“Encounters with Jesus: The Woman at the Well”
Grace to you and peace from God our Father
and the Lord Jesus Christ. Amen. It’s been about six months since we had our annual gift-giving splurge at
Christmastime. In the months since, many of the gifts you received have probably
been broken, or weren’t what you expected, or in some other way disappointed and
lost the luster they held for you just a few months ago. It
is a never ending cycle with us: We tend to be dissatisfied with what we have;
we always think about what we want but do not have; and then when we finally get
what we long for, it doesn’t bring us the satisfaction we expected, or the
happiness we hoped. This cycle of dissatisfaction and vainly trying to find happiness with
worldly things began in the Garden of Eden. Adam and Eve had
paradise itself—who could ask for anything more? But, the
serpent Satan tempted them with the forbidden fruit, stirred up in them
dissatisfaction even with paradise, and so began the endless sinful cycle in
which we are all still caught. As I mentioned in last week’s sermon, the Gospel of John says about Jesus,
“He did not need man’s testimony about man, for he knew what was in a man.”
So, when Jesus encounters “The Woman at the Well,” he already knows the
particular forbidden fruit she has bitten into, from which she is trying in vain
to find happiness, but instead is caught in an ongoing cycle of sin: “He told
her, ‘Go, call your husband and come back.’ ‘I have no
husband,’ she replied. Jesus said to her, ‘You are right when you say you have
no husband. The fact is, you have had five husbands, and the
man you now have is not your husband.’” I don’t eat Chinese food myself, but the joke is that within an hour you’re
hungry again. It is the same with forbidden fruit.
From Jesus’ comments, we can assume this woman’s succession of husbands
was not innocent, but somehow sinful in nature. She could not
find happiness with husband #1, or #2, or #3, or #4, or #5, and won’t find it
either with the man she has now, who is not her husband. Like
Eve, she has eaten the delicious-looking forbidden fruit, but it did not
satisfy. Soon, she was hungry again, and the destructive
sinful cycle in her life began all over. How about you? What is the forbidden fruit with which you
are trying in vain to satisfy your sinful appetites? Like
“The Woman at the Well,” you will never be satiated, you will never find
happiness and contentment, with forbidden fruit. Like her, it
will only lead you further down the destructive cycle of sin. We also see from “The Woman at the Well” how a preoccupation even with
worldly things, that though in and of themselves are not sinful, can
nevertheless keep us from true happiness. In the case of “The
Woman at the Well,” she was so preoccupied with simple water that she nearly
missed receiving that day the living water of eternal life. We take for granted that we just turn on a faucet and fresh water flows out.
But, instead of the famous chocolate bars given out by U.S. soldiers
during World War II, our soldiers in the Middle East are passing out to the
cheering children there something even more precious: bottles of water. Revelation actually describes heaven this way: “Never again will they hunger,
never again will they thirst. The sun will not beat upon
them, nor any scorching heat.” It seems that as God was
inspiring the Apostle John to describe heaven, he could think of no better way
to symbolize paradise for the people of the ancient Middle East than as an
INVERSE picture of their desolate, desert landscape: No sun beating down upon
them; no more scorching heat; no hunger; and, especially, no thirst.
If you or I lived in that particular part of the world, like “The Woman at
the Well” we would probably be pretty preoccupied with water too.
The woman’s village of Sychar was actually fortunate to have the famous
Jacob’s well nearby. You can still visit it today, and this is one location of
events from the Bible that we are quite certain about.
There’s a lot of archaeological and historical evidence to confirm that this is
indeed the same “Jacob’s Well” spoken of in today’s Old Testament and Gospel
Readings. When traveling in the Holy Land I’ve visited this well where Jesus and the
Samaritan woman had this conversation. It’s an ancient shaft cut down through
the rock, 7 1/2 feet across and over 100 feet deep. As the
woman says to Jesus, “You have nothing to draw with and the well is deep. Where
can you get this living water?” This well still provides
fresh water in the midst of the desert, as it has for thousands of years. But, even though this reliable well was relatively close by, fetching water
from it was still a daily chore and burden, as the woman tells Jesus, “Sir, give
me this water so that I won’t get thirsty and have to keep coming here to draw
water.” She had to carry water back from this well every day,
in a large jar probably balanced on her head. What we take
for granted, simple water, wasn’t simple for her at all.
Obtaining water in that desert was a big chore and burden for her. This explains why “The Woman at the Well” at first takes Jesus’ comments
about “living water” and never thirsting again so literally: “Sir, give me this
water so that I won’t get thirsty and have to keep coming here to draw water.” But, in her preoccupation with obtaining simple water, she nearly missed
receiving that day the living water of eternal life. So, we
learn from this encounter that even things which are not sinful in themselves,
even essential things such as our work or other requirements of this life, can
become a sinful barrier in our relationship with the Lord, if we focus on them
more than him and his teaching. Jesus puts it this way: “For what will it profit a man to gain the whole
world yet lose his own soul? . . . So do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’
or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ For the
pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need
them. But seek first the kingdom of God and his
righteousness, and all these things shall be given to you as well.” When Jesus says, “Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again” it is
symbolic. Whether it be forbidden fruit, or other things of
this world, whatever we place above our Lord will never satiate us, will never
bring true happiness and satisfaction. “Everyone who drinks
this water”—that is the things of this world—“will be thirsty again, but whoever
drinks the water I give him will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give him will
become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life. . .
If you knew the gift of God and who it is that asks you for a drink, you
would have asked him and he would have given you living water.” “The gift of God” Jesus speaks of is himself, as he told Nicodemus, “For God
so loved the world that he GAVE his only begotten Son, that whoever believes in
him shall not perish but have eternal life.” As he finally
brings “The Woman at the Well” to understand, he is the promised Messiah, the
Son of God. By the sacrifice of his suffering and death your
sins are all forgiven, and because he rose from the dead, you and all who trust
in him shall not perish but have eternal life. It is only in
this “gift of God,” his Son, that we finally find happiness and contentment.
As the church father St. Augustine said, “Our hearts are restless until
they find their rest in thee.” That old joke about being hungry just an hour after eating Chinese food has
led to another joke in New York City about their famous JEWISH delis, which are
well-known for their HUGE portions, on which people gorge themselves.
New York Times food critic Raymond Sokolov jokes, “The problem with
Jewish food is that just 72 hours later you’re hungry again.” Jesus tells “The Woman at the Well,” “salvation is from the Jews.”
Like those physically satisfying portions from a Jewish deli, the only
true spiritually satisfying food also comes “from the Jews.”
As Jesus says, “I am the living bread that came down from heaven. If anyone eats
of this bread, he will live forever.” Gorge yourself on his
Word, stuff yourself at his altar, quench your spiritual thirst with the living
waters of Holy Baptism. “If you knew the GIFT OF GOD and who it is that asks you for a drink, you
would have asked him and he would have given you living water.”
It was just months ago that we opened our Christmas presents.
But, in that time many of the gifts you received probably have been
broken, or weren’t what you expected, or in some other way have disappointed and
lost their luster. But, the gift of God endures forever.
“Indeed, the water I give him will become in him a spring of water
welling up to eternal life.” Amen. Return to Top | Return to Sermons | Home | Email Church Office
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