John 4:1-30| Preached during Lent of 2011
Do you think she had any idea what the day would hold when she awoke that morning? What are the odds that the same time she was retrieving water, would be the same exact time that Jesus decided to take a breather on his trip to Galilee. This scene is painted beautifully in the testimony of John. Jesus was alone. His disciples had ventured to find lunch, so there he set by the well.
He asked for water. This left her shocked, not because she was a woman, but more importantly because of their religious differences. Due to noon not being the most popular time to retrieve water from the well, chances are there were not many others around. With this, she called him on it, “How come you a, Jew, are asking me, a Samaritan, for a drink?”
He answered her, “If you knew the generosity of God and who I am, you would be asking me for a drink, and I would give you fresh, livingwater.” As we just heard from Julie, this response of Jesus’ led the woman to doubt and refute him with sound arguments. This should not surprise us that she was capable discuss the origin of the well so comfortably with a Jewish man, for “ In contrast to the Rabbinic law exempting women from certain observances- Samaritans did not make any distinctions between [genders] in reference to their common obligation to carry out the Law. Due to the Samaritans interpreting the Pentateuch strictly, the injunction of Deut.31:12 indicates that the Samaritan practice of educating children of both sexes in the law and Samaritan traditions…probably dates back to their origins” [1]
She knew her faith’s foundation, and probably fed up with the pharisaic traditions, she was more than ready to reject the words of “this Jew”. In hopes of never having to come back to this well again, she simply gave in and requested this “living water” he spoke of. He then said something unexpected. He revealed to her that he knew of her five husbands and that the man she was living with now was not her husband. He knew her He Knew Her.
“How could he have known that?” She thought…“A prophet?!” She then continued on with her questioning and inspecting his thoughts on the differences in worship between the Jews and the Samaritans. In the bustle of her own words, she almost allowed the words of Jesus to float right over her head. Perhaps Jesus slightly interrupted her a bit and said, “The time is coming-in fact it has come-when where you worship will not matter. It’s who you are and the way that you live that count before God…That’s the kind of people the Father is looking for: those who are simply and honestly themselves before him”. (Message, John 4:22-24)
The woman replied, “Well I don’t know about that. I do KNOW though that the Messiah is coming.” She took another drink of water. “I am he” Jesus responded, “you don’t have to wait any longer or look any further”.
As the disciples returned, shocked to see him speaking with a woman, something he hadn’t done since the wedding at Cana in John 2, the Samaritan woman became uncomfortable and ran back to the village. She proclaimed to everyone, “Come see the man who KNEW all about the things I did, He knows me inside and out!”
One of the great theologians and scholars of our time, Henri Nouwen once wrote that, “For most of my life, I had struggled to… know God…. I have tried hard to follw the guidelines of the spiritual life, pray always, work for others, read the scriptures- and to avoid the many temptations to dissipate myself. I have failed many times but always tried again, even when I was close to despair. Now I wonder whether I have sufficiently realized that during all this time God has been trying to KNOW me. The questions is not, “How am I to know God”, but “How am I to let myself be known by God?”[2]
The God who made us, loves us, and continues to make us, daily takes
great initiative to know us deeper. Though some times we hide from
God…..or we are very selective as to what we chose to reveal ….In our
brokenness we retreat in isolation from a loving faith community….or in
the competitive world we live in, we hide behind our talents or
accomplishments, praying and hoping that no one will ever discover
who we truly are, what we truly think, how weak we can sometimes be.
With a smile on our face, we secretively doubt our own inner goodness.
“Instead of experiencing their outward success as a sign of their inner
Beauty” Nouwen teaches, “they live them as a cover-up for their sense of
personal worthlessness.” [3] But oh, if we only could wrap our hearts
around how VERY much God not only loves us but achingly yearns to
KNOW US deeper. What is the difference between knowing God and
being known by God?
“None of us have perfect scores.” Benedictine sister and Author, Joan Chittister writes, “All of us have been saved from ourselves and through no merit of our own. And that’s the problem; If we have to merit heaven, we’re never going to get it. Because we can’t We aren’t made to be perfect ; we’re made to be us. “We’re made to grow slowly . We’re made to begin again and again.”
We’re made to be us, children of the most high God, ones who God longs to know inside and out, if only we would allow it.
During the remaining days of Lent, perhaps it shouldn’t be about “how much we know” or “what steps we are taking to know more about God”, but maybe our Lenten journey should be more about ……….how well we are allowing God to know us..inside and out….may we allow God to know us.