Sunday
03/15/20 - Sidney UMC
Sermon Title: “A man who told me everything I had
ever done!”
Old Testament
Scripture: Psalm 95
New Testament
Scripture: Romans 5:1-11
Gospel Lesson:
John 4:5-42
Dear brothers and
sisters in Christ, friends, welcome once again on this our Third Sunday in this
the Holy Season of Lent. In this season of Lent, we are invited to model Jesus’
Forty-Days of fasting and temptation in the wilderness. We are invited to give
up, give away, sacrifice, and to draw closer to Jesus Christ. In this Holy Season,
if we are giving something up, if we are giving things away, if we are making special
sacrifices, tearing down sin strongholds in our lives, or whatever we decide to
do to observe in this season of Lent, may it bring us closer to Christ and to
each other.
As we continue in the Season of Lent, we have a very power gospel
lesson this morning. One of my favorites. This lesson is from the gospel of John
and is once again, what many refer to as the story of the “Woman at the Well”.
Before getting into this more though, as an example of the
woman at the well, I want to talk to you for a minute about Mary. By Mary, I
mean Jesus’ mother Mary. In the gospel of Luke 1:26-38, we have the story of
the “Annunciation of Mary.” Cutting through this fancy language, this is the
story when the Angel Gabriel appeared to Mary and told her that she would bear the
Christ Child. Mary would carry, deliver, and would be the mother of our Lord
Jesus Christ (Lk. 1:26-38, NRSV).
Mary doesn’t resist or reject this request from God, delivered
through the Angel Gabriel. Perhaps Mary didn’t event think about the realities
that would surround her decision, as she just wanted to serve God.
As many of us know at this point, Mary was engaged or betrothed
to man named Joseph, Jesus’ soon to be adoptive father. Most scholars that I
have read or have heard, think the Mary was likely a teenager. Mary in fact,
may have been as young as fourteen years old, and Joseph was likely much older.
Since Joseph was likely financially established, he was in the position to furnish
Mary with a home, and the resources for a family.
In Nazareth, where Mary grew up and lived, the religious and
Jewish cultural beliefs were very traditional. Having a child outside marriage
was not something that was ok in Nazareth. Mary now found herself pregnant,
unmarried, and likely a teenager.
Now you can think back to your childhood, as to how a young
girl in this situation might have been regarded or treated here in Sidney.
Imagine about 2,000 years ago, and in a society that stoned people for egregious
sins. We don’t know this from the gospel of Luke, but I wonder how Mary was received
by her family and the community of Nazareth when she told them that she was pregnant?
She wasn’t yet married to Joseph and he was devastated, but
later would reconsider marrying Mary after having a visit from an angel in a
dream. I wonder though, how Mary’s parents reacted to her story that “God did
it?” I wonder how the community in Nazareth treated and regarded her after she
knew that she was pregnant? Oh, and by the way, after Jesus was born, he was
then brought back to Nazareth by Mary and Joseph and raised there. I wonder if
people continued to gossip and treat Mary, and maybe even Joseph differently.
Imagine being ostracized from society, from your church,
because the supposed sin that you committed was incredibly higher than everyone
else’s sins. We don’t know this for sure, but I can imagine that Mary’s parents,
family, and all of Nazareth were not happy to hear Mary’s news of her pregnancy.
They probably thought that she was lying to them, and that she had made a bad choice
that did end the way she had hoped.
Imagine if Mary was treated different from then on and
imagine what that would feel like. I would like to think that after Jesus was
brought home and raised in Nazareth that community would embrace them again,
but there are those unspoken parts of the scripture. How was Mary treated? I
can imagine not to well.
So, I am attempting this morning to tie in how Mary, Jesus’
mother may have been treated after announcing that she pregnant and unmarried.
If Mary was rejected by her parents, family, and all of Nazareth, I wonder how
the woman at the well felt this morning?
In getting into our gospel of John reading for this
morning, let us first look at our readings once again from Psalm 95 and Romans
5:1-11. Once again, in Psalm 95 we hear:
“O come, let us sing to the Lord; let us make a
joyful noise to the rock of our salvation! Let
us come into his presence with thanksgiving; let
us make a joyful noise to him with songs of praise!” (Ps. 95:1-2, NRSV).
This Psalm goes on to say that God is great, that God
created everything, is in control of everything, and we should listen to Him
and follow Him.
This morning, the Woman at the well was completely ostracized
from her community and the people that she loved. Did she love God? What do you
think?
In our reading from the Apostle Paul’s epistle or letter to
the Romans for this morning, we hear about what is needed to be forgiven and to
have eternal life with Jesus. This reading begins with one of my favorite verses
of scripture, Romans 5:1, which says:
“Therefore, since we are justified
by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ,” (Rom. 5:1, NRSV).
So according to the Apostle Paul, all we need to be good
enough, to be forgiven, is to have faith in Jesus Christ. Faith in Jesus is
enough, and we are called to do good works as an extension of our faith. How we
live and treat others should be because of our faith, not to save us. We might
even suffer for our faith Paul tells us, but this should give us the hope of
God in Jesus Christ. Through anything we have the love and the hope of Jesus
Christ. Jesus is our hope (Rom. 5:1-11, NRSV).
In looking more closely at our very lengthy gospel of John
reading for this morning, we once again have the story of the woman at the
well. Let’s look at this gospel lesson more closely. It says of Jesus:
“So
he came to a Samaritan city called Sychar, near the plot of ground that Jacob
had given to his son Joseph. Jacob’s well was there, and Jesus, tired out by
his journey, was sitting by the well. It was about noon. A Samaritan woman came
to draw water, and Jesus said to her, “Give me a drink.” (His disciples had
gone to the city to buy food.) The Samaritan woman said to him, “How is it that
you, a Jew, ask a drink of me, a woman of Samaria?” (Jews do not share things
in common with Samaritans.) Jesus answered her, “If you knew the
gift of God, and who it is that is saying to you, ‘Give me a drink,’ you would
have asked him, and he would have given you living water” (Jn. 4:5-10, NRSV).
So, Jesus sits by a well, engages a
woman he has never met from another culture, who is largely rejected by her
community. Jesus asks her to give him a drink. She is startled and asks Jesus why
he would break the cultural norms, speak to her, and ask her for some water.
Jesus then begins to explain who he is and talks about giving the woman “living
water”.
Then the gospel says:
“The woman said to him, “Sir, you have no
bucket, and the well is deep. Where do you get that living water? Are you
greater than our ancestor Jacob, who gave us the well, and with his sons and
his flocks drank from it?” Jesus said to her, “Everyone who drinks of this
water will be thirsty again, but those who drink of the water that I will give
them will never be thirsty. The water that I will give will become in them a
spring of water gushing up to eternal life.” The woman said to him, “Sir, give
me this water, so that I may never be thirsty or have to keep coming here to
draw water” (Jn.
4:11-15, NRSV).
Jesus
then, knowing the woman at the well’s story and history says:
“Jesus said to her, “Go,
call your husband, and come back.” The woman answered him, “I have no husband.”
Jesus said to her, “You are right in saying, ‘I have no husband’; for you have
had five husbands, and the one you have now is not your husband. What you have
said is true!” The woman said to him, “Sir, I see that you are a prophet. Our
ancestors worshiped on this mountain, but you say that the place
where people must worship is in Jerusalem” (Jn. 4:16-20, NRSV).
If Jesus’ mother Mary was cast out by
her parents, her family, and the people of Nazareth, this woman at the well was
certainly cast out to. Jesus, nevertheless, goes to her, as he went to all
people. Yet, Jesus still invites her to change and to turn from her sin and her
wrongdoing.
After this, the gospel
lesson then says:
“Jesus said to her, “Woman, believe me,
the hour is coming when you will worship the Father neither on this mountain
nor in Jerusalem. You worship what you do not know; we worship what we know,
for salvation is from the Jews. But the hour is coming, and is now here, when
the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for the Father
seeks such as these to worship him. God is spirit, and those who worship him
must worship in spirit and truth.” The woman said to him, “I know that Messiah
is coming” (who is called Christ). “When he comes, he will proclaim all things
to us.” Jesus said to her, “I am he, the one who is speaking to you” (Jn. 4:21-26, NRSV).
Jesus, “Friend of Sinners,” as is one
of his many biblical titles, went to a woman whose community had rejected her.
So rejected, that this woman went daily get water in the hot noon-time sun,
when no one else was around. Jesus goes to this woman whose own community has
shunned and discarded her. Jesus sees her value, and further, invites her to
turn from her sin and follow him.
Then suddenly, Jesus’ disciples show
back up. The gospel then says:
“Just then his disciples came. They were
astonished that he was speaking with a woman, but no one said, “What do you
want?” or, “Why are you speaking with her?” Then the woman left her water jar
and went back to the city. She said to the people, “Come and see a man who told
me everything I have ever done! He cannot be the Messiah, can he?” They
left the city and were on their way to him” (Jn. 4:27-30, NRSV).
This woman who was cast out, was
called by Jesus, forgiven, and transformed. The gospel then says:
“Meanwhile the disciples
were urging him, “Rabbi, eat something.” But he said to them, “I have food to
eat that you do not know about.” So the disciples said to one another, “Surely
no one has brought him something to eat?” Jesus said to them, “My food is to do
the will of him who sent me and to complete his work. Do you not say, ‘Four
months more, then comes the harvest’? But I tell you, look around you, and see
how the fields are ripe for harvesting. The reaper is already receiving wages
and is gathering fruit for eternal life, so that sower and reaper may rejoice
together. For here the saying holds true, ‘One sows and another reaps.’ I sent
you to reap that for which you did not labor. Others have labored, and you have
entered into their labor” (Jn. 4:31-38, NRSV).
Jesus is saying that he has come to
redeem everyone. This mean all people, and that all people are invited to repent
of our sins, and to turn and to follow him.
This gospel lesson once again ends by
saying”
“Many
Samaritans from that city believed in him because of the woman’s testimony, “He
told me everything I have ever done.” So when the Samaritans came to him, they
asked him to stay with them; and he stayed there two days. And many more
believed because of his word. They said to the woman, “It is no longer because
of what you said that we believe, for we have heard for ourselves, and we know
that this is truly the Savior of the world” (Jn. 4:39-42, NRSV).
The woman at the well, was rejected, sinful, lowly, and
likely was feeling broken and unworthy. Jesus, “Friend of Sinners,” goes to
her, forgives her, tells her to turn from her sin, and to live for him. This
broken woman is now restored and through the word of her testimony and Jesus
himself, many people came to believe in Jesus Christ. Jesus came for us all.
As some of you know I have been part of year long
leadership training cohort. The model of this leadership that we are learning,
and that our entire Upper New York Annual Conference is embracing, is called
the “L3” model. This model is to Love, Learn, and Lead.
Jesus radically loved all people. Jesus got to know all
people, even the people that society rejected. Jesus loved them, listen to
them, and the led them to forgiveness, redemption, and new life in him. My training
that I have undertaking the past seven months, has been to further help me and
us all to better Love, Learn, and Lead.
Friends, how many women at the wells do we have in this
community? How many people are broken, cast out, and feel unloved. Jesus went
to all people. Are we willing to love those around us, to love the people that
we work with, and that live nearby us with the love of Christ?
Further, are willing to sit and listen to there stories,
and learn from them. Are willing to not just love them, but to hear what they
have been through.
Lastly, are willing to lead them to Jesus Christ? I think that
the Sidney UMC does the “L3” model very well. We love others, we learn from them,
and we then led them to Christ. Jesus came for us all, but he didn’t want us to
stay the same. Jesus came to the woman at the well, but he also invited her to repent
of her sin and change. Jesus came for us all, out of love, but to change us.
Every person that visits this church, every person we encounter
that is rejected or outcast, is another person that Christ wants us to love.
These people have hurts, stories, and pains. If we listen to them, if we sit
with them in coffee hour, and care about them, then maybe, just maybe, God can
use us to lead them to Christ.
Jesus loved, learned, and led. As a church, may we be like
Jesus, loving all, learning about them, and leading them to Christ. Jesus came
for us all, even the lowly, even a rejected woman at a well. Amen.
No comments:
Post a Comment