27 March 2011 “Jesus Is Where He Finds You” John 4:5-42

Jesus is clearly a man who knows his audience. In our gospel lesson last Sunday we read the story of Nicodemus. This Sunday we have the story of the unnamed Samaritan woman. Nicodemus and the Samaritan woman. They couldn’t have been more different, yet Jesus knows them both and adapts his responses to them accordingly.

Nicodemus, we learned, was a leader of the Jews. The woman, on the other hand, had no status in the Jewish world. Nicodemus came to Jesus by night. Jesus comes to the woman by day. Nicodemus wants something from Jesus. Jesus, on the other hand, wants something from the woman.
Nicodemus tries to use reason with Jesus and is confused in the process. The woman engages Jesus in what turns out to be a rich theological discussion and understands who he is and what he offers her.

Nicodemus doesn’t understand how Jesus’ teaching can be. The woman not only understands, she leaves her water jar and went back to the city to share the good news with the people. Nicodemus seems to drift off in the story doing nothing. The woman begins to share the good news with those who do not know it. She evangelizes to the people and they invite Jesus to stay with them and he does. Many more believed because of her action and his word, for they heard for themselves and they learned that Jesus is truly the Savior of the world.

There are in these stories striking similarities in our lives. As Jesus was one on one with Nicodemus and the Samaritan woman, Jesus is one on one with us. Whether we go to him or he comes to us, it doesn’t matter. Both happen.

Usually, like Nicodemus, we go to Jesus when we need something, speaking our prayers of petition. Just as likely, Jesus will listen instead to our hearts. That is the place where Jesus truly wants to engage us. It is with our hearts that Jesus fills us with his profoundest wisdom, his greatest strength, his unlimited love and his saving grace.

Less usually it seems Jesus is the one who initiates the contact. The scripture makes is clear, Jesus does seek us out. He tells us things about ourselves no one else knows. He teaches us things about himself we certainly don’t know. Jesus, we learn, wants something from us. Something we don’t know we have to offer. Something only God can want. In the process, our lives are changed forever.

I believe it is our nature to try and figure these things out. To try and figure God out as we try and figure our own lives out. Like Nicodemus, we use our best reasoning ability. We aren’t always so bashful with God. We will generate enough courage and try and reason out our situation, thoughts about our life and God’s and how they might have meaning together. We do have a history of success with our courage leading the way. Using our brains to know who we are and how we are to live our lives results in practical, productive and workable answers.

Yet we find ourselves filled with doubt in the middle of the night and we struggle with where to turn for help. We don’t really understand how Jesus’ teaching can be true. It lacks good reason. We see our lives in contrast to Jesus’ teachings and we are confused like Nicodemus. So we dig safe trenches in our lives to which we crawl for safety while we gather our wits about us for the next assault on our confusion about what’s important. In our illusions we drift off, away from Jesus, until the night becomes so dark we seek him in our despair.

Then we learn how Jesus is seeking us all along. Oh, this is such good news. The Samaritan woman engages Jesus in a discussion about God that has depth and insight and follows Jesus lead. Not her own. In this way, she not only begins to understand who Jesus is, she begins to understand about her life and the sole purpose for which she lives.

Consider for a moment that we are to write our name into the story, that we are the unnamed. In so many ways we see hope and possibility through her we may never otherwise find.

Notice how she engages Jesus in a critical dialogue seeking him, not relief for herself. Jesus says, “Give me a drink”. The Samaritan woman said, “How is it that you, a Jew, asks a drink of me, a sinner.” Jesus answered her, “If you knew the gift of God, and who it is that is saying to you, ‘Give me a drink’, you would have asked him, and he would have given you living water.” She presses Jesus about this. “Sir, where do you get that living water?” And Jesus answered with greater detail and truth, “…those who drink of the water that I will give them will never be thirsty…it will become in you a spring of water gushing up to eternal life.”

For the first time in her life she believes there is a nourishing possibility for her like nothing that has come into her life before. She asks Jesus, “Sir, give me this water,” She opens her heart and soul to Jesus, in her new found faith she holds nothing back and reveals herself, her intellect and her heart, to what Jesus already knows about her. She offers her life to him. She begins to understand, Jesus is the Messiah, the Christ who will come and proclaim that those who worship him will have eternal life. She knows when the Messiah comes he will proclaim all things to us. Jesus said to her, “I am he, the one who is speaking to you.” Poor Nicodemus never made it to this level of understanding, belief, faith, or salvation.

But we can. We have come seeking earthly nourishment of body and soul and found life’s offerings may separate us from God. In our sinful nature we come to the well for water at a time of the day when others are not around so we will not have to be confronted by our sin, only to find Jesus waiting there for us. It is true, Jesus is waiting for us and when we show up he wants us to give him a drink of this life we think is so important, he will take it from us and give us in its place, a life that will become in us a spring of water gushing up to eternal life. The vessel we bring is our body and soul. Jesus will fill it for us.

Like our advocate, the Samaritan woman, we will leave our lives beside the well and go to the rest of the world proclaiming, “Come and see a man who told me everything I have ever done! He is the Messiah. And many will believe because we have believed and lived our lives to teach his way.

In God’s amazing grace, in living as Jesus teaches us, in bringing others to Christ we accomplish what his disciples urged Jesus to do. When they returned to him they encouraged him to take some food. His response was, “I have food to eat that you do not know about…My food is to do the will of him who sent me and to complete his work…Doing God’s will brings about the harvest…and if we will but look around in our lives we will see the field is ripe for harvesting.” Many will believe in him because of our testimony.

We are the harvest crew that finds the people dying without Jesus.

The Rev. Arturo Malicara, a friend and hospital chaplain, reminded me often, people are indeed dying and they do not know Jesus, and each one of us who profess Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior can help save them.

Ali Selem’s beautiful and understated 2005 film, “Sweet Land”, tells both the story of the power of love and the power of finding something wonderful that satisfies the deepest hungers and thirst of life. The film tells the story of a young German mail-order bride, Inge, promised to a struggling farmer, Olaf, arriving in Minnesota in the wake of World War One. The local minister and town judge both refuse to perform the marriage ceremony because, as they judged, of Inge’s socialist affiliations, her inability to speak English, and the loose morals and dissipated lifestyle of foreign women. Without rights or citizenship, with no family and no community – Inge stood alone, facing a hostile, unfriendly new world.

Though the marriage is forbidden, Olaf and Inge fall in love. Neighbors go to great lengths to make sure Inge knows she is not welcome, she does not belong, and that she is despised. Ignoring the disapproval of the townsfolk, Inge struggles to make a home and a life through hard work and devotion to Olaf. Conditions worsen, and they risk losing their farm. There is a deeply moving scene toward the end of the film where it appears the farm will be lost and Inge and Olaf are once again denied marriage. They stand outside the farmhouse with the local preacher. Olaf tells him that the farm is Inge’s home now, but the pastor shakes his head and says, “It can’t be. She doesn’t have the proper papers.” Her reply is that she has a home and citizenship and a marriage in her heart. The preacher says, “That’s not enough. It has to be real.” Inge than asks, “Do you have God in your heart?” The preacher stands mute for an unbearable time, than nods, smiles, and admits, “You’re right…my heart.”

It is by the faith and witness of a woman, an outsider, who reminds a community what is of true value, and creates a deep, abiding change in their lives. The townspeople repent, accepting Inge as one of their own, and stand with the young couple to save their farm.

We see in the character Inge the Samaritan woman by the well. An outsider who is found by Jesus and in the process, finds Jesus and a new life. Through her encounter with Jesus, and through our own, we find something of true and lasting worth – God’s spring of water overflowing with everlasting life.

That is if we have God in our heart.

In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever. Amen.

Additional References:
Lectionary Homiletics, Volume XII, Number 2, Mar – Apr 2008, Pg. 28-35.
Pulpit Resources, Volume 36, No. 1, Jan – Mar 2008, Pg. 33-36.
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21 November 10 “Fight the Powers” Luke 23:33-43

 Struggle with me as we try and understand this morning’s gospel story. This is not the time of the year to be reading about Jesus’ death. We are about to celebrate Thanksgiving, to give thanks for the many blessings God has given us, for the good food we will have, the good fellowship with family and friends, perhaps a bitter sweet football game or two, and this morning our gospel sounds like anything but good news.  Yet, here it is before us. 

 What we read puts a dark cloud over any feelings we may have for hope and giving thanks. They crucified Jesus. We have good feelings about Thanksgiving, good memories and warmest anticipation. It should be a good day, a happy day, a day in which we will celebrate and be thankful. Now this, they crucified Jesus.   

 Let’s regroup and gather our thoughts to see where God leads us. The holidays are clearly upon us. It’s too late if you aren’t getting ready. We have been thrown right into the big middle by every major retailer in America. And right in that middle is the tension and stress and anxiety many already feel.

Actually, at our house, it began a few weeks ago as I watched and heard Janet getting ready for Thanksgiving, counting the number of folks who were invited, the amount of food it would take to feed them, the cleaning and decorating she wanted to do, all balanced against the unknown, how many will actually come.

 You all know about the pre-holiday tension. Thanksgiving is just the warm up for the big event, Christmas. There are the same questions, year after year, where we are going to be this year? Thanksgiving here, Christmas there. Will we stay at home or will we be someplace else? If we go to their house, who will be there, the ones we love or the ones we struggle to love? If they come to our house, how many can we expect? What about the menu? Who will bring what? How many extra trips will we make to the store this year, as we go again and perhaps a third time before we have everything?

 True enough, the preparation, planning and the pre-holiday excitement are filled with a certain anticipation of a great gathering of truly thankful folk to come. They do come, and they are thankful, thankful that family and friends are together, thankful that this year was not their turn!

 Ready or not, these holidays do come around year after year. And that is a good thing. Our weather of late has confirmed the season, the timing is right, so bring it on. Thanksgiving, Christmas, New Years. Get ready.

 Isn’t that the point! Getting ready! Our church year is about to begin anew. Advent begins soon. Like lent, advent is a time before a major Christian event, a time for us to prepare our hearts and minds and souls for that event. Thanksgiving gives way to Advent which then gives us the birth of our Savior, Jesus, our Christ.

Perhaps that is what this Sunday’s gospel is doing for us. Helping us know, the time to be ready is upon us. Today is Christ the King Sunday. Luke’s gospel is the story that powerfully reminds us of who our Savior is, who our Lord and Savior, our King really is. He is the one who died for us that we may live, the one who loves us still.

 So, let’s consider this Advent Sunday, as we prepare for Thanksgiving, shopping, football, leftovers, and other excesses, as our most important get ready time of the year. Let us consider this time as the threshold to our preparing ourselves for both the obvious and the not so obvious.

 For the obvious, it’s too late if you’re not already in a get ready mode.  Do you know someone who always makes it to the midnight shopping madness? Do you know someone who has the tree up already, perhaps even more than one? Do you know someone who’s almost finished with their shopping? The stores are full of turkeys again, Macy’s will have their parade again, and we will see Santa again!

The painfulness of the obvious is that it’s too late to turn back now and hope we won’t have to be prepared. The costs are starting to add up. Not just financial, in other ways too. We have much to loose if we languish in our preparation for our faith, our hope, our love, our blessings. We either prepare for God’s grace, or we have our lamps, our lives, empty of the essential fuel needed for our eternal truth, Jesus Christ.

  Perhaps, this year, we might be able to prepare ourselves for our life with Jesus in ways not so obvious. There are costs in life that are balanced by our blessings. We worry about getting together, but we feel God’s grace when we do. We worry about old wounds being reopened, then we find again the love that has been lost by our separation; we worry, about the house being clean, the food coming out just right and about having enough food, then we find our bodies full and our souls enriched.

 Yet, perhaps more importantly, and this creeps in at a deeper level each year, there is the cost to our hearts, as we miss folk who aren’t going to be here with us. Usually we are not ready for that truth. How do we ever prepare ourselves for separation from loved ones?

 Jesus is as prepared as any human being can be for this time in his life, for the place, and the gathering of people where he was crucified. He too struggled with the possibilities of separation from loved ones, even crying out that God might spare him from this time. Yet, Jesus is forever obedient. He is forever praising God and praying that God’s will be done.

 From our reading this morning we learn it was a crowd of people that crucified Jesus. His crucifixion wasn’t really the act of any one person alone, there were many that day who crucified him.  They cast lots to divide his clothing, they stood by watching, they scoffed at him, and they even mocked him.

 Jesus was loved by many, yet he was about to be taken from them. We are never ready for that truth. How do we prepare for separation from this loved one, from Jesus?

 Jesus shows us how. Jesus shows us how we can endure separation. By being faithful, living with love in our actions, not for ourselves, but for others. This is at the heart of our preparation story this Christ the King Sunday, this Sunday before Advent.

 Jesus is teaching us how we might live in and through separation and physical and mental and spiritual pain, as we prepare for the good news of Christmas and the birth of our savior.

 As we prepare for this good news to come, Jesus teaches us the hard truth about life and love and being a faithful disciple. The hard truth is, there is a great cost for this good news. There was a great cost to Jesus and there will be a great cost to each of us. We will loose our lives, just as Jesus lost his.

 There it is, perhaps the key to our preparation for this season, critically balanced between our joy and our anxiousness, is found in our weighing of the costs. How much of our selves do we hold close, and how much do we let go?

From Luke we read, “One of the criminals who were hanged there kept deriding him and saying, “Are you not the Messiah? Save yourself and us!” But the other rebuked him, saying, “Do you not fear God, since you are under the same sentence of condemnation? And we indeed have been condemned justly, for we are getting what we deserve for our deeds, but this man has done nothing wrong.” Then he said, Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom. Jesus replied, “Truly I tell you, today you will be with me in paradise.”

 Jesus, he prayed, remember me.

 Holidays are filled with remembrances. Good and bad, joy filled and sad. We remember them all. It’s just that this time of the year draws our memories back from their slumber to rekindle and re-flame and stir us again. Jesus, remembers them all too.

He remembers the group of people, the “they” who persecuted him. He remembers his family and friends who were there. He even remembers the two criminals, one on his right and one on his left. Jesus remembers them all.

Even more, Jesus died for them all. And he prayed, Father, forgive them all, for they do not know what they are doing. And miracle of all miracles, they were forgiven.

 How do we get ready for this inevitability again, for death, remembering, crying for forgiveness and, by God’s grace receiving it?

 We get ready by doing the one thing that will always save us from ourselves and our anxiety. In humility and with honesty, we ask Jesus to remember us too. We fall on our knees, we bare our soul and we pray, Jesus, remember me, though I am not worthy, remember me and help me pledge my life as my preparation for your coming again into my life.

 We ask Jesus to remember us and we are assured time and time again, Jesus does remember us, and time and time again, Jesus forgives us, each and every one of us, for we do not know what we are doing.

 Here is the clearest of all truths, we do not have a clue what we are doing, trying to live in this time and place a decent life, trying to live a faith filled life, truly we don’t.

 Yet Jesus will forgive us, again, because Jesus remembers us, from our first day on this earth until this very moment. Jesus remembers us.

 How do we get ready? Well, Life won’t wait for us, that is certain. So, we plan for the holidays and for life. We get things done as we make ready for that day when we celebrate Jesus’ birth and when we too feel born again as a new disciple.  We forgive those needing forgiveness.  We remember those needing remembrance. We love those needing love.

 And we do it all in the arms of the powerful truth of who Jesus Christ is, our God, who came to live with us as an alive human being, a man, who suffered and died for the forgiveness of our sins and who will reign with us forever.

 In the arms of this loving Jesus, we get ready by filling our lives, our hearts, our minds, and our souls, with the truth of the power of his strength, his wisdom and grace. In the one way Jesus teaches us. To love one another, and to love our enemy as we love our selves.

 How do we get ready?

We prepare ourselves for the holidays and for the rest of our lives by remembering this morning the only way Jesus knew how to live. The way we too are to live, the way his Father, our God taught him and teaches us to live, through the full power of his love.

Jesus loved the crowd and asked for their forgiveness. Jesus loved those silent faithful followers who knew all about loving. And Jesus loved the bitter criminal as well and the one who asked to be remembered.

Love is how we are remembered and from love we are able to surrender ourselves for living.  God’s love is God’s grace.  God’s love, we now know, is the power of God that changes the world, the power that saves the world.

 Jesus has no greater friend than the most desperate person who asks to be remembered, to be given one more chance at grace, at forgiveness and salvation. Jesus came into this world to save such a person, a person just like you and me.

 There is no greater friend to prepare ourselves for during Advent. He is our Jesus, the one to whom we pray, “Remember me, remember me when you come into your kingdom.” He is our Jesus, the one who replies, “Truly, I tell you, today you will be with me in Paradise.”

 In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever, Amen.

Additional Helps:

Christian Century, November 13, 2007, pg.18.

Lectionary Homiletics, Volume XVIII, Number 6, pgs. 61-68.

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