SPRING OF LIVING WATER

A Sermon for the Third Sunday in Lent
February 24, 2002
Pastor Laura Gentry

John 4:5-42
So he came to a Samaritan city called Sychar, near the plot of ground that Jacob had given to his son Joseph. Jacob’s well was there, and Jesus, tired out by his journey, was sitting by the well. It was about noon. A Samaritan woman came to draw water, and Jesus said to her, “Give me a drink.” (His disciples had gone to the city to buy food.) The Samaritan woman said to him, “How is it that you, a Jew, ask a drink of me, a woman of Samaria?” (Jews do not share things in common with Samaritans.) Jesus answered her, “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.” The woman said to him, “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?” Jesus said to her, “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.” The woman said to him, “Sir, give me this water, so that I may never be thirsty or have to keep coming here to draw water.” Jesus said to her, “Go, call your husband, and come back.” The woman answered him, “I have no husband.” Jesus said to her, “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!” The woman said to him, “Sir, I see that you are a prophet. Our ancestors worshiped on this mountain, but you say that the place where people must worship is in Jerusalem.” Jesus said to her, “Woman, believe me, the hour is coming when you will worship the Father neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem. You worship what you do not know; we worship what we know, for salvation is from the Jews. But the hour is coming, and is now here, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for the Father seeks such as these to worship him. God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth.” The woman said to him, “I know that Messiah is coming” (who is called Christ). “When he comes, he will proclaim all things to us.” Jesus said to her, “I am he, the one who is speaking to you.”

Just then his disciples came. They were astonished that he was speaking with a woman, but no one said, “What do you want?” or, “Why are you speaking with her?” Then the woman left her water jar and went back to the city. She said to the people, “Come and see a man who told me everything I have ever done! He cannot be the Messiah, can he?” They left the city and were on their way to him. Meanwhile the disciples were urging him, “Rabbi, eat something.” But he said to them, “I have food to eat that you do not know about.” So the disciples said to one another, “Surely no one has brought him something to eat?” Jesus said to them, “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 you, and see how the fields are ripe for harvesting. The reaper is already receiving wages and is gathering fruit for eternal life, so that sower and reaper may rejoice together. For here the saying holds true, ‘One sows and another reaps.’ I sent you to reap that for which you did not labor. Others have labored, and you have entered into their labor.” Many Samaritans from that city believed in him because of the woman’s testimony, “He told me everything I have ever done.” So when the Samaritans came to him, they asked him to stay with them; and he stayed there two days. And many more believed because of his word. 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 Savior of the world.”

Grace and peace to you from God our Father, and from our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.

Once, while I was an interim pastor at a church 70 miles from my home, out in the desert east of Los Angeles, I was contacted by a former member of the church who wanted to talk with me. She had moved another 50 miles south of the church but had some important things to tell me about the church I was serving and somehow convinced me to come down and visit her. I arrived there quite safely and we had a great visit. But she, trying to be helpful, told me about a great short cut I should take on my way back. Without a map in hand and with her rather flimsy directions in my head, I set out on the return voyage. After about and hour of driving on some twisty, empty roads where I didn’t see another car, I came to realize I had not gone a very good way. The sun was baking down on me in my Miata. The temperature was well over 110 degrees and the water bottle I had in the car was empty. I put the top up for shade but I was still severely dehydrated and in great danger. I really wanted to just pull over and wait for someone to help me but there were no other cars on this road and so I knew this was not a good option so I keep driving and driving. It was on this sojourn that I came to appreciate the vital necessity of water.

Needless to say, I eventually got back to the freeway and survived the ordeal and it was also the catalyst to make me spring for adding air conditioning to my car.

And the Middle Eastern desert climate in which Jesus lived, such dryness was a way of life. It was a place of chronic drought. People understood their desperate need for water in this desert environment and they didn’t have the option of getting their car air conditioned. One of the primary tasks of women was to go each day to the well, to draw water for the family. Many women had to walk miles to get to the nearest well, and so retrieving water consumed much of their day.

It is here, at the well, where Jesus encounters a Samaritan woman in our Gospel text for today. Now this is an extremely unlikely place for Jesus to be. He is a foreigner in Samaria, which is located in modern day Turkey. A proper Jew would not have even wandered through this country, but would have traveled around it. Instead, Jesus goes right on into it, and not only that, he goes to the well. This was traditionally a place reserved for women. Seeing Jesus there must have been shocking for the Samaritan woman—perhaps as shocking as a modern day woman finding a man sitting in the lounge of a ladies’ restroom! And to top it off, he begins a conversation with her. Again this was a great social taboo. Men and women who were not married to each other were not to engage in a conversation. This is still the case in some places of the Middle East. Earlier this month in Saudi Arabia, a married woman was having a conversation with a male colleage in the Starbucks of a government building and when authorities recognized that she was not related to the man she was sitting with, she was arrested and jailed. Imagine how much more shocking it was in Jesus’ day for him to engage a woman to whom he was not related in conversation?

And of course, there were religious taboos against a Samaritan and a Jew conversing. This was also forbidden. So here is Jesus breaking two major rules so that he can reach out to this person at the well.

Now it is easy to see how confused the woman was when Jesus just shows up and asks her for a drink. She asks, “How is it that you a Jewish man are asking me, a Samaritan women, to give you a drink?” Ignoring her question, Jesus introduces his metaphor of water. He says, “If you knew the gift of God, and who it is that is saying it to you, you would have asked and been given living water.”

The confused woman, thinking he means fresh water—water which flows from a spring—replies something about Jacob's well not having any such water. Besides (and I always love this random aside) she notes that he has no bucket. Befuddled, she asks where Jesus could find “living water” in the desert.

Jesus continues with his spiritual imagery, saying: “Everyone who drinks of the water from this well will be thirsty again, but those who drink of the water that I will give them will never be thirsty.” Still thinking literally, the woman says she'd certainly like to have some of that water because she is tired of her tedious daily trips to the well.

In saying this, Jesus is not talking about a literal spring in the desert, but he is identifying himself as that spring. Jesus himself is the gift from God, which gives life. He is the “water,” that can quench her spiritual thirst foreverr. So in this first part of their conversation, Jesus establishes that it is he who is the spring of life.

As the story continues, we discover that this woman of Samaria has a deep, deep spiritual thirst. Her life has been difficult. She has been married five times and each time, the marriage ended in divorce or the death of her spouse. We don’t know how these relationships ended but because of the cultural context, we can be sure that each divorce must have been devastating for her. Now she was living in an unmarried relationship—which was a very shameful situation in ancient Samaria.

In her conversation with Jesus, he reveals that he already knows about her marriage history, and she recognizes immediately, that he is a prophet. So, she seeks wisdom from him about which mountain is the proper place for worship: is it Mount Gerizim where the Samaritans worship, or is it Mount Zion in Jerusalem where the Jews worship? Jesus won’t get caught up in this on-going theological debate. He explains that neither is the exclusive place where God will be present in the future, but that true worship must be be done in “spirit and in truth.” Once Jesus is risen from the dead, all will see that he is the Messiah, and to be in his Spirit is to worship in spirit and in truth.

Now the woman is beginning to discover who Jesus is and what he is offering. Her spiritual thirst, which is even greater than her physical thirst, can be met in the life-giving spiritual water that only God can provide! She he known that the Messiah was coming, but now she realizes that Jesus is this Messiah.

Immediately, the woman abandons her water jar. She forsakes her purpose in coming to the well, for she has taken on a new, more important purpose. She runs off to tell the others about Christ. Her zealous evangelism causes many other Samaritans to believe in him also.

Then, along come Jesus’ disciples. They are clueless as to why Jesus is breaking all the rules to talk to this Samaritan woman. They urge him to get something to eat. Again, Jesus takes the element of a physical need—this time it is eating—and uses it as metaphor for spiritual need. Jesus tells them that the food he has that “they do not know about” is “to do the will of him who sent me and to complete his work.” (v. 34-35) This explains why Jesus has come through Samaria—in order to do God’s work, to share the good news with these people as well. Already, he has evangelized one woman who is currently out evangelizing herself! Doing the will of God both drives and sustains Jesus and it must drive and sustain the disciples as well.

And so in this gospel story, we learn quite a bit about Jesus. We see that Jesus is the Messiah and he bestows the “living water” of Holy Spirit, that he is the Son of God, and that he reveals the truth about God—that doing God’s will of proclaiming the good news is the very food with which is soul is nurtured.

As Jesus offered living water to the Samaritan woman, God offers refreshment for our spiritual thirsts as well. There are times when we in thirsty in spirit—more thirsty than I was on my dehydrating desert road trip. There are times when spiritual drought makes us especially desperate for the water that can give life to our spirits. These are the thirsty times when life seems empty, shallow and without purpose, and we just can’t find peace of mind.. I’m sure you know what it’s like to experience a deep dryness of the soul. The good new, my friends, is that Jesus offers us all that he offered the Samaritan woman. We can have it, too—that is, if we share with her a thirst for acceptance, forgiveness, love and healing for our parched lives.

The season of Lent is a time of attending atively to our deep spiritual thirst. Our Lenten disciplines aim to open the door for God's Spirit to become active in our lives. In our thirsty state, the Lord calls to us: “Come to his living water! Come to me, for I know you thirst for acceptance in a desert of rejection, that you thirst for forgiveness in the parched land of your sins, that you thirst for hope in the dry despair of your failures. While you were still sinners, I came to save you. Come to the living water!” For us, as for the Samaritan woman, there comes, into the drought of life, the life-giving water of Christ, the one who pours his love and grace into every crack and crevice of the dried and broken ground of our spirits.

And when we, in turn, come to him in hope of receiving this water, our Jesus not only gives us a drink, he offers us the whole spring of living water that can run deep inside each of us as an ever-refreshing source of life—life that will see us through all the hard times of drought and direct our wandering hearts back to God. And not only that, Jesus offers us food, the sustaining food of doing the will of God. May we come in hope and be filled. Amen.

Now, may the peace of God keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus our Lord. Amen.

© 2008 Laura E. Gentry

BOASTING OF OUR SHIPWRECKS

A Sermon for
Ash Wednesday
February 6, 2008
Pastor Laura Gentry

II Corinthians
11:21-31
But whatever anyone dares to boast of—I am speaking as a fool—I also dare to boast of that.
Are they Hebrews? So am I. Are they Israelites? So am I. Are they descendants of Abraham? So am I. Are they ministers of Christ? I am talking like a madman—I am a better one: with far greater labors, far more imprisonments, with countless floggings, and often near death. Five times I have received from the Jews the forty lashes minus one. Three times I was beaten with rods. Once I received a stoning. Three times I was shipwrecked; for a night and a day I was adrift at sea; on frequent journeys, in danger from rivers, danger from bandits, danger from my own people, danger from Gentiles, danger in the city, danger in the wilderness, danger at sea, danger from false brothers and sisters;in toil and hardship, through many a sleepless night, hungry and thirsty, often without food, cold and naked. And, besides other things, I am under daily pressure because of my anxiety for all the churches. Who is weak, and I am not weak? Who is made to stumble, and I am not indignant? If I must boast, I will boast of the things that show my weakness. The God and Father of the Lord Jesus (blessed be he forever!) (NRSV)

Grace and peace to you from God our Father and from our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.

Tonight marks the start of our Lenten season, you will soon be invited to come forward to receive the cross of ashes upon your forehead with those hard-hitting words “Remember that you are dust and to dust you shall return.” We are dust.

For our second reading tonight, we heard the dramatic plea from Saint Paul written in Second Corinthians about boasting. Boasting, he says, is quite easy to do. He especially was one who could have boasted in his accomplishments. He had absolutely the right spiritual pedigree to proclaim himself righteous. He could have bragged and bragged about it.

But instead, Paul goes into a long list of his horrible moments. He tells us of his labors, his imprisonments, the countless floggings he’s endured, and his near death experiences. He brags of times he was beaten with rods, given lashings, stonings, and yes, even 3 shipwrecks. He emphasizes all the danger and trouble he’s been through—even nakedness! Ultimately, he’s making the point that he is weak. Both his own weakness and the weakness brought about by the cruel world have battered this man down.

He does not despair, however, he boasts. He boasts in his weaknesses and invites us to do the same. Yes, our weaknesses!

When have we had horrible moments? I doubt any of us can top Paul. Perhaps we’ve been through times, though, when just about everything went wrong. I am doubtful that any of us have been literally shipwrecked—let alone 3 times like Paul. But I’m sure we’ve had devastating situations that we might deem shipwrecks. Maybe we’ve had an illness, maybe a break up in an important and vital relationship, maybe financial hardship or a crisis of another kind. It’s a dreadful thing to have a shipwreck.

Yet Paul tells us that it’s okay to be broken and beat up by life. It’s okay to have been shipwrecked. In fact, it is these very shipwrecks that draw us near to God. It is only then, when we are at the bottom, that we can admit to ourselves that we are merely dust, heading for dust again. It is only then that we can confess our sinfulness. It is only then that we can truly grasp our deep need for God and begin to turn back towards our Creator, seeking redemption.

This Lent, we are invited to engage in an emphasis on prayer. Because we are shipwrecked souls, ash in need of redemption, we cry out to God.
But it is not simply our own doing. We pray because the Spirit woos us into prayer. The Spirit wants us to connect with God, to open our hearts and to pray. Martin Luther explained that our faith is always a result of the Spirit. In the catechism, he wrote:

I believe that I cannot by my own reason or strength believe in Jesus Christ my Lord or come to him, but the Holy Spirit calls me by the gospel, enlightens me with God’s gifts, makes me holy and keeps me in the true faith.

Because of the Spirit’s work within us, we thirst for God. Our hearts are restless and search for God. We know that we cannot live without the Grace of God holding onto us.

During these 40 days of Lent, we engage in an intentional repentance, an intentional turning to God for redemption. And prayer is a marvelous way for us to do this.

How much are you praying now? What are the obstacles in your life to prayer? For example, you are busy and can’t seem to fit prayer into your schedule or you pray at bedtime and fall asleep before you can pray very long. Maybe you just don’t feel equipped to pray because you have never learned much on the subject. Whatever our obstacles, Lent is a time to face them head-on. We can’t afford to let them stand in our way. These are our souls we’re talking about and they need to connect with God.

So what if we’ve failed along our journey? So what if we’ve made some poor choices and been hurtful? So what if we’ve been shipwrecked? We boast in these things because it opens us up, it invites God to stoop down and breathe life back into our broken and tattered selves. How much healing and life awaits us! How much joy and peace! Let us not neglect to take up our spiritual disciplines this season and to pray with all our hearts that we may be one with God. Amen.
Now, may the peace of God, which passes all understanding, keep our hearts and minds in Christ Jesus our Lord. Amen.

© 2008 Laura E. Gentry

WARNING: CONTAINS SPOILERS

A Sermon for the Transfiguration
February 3, 2008
Pastor Laura Gentry

Matthew 17:1-9
Six days later, Jesus took with him Peter and James and his brother John and led them up a high mountain, by themselves. And he was transfigured before them, and his face shone like the sun, and his clothes became dazzling white. Suddenly there appeared to them Moses and Elijah, talking with him. Then Peter said to Jesus, “Lord, it is good for us to be here; if you wish, I will make three dwellings here, one for you, one for Moses, and one for Elijah.” While he was still speaking, suddenly a bright cloud overshadowed them, and from the cloud a voice said, “This is my Son, the Beloved; with him I am well pleased; listen to him!” When the disciples heard this, they fell to the ground and were overcome by fear. But Jesus came and touched them, saying, “Get up and do not be afraid.” And when they looked up, they saw no one except Jesus himself alone. As they were coming down the mountain, Jesus ordered them, “Tell no one about the vision until after the Son of Man has been raised from the dead.” (NRSV)

Grace and peace to you from God our Father and from our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.

These days when you go to an internet movie discussion site, you often see the label “Warning: Contains Spoilers.” This means that the description of the film will give away the ending. So if you are planning to see the film and you don’t want to know what happens, then by all means, don’t read on. But sometimes, you want spoilers.

I remember some years back, I went to see a movie in the theatre with my husband. When the movie got to a tense and uncertain juncture, many of our fellow moviegoers were sobbing and sniffling. We could hear wet noses all around. William turned to me to see if I was alright. I admit it: I can sniffle with the best of them over a good drama. But this time, I was just fine. I wasn’t even a tad misty, much to his surprise. You see, a friend had already told me the spoiler so I knew that everything was going to be okay in the end—even though the movie’s plot was looking rather bleak. I could even handle the protagonist’s suffering.

Now today’s Gospel lesson really ought to have the warning label: “Contains Spoilers!” Because it gives us a glimpse at the resurrection—the end of the Jesus drama. The Transfiguration iis what I would call a spoiler, a divine ‘sneak preview’ to those disciples considered part of Jesus’ inner circle.

We know this story well. Jesus takes Peter, James and John up the mountain then then his face becomes radiant and his clothes a dazzling white. The images of Moses and Elijah appear in their midst and begin speaking with Jesus. Peter speaks up and mentions how it is good for them to be there and suggests creating three dwellings for the men. Immediately a cloud overtakes the men, from, which they hear a voice that informs the disciples that Jesus is God’s son and that the disciples are to listen to him. Shrinking in fear, the disciples fall with their faces to the ground. Moments later, Jesus bids them rise and the images of Elijah and Moses are gone. From there the four men descend the mountain and Jesus bids them not to speak of this incident to anyone until he has ascended to heaven.

The disciples have just received a preview, but what type of preview is it? The Transfiguration is another incident in which Jesus is arrayed as the Messiah, the anointed, the one sent to fulfill God’s plan of redemption for the world. The image of Jesus in heavenly splendor, his face radiant with the power of God and his clothes a remarkable white are precursors to the day of his ascension when, indeed, he will reside in heavenly splendor surrounded by the host of heaven. The images of Moses and Elijah are equally significant. Moses was set apart to present God’s law to the children of Israel. Moses himself had a transfiguring moment on top of Mt. Sinai when he spoke to God and received the tablets containing God’s law for Israel. Moses appears at the transfiguration representing the law of God, the Law that Jesus fulfills perfectly. The prophet Elijah appears as the greatest of the prophets signifying that Jesus fulfills the prophecies regarding the one to come. While Jesus is talking to with Moses and Elijah, presumably about the way in which he will make his transition to heaven, Peter enters in with his own talk.

Peter makes a suggestion that three dwellings be made for them. It is a suggestion that is virtually ignored by Jesus, but Matthew does not tell us why. Biblical scholars suggest that the dwellings that Peter might be referring to would be those maintained by the pagan religions of the day. Booths, shrines if you prefer, were placed in various places in, and around, Judea where people could go to make offerings to a particular god. Peter did not know how else to react to what he was witnessing. He sees a radiant Jesus accompanied by Moses and Elijah and his only response is, “we have to make this pay somehow, we have to make this last.” The suggestion to build three dwellings is Peter’s attempt at sustaining the glory of the transfiguration, as if he could contain the majesty portrayed in these three characters so people could come and make offerings on the mountaintop at will. In making this suggestion Peter was reducing Jesus to a pagan deity, hence Peter was ignored.

What we receive next is the resounding voice, presumably the voice of God, declaring that Jesus is the beloved son and we should pay him the attention. This voice comes deliberately because the mountaintop experience these men have observed is not going to last. The glory of the transfiguration is a preview of the future glory that we will all enjoy on the day of resurrection, but until then we must come down from the mountain and enter into the valley of death in the season of Lent.

We are heading towards Lent, a time to go inward, to really reflect upon our mortal condition, to focus upon the stuff we are made of—Lent is a time to make a solemn progression towards the cross of Christ, our cross. However, we know how the story ends. We know it doesn’t end with the cross of shame and death. We’ve seen the radiance of Jesus’ face, we’ve heard the voice of God—we can deal with Lent because we’ve already read the spoiler. It is precisely this preview of the ascended Jesus that gives us the strength to make it through the cross and beyond.

God did not have to provide this instance of the Transfiguration. God could have chosen to send us straight towards the cross with out any inclination of what lies in store. Even in light of the transfiguration, even in light of the glory of Easter we still see those who are hesitant—so caught up with the cross that they are stymied, unable to move for fear of suffering and death. Jesus has revealed just enough for us to know that although the way of the cross will be difficult, it will in no way be the end, but rather a door that we all must pass through before we are met on the other side, by Jesus. Even Jesus had to come down from the mountain. Transfigured as he was, in conversation with Moses and Elijah, glorified by God… even he had to enter into the suffering that was required to fulfill God’s plan of salvation.

Lent may not be our favorite liturgical season. We may not like the austere nature of Lent. The pains of our human condition may be disagreeable to our chosen interests, but remember this: each one of us goes into Lent with a preview of the coming attraction. God has not forsaken us. God has provided a beacon that will illumine the way ahead of us. It is the one preview that we find ourselves excited to see. We like what it has to offer us. May we enter into the season of Lent following Jesus' example of prayer and obedience. May we be transfigured by our acts of repentance and drawn closer to God than we’ve been in the past. Amen

Now, may the peace of God, which passes all understanding, keep our hearts and minds in Christ Jesus our Lord. Amen.

© 2008 Laura E. Gentry