This Week's Sermon

Chapel Hill Presbyterian Church
3534 Tates Creek Road · Lexington, KY 40517
(859) 272-2311

“Encountering Jesus”
John 4: 1-30, 39-42 – February 24, 2008
Chapel Hill Presbyterian Church, Lexington, KY

    This is such a rich story. Today the story’s richness is clothed in purple by the light of the season of Lent – the season of reflection, examination, repentance, of turning to God. I’d like to pose two questions as we look at this story together this morning. First, what did it mean to this woman to have the reality of her life encountered by Jesus? And secondly, what does it mean to us to bring ourselves as we truly are into encounter with Jesus?
    So, what about this unnamed woman of Samaria? Who is she? Traditionally, some commentators have viewed her as sort of a shady lady. But is that a fair picture? Can we imagine what her life might have been like? This encounter at the well comes to us from some 2,000 years ago. The times have changed. Can we imagine what it might be like to live in a male-dominated culture?!? Can we imagine a woman so under-valued that she might doubt her own intelligence?
    Those of us a bit more chronologically gifted may remember a television series from at least 40 years ago. Each episode opened with the voice of Rod Serling… “Picture a woman, walking toward a city. She stops to talk to herself as she walks. Listen… we can almost hear her. (Place scarf.)
    In character:
    I do not know what to make of this man! As soon as I get back to the city I must ask the men what this all means! He cannot be the Messiah, can he?
    This day was just like any other. I went to the well in the heat of the day. I don’t like to go then, but if I go in the cool of the morning when all the rest of the women are there, it’s so painful. Not one of them even speaks to me. So I went.
    And there was this Jewish man sitting there – tired and hot, dirty – like most Jewish men I have seen. But he spoke to me! He told me to give him a drink. Doesn’t he know that Jews don’t speak to Samaritans, and certainly not Samaritan women! Doesn’t he know that Jews think we are unclean half-breeds, and that anything we touch is unclean? How could I give him a drink without it being unclean? He didn’t seem to care.
    I was shocked. I asked him, “Why are you talking to me, a woman of Samaria?” He didn’t seem to see anything unusual about it. Then he started talking to me about this living water. Bubbling water? Spring water? I don’t know what he meant by that. He said that if you drink this water you would never be thirsty again! I asked him for some! I’m sick of coming to this well in the heat of the day! He just smiled at me as you might smile at a child. But… he spoke with such authority. I don’t know what to make of it. He cannot be the Messiah, can he?
    Oh, and then, he told me to go and get my husband and come back. Well… I didn’t lie. I said, “I have no husband.” But he knew! He knew all about my life! How could he know these things? How could he know all about me – that I feel like a nobody. Yes, I’ve had 5 husbands, but three died and the other two left. And this man now won’t even marry me. In this place a woman is nobody without a husband. Even if he treats you like a slave or calls you unspeakable names because he doesn’t like what you cook… or just goes out one day and never comes back. (pause)
    Well, when I perceived him to be a prophet, I had so many questions! Religious questions! I told him about how our ancestors worshiped on this mountain, but his people (the Jews) say worship can only be in Jerusalem. You know, Jacob is just as much our ancestor as he is theirs! This is Jacob’s well! He said that soon, even now, it will not matter where your worship, but only how you worship. What can he mean? Of course it matters where you worship! I just don’t understand. But he speaks with such authority. And he seems to know me. Maybe he is the Messiah.
    I must bring the others back to speak with him – if they will listen to me. Maybe they can tell if he is the Messiah. I must tell them to come and see a man who has told me everything I have ever done and who says he is the one who will proclaim all things to us. (Remove scarf.)
Out of character:
    Here is a woman who has an encounter with Jesus, the Christ. She questions him, she tries to debate with him, she misunderstands him, and yet he knows the pain of her life, and offers himself to her. And she is changed. We are not told if she ever came to full faith. Yet God was able to use even her unsure witness to bring many people in her city to belief in Jesus as Lord.
    What about us – we who profess Christianity? In this season of Lent, are we willing to bring ourselves as we truly are into encounter with our Lord? We might as well, because Jesus sees us as we are. We have our own pain, our own yearnings, our own fears. We are often able to hide them from each other. But in any given community of faith, this one, and many others, just about anywhere, there are those of us who are facing chronic illnesses, our own or that of those we love; there are those of us who are grieving the loss of loved ones; those of us dealing with parents or spouses stolen from us by Alzheimer’s disease; those of us struggling to cope with fractured families; those of us whose lives are shattered by physical or emotional abuse, by alcoholism; those of us trying to cope with depression. There are teenagers dealing with pressures to use drugs. There are teenagers struggling with sexuality. There are those of us so lonely that our tears are our only companions.
    And yet…. there is Jesus. Waiting for us. Sitting by the well, sitting by the bedside, sitting at the kitchen table, sitting in one of these chairs, sitting at the session meeting. Ready to listen, ready to hear our objections and complaints, patiently listening to our misunderstandings, putting up with our excuses, having become one of us and one with us in our pain. And what does he say to us? He says, “I am he.” Actually, the Greek says, “I am.” Just like Yahweh in the Hebrew Scriptures, “I am.” Jesus says, “I am he who is the living water, the bread of life, the cup of salvation.” He offers himself to us over and over and over again. How can we not be changed? How can we who are Christians – not be changed by such a love? And how can we not share it?
    My prayer for Chapel Hill, my prayer for all the elders, including those we ordain and install today, is that you will accept the offer to be encountered by the Risen Christ, that you will listen for his voice – a voice that longs to speak the truth in love, and that – through the power of the Holy Spirit - you will find ways to share that truth and that love with each other and with your neighbors. You are beloved of God, and God is faithful.
Where my prayer is at one with God’s will, may it be so. Amen.

© 2008 Mary Baber Reed

Chapel Hill Presbyterian Church
3534 Tates Creek Road · Lexington, KY · (859) 272-2311