus 17: 1-7; Psalm 95; Romans 5: 1-11; John 4: 5-42

We have some very interesting readings today. First, we have our Exodus reading, which is about the people becoming thirsty while wandering in the wilderness and grumbling against God. The thirst for water is a theme we will see in our Gospel reading.

We also see that Psalm 95 mentions Meribah and Massah, which connect to the Exodus story with a warning against testing the Lord with our grumbling. Psalm 95 is also known as the Venite, which is usually said as a part of Morning Prayer. It is a Psalm that draws us into worship. It shows us the proper attitude to take towards God, as opposed to the grumbling and complaining against God that happens in our Exodus reading.

And our reading from Romans adds to this in an interesting way. Not only do we not complain and grumble against God in the midst of our difficult circumstances, but Paul says, 

“we also boast in our afflictions, knowing that affliction produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, and hope does not put us to shame, because God's love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit that has been given to us.”

We read something similar in James’ letter, 

“… whenever you face trials of any kind, consider it nothing but joy, because you know that the testing of your faith produces endurance; and let endurance have its full effect, so that you may be mature and complete, lacking in nothing” (James 1:2-4).

We can allow our difficult circumstances of our lives to be used as a spiritual discipline to transform us, because we know that God is for us, and not against us. God has proven His love for us. Paul says, 

“… while we were still weak, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly.” 

“God proves his love for us in that while we still were sinners Christ died for us.” 

 So, we don’t have to doubt God’s love for us, and even when we face difficult things, we can trust that God will bring us through them, and even use them to benefit our souls.

Paul tells us that while we were still weak, while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. God does not wait for us to become strong, respectable, or put together before meeting us. God meets us in our weakness, in our shame, and in our need.

And in the Gospel today, we see this lived out. Jesus meets her right where she is- in the midst of her brokenness. In the Samaritan woman, we meet someone who embodies what Paul is talking about- She is weak, isolated, and burdened. Jesus meets her, not after she has changed her life, not after she has sorted everything out, but right where she is.

There is a sense in which this meeting shouldn’t have happened. Jews and Samaritans are enemies. There is religious division because Samaritans only consider the first 5 books of the Bible as authoritative and worship on Mt. Gerizim instead of at the Temple in Jerusalem. Social convention would mean that strange men and lone women aren’t supposed to be alone together. She is also an outcast, living with a man she isn’t married to, which would mean that a holy man like Jesus shouldn’t be interacting with her. All this stands in the way of these two people meeting. She is a Samaritan. She is a woman. She is alone. And she carries a history that seems to have pushed her to the margins of her own community. By usual human standards, she is someone Jesus should have avoided.

And yet, this is the person Jesus chooses to speak to. Before offering her living water, he asks her for a drink. Jesus makes himself vulnerable. He opens himself up (as someone needing help) to the person society would dismiss.

Like a good teacher, he draws her in. 

"If you knew the gift of God and who it is that asks you for a drink, you would have asked him and he would have given you living water."

She becomes more interested. Who is this man? Where would he get this living water from? Is he greater than the Patriarch Jacob who dug the well where they are meeting?

Jesus responds to her questions, 

“Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again, but whoever drinks the water I give them will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give them will become in them a spring of water welling up to eternal life.”

Now it is the Samaritan woman who is thirsty, and it is Jesus who has access to the water. 

"Sir, give me this water", 

she says. She doesn't quite understand, but she knows that she is weary. She is tired of making the journey to the well in the heat of the day to avoid the awkward stares and the reminder that people don’t want to be associated with her.

Jesus tells her to go and bring her husband. She tries to avoid exposing her shame and says that she has no husband. Jesus sees through her half-truth and replies, 

“You are right when you say you have no husband. The fact is, you have had five husbands, and the man you now have is not your husband. What you have just said is quite true.” 

Another layer is pealed away. She sees that this is not just an open-minded Jewish man who doesn't mind talking to Samaritans. This man knows her life. He knows her shame. He has clairvoyant ability. He is a prophet.

Her shame has been exposed. She can’t hide from God. But where does she go? How does she return to God? Does she return to God by going to the Samaritan holy mountain, or does she go to the Jewish Temple in Jerusalem. She turns to Jesus (the prophet) to answer her question. How does she return to God? … Amazingly, Jesus says neither. …

This is profound. Jesus announces that the Temple in Jerusalem and the Samaritan Holy Mountain are both obsolete. Jesus proclaims, 

"... a time is coming and has now come when the true worshipers will worship the Father in Spirit and in truth, for they are the kind of worshipers the Father seeks. God is spirit, and his worshipers must worship in spirit and in truth.” 

These are not the words of any ordinary prophet. (If any prophet can be called “ordinary”). What he is saying changes everything for Jews and Samaritans.

Another layer is removed. Jesus is not just an open-minded Jewish stranger. He is not just a prophet. The woman says, 

“I know that Messiah ... is coming. When he comes, he will explain everything to us.” 

Could he be the one like Moses who they have been waiting for? Could he be the Messiah?

Jesus' response takes her even further. He is not just the Messiah (if you can say "just" the messiah). In the Greek version of the Old Testament (LXX- The Septuagint) we read about the burning bush in Exodus chapter 3 (v14). When Moses asks God's name, God replies, "ἐγώ εἰμι" (Ego Eimi)- “I AM”. … When Jesus replies to the Samaritan Woman, he uses the phrase, "ἐγώ εἰμι", “I AM.” … This is the one who spoke to Moses from that burning bush. … It is this One who says in Jeremiah 2:13- "They have forsaken me, the spring of living water...".[1] …

Jesus offers her living water. … He’s not coming to her because she has turned her life around, and Jesus is acknowledging the efforts she’s making. … This is a gift from the God of love. … Paul tells us that, 

“God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.”  

This is a gift. … At the well, we see God’s love being poured out on someone who knows her thirst, but has no way to quench it.

She arrives at the water well burdened and ashamed- in the midst of the drudgery of her life- putting one foot in front of the other- carrying her heavy water jar alone in the heat of the day- carrying the weight of her broken relationships. … But after meeting Jesus, she has a sense that she has been seen by God- he sought her out, and her heart was overflowing. And so, she left her jar at the well and runs back to her town. Origen says that she becomes an Apostle to her people. St. John Chrysostom says, 

“As the apostles left their nets on being called, so she leaves her water jar to do the work of an evangelist by calling not one or two people, as Andrew and Philip did, but a whole city”.[2] 

 She cannot keep the news to herself. She makes herself vulnerable calling her people to ‘come and see’ if this man might be the Messiah. … She goes to her people not as someone made perfect, but as someone met by God in her weakness.  AMEN

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[1] See also- The “living water” is the Spirit flowing from the true Temple (Ez 47; Jn 7:37-39).

[2] Chrysostom, Homilies on the Gospel of John 34.1