Are you talking to me?

The Gospel this week (John 4.5-42) is a follow up from John 3.1-17. It is in some ways, a reversal of what we see in Jesus’ encounter with Nicodemus. The Pharisee was wealthy, powerful, well positioned in society, honoured among his peers and considered a powerful figure in terms of his nation’s spiritual life.

We encounter someone in the Gospel this week that is the opposite of that. She is a Northerner – a Samaritan. She is without a husband, or worse in chattel marriage with a brother of a dead husband to provide offspring to continue the family line. She has little money, no social standing and she has to go at odd hours of the day to retrieve water from the well for the household so as to avoid the gossip mongers on the street and at the well. She is not even given a name. We are only told of where she was from.  But in that there is some good news. This unnamed lady was possibly well known later on in the Church. For that reason, it was not necessary to name her – because her story was well known to other believers. She had a reputation of another, better kind. The question is, how did she get from being this poor pathetic soul to be a woman of worth and of spiritual power within the life of the Church?

Well, as one might expect, it starts with encountering Jesus that day at the Well of Jacob near to the town of Sychar. She is stunned by this Jewish Rabbi addressing her. He is crashing through every social barrier there is in even speaking to her. Jesus starts with the obvious physical issue of needing a drink of water and tells her that if she understood who he really was, she would ask and he would give her water so that she would never need to go to the Well again. The woman thinks and says that this is foolishness because he cannot get himself a drink of water. This is where things go from the physical to the spiritual and this is where I think in our modern age, we have gotten off the rails.

I have heard lots of descriptions of this unnamed woman, about the things she has done. In particular, I have heard her being accused of being a prostitute. That is not how I read this passage. If you notice, Jesus in confronting her about her life does not tell her to stop doing what she is doing or something worse will happen to her like with the woman caught in adultery. He challenges how she has handled her life and the choices she has made. Jesus calls on her to make better choices. The first choice is to choose where she will find her worth: will it be with God or will it be in the current relationship she has? Will she choose to see her as God does or choose to blindly keep seeing herself has she hopes to be someday.

And in looking at herself, can she see what God sees? Is she willing to see how far God will come to get to her at the well, to show himself to her, and hope that she will can how she sees herself and thus the world around her?  That, in part and in parcel, is what worship is all about. It isn't about the kind of liturgy that is used. It is not about the building and how pretty it is. It is not about where you are or the building is that is important. What is essential is to recognize that God is already here and that we gather with Him.

We need to know what we mean to God which is why we read the Scriptures. In this way we learn what is in God’s heart and on God’s mind. We begin to discern what we are worth where God and his kingdom are concerned. We enter into the praise and worship that is constantly and consistently ongoing throughout the entire universe. We join in with that which is already going on. There will come a time when we won’t worry about what books were using. We won’t fret about the rain coming in through the roof. We would have to worry about what is in the collection plate because our hearts will be all that is required.

So how does all this play out in everyday life? Let me share something with you out of my own life and experience. Shortly after we went to our last parish, the community we lived in had a summer festival. During that festival, the local RCMP would raise funds for cancer research doing the “Shave for the Brave”. I was invited to join them and this of course necessitated me raising funds and joining them for the “Shave”. It was a humbling experience having my head shaved bald. But then I went one step further: I had my 19 year old mustache shaved off to honour my late father who had died of cancer a couple of years before. My wife and two boys had never seen me clean shaven and their reactions were priceless. People in the parish and community would ask me, “Why did you do such a thing?” In reply, I answered, “So that someone else might live.” It was so like the woman going back to town and telling people, “Come and meet the man who told me everything I ever did!” It drew people into places where spiritual conversations could begin and they could be drawn closer to the heart of the Father and to the kingdom.

Take the time this week, not only to have an encounter with Jesus, but also pray for the chance to allow others to see and know Christ in you: for you to offer the opportunity for them to come and meet Him who would rather die than live without them; who can tell them everything they ever did!

Jason+