Latest / Faith at Work / Will You Give Me a Drink?

Transcript

Will You Give Me a Drink? · Faith at Work

• 0:00
  SPEAKER_01: We have been re-imagining the scene this morning.
• 0:06
  SPEAKER_01: It's noon, the hottest part of the day.
• 0:11
  SPEAKER_01: A Samaritan woman comes to draw water from an old well,
• 0:19
  SPEAKER_01: and no respectable woman draws water at noon.
• 0:28
  SPEAKER_01: At least, that is what we have been told forever.
• 0:34
  But nothing really in the text leads us to believe that she is
• 0:41
  not respected.
• 0:44
  SPEAKER_01: Nothing leads us to believe that she is ashamed of her life,
• 0:49
  SPEAKER_01: or timid,
• 0:50
  SPEAKER_01: or any of the things that we have always been taught.
• 0:54
  SPEAKER_01: Instead, it is the opposite.
• 0:58
  She seems to be a very capable and well-respected woman in her
• 1:04
  community who has
• 1:06
  become self-actualized through what appears to have been a
• 1:11
  difficult life of
• 1:13
  SPEAKER_01: suffering relationships.
• 1:16
  In the ancient world,
• 1:18
  women were commonly married off for economic or political
• 1:23
  reasons.
• 1:24
  divorced at a husband's discretion,
• 1:28
  and left dependent on male protection for survival.
• 1:33
  Repeated marriages could easily signal abandonment,
• 1:40
  widowhood,
• 1:42
  or exploitation.
• 1:44
  The picture that we get from her conversation with Jesus is
• 1:49
  that she is someone
• 1:51
  SPEAKER_01: with charisma,
• 1:53
  SPEAKER_01: with a lot of spark and resilience.
• 1:56
  SPEAKER_01: Whatever has happened in her life, she hasn't been beaten down by it.
• 2:02
  She is full of anger,
• 2:05
  assertive,
• 2:06
  questioning,
• 2:07
  thoughtful,
• 2:10
  not afraid of fraud,
• 2:12
  and challenged.
• 2:14
  We must not miss this encounter as a comparison and contrast
• 2:21
  with Jesus' encounter
• 2:23
  SPEAKER_01: with Nicodemus just a few verses prior.
• 2:27
  SPEAKER_01: Male and female, powerful and vulnerable.
• 2:34
  SPEAKER_01: and Samaritan,
• 2:35
  SPEAKER_01: respected insider and marginalized outsider,
• 2:40
  SPEAKER_01: midnight,
• 2:41
  SPEAKER_01: midday,
• 2:42
  SPEAKER_01: slow conversion and quick conversion,
• 2:45
  SPEAKER_01: reflection and witness.
• 2:50
  SPEAKER_01: So let's reframe it a little bit.
• 2:56
  At the well of Jacob,
• 2:58
  this capable woman finds a man sitting in the hot sun.
• 3:03
  SPEAKER_01: A silly Jewish man, a stranger.
• 3:06
  SPEAKER_01: He is the outsider.
• 3:08
  Here,
• 3:08
  the one who should know better than to sit out in the heat of
• 3:12
  the day.
• 3:14
  SPEAKER_01: Doesn't he know he should find some shame?
• 3:18
  SPEAKER_01: Doesn't he know he should not be in this place?
• 3:23
  SPEAKER_01: Silly man, he must have thought.
• 3:27
  SPEAKER_01: And the first words out of Jesus' mouth are a request, a vulnerability.
• 3:37
  SPEAKER_01: Will you give me a drink?
• 3:40
  And in those few verses,
• 3:43
  we find ourselves standing at the intersection of
• 3:48
  transgression,
• 3:49
  his,
• 3:51
  and transformation,
• 3:53
  hers,
• 3:54
  of need,
• 3:55
  Jesus,
• 3:56
  and gift,
• 3:57
  of the ordinary and the sacred.
• 4:02
  SPEAKER_01: He had to go through Samaria.
• 4:04
  SPEAKER_01: That's what verses 4 and 5 tell us.
• 4:07
  The text begins with a geographical note that is in fact a
• 4:14
  theological statement.
• 4:18
  SPEAKER_01: had to go through Samaria.
• 4:21
  In Greek,
• 4:22
  the verb is a day,
• 4:24
  and it means had to or it was necessary,
• 4:29
  divine necessity.
• 4:32
  SPEAKER_01: This word appears throughout the Gospel of John at pivotal moments.
• 4:38
  SPEAKER_01: The Son of Man must be lifted up, John 3, 14.
• 4:41
  SPEAKER_01: So this is not mere geography.
• 4:47
  SPEAKER_01: This is about the mission.
• 4:51
  SPEAKER_01: Here is what makes that remarkable.
• 4:54
  SPEAKER_01: Most Jewish travelers of this day went around Samaria,
• 5:01
  SPEAKER_01: even though it took longer and it cost more.
• 5:06
  SPEAKER_01: The hostility between the Jews and the Samaritans ran deep.
• 5:14
  SPEAKER_01: Centuries deep, in fact.
• 5:16
  SPEAKER_01: It had roots in the Assyrian conquest,
• 5:19
  SPEAKER_01: in disputed temples,
• 5:21
  SPEAKER_01: in competing claims to the covenant of Abraham.
• 5:25
  SPEAKER_01: Samaritans were not simply foreigners.
• 5:29
  SPEAKER_01: They were reviled neighbors.
• 5:33
  SPEAKER_01: The kind of people you cross the street to avoid or deport.
• 5:40
  SPEAKER_01: And yet, Jesus had
• 5:43
  SPEAKER_01: Go there.
• 5:45
  SPEAKER_01: John's gospel is telling us something.
• 5:48
  SPEAKER_01: This encounter is not accidental.
• 5:52
  SPEAKER_01: It is not incidental with this woman.
• 5:55
  The grace of God does not take detours around the people
• 6:01
  society has written off.
• 6:04
  The ones who we errantly see as disreputable,
• 6:10
  without value,
• 6:12
  sinful,
• 6:13
  or incapable of any good.
• 6:18
  SPEAKER_01: Verse 6, the hour and the place.
• 6:22
  SPEAKER_01: John notes with journalistic precision,
• 6:25
  SPEAKER_01: Jesus,
• 6:26
  SPEAKER_01: tired out by his journey,
• 6:29
  SPEAKER_01: was sitting by the well.
• 6:31
  SPEAKER_01: It was about noon.
• 6:34
  SPEAKER_01: Notice the humanity here in these verses.
• 6:38
  SPEAKER_01: Jesus is tired.
• 6:42
  SPEAKER_01: The Greek word is, worn out, exhausted from labor.
• 6:51
  SPEAKER_01: The word made flesh has feet that ache.
• 6:59
  SPEAKER_01: This is John's profound paradox.
• 7:03
  SPEAKER_01: The one who will offer living water is himself parched and weary.
• 7:10
  He sits not on a throne,
• 7:13
  but on the edge of a well in the heat of the day.
• 7:18
  SPEAKER_01: The well image itself is laden with me.
• 7:23
  SPEAKER_01: This is Jacob's well.
• 7:27
  SPEAKER_01: The well of the patriarch.
• 7:29
  SPEAKER_01: The well beside which the people of Israel were formed.
• 7:36
  SPEAKER_01: Wells in the ancient world were not just water sources,
• 7:41
  SPEAKER_01: they were gathering places,
• 7:43
  SPEAKER_01: coveted places.
• 7:46
  SPEAKER_01: Think of Abraham's servant finding Rebekah at a well.
• 7:51
  SPEAKER_01: Think of Jacob meeting Rebekah at a well.
• 7:55
  Well far where God's story and Israel had repeatedly been
• 8:01
  meaning and right.
• 8:05
  SPEAKER_01: Noon, then, is also significant.
• 8:09
  SPEAKER_01: Noon in the Palestinian sun is not the hour one throws a party.
• 8:18
  SPEAKER_01: One only goes out.
• 8:20
  SPEAKER_01: or stays out at noon by a well, if one must, a day.
• 8:30
  SPEAKER_01: We do not know for certain why this woman had to come at noon.
• 8:35
  SPEAKER_01: The text does not tell us,
• 8:37
  SPEAKER_01: and we should resist filling in its silences with judgment,
• 8:42
  SPEAKER_01: because Jesus clearly offers none.
• 8:46
  What we know is that she needed to come at noon,
• 8:51
  and Jesus was already there.
• 8:57
  SPEAKER_01: Verse 7, a request that transgresses.
• 9:01
  SPEAKER_01: Give me a drink.
• 9:03
  SPEAKER_01: Four words in English, then in Greek, three words.
• 9:10
  SPEAKER_01: They are words of utter love.
• 9:13
  SPEAKER_01: and uttered transgression.
• 9:19
  SPEAKER_01: In one breath, Jesus has crossed a gender barrier.
• 9:24
  SPEAKER_01: Jewish men did not speak publicly with women.
• 9:28
  SPEAKER_01: They did not know an ethnic barrier.
• 9:33
  SPEAKER_01: Jews and Sumerians did not share vessels.
• 9:37
  The very cup that she would have handed him would render him
• 9:43
  ritually impure by
• 9:45
  SPEAKER_01: Pharisaic standards and a social barrier.
• 9:51
  SPEAKER_01: She is a woman of undefined reputation.
• 9:56
  SPEAKER_01: He is a rabbi.
• 10:00
  SPEAKER_01: There is something profound in this for us.
• 10:04
  SPEAKER_01: The ministry of Jesus does not begin here with power.
• 10:09
  SPEAKER_01: It begins with vulnerability.
• 10:12
  SPEAKER_01: He does not arrive at the well saying, I have something you need.
• 10:17
  SPEAKER_01: He arrives saying, I need something.
• 10:21
  SPEAKER_01: You have to.
• 10:23
  This is an act of profound respect and acknowledgement that
• 10:28
  this woman has something to offer.
• 10:30
  SPEAKER_01: That she is not only a recipient of grace, but a participant in it.
• 10:38
  SPEAKER_01: Verse 9, the woman's question at the world's walls.
• 10:44
  SPEAKER_01: To this request, she does not run, nor does she comply.
• 10:50
  SPEAKER_01: Instead, she gets snarky and pushes back.
• 10:55
  SPEAKER_01: How is it that you, a Jew, ask of me, a woman of Samaria, for a drink?
• 11:05
  SPEAKER_01: I see Jesus smiling here.
• 11:09
  SPEAKER_01: I hear him thinking,
• 11:12
  SPEAKER_01: tightly and worthy theological conversation.
• 11:18
  SPEAKER_01: She names what everyone else is pretending not to notice.
• 11:23
  She forces the conversation to be honest about the walls
• 11:28
  between them and within
• 11:30
  SPEAKER_01: the religio-societal tapestry of her day.
• 11:35
  SPEAKER_01: And in so doing, she models something we often lack, the willingness
• 11:43
  SPEAKER_01: Name the divisions instead of pretending they aren't there.
• 11:50
  SPEAKER_01: John adds a note for his readers who might not know the back story.
• 11:55
  SPEAKER_01: Jews do not share things in common with Samaritans.
• 12:02
  SPEAKER_01: The Greek behind this is even sharper.
• 12:04
  SPEAKER_01: It can mean that Jews do not use the same vessels as Samaritans.
• 12:09
  SPEAKER_01: That's how I got the previous part.
• 12:11
  SPEAKER_01: To share a cup was to share a life.
• 12:16
  SPEAKER_01: And lives like theirs were not supposed to touch.
• 12:24
  SPEAKER_01: But Jesus came to change all of that.
• 12:29
  So this woman's question is the questioning of every age of
• 12:34
  Jesus-centered people
• 12:37
  who choose to love their neighbor in opposition of society's
• 12:43
  mandate to do
• 12:45
  SPEAKER_01: otherwise.
• 12:48
  SPEAKER_01: Why are you talking to me?
• 12:49
  SPEAKER_01: Why are you crossing the line that everyone holds?
• 12:52
  SPEAKER_01: Why are you refusing to pretend that I am not worth your attention?
• 12:58
  SPEAKER_01: Jesus responds with a gift that reframs everything.
• 13:04
  SPEAKER_01: Verse 10.
• 13:06
  SPEAKER_01: Jesus' answer is refreshing.
• 13:09
  SPEAKER_01: He doesn't explain himself.
• 13:11
  SPEAKER_01: He does not justify the boundary crossing.
• 13:15
  SPEAKER_01: He says instead,
• 13:16
  SPEAKER_01: if you knew the gift of God and who it is that is saying to you,
• 13:20
  SPEAKER_01: give me a drink,
• 13:22
  SPEAKER_01: you would ask him and he would have given you living water.
• 13:28
  SPEAKER_01: Living water.
• 13:31
  SPEAKER_01: That phrase carries double meaning that the woman herself understood.
• 13:38
  SPEAKER_01: In everyday Greek,
• 13:40
  SPEAKER_01: hydrazon means simply running water,
• 13:43
  SPEAKER_01: the fresh flowing water of a spring or a stream,
• 13:48
  SPEAKER_01: as opposed to stagnant cistern water.
• 13:53
  SPEAKER_01: But in the Hebrew and the Samaritan tradition,
• 13:57
  SPEAKER_01: The phrase resonates with deep waters of God's own life.
• 14:03
  SPEAKER_01: The Torah as living water, the Spirit as living water.
• 14:09
  SPEAKER_01: Jeremiah chapter 2 verse 13 calls God the fountain of living waters.
• 14:16
  SPEAKER_01: Israel, Jacob's family line, who dug this well, had forsaken.
• 14:26
  SPEAKER_01: Jesus is making an extraordinary claim.
• 14:30
  SPEAKER_01: He is saying, guess what?
• 14:33
  SPEAKER_01: This silly man sitting before you,
• 14:36
  SPEAKER_01: dusty-footed and thirsty,
• 14:40
  SPEAKER_01: with all these crazy ideas of breaking down barriers between people,
• 14:47
  SPEAKER_01: is himself the source of what you most deeply need.
• 14:55
  SPEAKER_01: The one who asks for a drink is the one who gives drink to the world.
• 15:03
  SPEAKER_01: But notice the structure, verse 10 here.
• 15:07
  SPEAKER_01: It is conditional.
• 15:09
  SPEAKER_01: If you knew, you would have asked.
• 15:12
  SPEAKER_01: Jesus is not imposing a gift here.
• 15:15
  SPEAKER_01: He is opening a door.
• 15:17
  SPEAKER_01: He is inviting her into a new way of seeing the world.
• 15:24
  To recognize who is speaking to her and to let that recognition
• 15:30
  reshape everything
• 15:32
  SPEAKER_01: that she knows about boundaries and living and God.
• 15:40
  SPEAKER_01: Living in the past.
• 15:41
  SPEAKER_01: There are three invitations for Lent here.
• 15:45
  SPEAKER_01: So what do we do with all of this?
• 15:48
  SPEAKER_01: What three Sundays?
• 15:52
  SPEAKER_01: We are at the third Sunday of Lent, sorry.
• 15:54
  SPEAKER_01: And in this season of seeking and asking questions,
• 15:58
  SPEAKER_01: John 4 gives us three invitations this morning.
• 16:03
  SPEAKER_01: First, let Jesus ask something of you.
• 16:08
  SPEAKER_01: We are comfortable with Jesus who gives us.
• 16:13
  SPEAKER_01: We are less comfortable with a Jesus who needs,
• 16:16
  SPEAKER_01: who comes to us tired of it all,
• 16:20
  SPEAKER_01: tired of the status quo,
• 16:22
  SPEAKER_01: who asks us to offer something and step over the boundaries.
• 16:28
  But this text suggests that the encounter with Jesus begins not
• 16:33
  with our need being
• 16:35
  SPEAKER_01: filled,
• 16:36
  SPEAKER_01: but with our capacity to do something being recognized by Jesus.
• 16:42
  SPEAKER_01: What is Jesus asking of you this Lent?
• 16:45
  SPEAKER_01: That's what this tree is all about.
• 16:50
  SPEAKER_01: What after service,
• 16:51
  SPEAKER_01: what release of her grievance,
• 16:54
  what crossing of a boundary you have maintained for years might
• 17:00
  be the cup he is
• 17:02
  SPEAKER_01: asking you to offer him.
• 17:08
  SPEAKER_01: Second, we need to name the walls honestly.
• 17:12
  SPEAKER_01: The woman at the well did not pretend division wasn't there.
• 17:17
  SPEAKER_01: She named it.
• 17:19
  Reconciliation and community do not begin with the pretense
• 17:24
  that we are all the
• 17:25
  SPEAKER_01: same,
• 17:26
  SPEAKER_01: that the walls don't exist,
• 17:29
  SPEAKER_01: and that we are not polarized.
• 17:32
  They begin with the honest acknowledgement of what has
• 17:36
  separated us and the
• 17:37
  SPEAKER_01: decision,
• 17:39
  SPEAKER_01: like both the woman and Jesus,
• 17:41
  SPEAKER_01: to cross over anyway and to change things.
• 17:47
  SPEAKER_01: Who are your Samaritan or machine?
• 17:52
  SPEAKER_01: What's the well you must go to?
• 17:57
  SPEAKER_01: And third, ask what you most deeply need.
• 18:02
  SPEAKER_01: Jesus said, if you knew the gift of God, you would ask.
• 18:07
  SPEAKER_01: Lent is an invitation into the honesty of asking.
• 18:11
  SPEAKER_01: What is God asking us to realize we need so that we can ask God for it?
• 18:21
  In the rest of the story beyond our text today,
• 18:24
  the woman leaves her water jar at the well.
• 18:27
  She came to the water and she left without it because she had
• 18:33
  found something that
• 18:34
  SPEAKER_01: made ordinary water seem suddenly unnecessary.
• 18:41
  SPEAKER_01: She goes back to the city and she begins to talk.
• 18:46
  This woman who needed to go to the well at noon now becomes the
• 18:51
  needed first
• 18:53
  SPEAKER_01: evangelist in John's Gospel.
• 18:57
  SPEAKER_01: May it be so with us as well.