Questions at the well
I think that lots of bible passages leave us asking lots of questions. Lent is a time of questioning ourselves in many ways, examining our relationships with God and with others.
It’s strange to think of some questions people ask from time to time – the deep philosophical questions such as ‘If you try to fail and succeed, which have you done ?’ or ‘How come abbreviated is such a long word ?’ or there’s always that question when you’ve lost something and you ask someone to help you find it, and so often they begin with the question, ‘Where did you leave it ?’ – If you knew that you may not need the help !!!
Jesus often asked lots of questions of people – and perhaps even more often asked questions of us through his words and actions. Today’s gospel reading (John 4:5-42) about the Samaritan woman at the well is one of those occasions.
And so this morning I want to think about some of those questions and encourage us to think about answers in our own lives and in our church.
The first point to note is that Jesus was in a Samaritan city and went to speak to a Samaritan woman at a well. The Jews detested 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. Immediately people hearing this account would have alarm bells ringing.
But Jesus, as we examine his earthly ministry was never bound by what people thought he should do – he never spoke to just the people others thought he should – he spent time with little children, he spent time with people like tax collectors, with women, with people outside the respectable society.
He spent time showing that his love and compassion wasn’t restricted to people like himself – he made no distinctions about who his message of salvation was for.
It’s a wonderful example but one which we seem so often to overlook. Often even in our churches we look around and see a lot of people like us – and we like it that way – we like the comfort, we like the fellowship, we like the way we do things – but to do things in a way we like to please ourselves and our own taste is to run a club of like minded people.
We’re not called as Christians to be comfortable but to know and share the peace and love of God – and that isn’t always going to be comfortable. We may well not like the analogy of the church as a club, we may well not think it’s fair, but it’s a perception a lot of people have. Jesus spoke to the woman and calls us as a church to speak to even those whom we find it uncomfortable to speak with.
And then we move on a little bit in the gospel reading – Jesus talked to the woman about ‘living water’ – he shared the knowledge of that gift with her straight away. And that too is a great message for the church – sharing good gifts, sharing good news is what we should be all about. A lot of people talk about faith being a private matter but Jesus never gave us that right.
His final earthly command was to ‘Go out and preach the gospel to all nations’ – he reminded his followers that he would always be with them – but he didn’t say ‘those who feel called to be outgoing “go out”’, he didn’t say those who are ordained, or evangelists, or any other category of people – he told us all to go out and preach the gospel.
And we may do that in all kinds of different ways using all kinds of gifts, but we are to do it – Jesus said so !
And one of the ways of doing it is by being enthusiastic – the church is meant to be a community of believers – a family gathered together. People with enthusiasm draw others to them. People with enthusiasm help to light up the lives of others – when we talk about God do we just talk about church ? Or when we talk about God do we talk about our lives being changed, transformed, renewed ? Do we talk of peace and of love ?
When we leave church, let’s leave with a smile on our faces that tell people everywhere we’ve enjoyed ourselves, and we feel refreshed and ready to go out and live our lives with the awesome power of God alongside us.
This woman responded to Jesus as she went off and told other people – we’re back to being enthused enough and courageous enough to tell others about our faith. There are all kinds of reasons why we don’t – often we think we won’t have the right words, often we wonder whether we will get pulled apart, perhaps we’re not sure what to say, or don’t think our story is dramatic enough – our stories may not be dramatic but they are our stories and will often speak to others…
So the meeting with the Samaritan woman teaches us quite a bit but I think the second part of the reading is even more dramatic in some ways – his meeting with his own disciples.
It was another occasion when they didn’t really understand what Jesus was doing, and I think we can all sympathise with them on that. Here he was in a strange place, speaking to a strange woman, at a well with what they believed to be contaminated water.
You can almost imagine them shrugging their shoulders once again – ‘It’s Jesus, who knows what he’ll do next !’ And so they moved on to practical things – he needed to eat. It was a good thought. It was what friends would do for someone.
But Jesus replied, ‘My food is to do the will of him who sent me and to complete his work. Do you not say “Four months more, then comes the harvest?” But I tell you, look around and see how the fields are ripe for harvesting…’
Practical things often get in the way of our relationship with God – maybe we’re too busy, maybe something has happened in our lives, maybe we need to spend a lot of time talking about the church roof, maybe we need to spend a lot of time wondering about whether the service in church is exactly as we like it… Practical things should never take us away from the focus of our faith.
We don’t come to be part of a club but to be part of a family, and to be part of the kingdom of God – and when we think about those sorts of things we see a much bigger picture which worries less about the small things in church, and more about how we are celebrating and sharing God’s love with others.
In the week I went to the licensing service of one of the people involved in new ministry in the Diocese – and the Bishop spoke passionately of our need to rediscover what we are about – how we are sharing the gospel, how we are living out the gospel, how our services and buildings are inviting others… he talked of not preserving an institution but helping to build the kingdom of God right here in our communities – he told us to dream – because dreams with God’s power can become powerful dreams.
So, to think of some of the lessons we've considered - firstly our church must, like Jesus did with the Samaritan woman, be open and welcoming to all, speaking to everyone in our community of the good news of Jesus which brings me to the second point. Jesus spoke about living water reminding us that we have a great message that we must be sharing and finally, the disciples allowed practical things to get in the way of a bigger picture. Our bigger picture must rise above the often trivial things we think about in church and must focus on how we are celebrating and sharing the love of Jesus with all.
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.’
What an incredible final statement – ‘the 2 great permanents of history are the unchanging needs of people and the unchanging power and love of God.’
We can look around us and see all kinds of people in need – in need of love, in need of support, in need of fellowship, in need of peace – perhaps even some of us feel we’re in that category, and we must help people to meet together that need with the power and love of God which transforms us daily if we allow it, and will transform others and even the whole world as we allow ourselves to be used as enthusiastic disciples of Jesus in the world today.
To finish I’ll offer the words of Teresa of Avila who wrote, ‘Christ has no body but yours, No hands, no feet on earth but yours, Yours are the eyes with which he looks Compassion on this world, Yours are the feet with which he walks to do good, Yours are the hands, with which he blesses all the world. Yours are the hands, yours are the feet, Yours are the eyes, you are his body. Christ has no body now on earth but yours.’
May God open our lives to his service as we recognise his love and respond with all we have. AMEN
It’s strange to think of some questions people ask from time to time – the deep philosophical questions such as ‘If you try to fail and succeed, which have you done ?’ or ‘How come abbreviated is such a long word ?’ or there’s always that question when you’ve lost something and you ask someone to help you find it, and so often they begin with the question, ‘Where did you leave it ?’ – If you knew that you may not need the help !!!
Jesus often asked lots of questions of people – and perhaps even more often asked questions of us through his words and actions. Today’s gospel reading (John 4:5-42) about the Samaritan woman at the well is one of those occasions.
And so this morning I want to think about some of those questions and encourage us to think about answers in our own lives and in our church.
The first point to note is that Jesus was in a Samaritan city and went to speak to a Samaritan woman at a well. The Jews detested 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. Immediately people hearing this account would have alarm bells ringing.
But Jesus, as we examine his earthly ministry was never bound by what people thought he should do – he never spoke to just the people others thought he should – he spent time with little children, he spent time with people like tax collectors, with women, with people outside the respectable society.
He spent time showing that his love and compassion wasn’t restricted to people like himself – he made no distinctions about who his message of salvation was for.
It’s a wonderful example but one which we seem so often to overlook. Often even in our churches we look around and see a lot of people like us – and we like it that way – we like the comfort, we like the fellowship, we like the way we do things – but to do things in a way we like to please ourselves and our own taste is to run a club of like minded people.
We’re not called as Christians to be comfortable but to know and share the peace and love of God – and that isn’t always going to be comfortable. We may well not like the analogy of the church as a club, we may well not think it’s fair, but it’s a perception a lot of people have. Jesus spoke to the woman and calls us as a church to speak to even those whom we find it uncomfortable to speak with.
And then we move on a little bit in the gospel reading – Jesus talked to the woman about ‘living water’ – he shared the knowledge of that gift with her straight away. And that too is a great message for the church – sharing good gifts, sharing good news is what we should be all about. A lot of people talk about faith being a private matter but Jesus never gave us that right.
His final earthly command was to ‘Go out and preach the gospel to all nations’ – he reminded his followers that he would always be with them – but he didn’t say ‘those who feel called to be outgoing “go out”’, he didn’t say those who are ordained, or evangelists, or any other category of people – he told us all to go out and preach the gospel.
And we may do that in all kinds of different ways using all kinds of gifts, but we are to do it – Jesus said so !
And one of the ways of doing it is by being enthusiastic – the church is meant to be a community of believers – a family gathered together. People with enthusiasm draw others to them. People with enthusiasm help to light up the lives of others – when we talk about God do we just talk about church ? Or when we talk about God do we talk about our lives being changed, transformed, renewed ? Do we talk of peace and of love ?
When we leave church, let’s leave with a smile on our faces that tell people everywhere we’ve enjoyed ourselves, and we feel refreshed and ready to go out and live our lives with the awesome power of God alongside us.
This woman responded to Jesus as she went off and told other people – we’re back to being enthused enough and courageous enough to tell others about our faith. There are all kinds of reasons why we don’t – often we think we won’t have the right words, often we wonder whether we will get pulled apart, perhaps we’re not sure what to say, or don’t think our story is dramatic enough – our stories may not be dramatic but they are our stories and will often speak to others…
So the meeting with the Samaritan woman teaches us quite a bit but I think the second part of the reading is even more dramatic in some ways – his meeting with his own disciples.
It was another occasion when they didn’t really understand what Jesus was doing, and I think we can all sympathise with them on that. Here he was in a strange place, speaking to a strange woman, at a well with what they believed to be contaminated water.
You can almost imagine them shrugging their shoulders once again – ‘It’s Jesus, who knows what he’ll do next !’ And so they moved on to practical things – he needed to eat. It was a good thought. It was what friends would do for someone.
But Jesus replied, ‘My food is to do the will of him who sent me and to complete his work. Do you not say “Four months more, then comes the harvest?” But I tell you, look around and see how the fields are ripe for harvesting…’
Practical things often get in the way of our relationship with God – maybe we’re too busy, maybe something has happened in our lives, maybe we need to spend a lot of time talking about the church roof, maybe we need to spend a lot of time wondering about whether the service in church is exactly as we like it… Practical things should never take us away from the focus of our faith.
We don’t come to be part of a club but to be part of a family, and to be part of the kingdom of God – and when we think about those sorts of things we see a much bigger picture which worries less about the small things in church, and more about how we are celebrating and sharing God’s love with others.
In the week I went to the licensing service of one of the people involved in new ministry in the Diocese – and the Bishop spoke passionately of our need to rediscover what we are about – how we are sharing the gospel, how we are living out the gospel, how our services and buildings are inviting others… he talked of not preserving an institution but helping to build the kingdom of God right here in our communities – he told us to dream – because dreams with God’s power can become powerful dreams.
So, to think of some of the lessons we've considered - firstly our church must, like Jesus did with the Samaritan woman, be open and welcoming to all, speaking to everyone in our community of the good news of Jesus which brings me to the second point. Jesus spoke about living water reminding us that we have a great message that we must be sharing and finally, the disciples allowed practical things to get in the way of a bigger picture. Our bigger picture must rise above the often trivial things we think about in church and must focus on how we are celebrating and sharing the love of Jesus with all.
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.’
What an incredible final statement – ‘the 2 great permanents of history are the unchanging needs of people and the unchanging power and love of God.’
We can look around us and see all kinds of people in need – in need of love, in need of support, in need of fellowship, in need of peace – perhaps even some of us feel we’re in that category, and we must help people to meet together that need with the power and love of God which transforms us daily if we allow it, and will transform others and even the whole world as we allow ourselves to be used as enthusiastic disciples of Jesus in the world today.
To finish I’ll offer the words of Teresa of Avila who wrote, ‘Christ has no body but yours, No hands, no feet on earth but yours, Yours are the eyes with which he looks Compassion on this world, Yours are the feet with which he walks to do good, Yours are the hands, with which he blesses all the world. Yours are the hands, yours are the feet, Yours are the eyes, you are his body. Christ has no body now on earth but yours.’
May God open our lives to his service as we recognise his love and respond with all we have. AMEN
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