{"id":1050,"date":"2020-03-15T11:01:32","date_gmt":"2020-03-15T15:01:32","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/croswellpresbyterian.org\/?p=1050"},"modified":"2020-03-27T11:47:40","modified_gmt":"2020-03-27T15:47:40","slug":"he-told-me-everything-john-45-42","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/croswellpresbyterian.org\/index.php\/2020\/03\/15\/he-told-me-everything-john-45-42\/","title":{"rendered":"He Told Me Everything! John 4:5-42"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

John 4:5-42<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

So he came to a\nSamaritan city called Sychar, near the plot of ground that Jacob had given to\nhis son Joseph. Jacob\u2019s well was there, and Jesus, tired out by his journey,\nwas sitting by the well. It was about noon. A Samaritan woman came to draw\nwater, and Jesus said to her, \u201cGive me a drink.\u201d (His disciples had gone to the\ncity to buy food.) The Samaritan woman said to him, \u201cHow is it that you, a Jew,\nask a drink of me, a woman of Samaria?\u201d (Jews do not share things in common\nwith Samaritans.) Jesus answered her, \u201cIf you knew the gift of God, and who it\nis that is saying to you, \u2018Give me a drink,\u2019 you would have asked him, and he\nwould have given you living water.\u201d The woman said to him, \u201cSir, you have no\nbucket, and the well is deep. Where do you get that living water? Are you\ngreater than our ancestor Jacob, who gave us the well, and with his sons and\nhis flocks drank from it?\u201d Jesus said to her, \u201cEveryone who drinks of this\nwater will be thirsty again, but those who drink of the water that I will give\nthem will never be thirsty. The water that I will give will become in them a\nspring of water gushing up to eternal life.\u201d The woman said to him, \u201cSir, give\nme this water, so that I may never be thirsty or have to keep coming here to\ndraw water.\u201d Jesus said to her, \u201cGo, call your husband, and come back.\u201d The\nwoman answered him, \u201cI have no husband.\u201d Jesus said to her, \u201cYou are right in\nsaying, \u2018I have no husband\u2019; for you have had five husbands, and the one you\nhave now is not your husband. What you have said is true!\u201d The woman said to\nhim, \u201cSir, I see that you are a prophet. Our ancestors worshiped on this\nmountain, but you say that the place where people must worship is in\nJerusalem.\u201d Jesus said to her, \u201cWoman, believe me, the hour is coming when you\nwill worship the Father neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem. You worship\nwhat you do not know; we worship what we know, for salvation is from the Jews.\nBut the hour is coming, and is now here, when the true worshipers will worship\nthe Father in spirit and truth, for the Father seeks such as these to worship\nhim. God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship in spirit and\ntruth.\u201d The woman said to him, \u201cI know that Messiah is coming\u201d (who is called\nChrist). \u201cWhen he comes, he will proclaim all things to us.\u201d Jesus said to her,\n\u201cI am he, the one who is speaking to you.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Just then his disciples came. They were astonished that he was speaking with a woman, but no one said, \u201cWhat do you want?\u201d or, \u201cWhy are you speaking with her?\u201d Then the woman left her water jar and went back to the city. She said to the people, \u201cCome and see a man who told me everything I have ever done! <\/a>He cannot be the Messiah, can he?\u201d They left the city and were on their way to him. Meanwhile the disciples were urging him, \u201cRabbi, eat something.\u201d But he said to them, \u201cI have food to eat that you do not know about.\u201d So the disciples said to one another, \u201cSurely no one has brought him something to eat?\u201d Jesus said to them, \u201cMy food is to do the will of him who sent me and to complete his work. Do you not say, \u2018Four months more, then comes the harvest\u2019? 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, \u2018One sows and another reaps.\u2019 I sent you to reap that for which you did not labor. Others have labored, and you have entered into their labor.\u201d Many Samaritans from that city believed in him because of the woman\u2019s testimony, \u201cHe told me everything I have ever done.\u201d 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, \u201cIt 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.\u201d<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sermon<\/p>\n\n\n\n

March 15,\n2020<\/p>\n\n\n\n

        Jesus\nspoke to a stranger at the well at Sychar. She was an outsider in many aspects.\nShe was not a Jew, but a Samaritan, Samaritans and Jews were not often friendly.\nShe was an unaccompanied woman, Jesus was not following community tradition,\ntalking to a woman he didn\u2019t know. Also, she came to the well mid-day, an\nunusual time, possibly because she was not well accepted in the community. She\nwas a 5 time widow, and living with a man who was not her husband. She lived on\nthe outside of community, and yet Jesus spoke to her and\nbroke multiple barriers.<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

        And\nnot only did Jesus ask her for water, he interacted with her by having a deep theological\nconversation. Jesus discussed how worship will soon change for both Jews and\nSamaritans. Jesus spoke of the living water. He shared with her. He shared his\nown knowledge of the world, and of God. Jesus shared respect with this woman,\nsomething she wasn\u2019t used to. And yet Jesus spoke to her, and talked of eternal\nlife.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

        Maybe\nthis is just what we need to think about today. We are in the midst of a pandemic.\nOur daily lives have been changed drastically. We don\u2019t get to worship together\nto save the weakest in our communities. I would surmise that none of us have\nexperienced this before. We are in a strange situation. We have to find a way\nforward, a way to be Christian in a new time. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Jesus was\nin a strange land, in a strange situation. He could have ignored her. He could\nhave waited for the disciples to arrive and get him a bucket. He could have\nwalked and found a different well, in a different town, a Jewish town.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

        But,\nJesus instead stopped in a Samaritan town, and talked to a ostracized Samaritan\nwoman about being the living water. This is the first time Jesus talked of\nbeing the living water, the first time he reached out to someone outside the\nJewish faith, the first time he spoke about someone\u2019s history without them\ntelling him.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

        Friends,\nthis is huge. Maybe it is only huge to me because we are living in a strange\ntime, a time when our neighbors, who we may or may not know, might need many\ndifferent kinds of help. If we look to Jesus for guidance, we find him reaching\nout when he could have easily walked on by. Even Jesus\u2019 disciples, when they\narrived, were surprised that Jesus was talking to this woman. And then not only\nthe woman, but many from the village came to belief by inviting Jesus to stay,\nand his acquiescence. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

        Jesus\ntalked to the woman at the well not only about what he wanted, but also what\nshe needed. He allowed her past to be known and verified her truthful\nstatement. Then Jesus shared the grace and love of God with the woman, allowing\nher to know that God\u2019s love is for all people. In agreeing to stay in the town,\nJesus touched other townspeople\u2019s lives, bringing them to transformative\nknowledge of God and God\u2019s son.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

        Who\nare we to relate to in this reading from John\u2019s gospel? Are we to see ourselves\nas the woman at the well, as recipients of good news, willing to go to town and\nshare it with friends? Or are we the towns- people, hearing good news from the\nwoman and following her back to the well? Or are we more like the disciples,\ncoming late to the conversation, wondering what was going on, then trying to\ncontrol Jesus and the distribution of his message?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

        In\nlight of our current situation, and all that is going on in our country as well\nas the world, I wonder if we are the disciples, coming late to the party and\nwondering what is going on. That may be how we are feeling, that may be\nactually where we are. But as many of us have experienced, God changes a lot of\nthings in our lives.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

        So\nI would like to think we are to experience ourselves as the woman at the well.\nAlthough we might have not led as colorful lives as that particular woman, all\nof us have felt ostracized from the community at one time or another. We have\nbeen the outsider, the one who has to go to the well when no one else is there.\nAnd all of us have experienced hearing the good news, and wanting to share with\nour community.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

        During\nthis time, in the midst of the social distancing we are experiencing, while we\nwait to see how bad this pandemic will be, while we wonder about our friends,\nneighbors, and loved ones near and far, let us assume to position as the woman\nat the well. Let us say, \u201cCome and see a man who told me everything I have ever\ndone!\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Then let\nour neighbors, who we have invited to know of Jesus through our actions, our\nwords, our reaching out in love, will be able to say, \u201cIt is no longer because\nof what you said that we believe, for we have heard for ourselves,\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

        These\nfew weeks, as we try to keep sanity in our homes and lives, I want us all to\nthink about our situation. Although we are not able to gather, although our\nschools are closed, our stores are having trouble keeping up with supposed\nneeds, and we have been invited to socially distance ourselves, there are good\nthings happening. I have seen people reaching out to others. I have witnessed\ncalls between friends, just to make sure things are ok. And I saw this online –\n\u201cI imagine all the closings and cancellations give people a sense of\nominousness. But its really a loving and giving act. We\u2019re sacrificing so we\ncan give nurses, doctors, and hospitals a fighting chance.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

        As\nwe continue our lives, let us try to take care, and let us live out our\nChristianity, sharing love and compassion. Let our lives and actions allow\nothers to see God\u2019s love, Jesus\u2019 kindness, and the Holy Spirit\u2019s presence with\nus all. As we continue, let God be with us all. Amen. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

John 4:5-42 So he came to a Samaritan city called Sychar, near the plot of ground that Jacob had given to his son Joseph. Jacob\u2019s 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 […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[45],"tags":[31,30,28,27],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/croswellpresbyterian.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1050"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/croswellpresbyterian.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/croswellpresbyterian.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/croswellpresbyterian.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/6"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/croswellpresbyterian.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1050"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/croswellpresbyterian.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1050\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1051,"href":"https:\/\/croswellpresbyterian.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1050\/revisions\/1051"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/croswellpresbyterian.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1050"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/croswellpresbyterian.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1050"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/croswellpresbyterian.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1050"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}