Sermon preached at Plains Presbyterian Church on March 15, 2020
An unescapable part of our lives is that we like to do things our way. . . This statement is more than an affirmation of our ability to provide for ourselves, which is popular in our culture, it is a heart-felt confession. “I’ve got this. I can make the decisions I need that will order my life and lead me to the best possible outcome.”
If we are honest, this is also a bit of idolatry at work in us. I have said before that much of what we do is a sometimes-silent affirmation that I do not need God to be successful. But what if, that statement also relates to my failures and short comings?
I try so hard, without God next to me to prove my ability, that I fail. Then rather than learn from my failures, I press on in the same direction trying to almost force my success to come. I conclude that working hard will naturally lead to success, but does it in this situation?
And so, the woman at the well is important for us to consider in Lent for that very reason. She tried it her way, as we might, and she fail a lot. But rather than turn to God, she pushed on trying to make her life work out in her way. Consider this background that I found. . .
“The story of the Samaritan woman is a story of a woman that has had five husbands, and is currently living with a man who is not her husband— [number 6]. This is not a salacious piece of gossip [in this culture]. These details are vital to the understanding of the story. We are talking about five bad marriages and one uneasy partner.
[Six times she has tried it her way. And six times her way only lead to heartbreak, social and religious isolation, despair, and separation not just from the community but from the church. This is part of the reason she will go to the well when no one is around. As we know. . .]
Samaritans and Jews had hated each other for centuries. Samaria was full of all kinds of ethnic groups with their numerous religious cults. It had been since the eighth century, when the Assyrians invaded the northern kingdom of Israel. Over time the Samaritans developed an uneven but bitter contest with the Jews. The Samaritans worshiped God on Mt Gerizim. The Jews insisted that the center of their faith was the Temple in Jerusalem, fifty miles to the south. [So how they ordered their lives was a problem at its root.]
2 Kings 17 gives an account of the Assyrian invasion. [Interestingly], it lists five kinds of foreign peoples that worshiped idols in Samaria. Now the story starts to make sense. We can see the Samaritan woman’s five husbands as representing the five false gods the Samaritans had worshiped.” [1]
The man she is said to be living with who is not her sixth husband, symbolizes Rome. The Samaritans in general, and this woman in particular, tried to live their lives in their way only. Worship as they like. They sought their happiness outside of God.
Jesus is offering himself as the Messiah to her to be her, and our, 7th husband. He is not offering to marry her, but instead he offers to enter a relational union with her—one between Messiah and the person. She has tried it her way. She has lived as she thought was right.
Move 1- worship
So, the conversation between Jesus and the woman at the well, who is the symbol of how we try to manage our own lives, turns into a reflection not about marriage, but about worship and the living water Jesus brings to us in the context of worship.
In worship, our lives are laid bare before God. In worship, we strive to appear as we are before God. Sure, we put on our Sunday-best faces when we come here, but deep inside of us, as we pray, sing, read, and think, we are bare before God’s eye. He sees the uneasiness that sits in the pit of our stomach. The hesitant sideways looks, God is aware of them. Worship creates the environment for Jesus to reveal something about himself and about us
In our story, this revelation takes place as Jesus reveals that he sees this woman for who she is and how she is living. His statement confirms that he knows that she has tried to live her way only to have that fail repeatedly. And so he offers her something different.
As soon as Jesus ‘demonstrates’ his knowledge of her choices, that she has had 5 husbands, and is living with a 6thman, all in an attempt to please herself, the conversation shifts. She recalls her tradition, what she has been taught, but Jesus response is different.
Jesus is not concerned about where the worship occurs, either in Samaria or Jerusalem. That is because Jesus knows and equates the worship with a face to face encounter with God. You cannot hide yourself in your traditions, or in your ability to provide for yourself, or whatever mask you choose to put on, when you embrace Jesus as the Messiah. Worship is a choice to be one on one with the one who sees and knows.
This is very different from what this particular woman knew or how she lived before. Worship opens her up to God.
Move 2- Pain
Once she is emotionally open through the act of worship, the reality of her pain comes into focus. The pain of this woman is multi-layered.
The most obvious pain relates the many divorces Jesus knows about that do define her in the eyes of the community she lives in. When we think about her divorce history, it is important to first realize what we are NOT talking about. History has allowed us to think of this woman as an adulterer. Her relationships are broken because she is unfaithful to her husband—why else would she come to the well alone? But that might not be the case at all.
According to Moses, adultery, that would lead to divorce, was punishable by death (Deuteronomy 22:20) on both sides of the relationship. If she was an adulterer, then ‘stoning’ was in play. Instead these divorces were not necessarily her fault. According to the Mosaic law, “if a man marries a woman who becomes displeasing to him. . . and he writes her a certificate of divorce,” then that ends the marriage.
For example, remember what Joseph was planning on doing to Mary in Matthew’s gospel. He was planning on “divorce her quietly so as not expose her to public disgrace.” No where do we hear that she was going to be stoned because of this.
So going back to our woman at the well, these divorces, which do serve to define, were likely not her choice alone. She is powerless to prevent the divorces and that is painful. As one who cannot provide for herself, one subject to another, with the potential to be discarded casually, Jesus’ presence stands in the face of this separation and pain. Jesus, by being at the well and willingly talking to her, is inviting a woman who is struggling with so much relational pain, to enter a relationship that will heal her.
She does not have to be idolatrous. She does not have to feel alone when she filled her life with things and people, she values but do not satisfy her soul. Jesus invites her to grow.
Move 3- our invitation
The Lenten journey invites us to stop and reflect on how God’s presence addresses key moments, events, or themes in our lives. In this case, the revelation begins in the discussion about worship at the Well.
From that discussion, we learn that worship helps us address issues that will separate us from one another. I don’t know anyone who says today that they are not in pain. When we worship together, we find solidarity with each other is a possibility as well as union with Christ a reality. This then invites us to consider the times in our lives when we choose to fill ourselves with things that are not from God in order to make ourselves happy. But that really did not work out for us.
When our weakness is exposed by Jesus it is not shame us, but instead to invite us into a different consideration.
I wonder if it is possible that Jesus’ knowledge of me suggests a different pacing and course for my life?
Conclusion
I like to think that the woman at the well has a long-lasting ministry in Jesus’ name in her hometown, but we do not know that. Instead what we do know is that after her pain is revealed by Christ, and after she spends time with him, she is bold enough to see things differently. I wonder if the same could be said of us in Lent?
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