Sermon

St. Philip's Episcopal Church, Durham, NC

February 24, 2008 - Third Sunday of Lent, Year A

The Rev. M. Jonah Kendall

John 4:5-42

I heard the most ridiculous thing this week.  As I’m sure you all know this past week was a big week for Cuba.  Fidel Castro stepped down from power.  NPR had a program Monday where they talked about how Castro had been a thorn-in-the-side to the United States.  There was a former CIA member on the program who spoke openly about all the different ways in which the United States tried to remove him from power.

Apparently we were so desperate that at one point the CIA developed this special powder.  Their goal was to somehow get this powder on Castro’s body, which would cause all the hair of his beard to fall off.  The hope was that this would humiliate Castro causing the people of Cuba to remove him from office.  The belief was that Castro’s beardless face would be such a sight that his people would turn on him.  Now that’s pretty ridiculous.

Now, what does this story of the United States plot to have Castro’s beard fall out have to do with today’s Gospel story of the Samaritan woman at the well?  Nothing.  Except, this Gospel story was about as ridiculous to the people who first read it as this story about Castro’s beard is to us today.

In order to understand this we have to get into a first century Jewish mindset.  The community that the Gospel of John was written for was comprised predominantly of Jewish believers.  These were new converts to the faith that had come from Judaism.  And there were three things about this passage that they would have had a hard time with. 

First off, the story is about Jesus and a woman.  Again, we’re talking about the first century.  Why is Jesus with a woman?  More than that, if you read the passage carefully, it sounds almost intimate.

Secondly, the woman is a Samaritan.  Jews and Samaritans did not see things eye to eye.  That is why the text says, “Jews and Samaritans do not share things in common.”  Although they share a common heritage, they have a different understanding of God and God’s covenant.  For this reason the Jews believed the Samaritans were lost; a forsaken race, cut off from God.  Why would the Messiah associate himself with a Samaritan?  As the passage says, “salvation is from the Jews.”

Thirdly, the woman’s lifestyle is understood to be sinful and impure.  This is something Jesus himself knows, “Go tell your husband.”  To which she says, “I don’t have a husband.”  Jesus says, “I know.  You’ve had five.  And the one you’re living with is not your husband.”  Again, this is the first century.  Why would Jesus interact with such a person?  Impurity, or sinfulness, was yet another sign of being cut off from God.  Jesus wants to share her water.  Isn’t he worried he’ll be corrupted? 

And yet as the story goes on to state, this woman ends up becoming the one who points others to Christ.  She runs back to her hometown and tells them about this man who might be the messiah, prompting the villagers to seek him out.  You see this is the amazing thing about this passage, this person with so many things “wrong” with her; this woman; this sinner; this Samaritan becomes a vehicle through which others learn about the reconciling and gracious love of God in Christ.  Although despite being judged as being cut off from God by society, race, and religion, she still serves to point others towards Christ.

On top of this, there’s something missing from this passage.  Something we often encounter whenever we read similar stories in the Gospels — stories where Jesus comes into contact with those who have been judged sinful or impure.  And that is there’s no line that says: and then she praised God, repented of her sins and sinned no more.  But this is not here.  Rather, she goes off and simply says, “He knows everything I have ever done.”  What a thing.  In the end this woman serves to point others the way to God just as she was, just as she is.

And here is what I think this story invites us to see — the hidden grace of our lives.  The thing we cannot always see, or accept, yet which as at work in us all the time.  For all of us, no matter who we think ourselves to be, or others have judged us to be, live within the nexus of God’s grace.  God is always at work, at work in us, through us and even despite us. Okay, we’re out there now, so let me ground this for you.

A woman once shared with me a story about a time in her life when she wanted to commit suicide.  She was in the process of getting divorced from her husband.  He had been abusive and had made her feel as if the divorce was all her fault and that she had failed as a wife and a mother.  This was deeply painful for her because she had come to understand the significance of her life in these terms.  She wanted nothing more than to be a good wife and a loving mother.  And so she felt she had failed him, her children and herself.  She was deeply depressed and wanted to end it all.

There was a Friday night when she and her husband, who was no longer living with her, were invited to a party.  She made arrangements to have her children sleep at their friends’ houses.  She planned to go to the party, say a last goodbye, drive home, park the car in the garage, close the door, and leave the motor running.

Upon arriving at the party she was immediately welcomed by a few guests who said they were happy to see her.  Then all of a sudden, a woman came up to her and told her that her husband had just left and that, “He was such a jerk!”  And with that she walked away.

The woman told me that right then and there it was as if God was speaking to her.

Giving her hope by encouraging her to see that she was not solely to blame and that there was at least one other who could affirm the things she felt deep down about her husband but had never given herself the permission to fully own for herself.  And in that she decided not to pursue her plans.

Now here’s what I want us to consider.  What that woman experienced was truly something.  But what about the other woman?  What about the one who made that comment about her husband being a jerk?  I mean can you imagine what she might have thought to herself afterward.  “I can’t believe I just said that.  That was so rude.  I was really out of turn.”  Or what about an onlooker?  What would they have thought?  “Did you hear what she said?  That was awful.  Who does that?  She should know better.”  And yet, these words, as socially unacceptable as they might have been, literally served to save that woman’s life.  In that moment those woman’s words were nothing more than incarnate grace and love.

You see God is always at work in us.  And God is at work in us right now.  In fact I often hear this about church.  People will say I come to church and some days I just don’t have much faith.  But I look to the person next to me and there they are singing out and I feel strengthened and hopeful.

Now, to be sure, there’s something to be said for living an upright and moral life with God.  And there’s definitely something that could be said about not telling someone their husband’s a jerk at a party.  But that’s for a different sermon.

What I want us to focus on today is the very real reality that there is a true grace to all of our lives.  And that no matter how harshly we may judge our lives, no matter how much we may wonder whether we are making much out of what God has given us, God is still doing something in us all.  For we live within the nexus of God’s grace.  The buck does not stop with us but goes on forever in God.

In Christ’s name, Amen.

© 2006, Saint Philip's Episcopal Church
Mailing Address: P.O. Box 218, Durham, NC 27702
Telephone 919-682-5708, Fax 919-683-1857

Webmasters: Jack Mitchell, David Smith