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Jesus struck that spiritual rock by striking a conversation with the Samaritan woman in simply asking her: “Give me a drink.” Whether or not, she would come to admit it in the beginning, she was deeply afflicted in her soul with a powerful thirst that only by dipping her bucket into conversation with Christ—she would come to know the truth. A truth that is, this thirst led her to eventually realize that the genuine well of Promise and salvation was the one standing right in front of her—Jesus!
The
Samaritan woman, in contrast to Nicodemus, was not only, out in the open, during
the daytime hours, but Jesus sought her out to pour upon her heart, His Words
of “liquid grace.” The Jews and the Samaritans had a long history of despising
and quarrelling with one another about everything and anything since their
lives were lived so differently. Both extended dialogues from the Gospel writer
John, however, reveal to us how Christ Jesus radically went past all human
barriers and exclusions to open their eyes of faith to bring them to bear
witness, share His Gospel.
The
concept of the well is a wonderful one, for no matter where you are, if you,
indeed, dig deep enough… you will find water.
You will be striking through a lot of rocks, however, to get down to the
actual source and this will take some time, some suffering endurance that
creates the character of Hope—faith.
Here’s another complex nebulous word, Faith. The truth is, though, we uses “little
smatterings” of faith in carrying out many of the tasks that we do daily. The secular world has buried the word and its’
spiritual encouragement, under a veritable desert of psychological and “feel-good”
remedies… but the Living Water, we are so desperately thirsting for, can only
be found through realizing God’s love, God’s gift to the world: Jesus Christ.
Realizing
and incorporating that Living Water after an intense conversation with Jesus,
led the Samaritan woman to even abandon her bucket to run into the Samaritan
village to begin proclaiming Christ.
Isn’t this a wonderful story of God’s saving grace? Jesus knew everything, and could see down the
well of her heart, to know where she truly was.
She, like us all in reality, is a sinner, but more importantly, she was
and is a child of grace and promise. Yes, you have heard that before but truly
that is what the Christian faithfully is to be, become. Getting that to sink
into our often “hardened-by-the world hearts,” takes being tested, and often,
testing God’s patience, as well, with us!
That’s
what’s so funny to imagine with this week’s Old Testament lesson… Here, were
the “Chosen” people, belly-aching and giving poor Moses, their pastor, a very
hard time. They not only escaped Egypt
with God’s help but even just got manna! They now were thirsty and impatient,
and frankly, most importantly, not putting their hope, and trust that things
will be looking up for them! Didn’t they realize that God was helping them
through this? We do this in our own
wilderness of sojourning the world as disciples of Jesus. That’s why our self-help culture makes so
much money upon peoples’ worries, complaining and belly-aching about anything
and everything, they have to be strong about to persevere. Who said
discipleship would ever be easy though? Has
it been for you? I think here, we are all in the same boat…
In
that same vein, who ever said that being and wandering the wilderness of the
world, as the Body, would, as well, “be easy?” Just the other day, I was
interviewed by a potential publisher for my thesis paper I wrote in finishing
seminary called: ‘Discipleship Training incorporating Worship and Preaching,’
from 2014. This paper was a wonderful
culmination of reflecting upon my special two year internship with the
Gathering for Christ, church plant.
Church planting sounds fairly direct—dig a place to lay down a
foundation and “plant” your church.
Truth be told, it is very hard—gotta strike a lot of rocks to have that
spiritual life come shooting up around you as the Body.
Sometimes
as well, those rocks are people! What do I mean by that? We come to gather as a community, as the Body
to lead and feed one another with God’s Living Word. Our gathering to worship and fellowship is
not only a time and a place to stir the spiritual waters within the well of the
soul, they are truly to build our hearts up to be just like that Samaritan woman. Be just like her in dropping that bucket of
all our emotional, sinful baggage down, and running faithfully forward to
carry, deliver the Good News abroad! Wouldn’t you have loved to have been there
and heard Jesus speaking to her, guiding her heart to realize who she really
was in His eyes?
God’s
love is a very hard thing for us to own up to.
We either cheapen the reality of His profound Grace given through Christ,
or we turn it into a legalized system of judgment and condemnation upon one
another… when we really, need to spiritually get down to work! The seed in the heart has been planted by
Christ Jesus’ redeeming and restorative Grace—it is now our task to live into
it. “Gotta live it, to give it,” is an
old discipleship model to motivate you to see God’s work active in your life
and how it teaches and sustains you.
Moses
is our Old Testament example of a pastor. In the New Testament, we know that is
St. Paul. Both figures were not only
obedient to God through faith but were justified by God’s grace. The Grace in the Old Testament comes from God
as the “helicopter parent” and instructor for Moses to continually bail out the
grumbling Israelites to wander their way home to the Promised Land. In the New Testament, as we well know, but
perhaps still truly struggle to understand, Jesus Christ died for us to free us
from our sin and restored us to a right relationship with God—justification.
Justification
by faith through Grace has many a writing composed in trying to understand just
who we are and what we are called to do, become. Sounds easy? Nope, another paradox of that
same nebulous word—Faith. The Samaritan woman at the well, probably came nearly
every other day, dropping that extended bucket down a seemingly endless tunnel…
hoping something soon would draw up. The
Body or community gathered plays into both of those roles. We are both seeking
to be led and fed, as well as we are still persevering dropping that bucket
even further down into that well to bring us New Life!
New
Life, being building communities—making sure that a planted organic community
of believers sees shoots rising. A
beautiful and hopeful Advent image comes to mind here, as well, in regards to
established church bodies seeking New Life.
This image is from the Prophet Isaiah: “A shoot shall come out from the
stump of Jesse, and a branch shall grow out of His roots.” In today’s Gospel, we have the tree of life,
Christ, extending Himself, showering His liquid Grace, to lead and feed a
Samaritan woman to become His disciple!
Why
this Gospel is our Lenten challenge, is that we are called in many ways. We are not only called to transform into the
children of Grace and Promise, God is hoping for us to be, but we are called to
reconcile and realize. Reconciliation is
a hard word for us to own up to. If we
can barely wrap our hearts in realizing what Christ Jesus gave us at the cross;
how on earth can we even look inward enough to DO the spiritual work needed
that God is calling us to do to know what love and grace really mean?
Realizing
God’s love and grace is the reality of the Kingdom of God. It is the reality of everlasting peace. It is a life-time’s journey that we will all
be wandering upon. It is a pathway
through the wilderness to that well-spring of all life. It is a glorious hope
that is humbly realized in the heart, that first church… A lot depends on whether you’re open to see,
hear and experience God in your very midst, on that journey with you. Faith is
a lot like the weather though, it is nebulous, unpredictable, stubborn, and
often dark… Sometimes, you just can’t
understand what it’s up to, at least in Chicago anyway… Chicago enjoyed really weird, snowless days
and vaguely teasing Spring-like temperatures throughout January and
February. Just this past week we got 5
inches of snow and it’s been a steady 20 something degrees out with seemingly
no end in sight! The greater point is, life is unpredictable but not
unchangeable.
There
is a bright New journey ahead for this family of Christ, as we prepare to bring
the Good News into the world, together. Let us embrace this goal side by side,
in the spirit of God’s everlasting peace and love that we, ourselves become
founts of blessing and graciousness to one another.
Let
us pray,
Lord
Jesus,
You
are our loving and ever-flowing fount of Grace
May
our hearts sing to You joyfully
That
You are our rock of Salvation, our Living Fount of liquid Grace
May
we drink in all that You have to feed and lead us
To
be and become disciples in mission
May
we grow to reconcile and transform our lives to Your Gospel
May
our hearts come to know it is well in our souls.
AMEN
March 19th, 2017; 3rd
Sunday in Lent; Year A; SOLA Lectionary
Sermon By: Reverend Nicole A.M.
Collins
Psalm 95:1-9; Exodus 17:1-7;
Romans 5:1-8; John 4:5-30, 39-42
~This sermon was delivered at First Congregational Church of Las Vegas on Sunday March 19th.
The video below was filmed at the Grace Hub's service which was held on Saturday March 18th:
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