March 19, 2017 Lent 3 Psalm 95, Romans 5: 1-11, John 4: 5-42
Jesus uses the life giving
commodity of water to catch the attention of a Samaritan women at Jacobs well which
was located just outside the village. As
we all know water is the critical source of life in all of the universe. May I also suggest that unconditional love is
the critical source of all that has been created and its universal teachings can
be found within all religions of our world?
It was called Jacobs well because
it was located on a property that was owned by Jacob an important figure from
the book of Genesis. {That's part of your homework folks who was Jacob?} Did you know that Jacob’s well, where
Jesus asked a Samaritan woman for a drink and offered her the living water
still exists today and lies in the crypt of a modern Greek Orthodox church at
Nablus in the West Bank.
This women would be a complete turnaround
from the character we were introduced to in last week’s lesson. Nicodemus whom Jesus makes time for was a
well-educated and respected Pharisee and teacher of Judaism. Here he makes time for a Samaritan. This is
very significant because it is a women and women in general, especially this woman,
had no status within her community because all women were considered at the
bottom or lowest in stature next to a Child. She was uneducated, had a shameful past and was being
accused of living in sin. In fact the
time of day that she visits the well {noon} might suggest to us that she didn’t
want to be confronted with possible gossip about her from the other women from
the village. Most wanting to fill their water jugs would
have either come to the well in the cool of the early morning or the cool of
the evening, not during the hot midday.
She was a questionable Samaritan women of mixed race and certainly not
worthy of male conversation let alone to have a Rabbi ask her for a drink. In
fact no respectable man would be caught talking to such a women at least in
broad daylight because she was known to have been with many men none of which
were her legal husband. But this
doesn’t stop Jesus from making company and taking time for her within his
day. In fact these two opposing stories,
Nicodemus and this woman are one of those biblical moments where Jesus’
spiritual teachings on both discrimination and inclusiveness can be observed. It also should spark for us a personal question
and I challenge you to consider this:
Who in your community does this women represent today and do I participate in gossip?
One characteristic of the woman
is that she is almost totally an outsider.
She is just a women in a man’s world for sure, insignificantly unnamed
to centuries of readers. The community
would have probably seen her as socially deviant, unacceptable and probably
ostracized by them. Here again we need to ask ourselves a
question?
When was the last time I, you or
this church made room for someone on the outside? More so, who is it that would be looked upon
as questionable in your eyes? Recently I
was listening to a speaker who was being asked why the Buddhist tradition has
become more popular with the younger non churched generation than the Christian
tradition. What is it that is attracting
them? His answer was that the Buddhist tradition teaches
a way of living, while the Christian tradition teaches a way of believing. I think this is critical point. For the Christian it seems to be more
important to emphasize a belief in Jesus and what He teaches than to actual practice
His teachings by living them. The
spiritual practice of living the beatitudes takes second place to believing the
beatitudes within most Christian denominations.
I am afraid to say that this
just might be the truth and something we need to begin reassessing within our
tradition. It just might make us, more
attractive to those who are looking for a spiritual home. “Pass Me Not Oh Gentle Savior”
Have you ever considered this folks:
What makes a person an outsider to your circle of friends, your group,
or community of faith? Even the best
of community groups or Spiritual gatherings or religions, even though they have
good intentions, often do not see themselves as being or becoming exclusive.
Nor do they see themselves as indulging in gossip but to the outsider, that is
not always so folks. One of the greatest
litmus tests to this blindness is to watch how well their group makes time and space
for someone new or something new that might change the status quo.
Being considered a gift-less
nobody would be a heavy label to wear wouldn’t you agree? But folks, many, whom
you would never think, feel this to be their lot in life. When I ask people this question: “what
gift has God graced you with” most struggle with seeing themselves as graced
by God, let along gifted? What appears
to be an outgoing person, is often a person who feels alone in a crowd, not
worthy, or feels left out. This biblical
story should illustrate for us some challenging news: That a-nobody in our eyes
is always a-somebody in the eyes of Jesus.
It should also illustrate for us that believing in Jesus is not as
essential as living the way He has shown us.
In fact we just might learn from our Buddhist sisters and brothers as
they too know many of the universal love teachings taught by Jesus. Within His teachings there is no winner and
looser, no we and them, no dual between the right and the wrong. In Him there is no discrimination when it
comes to who He encountered. Jesus makes
the statement in John 4: 22 that salvation will come from the Jews, the people whom
God chose to bring the good news to all people.
We must note here, that he does not say salvation will come from the
Christians. Why, because Jesus
wasn’t a Christian, and the fact is that Christianity was not birthed in Jesus’
time. His followers were only known as “People
Of The Way”. Jesus taught “a way of living.”
Isn’t it ironic, because that is exactly what the commentator said about
the Buddhist tradition? They center
their spiritual traditions and teaching on “a
way of living.” In fact many
theologians claim there is no evidence to suggest that Jesus came to establish
another religion.
It seems sad to say but it
appears that many of the religions in our world have become exclusive,
Christianity included. May I suggest to
you that Jesus as the risen Christ is universal and no religion has exclusive
rights to Him or the salvation He offers, for God’s grace is sufficient for all?
Teresa
of Avila {1515 – 1582} writes:
“Christ has no body on earth but yours, no hands but yours, no feet but
yours. Yours are the eyes through which
to look at Christ’s compassion for the world.
Yours are the feet with which He is to go; and yours are the hands with
which He is to bless us now. Christ has
no body here on earth but yours”
"We Are His Hands"
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