Third Sunday in Lent
February 24, 2008
The Rev. Charles Henrickson
The Man at the Well (John 4:5-30, 39-42)
Its natural to want to be accepted. We want people
to accept us for who we are. But from time to time we
all experience a gnawing, nagging sense that we are
not accepted, a sense of alienation--from others, from
God, maybe even from ourselves. We want to be
accepted. But if were honest with ourselves, we see
some things in our character and behavior that are
really unacceptable. I want to be accepted, but if
people really knew me for who I am, why should they
accept me? Its like Groucho Marx once said, I
wouldnt want to belong to any club that would have me
for a member.
The big question, though, is: Does God accept me? I
mean, really--with all my sins and doubts and
selfishness? Thats a good question. We find the
answer to our question in our text for today, the Holy
Gospel from John 4. Its the well-known story of the
Samaritan woman. The Woman at the Well, its known
as. As I say, its a well-known story! But as we
look at this text a little more closely, well see
that it also could be called, The Man at the Well.
Thats who this story is really about. For the man
who meets the woman at the well is the one who does
all things well. And so God is able to accept this
sinful woman--God is able to accept you and me--only
because of this man at the well. Because this is
indeed the Savior of the world.
The man at the well, of course, is Jesus. And in his
encounter with the Samaritan woman, we see very
clearly that he accepted her. He accepted her in
spite of some rather significant obstacles. Racial
and religious, moral and social barriers stood in the
way.
First we see that Jesus accepted her even though she
was a Samaritan. And the Samaritans were a mixed bag,
both racially and religiously. A mixture of Israelite
and heathen elements, the Samaritans had gotten off
track from the accepted norm. Their religious beliefs
and practices were in need of correction. As a
consequence, the Jews looked down on the Samaritans
and would not associate with them. But Jesus did.
He, a Jewish teacher, struck up a conversation with
this Samaritan woman. He even asked her for a drink,
which meant that he would have to receive water from
her water jar.
Jesus accepted the Samaritan woman. But he was able
to do so without compromising the truth. Jesus never
expressed approval of the faulty teachings of the
Samaritans. In fact, he even began to correct them:
You Samaritans worship what you do not know; we Jews
worship what we know, for salvation is from the Jews.
But that didnt stop Jesus from accepting the woman
herself. And not only did he accept her, he pointed
her in the right direction, in the direction of the
truth, the Truth who was sitting there right in front
of her--he who is the way, the truth, and the life.
Jesus is that salvation come from the Jews.
Now does Jesus accept you? Yes, he does! He accepted
the Samaritan woman, in spite of her faulty theology
that needed correction. And he accepts you, even if
you do not have all your theology perfectly
straightened out yet. Some of your personal religious
beliefs and practices may be in need of some
correction, even though you belong to a church that
teaches the gospel in its truth and purity. You
yourself may have doubts and uncertainties.
Nevertheless, take heart. Jesus accepts you. And he
will guide you in the way of the truth. Jesus is as
committed to you and your salvation as he was to the
Samaritan woman.
Jesus accepted the woman even though she was a
Samaritan whose racial heritage was mixed and whose
religion was in need of correction. Thats the first
point. Secondly, Jesus accepted her even though she
had led a sinful, immoral life. This woman was living
with a man outside of marriage. She was shacking up
with a guy. And she had had five marriages before
that, all of which apparently had failed. So this
woman had a load of sin and guilt as she stood there
before God. She knew it, and Jesus knew it. Yet
Jesus accepted her.
But at the same time, again, just as he did not
approve of her wrong theology, so Jesus did not
approve of her immorality. It wasnt like he said:
Divorce? Adultery? Living in sin? Oh, thats OK.
On the contrary, by telling her he knew all about her
sin, Jesus was leading her to repentance, so that she
would see her need for forgiveness. His acceptance of
the woman did not mean ignoring her sins. Instead, it
meant confronting them and dealing with them
effectively.
Are you a sinner? Do you bring a load of guilt before
God? Then take heart. Jesus accepts you. This man
welcomes sinners. And he does something far better
than tolerating your sin or excusing it. He forgives
it.
Now when the Samaritan woman was confronted with her
load of sin and guilt, perhaps she wondered where she
could go to have her sin forgiven and her guilt
removed. The Samaritans said that their mountain, Mt.
Gerizim, was the place to make sacrifices and sin
offerings to God. The Jews said that Mt. Zion in
Jerusalem, where the Temple was--that was the place to
go to get your guilt taken care of. So which is it,
Jesus? You obviously are a prophet sent from God, so
you must know. But Jesus doesnt send her to either
place. For the solution to her dilemma was sitting
right there at the well, in front of her. Jesus
himself would remove her guilt from her.
You see, Jesus not only accepted the Samaritan woman,
he did something much more. He would even die for
her. This same Jesus would go to Calvarys holy
mountain, where he would make the atoning sacrifice
for her sins--and not for her sins only, but also for
your sins and mine, for the sins of the whole world.
As we heard in todays Epistle: For while we were
still weak, at the right time Christ died for the
ungodly. Again, God shows his love for us in that
while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.
Christ died for us sinners. Thats why he can forgive
us.
This man at the well, tired and thirsty here at about
the sixth hour? Well, there would be another day,
also at about the sixth hour--only now this man is on
a cross. Once again he is tired and he says, I
thirst. Friends, Jesus suffered that thirst in order
that you and I might never be thirsty.
And so Jesus satisfies a thirst that water from a well
can never quench. Everyone who drinks of this water
will be thirsty again, he says. Where do you look to
quench your thirst? People look in many places to try
to satisfy their thirst. The Samaritan woman bounced
from man to man, trying to find meaning and
satisfaction in her life. Where do you look? People
look in many places--sex, alcohol, drugs, the new
boat, the bigger house--always trying to satisfy their
thirst, but nothing ever seems to fill the bill. In
the end, all youre left with is a dry and dusty taste
in your mouth.
Are you thirsty? Blessed are those who hunger and
thirst for righteousness, for they shall be
satisfied. Jesus gives you what you need. He gives
you what he gave that woman at the well: living
water. 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. Eternal life. The new
and abundant life that Jesus gives will last forever:
They shall hunger no more, neither thirst anymore;
the sun shall not strike them, nor any scorching heat.
For the Lamb in the midst of the throne will be their
shepherd, and he will guide them to springs of living
water, and God will wipe away every tear from their
eyes.
This man Jesus gave the Samaritan woman the gift of
God: acceptance, forgiveness for her sins, living
water, eternal life. The gift he gave was so great
that it changed her life. It was so exciting that she
left her water jar there at the well and went back to
the town and started telling others about what had
happened. Her testimony then led others to believe,
to receive that same gift of God. So it is for us.
You and I have received such a wonderful and
inexhaustible gift from God that we want to tell
others about it and share it with them, too. Theres
plenty of living water to go around.
Well, so much for our well-known story. My friends,
I have good news for you today: The Man at the Well
is here right now, at this hour. And he is giving us
what we so desperately need: acceptance, forgiveness,
living water, eternal life. So we too have a
testimony to share with the people of our town. For
we know that this man, the man at the well--this is
indeed the Savior of the world.
Charles Henrickson
4749 Melissa Jo Ln
St. Louis, MO 63128
(314) 845-8811 (home)
(314) 779-8108 (cell)
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
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