Sermon for the Third Sunday in Lent
Two Parts to Christian Worship
Grace, mercy and peace to you from God our Father and our Lord Jesus Christ!
Amen. In today's Gospel, Jesus meets a woman at Jacob's well. Jesus'
conversation with this woman miraculously creates "a spring of water welling
up to eternal life," not only for this woman and her fellow townspeople, but
also for you and for me. Jesus declares to this woman and He declares to us,
"The hour is coming, and is now here, when the true worshipers will worship
the Father in spirit and truth, for the Father is seeking such people to
worship Him."
Dear Christian friends,
In today's Gospel, Jesus shows us that there are two parts to
Christian worship: there is a lesser part and there is a greater part; an
inferior part and a superior part. This Gospel begins by explaining the
lesser and the (by far) inferior part of Christian worship with these words:
There came a woman of Samaria to draw water. Jesus said to her, "Give me a
drink." (For his disciples had gone away into the city to buy food.) The
Samaritan woman said to him, "How is it that you, a Jew, ask for a drink
from me, a woman of Samaria?" (For Jews have no dealings with Samaritans.)
Based on these words, you might call this lesser, inferior part of Christian
worship the part in which we give something to Jesus. (Jesus asked the woman
for a drink of water.) In stark contrast to this lesser part, Jesus also
shows us the greater part of Christian worship in this Gospel. This is the
superior part, the miraculous and divine part, the vastly more important
part of Christian worship. You might call this greater part the part in
which Jesus gives something to us. Jesus speaks about this greater of
worship when He says in today's Gospel:
Whoever drinks of the water that I will give him will never be thirsty
forever. The water that I will give him will become in him a spring of water
welling up to eternal life."
We should be careful not to get the wrong impression by this
Gospel. Even though this Gospel begins by speaking about the lesser,
inferior part of Christian worship, we should not take this to mean that
this lesser part of worship-the part about our giving something to
Jesus-must necessarily come first. The opposite is actually the case. We
give to Jesus in our lesser part of worship only because Jesus first gives
to us in the superior part of worship. Our giving to Jesus flows out of His
prior giving to us, in the same way that the water of a stream flows out of
an underground spring; or in the way that a small child might share a part
of his sandwich or cookie, but he is only able to share it after his mother
first gives the sandwich or cookie to him. In the same way, our giving to
Jesus in the lesser part of worship happens only because Jesus first gives
to us in the greater part of worship. Or, to use the words of a familiar
Bible passage, "We love because He [God] first loved us" (1 John 4:19).
This woman in today's Gospel shows us very clearly our giving to
Jesus in the lesser and inferior part of worship proceeds only from His
first giving to us. Jesus asks that she give Him a cup of water to drink,
but she balks at His request. "How is it that you, a Jew, ask for a drink
from me, a woman of Samaria?"
We really should not be too surprised at this woman's distrust
of Jesus and her hesitance to do what He asks of her. We Christians act the
same way. This woman hesitates because of longstanding hostility between
Jews and Samaritans. She thought Jesus might have been up to something that
she would later regret. We may not be Samaritans, be we also hold our dear
Lord in suspicion and distrust, as this woman did. Even today, the Son of
Man still has no place to lay His head (Matthew 8:20) and each time He comes
to us through our neighbor's need (Matthew 25:34-40), we, like this woman,
wonder what He might be up to. What if my neighbor is trying to take
advantage of me in making this request? What if he plans to do something I
will later regret? What if I do not gain back whatever I might give away?
What will I have for myself if I should give this thing to my neighbor?
Giving something to Jesus-by giving to our neighbor-is a very
small thing, to be sure. That is illustrated in today's Gospel by the fact
that our Lord asked this woman only for a drink of water. Yet even when such
small things are required of us-and even when these small things are given
high praise by God and are called our "spiritual [acts of] worship" (Romans
12:1)-we still resist. We pull back from giving to Jesus like a horse pulls
back and flees when it sees a snake. We better be honest about it, too,
because God will not be mocked (Galatians 6:7): The pantry is full, yet we
act as though we have no food to spare.
So this is our lesser and inferior role in Christian worship,
that we would give our thirsty Lord Jesus a cup of water when He asks for
it, as He asked of the woman in this Gospel. We will have to agree that it
is a very good thing for this part of worship to be the smaller part, the
less important part, and the inferior part of Christian worship. If giving
something to our Lord Jesus were the greater and more important part of
Christian worship, then we would all go straight to hell. We Christians
simply do not have the capacity, the ability, or the desire to treat our
Lord Jesus-or our neighbor-as He wishes to be treated. Jesus asks that this
woman to give Him a cup of water to drink, but she balks at His request. In
so doing, this woman in today's Gospel shows us very clearly our giving to
Jesus in the lesser and inferior part of worship must proceed from His first
giving to us.
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."
With these words, Jesus displays for this woman and for us what
is the greater and most important part of our Christian worship. Where the
woman hesitates to part with even a single mouthful of physical water, Jesus
speaks miraculous Words to her that cause eternal life to well up within
her. Where the woman stands aloof in helping her neighbor in the needs of
His body, Jesus pours forth for her a divine water that will quench the
deepest need of her thirsty soul. "Everyone who drinks of this water [here
in this well] will be thirsty again, but whoever drinks of the water that I
will give him will never be thirsty-forever."
Such is the nature and generosity of God, not only toward this
woman, but also toward us. Where we tend to be misers, God treats us with a
lavish grace and mercy than cannot be equaled anywhere on earth. Where we
immediately wonder what will be the cost of doing something for Jesus in our
lesser part of Christian worship, our Lord Jesus gives no second thought to
whatever the cost might be for His greater and superior and divinely-created
part of Christian worship. Where we find it hard to part with a dollar or
two, Jesus answers our reluctance with unhesitating and shameless charity,
pouring out for us in abundance everything we need for life and salvation.
"He endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand
of God" (Hebrews 12:1).
You [also] know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich,
yet for your sake He became poor, so that you by His poverty might become
rich (2 Corinthians 8:9).
So here is where our Lord brings us in today's Gospel: first He
condemns us by showing us how very little He would ask or require of us.
Stated another way, Jesus reduces the Ten Commandments down to a single cup
of water, which neither this woman nor we do very well in providing, even if
we were standing right there at the well with a bucket in hand, intending to
draw water anyway.
But then Jesus does a truly remarkable and gracious thing after
He condemns us. He provides to us something unimaginably greater than He
first asked us to provide for Him. He speaks to us the Words of forgiveness
and eternal life that flow deeply into our hearts and minds and nourish us
for eternity. This is the most significant and praiseworthy part of
Christian worship: Jesus died on the cross and rose from the dead for you,
and in so doing He forgives you all your sins. This is the superior, most
important part of worship: Jesus delivers His forgiveness to you through the
words of forgiveness (the absolution) you heard at the beginning of the
service, through the preaching of the Word, through the on-going power of
your Baptism, and through Holy Communion. This is the greater part of
worship, the miraculous part of worship, the divine part of worship:
Whoever drinks of the water that I will give him will never be thirsty
forever. The water that I will give him will become in him a spring of water
welling up to eternal life.
By no means has the story ended! Take a look at the great power
and effect Jesus had on this woman by speaking His powerful Words of
forgiveness and life to her. Through the gift of His spiritual and
thirst-quenching water, which Jesus gives to this woman in the greater and
superior part of worship, this woman finds a new desire and willingness to
serve both her Lord and her neighbor in the second and lesser part of
Christian worship.
The woman left her water jar and went away into town and said to the people,
"Come, see a man who told me all that I ever did. Can this be the Christ?"
Many Samaritans from that town believed in Him because of the woman's
testimony, "He told me all that I ever did." So when the Samaritans came to
Him, they asked Him to stay with them, and He stayed there two days. And
many more believed because of his word.
Never mind the drink of water! Now Jesus recieves two full days
of hospitality and generosity by all the people in the town. And isn't this
exactly the sort of thing Jesus does also for us in His superior and greater
part of Christian worship? Through the hearing of His forgiving Word, He
breaks up our crusty hearts so that we also may forgive. Through His lavish
generosity and overflowing goodness, He kicks the apple tree, so to speak,
so that we become more generous in bearing good fruit toward others. This is
to say that our giving to Jesus-that is, our lesser and inferior and very
small role in Christian worship-our giving to Jesus flows out of Jesus'
prior giving to us. We gather so that He may first give to us, loosening our
death-grip on our money and possessions so that we may learn to cling to
that which is truly worth holding. Stated another way, Jesus uses our Sunday
worship as a way of trading our miserable little cups of water for His
unending "spring of water welling up to eternal life."
A startling thing happened to me the other day. I was searching
the Internet for a piece of artwork or a photograph that rightly depicts
these two parts of Christian worship, the inferior part in which we give
something to Jesus and the superior, miraculous part of Jesus giving
forgiveness and eternal life to us. In order to find such a picture, I typed
the word "worship" into the computer and sat back to see what appear on the
screen.
The results of this Internet search were really quite
disturbing. Most of the poses of worship depicted people with their arms
flung high in the air, as if they were attempting to fly; or people with
their eyes screwed tightly shut and their foreheads all wrinkled up in
concentration, as if Jesus was talking inside their brain or painted onto
the backs of their eyelids. You can probably guess that there were also
plenty of photos depicting worship that included guitars and drum sets and
giant amplifiers. Apparently, poses such as these are what many people bring
to mind when you speak about worship. While it is certainly true that you
can find some pretty strange "expressions" of worship even in our own
Missouri Synod congregations today, all of this nonsense is born of a
serious spiritual infection called Pentecostalism, which itself was born
someplace very far from the Scriptures of God.
Today's Gospel gives us a much different picture. Today's Gospel
shows us a true and clear picture of Christian worship, which is not nearly
so exhausting or harmful to our neighbor as all that other stuff appears to
be. Today's Gospel reduces worship to two parts: its lesser part, in which
we give something to Jesus (and that is a part that makes everyone
uncomfortable); and its greater, most important part and miraculous part, in
which Jesus gives good things to us. Please: you need not flap your arms or
pound on a drum to get the benefits. Simply enjoy the water, dear saints!
There is plenty more where that came from, "welling up to eternal life."
The peace of God which passes all understanding guard your
hearts and minds through Christ Jesus. Amen.
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