Sermon: Lent 3, John 4:5-43 March 12, 2023. Rev. Veronica Alvarez

Sermon: Lent 3, John 4:5-43 March 12, 2023. Rev. Veronica Alvarez

Water – whether it be the well God opened in the dessert for Hagar and Ishmael, or the water from the rock at Massah and Meribah or the waters of the Jordan where God’s Spirit descended on Jesus…

Water has always been God’s Gift and way of saying: “I see your need, and I will respond to it. You don’t have to stay thirsty.”

Jesus and his disciples were on their way to Galilee, and they chose to go through the land of Samaria, the shortest route to get there. But it was not the most common route.

Many Jews took the longer route around Samaria to avoid contact with the Samaritan people. The dislike between the Jews and the Samaritans had lasted for generations. At the time of Jesus, the two groups had no dealings with each other.

The fact that Jesus chose this route is no accident. It is not random. It is part of Jesus' plan to reveal his identity as the Messiah, the Anointed One who would restore the nation of Israel and offer salvation to the world. And as proof of God's grace, Jesus went directly to "that town" to share his identity with the most unlikely person: a Samaritan woman.

Jesus sends his disciples into the city in search of food and waits for them by sitting near Jacob's well when the Samaritan woman approached.

He asked her for a drink. She was surprised that Jesus spoke to her for two reasons. One, men did not speak publicly to women. Two, she was a Samaritan, and the Jews had no dealings with Samaritans.

she answered: How is it that you, being a Jew, ask water of me, a Samaritan,".

Jesus answered, "If you knew the gift of God and who it is that is asking you for a drink, you would have asked him and he would have given you living water." 

The conversation is relaxed and rich in detail; with a constant back and forth Questions and answers and culminates in a revelation of secrets on both sides. It turns out that both Jesus and the woman of Samaria have much to reveal.

The woman goes to the well in search of water: one of the daily household chores. But she is also emotionally thirsty for a real encounter. We see this in the way she launches into deep conversation with Jesus.

It may be the first time in a long time that anyone has encountered her in this way: Jesus sees her, really sees her. Jesus meets her with respect, listens to her attentively and takes her spiritual questions seriously.

She is also spiritually thirsty. When she hears what Jesus offers her, she is immediately ready to receive the living water he promises her. "Lord, give me that living water, so that I will never be thirsty."

Normally we don't stop to think about Jesus' version. But we see that Jesus is thirsty as well.

His human nature thirsts physically for water. But his divine nature is also thirsty: thirsty to share his identity, His Messiahship and his living water.

God's thirst, manifested in Jesus, is to share his being with God's people.

Jesus is thirsty to reveal himself to the men and women who most need to hear the good news of reconciliation: in this case, the marginalized Samaritans, long separated from the Jews.

This is the reason of Jesus' insistence on coming to bring reconciliation between Samaritans and Jews: vs21. "But the hour is coming, and is already here, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and in truth, for the Father seeks those like them who worship him."

Jesus is thirsty for all people to be true worshipers of the Father. Jesus is thirsty to share with all people the secret of who He is.  And he chooses the woman at the well as a missionary to the Samaritans - of all people! Can you believe that?

A nameless woman with a painful past discovers that someone has "found" her and has finally loved her.  All the secrets this woman thought she had to hide are laid bare in the midday sun. The well, on that hot day in Samaria, becomes for half an hour, a place of acceptance, love and grace, where this woman's deepest spiritual and emotional thirst is quenched in Jesus.

And Jesus, who thirsts to reveal who He is to the people of God, but who does not have it easy with the Pharisees and the Jews of his time, has found another disciple in the Samaritan woman.

He found in her someone with eyes to see and ears to hear: a woman willing to see God in him.

Not everyone wanted the water that Jesus offered. Not everyone wanted to hear who Jesus really was: the Messiah, the Christ. But this woman did.

Her spiritual thirst opens her ears and her heart. In her thirst, she drinks the living water. She becomes one of the first Christian missionaries: and she hears something none of the disciples had ever heard. She hears Jesus' first self-declaration of his true nature.

"I AM”

"I AM" - The sacred Hebrew name for God - the one who IS, the spring of living water welling up to eternal life, able to quench even the most desperate thirst.

And thanks to that conversation, this woman is not only the first to know Jesus for who He is, but she is also the first to proclaim Him, who cannot wait to leave her water jar, to run and tell people that she has met the Messiah and that, by the way, He is practically at their door.

And thanks to his imperfect testimony, the people came to see Him for themselves... they came to taste the living water... and they believed.

We too have our wells, we come every day to this well to drink from it, in the hope of feeling satisfied and happy. These wells, are our wells of power, recognition, or whatever we want to call our well.  We drink, but we are never satisfied. The only way out is to abandon our wells and go to Jesus, the one who is the "living water".

God comes to meet us, even if we are far from Him; and sometimes He waits for us. Often, without knowing it, it is Jesus who comes to look for us, to open us to his Word. And if it is difficult for us to recognize him (and this often happens in our own lives...), Jesus reveals himself to us as he revealed himself to the Samaritan woman.

Jesus breaks all the boundaries of social and religious norms in this passage.

And in doing so, Jesus makes it clear that He is in love with humanity, no matter who they are, no matter their lifestyle, no matter their gender, no matter anything! And he treats everyone with dignity, respect, acceptance and love.

Jesus doesn't just cure us of what is wrong with us, but "wants to draw us into the divine life, to share his life with us."

Here, we have a clear example of what Jesus did do, and it is a powerful and challenging model.

Jesus goes to where the marginalized are and patiently awaits their arrival.

Jesus does not judge us by our past, our choices or our personal morality. On the contrary, he encourages us to recognize the truth about ourselves and to recognize who we really are.

Jesus comes to meet us where we are, listens to us, and offers us living water, free of charge, with no strings attached.

the woman who had gone alone to the well in broad daylight became an evangelist to all who would listen to her. Whatever her past history, she now had a new relationship with Jesus and a new purpose. God's living water flowed into her to give her new life.

For us too, whatever our past and present situation, whatever decisions we have had to make in our lives, we too can be transformed.

We can live a new life. By God's grace and power, we are being transformed. Like the woman at the well, we too can receive living water; we can learn to ask new questions, we can grow in faith. We may not evangelize our whole city, but we can also share what we know.

Living Water is a gift for those who believe in Jesus Christ. It is given when a person believes in Him. It flows into our heart cleansing us from all unrighteousness and flows out as rivers into each area of our life. 

This living water wasn’t available to us until Christ died and gave us the promise of eternal life. Just as the Rock in Exodus sprung forth water after it was struck by Moses, Jesus was struck and from His sacrifice we are given rivers of living water. The Rock is Christ who brings us salvation.

When we believe, Jesus, the fountain and source of the living waters enters our hearts. We are a temple of the Holy Spirit, and the living water of Christ cleanses us, makes a Holy place within our hearts for the Holy Spirit of God to dwell within us, and brings the promise of eternal life.

This morning, this room is Jacob's well, where we encounter one another as Jesus encountered the Samaritan woman: thirsty spiritually, but with open ears, listening to one another, encountering one another and encountering our blessed Christ.

If this morning your heart feels like a dry well, rejoice in the good news that living water gushes freely and abundantly for all who thirst. All you have to do is ask" Lord, give me that living water, so that I will never be thirsty." 😊

But, above all, this story teaches us the kind of water that can quench our thirst.

Jesus says "those who drink of the water that I will give them will never thirst".

God made thirst part of our nature because that thirst is what teaches us that we need God. We are incomplete, empty without God. We thirst because nothing but God can quench our thirst.

And the good news - the incomparable news - is that Jesus came to bring us living water, so that we will never thirst again.

God is all around us, among us and within us, alive and active in the world.  Jesus is the Living Water, and he waits patiently for us, because he loves us unconditionally.

My hope and prayer is that we will be open to accept the living water that Jesus offers us and that it will be a spring of water within us, spilling out into our community and our world, bringing others to the joy of knowing the abundant love of Our Lord . Amen