Third Sunday of Lent, Cycle A

JOHN 4:5-42
SOMETIMES WHEN YOU READ A GOSPEL STORY SLOWLY AND TRY TO HEAR IT AS IF YOU'D NEVER HEARD IT BEFORE, YOU COME UP WITH QUESTIONS. AND THE QUESTIONS LEAD YOU TO OTHER QUESTIONS, AND YOU CAN SPEND A LOT OF TIME TRYING TO FIND THE ANSWERS. THAT HAPPENED TO ME AS I STUDIED TODAY'S GOSPEL, DURING THE WEEK THAT THE DEATH OF ELIZABETH TAYLOR WAS ALL OVER THE NEWS. THE SAMARITAN WOMAN HAD FIVE HUSBANDS. ELIZABETH TAYLOR HAD HER BEAT – SHE HAD EIGHT HUSBANDS. BUT IN JESUS' TIME, HOW COULD A WOMAN EVER HAVE FIVE HUSBANDS, ESPECIALLY IN A LITTLE TOWN IN THE NORTHERN PART OF WHAT IS NOW ISRAEL? IF ONE AFTER THE OTHER HUSBAND HAD DIED, IT WOULD SEEM THAT THE MEN WOULD HAVE WISED UP QUICKLY AND WOULD WONDER IF SHE WAS AN AX MURDERER OR SOMETHING. AND IF THOSE FIRST COUPLE OF HUSBANDS HAD DIVORCED HER, A PROCESS THAT WAS PRETTY EASY IN THOSE DAYS, SHE WOULD HAVE DEVELOPED A REPUTATION AS BEING VERY HARD TO LIVE WITH, AND WHO WOULD WANT TO BOTHER. SO IT MAY BE THAT JOHN IS WRITING ON A DIFFERENT LEVEL, AS HE DOES THROUGHOUT HIS GOSPEL. JOHN NEVER SPEAKS ABOUT JESUS INSTITUTING THE EUCHARIST AT THE LAST SUPPER; BUT IN JOHN, JESUS SPENDS A LOT OF TIME TALKING ABOUT HIMSELF AS THE EUCHARIST, AS THE BREAD COME DOWN FROM HEAVEN. SO MAYBE THIS STORY NEEDS TO BE UNDERSTOOD AT A DEEPER LEVEL.
FIVE HUSBANDS. IT TURNS OUT THAT THAT ISN'T TOO HARD TO FIGURE OUT. ABOUT A CENTURY AFTER KING DAVID, THE ASSYRIAN EMPIRE TOOK THE RELIGIOUS AND POLITICAL LEADERS OF ISRAEL INTO EXILE, AND THEN SETTLED FIVE PAGAN TRIBES ON THE LAND. OVER TIME, THE JEWS AND PAGANS INTERMARRIED, AND ADOPTED EACH OTHERS CUSTOMS, AND OVER TIME THE SAMARITAN RELIGION DEVELOPED. TO THE JEWS, WHO LOOKED DOWN ON INTERMARRIAGE WITH NON JEWS, AND WHO BELIEVED THAT THE ONLY PLACE YOU COULD WORSHIP GOD PROPERLY WAS THE TEMPLE IN JERUSALEM, THE SAMARITANS WERE AN INSULT, AN ABOMINATION. THEY REPRESENTED WHAT WAS ABSOLUTELY THE WORST OF HUMANKIND. SO, FIVE HUSBANDS, FIVE PAGAN TRIBES, FIVE SETS OF RELIGIOUS TRADITIONS, NONE OF WHICH WORKED; AND NOW, A RELIGION OF SORTS, BUT NOT LEGITIMATE.
AND HERE'S ANOTHER THING. JESUS MEETS THE WOMAN AT A WELL. TO THE JEWS, THAT BROUGHT MEMORIES – ABRAHAM SENT HIS SERVANT TO FIND A WIFE FOR HIS SON ISAAC, AND THE SERVANT FINDS HER AT A WELL. ISAAC'S SON JACOB FINDS HIS WIFE, RACHEL, AT A WELL. MOSES FINDS HIS WIFE, ZIPPORAH, AT A WELL. IN EACH CASE, BY THE WAY, THE MAN DOES SOMETHING TO MAKE IT POSSIBLE FOR THE WOMAN TO GET AT THE WATER. SO PEOPLE HEARING JOHN'S STORY WOULD BE TUNED IN TO THIS IDEA. AND JESUS PROMISES THE WOMAN LIVING WATER – HE MAKES IT POSSIBLE FOR HER TO HAVE THE WATER WHICH SHE CAN'T GET OTHERWISE.
WHEN JOHN WAS AN OLD MAN, MAYBE 70 YEARS AFTER JESUS HAD DIED, THERE WAS A FLOURISHING CHURCH, ALREADY FULL OF TRADITIONS. JOHN WROTE HIS GOSPEL FOR A COMMUNITY OF CHRISTIANS WHO WERE MADE UP OF JEWS AND GENTILES. PERHAPS THERE WAS SOME RESIDUAL TENSION IN THE COMMUNITY. AND PERHAPS THIS STORY WAS JOHN'S WAY OF DEALING WITH THAT TENSION. THE IDEA THAT THE CHURCH IS THE BRIDE OF CHRIST MUST HAVE ALREADY BEEN WIDELY CIRCULATED, BECAUSE PAUL, WHO WROTE HIS LETTERS LONG BEFORE JOHN WROTE HIS GOSPEL, TALKS ABOUT THAT IN THE EPISTLE TO THE EPHESIANS; AND IN THE JEWISH SCRIPTURES, THE IDEA OF GOD BEING THE HUSBAND OF HIS PEOPLE IS EVIDENT THROUGHOUT, AND HERE IN THE STORY OF THE SAMARITAN WOMAN, JESUS MEETS HIS FUTURE BRIDE AT THE WELL, AND PROVIDES HER WITH LIVING WATER. THE FUTURE BRIDE IS A SAMARITAN, A COMBINATION OF JEW AND GENTILE, NOW WORSHIPING WHAT SHE DIDN'T UNDERSTAND; SHE WAS ESTRANGED FROM GOD; THE ONE SHE WAS LIVING WITH WAS NOT HER HUSBAND. AND WHEN THE WOMAN ACCEPTS JESUS AS MESSIAH, SHE LEAVES HER BUCKET, HAVING NO MORE NEED OF IT SINCE NOW SHE HAS THE LIVING WATER. THE SAMARITAN WOMAN REPRESENTS THE CHURCH – WHERE THERE IS NEITHER JEW NOR GENTILE; A CHURCH MADE UP OF PEOPLE CALLED OUT OF THE DARKNESS, WHETHER JEW OR GENTILE IN THE PAST, THEY NOW WORSHIP IN SPIRIT AND TRUTH, NO LONGER IN THE TEMPLE OR ON THE MOUNTAIN.
THERE IS ANOTHER IDEA IN THIS STORY THAT'S WORTH THINKING ABOUT. THE FIRST THING THE WOMAN DOES WHEN SHE RECOGNIZES JESUS IS RUSH TO BRING OTHERS TO HIM. FROM THE MOMENT THE CHURCH BEGINS, THIS MISSIONARY IMPULSE IS PRESENT. IF MEMBERS OF THE CHURCH FIND JESUS, IF THEY TRULY ENTER INTO THIS NUPTUAL RELATIONSHIP WHERE JESUS IS THE GROOM AND THE CHURCH IS HIS BRIDE, THEN THEY SHOULD WANT TO SHARE THE GOOD NEWS WITH OTHERS; THEY SHOULD WANT TO BEAR FRUIT. IF I HAVE BEEN TAKEN INTO THE EMBRACE OF THE INFINITE GOD, SURELY I WILL SHARE HIS DESIRE TO BRING EVERYONE INTO THAT RELATIONSHIP. THE BRIDE WILL TRULY BEGIN TO BE WORTHY OF HER HUSBAND WHEN THE CHURCH BECOMES WHAT HE DESIRES HER TO BE – HIS KINGDOM ON EARTH.
TWO THOUSAND YEARS AGO, JOHN'S COMMUNITY HEARD THIS STORY READ TO THEM, THIS STORY WHICH IS DENSE WITH MEANING; AND THEY UNDERSTOOD WHAT WE DON'T, AT LEAST WITHOUT HELP. AND THEY SAW THEMSELVES IN THE SAMARITAN WOMAN, AND THEY SAW SOMETHING ABOUT THE LOVE JESUS HAD FOR THEM IN THE STORY OF THE WELL, THE LOVE LIKE A HUSBAND FOR HIS WIFE. AND THEY SAW THAT THERE WAS NO NEED TO FEAR, BECAUSE THEY HAD THE LIVING WATER, AND IT COULDN'T BE TAKEN FROM THEM. AND THEY FELT JOY IN THEIR HEARTS, SO MUCH SO THAT THEY HAD TO TELL THEIR FRIENDS AND NEIGHBORS AND INVITE THEM TO COME AND SEE, TO MEET THE MESSIAH, SO THAT THEY TOO COULD ENTER THIS RELATIONSHIP.
AND I HOPE I'VE GIVEN YOU A NEW WAY TO LOOK AT THIS STORY. I THINK IT'S PROBABLY NOT TOO FAR FROM THE WAY JOHN WOULD HAVE WANTED HIS COMMUNITY TO LOOK AT IT SO LONG AGO. AND AS WE THINK ABOUT IT, MAYBE WE WILL BE MOVED TO REALIZE WHAT WE HAVE BEEN GIVEN, AND WE ALSO WILL NOT BE ABLE TO KEEP THE GOOD NEWS TO OURSELVES. AND MAYBE WE WILL THINK OF SOMEONE WHO COULD USE THE GOOD NEWS, SOMEONE WHOM WE CAN BRING TO THE DIVINE BRIDEGROOM, WHO CAN THEN SAY, “I BELIEVE NO LONGER BECAUSE OF YOUR WORD, BUT BECAUSE OF WHAT I HAVE HEARD FOR MYSELF; HE IS TRULY THE SAVIOR OF THE WORLD.”