Someone once said that the role of a preacher is to comfort the afflicted and afflict the comfortable. The first part, comfort the afflicted, is nice – it’s a quality that I’m sure all of us hope to show whenever it’s needed, but the second point, to afflict the comfortable, is not so nice – and it’s also not as easy !
But we’re in Lent, a time of trial and self examination, and a time of honest God inspired appraisal of ourselves, so it seems a good time to do a bit of both !
And that’s what Jesus did in this passage that we’ve heard in the gospel reading this morning (John 4:5-25). He was, we are told, visiting a Samaritan city – strange enough by itself for a Jew, and then as a Samaritan woman approached, he actually spoke to her and asked her for some water, and he chatted to her and there is a sense that as he speaks, he actually cared for her.
Immediately this passage would set alarm bells ringing for the Jews – they hated the Samaritans, they regarded even the water from their wells as unclean, and they would certainly not enter into any sort of dialogue with a Samaritan woman.
And then Jesus went further as he spoke about the living water that God could provide – Jesus, it seems, was actually approaching this woman with the assurance that God was interested in her – regardless of faults and failings and regardless of her background.
And as he talked to her, he got her so interested that you could almost sense the desperation in her voice as she said, ‘Give me some of that water, then I’ll never have to be thirsty again !’
The comforting was so good that he actually made a relationship with this woman so that she wanted more from him…, but there was another side to this…
He had comforted this woman, he had supported her, encouraged her, and offered her this great gift, but then came the second part – the afflicting of the comfortable ! He questioned her on her relationships, and amazed at his knowledge she grew more interested and perhaps more uncomfortable as she recognised she was in the presence of someone very special.
And so she went on to ask about the religious differences between the Jews and the Samaritans – part of which centred around the main place of worship – and Jesus threw it back at her… The place of worship was not relevant he replied… At first sight he seems to suggest that what is important is being a Jew, but actually what he goes on to say is that the important thing is actually knowing God, and she could do that by looking at a Jew in the form of Jesus himself !
And so this meeting offered the Samaritan woman some hope and some challenge. She had a way to God, but she had to look at her own life to see if she was getting there. And this raises some important questions for us as well.
Each one of us sometimes needs comfort, and there is no better to place to find that comfort than in God – either through his word or through his people, or simply through prayer, but each one of us also needs occasionally to be afflicted, because each one of us has times I suspect when we are comfortable, maybe too comfortable in our faith…
And that’s really what Lent is about – challenging ourselves. And there are, I think, a number of essentials within that challenge. Firstly we must think of how well we actually know God… The most important thing about our relationship with God is just that - a relationship ! And that means growing closer together. We do that through prayer, through Bible study, through reflection and through fellowship with others.
This week we have a confirmation service in the Parish and one thing that I’ve stressed is that confirmation is not the end of a journey of faith – it is only a step on that journey which must continue as we go through our lives. At Lent we must ask ourselves ‘is our relationship with God moving forward or is it standing still ?’
Secondly we must think about our fellowship, both within the Church and out in the community. Our relationships with other people are an indicator, certainly to other people, of where we are in our faith. Within Church, as I’ve said before, there will be people who we struggle to get on with, and there will be people who will be difficult – but as Christians we are called to at least try and live to a higher standard than the rest of society often suggests.
It is not good enough for us to continue to hold grudges, or for us to not speak to another member of our congregation regardless of who is at fault ! Lent is a good time to look at our relationships with others – to think of who we don’t like, of who we don’t welcome into our Church, of who we find it difficult to accept, and to ask God to help us work through those barriers.
And outside Church we must challenge ourselves to ask the question if our faith is making a difference not just in our own lives, but in the lives of people who we meet... Many still suggest that faith is a private matter, and that we shouldn’t talk about it – it’s a great excuse, but Jesus has taken that choice away from us with those words from his final recorded statement on earth, ‘Go and preach the gospel to all nations…’
And thirdly Lent is a time to look forward. It isn’t a time to merely immerse ourselves in sacrifice or abstinence from something. It isn’t merely a period of time to read extra bits of the Bible or to attend extra Church services or Bible studies, although all of these things are important and useful.
Lent is a time to really plan our future – to see what’s wrong with our spiritual lives, and to begin to address the question of putting those things right… Above all it is the time to make a new commitment to Jesus who has committed everything for us… I began with that saying, ‘The role of the preacher is to comfort the afflicted and afflict the comfortable.’
The comforting thought of Lent is the knowledge that the unchanging and ever loving God walks alongside us every moment of every day of our lives – the difficult thought though, is whether we are really allowing him to be at the centre of those lives. AMEN
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