Valois United Church

Exodus17:1-7
Psalm 95 from Voices United, page 814
Romans 5:1-11
John 4:5-42
           
The Samaritan woman walks out of town toward the well.  It’s close to noon, and she is hot. 

All her neighbours went long ago, but not she: the well, in the cool of the morning, is the place of gossip, and she just doesn’t want to hear it – for she is too much the subject of their looks and their gossip. 

Hot, with her jug balanced on her head.  And on her way out of town, 12 men pass her on their way in.  She wonders about them.  12 strangers, obviously Jewish by their accents, many from Galillee.  Strangers, in an odd place.   For this is Samaria.  Jews, given a choice, don’t come here at all.  They avoid it.  And if they do come here, they are so clear that it is not good that they wash after, as they return to their ‘holy soil’ from this place.

The Samaritan woman thought about how the Jews felt that they had everything right, and the Samaritans likewise.  And they thought the Samaritans were doomed.  And the Samaritans thought the Jews were doomed.

She thought about all these things, until she arrived at Jacob’s well - the well of history, where centuries ago Jacob and his sons had come with their animals and all had more than enough water.

But now, the water was a long way down....
But as she arrives at the well she notices him.

A man there, another  stranger, who looks like those others...

He looks at her, she looks at him.  He is obviously hot and tired.  Resting.

“Give me a drink” he says

"How is it that you, a Jew, ask a drink of me, a woman of Samaria?" she answers, while thinking:  Whoa!!!, this is toooo freaky! ....

"If you knew the gift of God, and who it is that is saying to you, 'Give me a drink,' you would have asked him, and he would have given you living water."

"Sir, you have no bucket, and the well is deep. Where do you get that living water?   Are you greater than our ancestor Jacob, who gave us the well, and with his sons and his flocks drank from it?"

"Everyone who drinks of this water will be thirsty again,  but those who drink of the water that I will give them will never be thirsty. The water that I will give will become in them a spring of water gushing up to eternal life."

“Eh????” she thinks “But don’t want to let on....But more than not understanding, I am feeling strange for this stranger speaks to me with respect - not like other men I have had in my life.  I want the conversation to go on and on....”

She says:  "Sir, give me this water, so that I may never be thirsty or have to keep coming here to draw water."

"Go, call your husband, and come back."

Strange man, strange statement.

"I have no husband."

Jesus looks at her and says......
"You are right in saying, 'I have no husband'; for you have had five husbands, and the one you have now is not your husband. What you have said is true!"

Double Whoa!
With the news from time to time about the "hackers" that break into data banks and accessing personal files on hundreds of thousands of people, she is left wondering: has this man Hacked Samaritan Savings Bank for her personal information?   Nah, she thinks, I’ve got no savings!

Too weird altogether!

But she does not want to say “weird” She says:  "Sir, I see that you are a prophet. 

And then: she thinks again:  Let’s try him on this one - one of the big questions that makes the Jews hate us and us hate the Jews:

“Our ancestors worshipped on this mountain, but you say that the place where people must worship is in Jerusalem."

He answers with confidence:  "Woman, believe me, the hour is coming when you will worship the Father neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem.

God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth."

Wow, she thinks again, he was not saying ‘we are right’, and ‘you are wrong’.  More like ‘God is right!!!’

But she wants to challenge more:  "I know that Messiah is coming" (who is called Christ). "When he comes, he will proclaim all things to us."

"I am he, the one who is speaking to you."

Just what could she say.... but then the disciples came back. 
They are astonished: She is a Samaritan.  Woman.  But they say nothing with their mouths – only their eyes.

So she says nothing.  She heads back to the city - in such a rush that she leaves her still-empty water jar behind - the only jar she has, without which she would have no way to bring water home to drink and wash.

She runs into the city - people probably think she is crazy at first - and she tells everyone:  "Come and see a man who told me everything I have ever done! He cannot be the Messiah, can he?"

They look at her and shake their heads.  But as they listen to what she says - a story she could not possibly make up - they wonder.  And then many believe that there is something special about this man, this teacher who even speaks to Samaritans.

And when the came to him, they listened, and found their prejudices melting away as they began to see, not just a Jew, but a person, a teacher, the Messiah.  And many believed because of his word.

And after:
4:42 They said to the woman, "It is no longer because of what you said that we believe, for we have heard for ourselves, and we know that this is truly the Saviour of the world."

But she of all of them, the Samaritan woman, for whom we still have no name, found this experience the most meaningful. 
She, the one who was ashamed to go to the well in the morning with the others, she had spoken with him. 

He had broken down the walls that she - with all her upbringing - had built up to protect her from the stangers of that other culture.

He had broken down the wall of shame, for he spoke to her as a person – he gave her the gift of dignity, and she discovered self-worth.

He had broken down the wall of self-deceit, and she discovered truths about herself that she had desperately tried to hide from.... but so badly needed to see clearly.  

For her, he was the one who brought God’s grace into her life.
For her, he was the one.