Third Sunday of Lent, 15 March 2020
Austwick, Clapham, Eldroth
'He told me everything I have ever done!' - the testimony of the woman who met Jesus at Jacob's well.
In Jesus’ time the well was one of the few places men and women could meet. Isaac and Rebekah had met at a well; Jacob and Rachel, Moses and Zipporah all met at wells. Chances were that a man going to a well to strike up conversation with a woman was a man longing for relationship; a woman going to a well to meet a man was a woman looking for love.
Now, being Jewish, Jesus wasn't supposed to be in Samaritan territory, but he was. He wasn't supposed to talk to Samaritans when he did encounter them, but he did. A respected rabbi wouldn't talk to women, especially at wells, but Jesus did. And the biggest shock of all was this: the woman who Jesus chose to talk to was only the one with the worst reputation in town: to be frank about it, a reputation for sleeping around. She had been married and divorced several times. She was currently living with a man she wasn't even married to.
I don't know; would you go out of your way to befriend a woman like that? The people of Sychar didn't, and that's why she came to the well at noon, at the hottest time of the day. All the other women came at daybreak when it was cool. She was least likely to bump into anyone else at noon. Her reputation in the community was so bad that she had to try to sneak to the well to get her water. This woman, of all people, was the one that Jesus chose to speak to.
And not just to have any old conversation with her - from the start, this was never small talk; this was mature talk. Their conversation got deep and weighty; and very quickly, at the well, outside the city, Jesus offered her the gift of salvation, no less - the greatest gift anyone could give.
And Jesus wasn't just being nice. He wasn't being naive. He knew exactly what he was doing. He understood why this woman was coming for water at midday. In fact, he seemed to know everything about her. That's why the people listened to her when she came running into town afterwards to tell them what had happened. We can imagine how most of the time they would ignore her. But that day she was not her usual self, slinking around town trying to go unnoticed. No, today she was excited, she was changed! Somehow alive again!
This woman who had been dead to the community, buried under a load of shame they had heaped on her, she boldly ran into the middle of the city with a spark of life in her eyes. And she announced to everyone there, "Come and see a man who told me everything I have ever done! He can't be the Messiah, the Christ, can he?" The Messiah! Before they even thought about it, the people found themselves running to meet this person, too. If they had thought about it, they might have wondered why she was so excited about someone telling her all about her miserable life. But her enthusiasm and her testimony sparked something in the people; they went to see and hear for themselves and many came to believe that this Jesus was indeed the Messiah.
It is so striking that in just a short time Jesus got to the very heart of that woman's character. Jesus came to where she was, and in those moments Jesus met that woman's most fundamental needs - to be listened to; to be known; to be understood. That's all she wanted and needed. It's at the heart of what we all want, deep down. To be listened to; to be known; to be understood.
Up to that point the woman's life had been a relentless search for satisfaction. Her longing for love, her deep desire for acceptance, had led her into so many dead-end relationships that could never satisfy her thirst. She was an addict, hooked on things that could never satisfy her, leaving her hungering and thirsting for more, while her spirit was dying of thirst. Jesus came to that woman at the well not to feed her addiction like every other man she’d met. He came to give her a living water that would forever satisfy her longings and desires.
'He told me everything I have ever done!' - she’d finally met a man who knew her fully, understood her entirely, loved her wholly. No wonder she was so transformed that day. No wonder that her story made such an impression on those who heard it; because she may have been the most notorious addict for love in the city of Sychar, but at a fundamental level every other person in that place had the same desires and longings as hers.
And the message is that just as he came to them, Jesus comes to give us something that will finally quench our thirst, satisfy our hunger, here and now. We relate to this woman's story: for we too most deeply desire to be known; to be listened to; to be understood. We’re all driven by a longing to be loved and accepted.
We like it when someone takes an interest in us. A genuine interest that goes beyond small talk. A survey among young people who don't go to church revealed that they 'longed to be loved, to have authentic relationships, to experience meaningful community'. [2] And I’m convinced that’s a longing shared by young and old alike.
At best, our churches are places where people are listened to; understood, loved and accepted. We of all people should know in our hearts how deeply Christ knows and accepts us. That should be food and drink to us; which strengthens us in his service, helps us bring the living water to others.
Jesus said: 'My food is to do the will of him who sent me and to complete his work.' God desires us, God loves us, and it is as we accept his love and respond to it, that our deep-down thirst is quenched and our hunger satisfied. This is what Jesus offered to the Samaritan woman. It is what he offered to the people of Sychar through the Samaritan woman. It is what he offers you and me today. And he longs for us to offer this to those around us, hungering and thirsting just the same.
Jesus calls us to go out and take time to listen to others; to let them know we understand them; to love and to accept them. In his name and for his sake.
Notes
[1] A revised version of He told me everything I have ever done! preached in Devon, 2011, and a rewrite of Paul J. Nuechterlein’s sermon A Shocking Revelation, 1999.
[2] Quoted in Nicola David, Developing the Community Habit, Church Times, 25 March 2011.
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