Homily for the Third Sunday of Lent

The Samaritan Woman by Carl Bloch (Click on the image for larger version)

Homily for the Third Sunday of Lent -- February 24, 2008
Exodus 17:3-7
Romans 5:1-2, 5-8
John 4:5-42

Jesus met a woman at the well…

Well... perhaps if St. John had any notion
of how famous this woman would become,
he might have done her the courtesy of including her name.
But he didn’t.
So, rather than simply refer to her as “the woman,”
let’s give her a name: Rachel.

Back in the day, Jesus met Rachel at the well;
today, they might have met at the water cooler;
or at the White Hen, picking up a bottle of Poland Springs;
or Rachel might have be the server at Serafina,
refilling Jesus’ glass with ice water.

It’s not the place that’s important: it’s the thirst.

Jesus meets Rachel --
not in a temple, not on a holy mountain,
not while she’s praying --
but rather, he meets her in the middle of an ordinary day,
in the midst of her ordinary tasks.

That’s where Jesus meets us, too.
Sure, he meets us here on Sundays for this hour of prayer --
and he packs a lot into this very important hour!
But before we return here next weekend,
Jesus has 167 more hours to seek us out and meet us
the middle of our ordinary days, in the midst of our ordinary tasks.

It’s not the place that’s important: it’s the meeting.

Jesus is thirsty and, having no bucket,
asks Rachel, who has a bucket, for a drink.
Rachel is thirsty, too, and not just for water.
She’s thirsty for love, companionship, a partner, for acceptance --
but even after five husbands
she thirsts for something none of them has offered her.

Jesus knows Rachel’s history
because he knows how much we all thirst for love.
And he knows that like Rachel,
sometimes you and I are so thirsty we’ll drink anything…
But he does not judge Rachel for this -- and he does not judge us.
It’s not our thirst that’s wrong:
it’s how we sometimes quench it that’s a problem.
And Jesus knows that this thirst, deeper than any well,
is one that only God can quench.

Jesus meets Rachel in the middle of her day,
in the midst of her chores,
and in the midst of all her relationships.
He meets you and me
in the same times, the same places, the same ways.

Jesus knows everything that Rachel has ever done --
even what she tries to hide from him --
and still he seeks her out and loves her.
Jesus knows everything that you and I have done --
even what we try to hide from him --
and still he seeks us out and loves us.

It’s not our finding the Lord that’s important:
it’s our recognizing him when he finds us.

Or as one writer has put it:
As acute… as our thirst for God might be,
as exhausting… as our journeys to God might seem,
the yearning… God has for us
and the journey that God has makes into our hearts
surpass it all -- infinitely.
Drink it in!
(John Kavanagh)

There’s the question posed by this story:
when Jesus meets us at the wells of our daily lives
- will we recognize him?
- will we acknowledge that he knows everything we have ever done?
- will we be content with water from a hole in the ground
or will we drink in the life giving waters he promises?

In the past week,
- how many times did Jesus meet us at the well of our daily lives?
- did we hear him ask for a drink? did we respond?
- how often did we recognize him? how often did we miss him?
- what did we try to hide from him this week?
what did he reveal to us in spite of our efforts?
- did we drink from the waters that leave us thirsty?
or did we drink from the waters of his truth and love?

We gather here on Sundays to learn to know
the face, the voice, the word, the love of Jesus
so that when he comes to meet us in the middle of our week and work,
and in the midst of our relationships,
we will recognize him there, too.

We come here, like Rachel, to worship in spirit in truth,
for like her, we have met a man who can tell us
everything we’ve ever done
-- but who seeks us out and loves us still.

-ConcordPastor