The readings on which this
sermon is based can be found at: http://frsparky.net/a/r014.htm
s014g14 Lent 3 23/3/2014
'The water that I will give will become in them a spring of
water gushing up to eternal life.’ John 4.14
Jesus doesn’t just wish to accept a drink from this woman,
this heretic, this person of dubious morality; he ordains her
a minister and an apostle of the good news to the
Samaritans. And it is precisely the utter
unlikelihood of this ordination that should cause us to
pause. How many other people has God ordained and
put around us, most often the unlikeliest of people, people
who aren't wearing white dresses, to give us some of the
living water of God? If the living water
just comes out of one hose, God or one's pastor - how many
others are missing out? Why would anyone worship a
'god' such as this? Did God send Jesus to die and
to rise again just for the community of the church, and if so
doesn’t this imply that God hates everyone else and condemns
them to a life without an appreciation of the love of God for
all, and then blames ‘christians’ for it? Is the
acceptance that people other than those who call themselves
‘christian' extend towards people regardless of their faith or
lack thereof - not of God? Or to ask the same
question the other way around, is the lack of acceptance and
affirmation of those who call themselves ‘christian’ towards
those who do not - in the spirit of the love of Jesus,
something that God demands to be counted faithful, or
conducive to the well-being and peace of society as a
whole? Does a faithful literal reading of the bible
demand rejection and condemnation of anyone who doesn’t call
themselves ‘christian’, who holds sincere doubts, or who
chooses to share intimacy with someone of their own
gender? Well, there are many who do believe this
of the bible, but not I!
The ordination of this woman is done far from synagogue,
temple, mosque and church! So God is active
outside of synagogue, temple, mosque and church!
It comes back to that single hose problem. Who
misses out if God is restricted to synagogue, temple, mosque
and church? And if God is restricted to the
dictates of ‘christian’ theology, ‘christian’ tradition, a
particular reading of scripture or theory of atonement, who
misses out? Literally millions!
And this ordination of the woman happens naturally, no ‘laying
on of hands with prayer’ (1) ; she doesn’t need to be cajoled,
exhorted or threatened to exercise it.
And I suspect that it is precisely the fact that she was a
woman, a heretic and a person of dubious morality that
impressed her neighbours to realise that Jesus was instituting
something completely new, something which included and
affirmed all people. If Jesus could ordain this
woman, the lowest of the low in terms of religious status,
clearly anyone could be included irrespective of gender, creed
or morality.
For we need to see that Jesus ordains this woman to affirm and
include her neighbours, not to follow Jesus - or to put it the
other way around, we follow Jesus by affirming and including
others, regardless of gender, creed or morality.
The old distinctions between Jew and Gentile, and therefore by
extension, between saint and sinner, male and female, rich and
poor, gay and straight are done away with.
And Jesus achieves all this by confessing his thirst and
asking for a drink! I notice that when the
disciples return they have to urge him to eat, yet he
dismisses their urging. He confesses his need of
sustenance to the stranger, the woman, the heretic, the person
of dubious morality. By contrast the church
‘proclaims the good news’ by only eating with the
appropriately initiated; and telling others, strangers, women,
heretics, and those of dubious morality how they need to
measure up and become appropriately initiated before they can
be fed with the bread of life and the cup of salvation.
When will the church confess her need for people beyond those
who have been appropriately initiated like
themselves? When will the church realise that this
is the key to the kingdom?
I observe that this conversation with the Samaritan woman
comes after the miracle of the changing of the water into wine
at Cana of Galilee, initiated by Jesus’ mother, with Jesus
reluctantly complying. I am lead to contrast
Jesus' reluctance to ‘do a miracle’ to display his power (with
his mother able to bathe in some reflected glory) and Jesus
here ordaining the most unlikely of people, magnifying
her. Jesus seeks to magnify others and surely we
as the church are called to do likewise. Following
the Cana miracle we hear Jesus and the representative of
orthodoxy conversing, and Nicodemus being told he must be born
again - to be hungry and thirsty - and so to allow others to
minister to him. Again, we are called as church to
do likewise!
When we as church magnify Jesus are we, perhaps like Mary,
expecting to bathe in some of Jesus’ reflected glory, by a
sort of spiritual osmosis?
The Samaritan woman went to her neighbours with the testimony:
‘Come and see a man who told me everything I have ever
done!’ And her neighbours did! What an
unlikely reaction to such a testimony. As a priest
I suspect that some people avoid me because they fear that I
have some divine ESP, so that, of course, I know all their
sins. I understand that psychiatrists have the
same dilemma - people avoid them because they think the
‘shrink' knows what they are thinking! So if I was
told to come and meet someone who might know all the things I
have done wrong in my life - I would run the other way!
No, something else is happening here. The woman’s
testimony is not just that Jesus has divine knowledge, but
that despite knowing her background, it actually didn’t
matter. Jesus didn’t care, he still asked this
woman, this heretic, this person of dubious morality for a
drink, he still engaged her in conversation, he still ordained
her to be a minister and an apostle of the good news!
And the testimony of the woman is not: He forgave my past
indiscretions, but the question: ‘He cannot be the Messiah,
can he?’ She doesn’t feel compelled to force others to
believe. She allows others to listen, to think and
to make up their own minds. This is a mark of a
Messiah for all, rather than just another sectarian leader.
And Jesus accepts their invitation to stay in the Samaritan
town; he accepts hospitality from more heretics!
The town was convinced, not by Jesus’ words but by his
actions; by his willingness to share table fellowship with
others. I am glad to be alerted to the saying on
‘Kissing Fish”: ‘The world doesn’t want to be
saved. It wants to be loved. (That’s
how you save it) - Unknown’.
And I reflect that all this happened while the disciples were
elsewhere! Actually I think this whole incident
wouldn’t have happened had the disciples been
around. How often do we, as disciples, get in the
way of Jesus? Clearly the disciples would have
disapproved of him speaking to a woman and a
heretic. Much of the church tries to protect Jesus
from gays and lesbians, unbelievers, sceptics, the list goes
on and on! But the risen Christ subverts all
attempts to confine him to the tomb of synagogue, temple,
mosque and church! The ecclesiology of the Diocese
of Sydney that the church is the gathered congregation alone
is just a logical extreme of sectarianism actually manifest to
a greater or lesser extent throughout most of the church.
I still recall after some services I took last century, across
‘the ditch’, the movers and shakers of a congregation used to
engage me in conversation in the vestry so I couldn’t talk to
others. And much of the church is stuck in this
paradigm, we think we are helping Jesus by engaging him in
conversation about who can be admitted and who can’t, and
forgiving our sins, healing our aches, keeping our kids on the
straight and narrow, and blessing our lives - when the risen
Christ is somewhere else, talking to a lone woman exiled from
community or the comfort of synagogue, temple, mosque and
church.
Much proclamation actually depends on the situation, the
ambience. As I go into one of the waiting rooms in
the hospital and survey the people raeding their tablets,
kindles or laptops, I wonder if any are reading the bible, the
koran or the karma sutra :-) Often I am engaged in
conversation in the lift, a stairwell, a corridor or in a room
when no-one else is there. But these situations
cannot be manufactured, and I have to content myself with the
prayer that those who need some support get that support, and
if it is not from me, then from someone else.
And a vital ingredient of ambience is the willingness to share
table fellowship. When we host or attend a dinner
party, the first thing that happens is we offer a drink, and
we sit down for some food. It provides the setting
for what can become quite serious communion between people,
lubricated by the meal and the drink, amongst
equals. This is in stark contrast to our worship
services, where the congregation is talked at, everyone has to
sing from the same song book, and the food and drink are
rewards for orthodoxy and perseverance.
Little or no actual communion happens between worshippers save
small talk over morning tea afterwards.
Something fundamental is happening here. The
words: ‘a spring of water gushing up to eternal life’ describe
something which cannot be controlled, regulated or
stymied. Yet these adjectives describe the church
to a ‘t’. The traditional church deludes herself
that she alone controls and dispenses the Spirit, holding
endless reserves of the Spirit like Smaug hordes his treasure
in the dragon’s lair. While we retain this
paradigm the church deserves to be treated as Smaug was
treated, with fear; or with distain as that other Samaritan
town did. (2) The world doesn’t need another sect;
the world needs the church to get out of the way of God
working in the world, affirming and including all.
Clearly the risen Christ does not need the church to advance
the kingdom, indeed if God were to wait for the church, God is
likely to be waiting for an eternity! And surely
this story tells us that the risen Christ doesn’t need the
church to actively oppose and filibuster the Spirit’s
affirmation and inclusion of all.
1. Acts 6.6
2. Luke 9.51-53