The late speaker of the House of Commons, George Thomas, said this, ‘Poverty was the universal way of life in the coal mining areas of South Wales during my boyhood there. Nonetheless our community culture was rich. It was rooted in our Christian faith and therefore was uninfluenced by the scale of our possessions.
As I grew in understanding I learned to look at people in terms of their potential when God’s Holy Spirit was their inspiration. there is no limit to what God can do when commitment to him is total. Changed lives are unfailing witnesses to that truth in every generation. It will be so in tomorrow’s world, for the 2 great permanents of history are the unchanging needs of people and the unchanging power and love of God.’
The season of Lent is the time in the Church year when we’re really called to consider the meaning of that statement in our own lives – the 2 great permanents of history are the unchanging needs of people and the unchanging power and love of God. In other words it is about seeking to recognise or reinforce our dependence on God.
And this is one of the lessons that Jesus was teaching to the Samaritan woman at the well (John 4:7-15). In the story, we see the possibility that God may actually come to us, maybe when and where we least expect it, maybe even if we don’t really believe that it’s possible.
It’s worth reminding ourselves a little bit about the context of this gospel passage. This was not just a woman at the well: this was a SAMARITAN woman. Perhaps for us that may not mean too much, but for those who were reading and listening to John’s gospel, these were code words for bad people, the worst of the bad, the lowest of the low (I could say that these were the Ospreys supporters of their day !!)
The history between Jews and Samaritans was crowded with violence and hatred. Samaritans considered themselves the purists: the traditionalists. It was the Jews who were the people who were looking to revise things – the Samaritans only accepted the Pentateuch, the first 5 books of the Old Testament as we have it, whereas the Jews accepted all of our Old Testament.
The rows over who was right and who was wrong had grown and developed, and the vested interests on either side were fiercely defended. So this account that John is retelling was a scandalous conversation, a Jewish man speaking to a Samaritan woman, at a time when it was considered unclean to even drink from a Samaritan well or cup.
But Jesus was never bound by tradition, and he was never prepared to accept that people couldn’t reconcile their differences with God and with other people. He showed again in this account that God’s transforming love, grace and mercy are available to all.
The discussion that goes between them is long and complicated, but this evening I just want to concentrate on the fact that Jesus approached this woman, spoke to her, understood her, didn’t judge her, but persuaded her of his concern for her, his knowledge of who she was and perhaps most importantly encouraged her to think of what she could become.
Going back to that piece I quoted from George Thomas, as he talks about the poverty of the people, he talks about seeing their potential when the Holy Spirit is active in their lives… It’s very easy for any of us to look at people and see what they’ve achieved, but that’s not what God does thankfully – our achievements in his sight may be very poor, but he sees our potential, he sees what we can become, and we can become that person only when we offer our lives completely to him, when we allow ourselves to drink his living water.
In Rome there are many famous fountains at which people have their photos taken, and throw their coins in as they make a wish, but something that is not so well known is that these fountains also all have perfectly clean drinking water, and that’s what they were originally designed for. Water was a scarce commodity at one time in the city, and clean water was almost impossible to get, and so the authorities built the fountains.
And in many places fountains or wells became the centre of a community, and even today this is still the case in some of the poorest parts of the world. People come to get their water, they share the local news and gossip, they chat to people about friends and family, they even discuss the local politics and so on.
The wells were a hugely important place where people found not just physical water, but met with people with whom they could discuss spiritual or physical needs or problems, as well as just these little bits of news which help to keep communities going.
They were a place of living water, and yet Jesus was saying that he was offering something even better ! And that is still what he is offering us today. He is calling us to look at ourselves, just as he did in the wilderness, battling against the temptations, preparing himself for ministry. We are called to spend some time reflecting on who we are and what we are really called to do.
Jesus saw potential in this woman, and he sees potential in every one of us – and so we are challenged, can we trust Jesus enough to be open to the healing light he brings into our lives? Into our lives? Our churches, our world?
My prayer for this Lent is that God will give us the grace to hear what we need to learn, grant us light to lighten the darkness which in our blindness we may not even know is there, and give us the courage of the woman at the well - courage to embrace the light and accept the gift of Living Water.
Jesus gives us that living water… An unnamed woman of Samaria, in spite of her hesitation and misgivings, was drawn to the well to encounter Jesus, who gave her that drink of living water. So we also, whatever our hesitations and misgivings, are drawn to encounter Jesus, that we too might drink of living water and never thirst again. Amen.
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