Woman at the Well

Today I preached at St. Elisabeth's. My sermon was a little different than usual, although I'm not quite sure I have a "usual" yet. This time I sang. I'm not sure what possessed me to sing during my sermon unless it was the Holy Spirit. It went well, though, as did the adult forum I led on forgiveness. I had to come home and take a long nap. Below is the sermon. The singing part was on the lines that are repeated throughout.

This week I go for a follow-up job interview in VA. We're expecting a major snow storm when I'm supposed to fly out, but we'll hope I'm able to get out anyway.



My spirit is longing for you my God
My spirit is waiting in hope.

It is noon. The hottest time of the day. No one is at Jacob’s well. No one but Jesus. And a Samaritan woman. Jesus is tired. He is also thirsty. The woman is thirsty, too. They are thirsty for different things. When the woman comes to draw water Jesus says, “Give me a drink.” The Samaritan woman cannot believe her ears. A man, a Jewish man is asking her for a drink. Jews and Samaritans do not share things in common. To Jesus, the Samaritan is unclean. He can’t drink from her water jar. So she asks him, “How is it that you, a Jew, ask a drink of me, a woman of Samaria?”

Instead of giving a straight answer to her question, Jesus tells the woman that if she knew who he was, then she would be asking him for a drink. Only he would give her living water. She misunderstands him. After all, here is a Jewish man in the heat of the noonday sun with no bucket speaking to her. Where could he possibly come up with living water? “Sir, you have no bucket, and the well is deep. Where are you going to get that water?”

Jesus explains that those who drink his water will never be thirsty again. His water will become in them a spring of water gushing up to eternal life.

The woman says, “Sir, give me this water.”

My spirit is longing for you my God
My spirit is waiting in hope.

“Sir, give me this water, so that I may never be thirsty or have to keep coming here to draw water.” It would be a great thing indeed not to carry the heavy jar of water. But again, she has misunderstood. The water that Jesus gives cannot be contained in a jar.

Jesus says, “Go, call your husband, and come back.” The woman tells him that she has no husband. He says that indeed she has had five husbands and the person she is with now is not her husband. Jesus does not question her about this. He simply states it. He sees her, knows her, and though the text does not explicitly state this, we can assume he loves her. Jesus seemingly has no concern about the woman’s marital history. He tells her about it to show her that he knows her and to help her to know him.

“Sir, I see that you are a prophet.” Now the woman is starting to understand. She asks Jesus about the differences between Samaritan worship and Jewish worship. If he is a prophet, then he can explain these things to her. He tells her that a day is coming when it will not matter whether one worships at the Samaritan temple on Mt. Gerizim or the Jewish temple in Jerusalem. What will matter is worshipping God in spirit and truth.

The woman starts to wonder if this is just a prophet. She decides to try something out. “I know the Messiah is coming. When he comes he will proclaim all things to us.”

Jesus says, “I am.” Now she understands.

The disciples return with food for Jesus. The woman runs back to the city. Now that she knows who Jesus is she must share the news. “Come and see. Come and see a man who told me everything I have ever done. Can he be the Messiah?”

The Samaritans return with her to meet this man who told her everything she had ever done.

My spirit is longing for you my God
My spirit is waiting in hope.

Jesus met a Samaritan woman at the well, and he told her everything she had ever done. He knew her, and not just the things about her that she wanted him to know. He saw deep inside her. She thought she was thirsty for the water she had come to draw from the well, but what she was really thirsty for was Jesus.

Jesus met her where she was in her daily work leading her ordinary life. He did not meet her on Mt. Gerazim or in Jerusalem. He met her in Samaria at a well. Jesus meets us all where we are, and he can tell us everything we’ve ever done. He knows us, all of us, our joys and sorrows, our excitement and our fears, the things that make us proud and the things that make us feel shame. Jesus knows the pain that lies hidden in each of us. He even knows what keeps us from drawing close to him, what obstacles get in our way, what hurts make us feel unworthy of him. He knows us, our most authentic selves, and he loves us.

We seek far and wide to quench our thirst, drinking in the water of this world, but we are left with a longing that can only be filled by God.

Come and see, my friends, come and see this man who can tell us everything we’ve ever done. Come to the table and eat the meal that he has prepared for us, and then run back to tell your friends. Share the good news. Many Samaritans believed in Jesus because of this one woman’s testimony. Once they had met Jesus, however, they no longer needed to believe because of her. They had seen for themselves that this was truly the Savior of the world.

Come and see, sisters and brothers. Come and drink of this living water. Come and share it with all the world.

My spirit is longing for you my God
My spirit is waiting in hope.
My spirit is longing for you my God
My spirit is waiting in hope.