The Preacher’s Study
First thoughts on next Sunday’s sermon,
3rd Sunday of Lent
John W. B. Hill and Angela Emerson
Lent
3: Exodus 17: 1 - 7; Romans 5: 1 - 11; John 4: 5 - 42
The journey of faith from Red Sea to Promised
Land is mirrored by the journey of Lent.
There are many obstacles on the way, but lack of water is not the most
serious one. The people’s complaint
against Moses arises out of their resentment of his leadership. “Why did you bring us out of Egypt to kill us
… with thirst?” Underlying that is their
loss of trust in God: “Is the Lord among us or not?” When our relationships are not anchored in
our relationship to the Source of our being, they are prone to rivalry and
resentment; this can lead to social instability and chaos. That is what Moses fears, sensing that he
could become the victim of his people.
In the Epistle reading, Paul describes the
justification he learned in his encounter with the crucified and risen Christ.
Prior to this encounter, Paul lived by self-justification– i.e. depending on
his own righteousness while blaming others for his troubles (as the Israelites
in the wilderness did). Paul now realizes this was a delusion, the kind of
self-justification that had crucified Christ, and that real righteousness is
simply Christ’s righteousness,
through the grace of the Spirit dwelling in him. In fact, Jesus became the victim of his
people, in order to reveal this different kind of righteousness. “While we were still sinners Christ died for
us.” That’s God’s kind of righteousness
— loving forgiveness which invites us into a new relationship of repentance and
faith.
The encounter at Jacob’s well illustrates
self-justification. The Romans had
victimized the Jews, who had victimized the Samaritans, who had victimized this
woman. In her culture a woman needed a
man for survival, and only men could sue for divorce, yet she was considered
the guilty one — thus her noon-day trip to the well, alone. She had allowed herself to be defined by how
her community saw her. Yet, confronted
by a Jew, she stands with her people, protesting his effrontery in asking her,
a Samaritan, for a drink. When he offers
her living water, she sarcastically demands a drink from him so that she need
never trudge out to the well again! The
banter between them is revealing; Jesus is offering ‘water’ that ends thirst
forever; by contrast, thirst that does not find the fountain of God’s love can
never be truly satisfied by any other kind, as she knows well.
Jesus reveals that he knows her secret. She does not retreat in shame, for he — a
Jewish man, no less — treats her with respect, implying that he knows the
secrets of her community as well. She
begins to see herself through his eyes, is liberated from her self-justifying
posture and broaches a topic that she would otherwise have considered closed. Whose temple is the true one? His answer is truly liberating. She goes to her people, “Come and see a man
who told me everything I have ever done.
He cannot be the Messiah, can he?”
This may have been a disturbing message for her people, because this
stranger must know their secrets too.
But Jesus’ gracious respect has begun to undo the chain of victimization
and resentment, and they too open their hearts to him.
The nameless woman has moved from
non-believer to apostle: “Come and see”
she says, the precise words which Jesus first spoke to his disciples (1:39).
Jesus will be for us all the source of living
water, flowing from his pierced side (19: 32 - 37). God promised water for the wandering
Israelites if Moses would strike the rock at Horeb, on which God would be
standing. Is this a foreshadowing of God
offering his son to be struck, in order to provide living water for his people?
John W. B. Hill is an Anglican presbyter in
Toronto, Canada, author of one of the first Anglican sources for catechumenal
practice, Council member of APLM, and chair of Liturgy Canada.
Angela
Emerson was a litigation lawyer in Toronto for 31 years; she left the practice
in June, 2013 to have a saner lifestyle and pursue other interests. Angela obtained her M.Div. from Wycliffe
College at the University of Toronto in 2009.
“Living
Water, The Woman at The Well”
(2008), by Judith Fritchman.
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