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The First Sunday in Lent Scripture:
Notes from Fr. Cathie Caimano’s sermon:
The Samaritan woman is one of my very favorite Bible stories
Along with the raising of Lazarus
The longest conversation Jesus has in the Bible
Jesus reveals he is the Messiah - the first and most direct
To a Samaritan (a foreigner - someone deeply distrusted, even hated by Jews).
But the reason I love this story - along with Lazarus - is that it is so easy to imagine HER.
What does she look like?
(I imagine a faded dress, even though of course she would not have been wearing a dress!)
It’s hot, it’s dusty, it’s noon. And this woman is tired.
She’s seen it all before.
5 husbands - plus one. this is not a moral judgment. (he does NOT say, ‘neither do I condemn you’)
Whether she’s been divorced 5 times, or widowed (or a little of both!)
This is a woman who knows what it’s like to have her heart broken.
And she’s at the well. Jacob’s well.
Moses - who strikes the rock and water gushes out of it for his people, met his wife Zipporah at a well.
His son Isaac met his wife Rebekah at a well.
And his son Jacob met his wife Rachel at THIS VERY well. And wept when he kissed her. It’s a very romantic spat. Full of life and hope.
The well - in the desert - is a place of life - literally!
It’s also a community gathering place. People meet up here, this is where they come for their water, after all. Every day.
They gossip and they catch up and they trade news - and sometimes, they fall in love.
The woman thinks Jesus is hitting on her.
Of COURSE she does. This strange man striking up a conversation with her - all alone in the middle of the day.What else would she believe?
And she is LONG past believing in love.
So she brushes him off the way women have been brushing off unwanted male attention since the beginning of time.
First she says, ‘you’re not my type.’ My people don’t mingle with your people.
Then she points out the obvious - Jesus is at the well but he doesn’t have a bucket to collect water. No offense, but someone who can’t even think ahead far enough to bring a jar to a well is maybe not marriage material.
At first, she doesn’t see it.
Jesus IS offering her love, but not in the sense that she understands. Her heart is hardened, like those Israelites wandering in the desert who turned against Moses because they were thirsty and afraid. But God saved them.
But Jesus talks about the living water - and reveals himself as the Messiah - in such a way that the woman comes to understand that he is offering LOVE.
But not in the classic sense - in the eternal sense.
Jesus offers her what her heart really needs. not romantic love - something a million times stronger. the living water - the source of life - that is the love of God that saves us all.
‘He knows everything about me,’ she says. Isn’t that what you say about someone you fall in love with?
Jesus’ persistence wins her over.
She has fallen in love with what we cannot live without - love that saves us. Love that heals us. Love that makes us whole.
We come here, to this altar, week after week. The source of our life with God.
This could be a place of dusty, old traditions.
We could just come here because we’ve always done it, and our family before.
OR - it could be a place that despite all of our dashed expectations, in spite of our heartbreaks, despite all our world-weariness,
We come because we BELIEVE
That we just might - unexpectedly and powerfully - meet the love of our life.
The love of ALL of our lives - Jesus Christ. Who gave his body and blood for us. And for the salvation of the whole world.
Don’t forget to join us at Trexo for your spiritual workout. Hearts up!
