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Rev. Will Malambri - "Could He Be?" · Belin Memorial UMC

• Belin Memorial UMC: ⁓ The Gospel lesson for today is from the Gospel according to John in the fourth chapter. Now when Jesus learned that the Pharisees had heard Jesus is making and baptizing more disciples than John, although it was not Jesus himself who baptized but his disciples. He left Judea and started back to Galilee, but he had to go through Samaria. So he came to a Samaritan city called Sikar near the plot of ground that Jacob had given to his son Joseph. Jacob's well was there and Jesus, tired out from 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. 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. 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 blocks drank from it? 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. Sir, give me this water so that I may never be thirsty or have to keep coming here to draw water. Go, call your husband and come back. I have no husband. 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. 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. 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 now is 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. I know that Messiah is coming. When he comes, he will proclaim all things to us. I am he, the one who is speaking to you. Just then Jesus' 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. 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 the sower and reaper may rejoice together. For here the saying holds true, one sows and another reaps. I sent you to reap that which you have not labored. Others have labored and you have entered into their labor. Many Samaritans from that city believed in him because of the woman's testimony. He told me everything I've 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, 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. This is the word of God for the people of God. Thanks be to God. Thank you Becky and Sam. We needed you. 42 verses on the morning that we turn our clocks backwards. We needed their voices to keep it interesting. We also needed them to help us recognize that we are invited into the story. That it's not just telling us of what happened then, but challenging us about what should be happening now. It's not just about those people. It's about us. Like how Jesus treated the Samaritan woman. Did you notice? It's not the interaction you would expect 22,000 years ago between a Jewish man and a Samaritan woman. Far more respectful than that. It a genuine conversation in which Jesus' respect for her was reciprocated by the Samaritan's woman respect for him. We see that though each of us, each of them thought enough of the other to engage. that each of them saw enough in each other to even argue, neither dismiss the other as being unworthy of the time, of having nothing truly important to offer. That wasn't expected between a man and a woman, a Jew and a Samaritan 2,000 years ago. None of that was. John points this out. Jesus asked for a drink and not having a drinking vessel of his own, the Samaritan woman asked how he planned to get that. He'd use hers. Unusual. John makes it clear. Jews do not share things in common with Samaritans, he says. The woman reminded Jesus that she was a woman in case he missed that point. The disciples had not. They were astonished, John reports, that Jesus was speaking with a woman. John Gazone will tell us that they, Jesus' disciples, the very people who should have been most comfortable with asking him the questions that were on their minds and hearts, dared not ask Jesus why he was in a conversation with a woman, while she, for whom that must have been at least unusual and more likely frightening, was engaging in a real conversation with real questions with Jesus. and he was open to her questions. In fact, the story reads as mutual sharing among people with differences, but where differences could be bridged by conversation instead of widened by indifference or derision. I like that we're shown that the woman was bold enough to ask questions of Jesus. I like questions. They open us up in ways that assertions do not. Think of the difference between you're wrong and How did you get to that conclusion? Tell me what led you there. I've been thinking a lot about aging lately and not just because you people keep talking about my hair. I was shooting basketball with some of the youth not too long ago. Did they raise the goal? It didn't seem so high up back in the day. aging. It opens you up to opportunities you never had before but it also has a way of reminding you of the things you once could do but cannot anymore. I heard recently that Michael Jordan wanted to rent someone's house for a golf tournament and the owner agreed that he could rent it with one condition. He said Michael Jordan had to shoot a free throw with his son. And the way the story goes, as I understood it, Michael Jordan said he was more afraid of that free throw than the 54 end of game, game on the line shots he took across his NBA career. Why? Because he hadn't shot in a while. And because he's been talked of as the greatest of all time. And because he's older. Now here the difference. Dad, you're older. You just can't do that anymore. Or, dad, did you know that Michael Jordan was more afraid of a free throw in a child's backyard than a game on the line shot? Because getting older has put some limitations even on him. Getting older is hard for everyone. It's tough to realize we can't do what we once could do, but there are other ways to contribute. What are some things you realistically might do these days? That could be a helpful question for adults who are rational. I have lot of questions to do about what to do for adults who are not. That conversation is so much more difficult. I pray for everyone who's dealing with that. Thankfully the Samaritan woman and Jesus were rational in their interaction. She asked good, honest questions. He gave her life-giving responses. For instance, she asked Jesus how he could possibly provide her with water, which gave him the opportunity to say he could offer something greater than the water she was imagining. She asked Jesus where he was going to get this greater water, this living water, which gave him the opportunity to say he offers something that gushes up to eternal life. She implied a question when she observed that her people worshiped on this mountain while the Jews said that you must worship in Jerusalem, which gave Jesus the chance to say, what is important is who we worship, not where, that the spirit of worship is reflected in the one who is worshiped. And then when the woman invited her Samaritan friends and neighbors to come and meet a man who told her everything about herself, she asked a very critical question. He cannot be the Messiah. Can he? The way the question is posed, there was still some doubt in it. A reminder that we don't have to have it all figured out before we invite others to come along and try to figure it out. Her invitation made her neighbors part of the exploration. And so explore they did. Contrary to what you may have heard about the Samaritan woman, clearly she had enough influence to not be dismissed by her townspeople. Whatever caused her to be a five time, five times without a husband, deaths, abandonment, mistreatment, whatever it was that put her in that position, those neighbors still listened to her and she shared. The Samaritan woman witnessed to her neighbors about Jesus. before she was fully sold on who Jesus was. Before she was absolutely certain that he was the Messiah, she had enough to say about him that made them curious to find out more. and was enough to help them to begin to believe that Jesus might be something. enough to make them want to spend a little more time with it. It was time that came about because of her earnest invitation. Because of her neighbors, earnest questions. Because of their invitation to invite Jesus to come and share. They wanted to spend time with Jesus and he wanted to spend time with them because you can't have a relationship with someone with whom you have never spent time. two days. Jesus stayed with people his fellow Jews thought of as less than Corrupted Enemies People to be pushed out and left aside Jesus' time with them vividly demonstrates what had been said of him in the chapter before. For God so loved our little group. For God so loved the people we love. No. For God so loved the world. that he gave his begotten son. Whatever people thought should have kept him from engaging with the Samaritans, it was not enough to turn Jesus away. Whatever the Samaritans had done was not enough to earn his condemnation or even his finger wagging. Every indication is he treated them with interest and respect, having meaningful discussions with people that his people thought were unworthy of his time. and what came of it. The Samaritan 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 truly is the savior of the world. Proving a scholar Gale O'Day writes, salvation may be from the Jews but it is not limited to the Jews. Ethnic and religious distinctions are dissolved in Jesus or as you may be more familiar hearing it the way Paul said it in Christ there is no longer Jew or slave or free male or female And how do we get there? With some good questions. a healthy and respectful dialogue, curiosity, invitations, time shared with Jesus that confirmed what the Samaritans had begun to believe. I like questions. Look where they can lead. So let me ask just a few more. If you're wondering if Jesus could be the Messiah, but spending time with him sounds too mystical at this point in your life. What might happen if you spent time with people who spend spend time with Jesus? If you're already spending time with Jesus but still have doubts, what might happen if like the Samaritan woman, you did not wait until you had all your doubts resolved, all your questions answered before you started inviting people in to helping you, to help them do some figuring out. For those of you who feel like you know Jesus pretty well, you're not struggling with doubts and questions these days. What might happen if you spend time with others on Jesus' behalf? I like questions. Today I'm wondering where those might lead.