She Left Her Jug Behind
Gate Pa – Year A 3rd Sunday in Lent - 2020
Readings:
Readings:
Psalm Psalm:
95
First Reading:
Exodus
17:1-7
Second Reading:
Romans
5:1-11
Gospel:
John
4:5-42
What I want to say:
How
does this story add to the story we explored last week, a story that begins
with greed, violence, and division; finds Abram and Sarai being invited into
the impossible dream of being the first ancestor of a new people – unlike any
other – through whom God will renew creation and restore humanity; an
impossible dream tenuously held in the Israelite people; and fulfilled in
Jesus. How does this story shape his interaction with Nicodemus and with the
Samaritan woman.
What I want to happen:
The Sermon
1. Introduction:
Last week we heard
In Genesis 11
That before the story begins
Humanity is divided
Tribes have emerged
Each speaking their own language
Each defending what they see as their own
Each wanting more!
There is greed and violence
war and destruction
And this is not what God intended for this
world
creation is suffering
Paying the price for this rupture
It is still paying the price.
2. The Story Began
In Genesis 12 we heard
That the story begins with God
The
story always begins with God
It
begins with God
Inviting
Abram and Sarai
to
leave Haran
the land where their fathers had ceased their
journeying
Where their cooking fires burned
And the bones of the dead were buried
They
were invited to leave his people
his hapu and whanau
To
leave his marae
All
that defined their position in the world
What their life was about
How they lived their life
They
were invited into an impossibility
With
his barren wife, Sarai,
Abram
was invited into the unknown
To
give birth to a great nation
To
be the primary ancestors of numberless descendants
When
they could not give birth to one.
They
were invited to trust this God
And
to sacrifice all for this promise.
If
they trust
this
new people will be unlike any other.
They
would be the means by which God
healed
the rupture
Restoring this world to all that God intended
Greed and violence would be replaced with
compassion and generosity
The tribes working together to build peace
So that creation is healed
Renewed
And
all would live in harmony
As
God always intended.
And
Abram and Sarai trust.
They
leave behind all they were
And
become the mother and father of this hope.
3. The Descendants
But
too soon their descendants forget
Trust
withers
Even
in the wilderness
After
being freed from slavery
This
people forget who they are
forget
that the story begins with God
They
curse Moses
Despite
all that has been done
They
long to return to slavery
To
the old ways of the tribe
They
live in fear
Even
when water gushes from the rock
Living
water in every sense
Running
gurgling water
Giving
life in the harsh wilderness
It
is hard to trust
It
is hard to be this people
But
that is not the end of the story.
3.
Jesus is the
beginning and the end
The
promise remains
In
John’s words
“In the beginning was the Word,
and
the Word was with God,
and
the Word was God.
He
was in the beginning with God.
All
things came into being through him,
and
without him not one thing came into being.
What
has come into being in him was life,
and
the life was the light of all people.
The
light shines in the darkness,
and
the darkness did not overcome it.” (John 1, NRSV)
This
light is born in a baby
Born
in Bethlehem
To
peasants who live
in
a cave
in
Galilee
The
son of a carpenter and a young peasant girl
Now
a travelling rabbi
Living
the promise
Of
human community healed
creation
restored
the
reign of God
eternal
life now
Jesus
the Nazarene.
4. Nicodemus
And
crowds come
Amazed
at his acts
Troubled
by his words
One
comes
A
man of note
An
elder and Pharisee
A
Judean kaumatua
He
comes at night
In
the dark
To
test this peasant rabbi of no standing
He
begins courteously
To
get this conversation underway
But
he becomes stuck
When
Jesus replies
"Take
it from me:
Unless
a person is born again / from above,
it's
not possible to see what I'm pointing to
-
to God's
kingdom."
He
can’t get past the words
He
can’t hear the invitation
The
invitation to Abram and Sarai
to
trust God alone
How
can one climb again into your mother’s womb?
The
words make no sense
Especially
to one
Who
trusts in his ancestors Abraham and Sarah
He
is a man of status and mana
An
insider
a
leader of the people of God
who
has spent a life getting to this place
this
place of authority
representing
his communities best judgement
he can't hear the invitation
he can’t enter the conversation
he is stuck
This learned man of debate
It will be a long journey.
So Jesus speaks to all present
"This is how much God loved the world:
He gave his Son, his one and only Son.
And this is why:
so that no one need be destroyed;
by trusting in him
As Abram and Sarai trusted
anyone can have a whole and lasting life now
anyone can be part of God’s healing work.
5. The World
The
world
That
word has so many meanings
it
is easy to limit who that might include
We
do it all the time
The
world begins with people like us
With
fame comes attention
From some who do not like his words
So
Jesus decides to return home
To
Galilee
But
not the normal route
He
chooses a way
That
will invite and teach
His
route will show exactly who is included
All
that Jesus means by
The
world
They
turn up through Samaria
Full
of those
That
no faithful Jew could ever imagine
Might
be included in
The
world
That
are beyond any people
That
God could ever love
They
are defiled and cursed
Their
whakapapa is scattered across so many peoples
Too
many peoples
They
are no people
6. Samaritan Woman
But
there is Jesus
At
his ancestors well
In
the light of the midday sun
Speaking
to a Samaritan
A
woman
He
is defiled by speaking to her
He
is defiled by asking help from her
He
is defiled by asking to touch her Samaritan drinking vessel
Under
the midday sun
She
is alone
Surprised
at this outrage
she
should walk away
but
she stands her ground
draws breath
And
responds to this strange rabbi
She
too gets stuck on the words
And
the offer of living water
Hearing
the literal meaning
The
words make no sense
But
unlike Nicodemus
Stuck
in the dark
She
stands in the midday sun
And
responds
engages in conversation
taking Jesus on in theological debate
And
in doing so
Jesus
reveals who he is.
As
he reveals her shame and
5
husbands
Who
have died or divorced her
Left
her shunned
And
living with another
-
Either the
brother of a previous husband
-
Or one who offers
safety for sex
And
in that moment of being known
She
experiences living water
Life
giving water
Unlike
anything she has experienced before
Grace
upon grace
Being
known
and
immersed
In
divine love.
In
the midday sun
He
utters the words only Moses had heard
“I
Am”
She
is the first
She
is blinded by light
Could
he be our long-awaited Samaritan messiah?
She
joins the notable nameless
Of
John’s gospel
-
The mother of
Jesus
-
The beloved
disciple
And
becomes the first missionary.
leaving
her jug behind
-
This means by
which she drew water to live
-
That represents
all the pain of her life
-
Perhaps unneeded now
she has living water
She
leaves her jug with a man
o
A Jewish man
-
SHE now sees as
family
As
she walks back to share the life
The
light she found in her darkness
Past
the bewildered and slightly outraged
Devout
and yet so blind disciples
she
becomes the means by which Jesus teaches his Jewish followers
Lost in their darkens of religious pride
And cultural prejudice
What
it means to be a disciple
He
reminds them of the promise to Sarah and Abraham
They
would be the means by which God
Will
heal the rupture
Restore this world
And all who live in it
to all that God intended
replacing greed and violence
with compassion and generosity
inviting the tribes to work together to build peace
So that creation is healed
Renewed
And
ALL
Even
Samaritans
would
live in harmony
As
God always intended.
Through
this one nameless woman
We
too hear “I Am”
We
too are offered living water
And
light shines for us
7. What do you hear?
What
do we hear in this story?
What
stood out?
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