The Rev. Dr. James R. Wheeler, Year A, 3 Lent, 2/24/08

GOING DEEPER
John 4:5-42 – The Woman at the Well

There’s a country song by Kenny Chesney that makes me think of the woman at the well every time I hear it. It’s one of those tear-jerking ballads that tells a pretty good story. It’s called The Good Stuff.

Well, me an' my lady had our first big fight,
So I drove around 'til I saw the neon light.
A corner bar, an it just seemed right.
So I pulled up.
Not a soul around but the old bar keep,
Down at the end an' looking half asleep.
An he walked up, an' said : "What'll it be?"
I said: "The good stuff."

He didn't reach around for the whiskey;
He didn't pour me a beer.
His blue eyes kinda went misty,
He said: "You can't find that here.

"'Cos it's the first long kiss on a second date.
"Momma's all worried when you get home late.
"And droppin' the ring in the spaghetti plate,
"'Cos your hands are shakin' so much.
"An' it's the way that she looks with the rice in her hair.
"Eatin' burtn suppers the whole first year
"An' askin' for seconds to keep her from tearin' up.
"Yeah, man, that's the good stuff."

He grabbed a carton of milk an' her poured a glass.
An' I smiled an' said: "I'll have some of that."
We sat there an' talked as an hour passed,
Like old friends.

I saw a black an' white picture an' it caught my stare,
It was a pretty girl with bouffant hair.
He said: "That's my Bonnie,
"Taken 'bout a year after we were wed."

He said "Spent five years in the bottle,
"When the cancer took her from me.
"But I've been sober three years now,
"'Cos the one thing stronger than the whiskey:

"Was the sight of her holdin' my baby girl.
"The way she adored that string of pearls,
"I gave her the day that our youngest boy, Earl,
"Married his high school love."
"An' it's a new tee-shirt saying: 'I'm a Grandpa'.
"Bein' right there as our time got small,
"An' holdin' her hand, when the Good Lord called her up,
"Yeah, man, that's the good stuff."

He said: "When you get home, she'll start to cry.
"When she says: 'I'm sorry,' say: 'So am I.'
"An' look into those eyes, so deep in love,
"An' drink it up.
"'Cos that's the good stuff.
"That's the good stuff.

(A Music Video of the song is available here. )

Both that country ballad and John’s story of the woman at the well tell of an encounter at one of those earthly places where we go to quench our thirst. Neither the woman at the well nor the narrator in the country song found what they expected. In each case the person they encountered at the drinking hole surprised them. The woman at the well and the narrator in the song were recognized for who they were. It’s as if the other person saw right through them. But they weren’t judged or rejected; they were known. Each were invited to go deeper and assuage a deeper thirst than the one they came to slake. Each were invited to drink in their own way the good stuff. Love, which is authentic and real and puts up with the foibles of the beloved in the case of the country song. And love, which is authentic and real in the case of the woman at the well and expresses itself in new life and faith and worship shared with God in spirit and in truth.

The woman at the well could have simply fulfilled the strange man’s request and drawn him a drink from the well. It would have been the simplest and most courteous thing to do. Then she could have gotten on with her day. But instead she contended with this Jewish man who broke the social barriers of the day by speaking to her. So instead of giving Jesus a drink she gave him a piece of her mind. How is it that you, a Jew, ask a drink of me, a woman of Samaria? Jesus seems to love the opportunity to playfully contend with this woman. This is the longest recorded conversation Jesus has with anyone. Instead of answering her question Jesus offers her a drink – of himself – of living water that if she drinks of it will satisfy her deepest thirst. What, are you greater than our ancestor Jacob who gave us this well? The Samaritan woman sasses back at Jesus. The water that I give will become in you an artesian spring bubbling up to eternal life. Okay prove it, the Samaritan woman says; give me this water so that I will never be thirsty and won’t have to keep coming to this well. At this point Jesus gets personal. Go call your husband and come back” Jesus knows something about her. I have no husband, she tells him. You have had five husbands and the one you have now is not your own.

Jesus doesn’t judge her. The fact that she is alone at the well at noon is already a pretty good indication that everyone else has already judged and shunned her. But Jesus knows her.

She quickly and deftly changes the subject and tries to deflect the focus on herself. Sir, I see you are a prophet, she says and then asks him to explain the religious differences between Jews and Samaritans. She is reminding Jesus of their differences and that the Jews still judged her people harshly. The days are coming, Jesus tells her, when it won’t matter where people worship – Mt. Gerazim or Jerusalem – but that we have the opportunity to worship God in Spirit and in Truth. Their religious differences are still confusing to her and she speaks with longing for that ultimate day when the Messiah will come and explain everything. Jesus tells her, I am he. At that point when a whole bunch more Jewish men walk up she runs off leaving her bucket behind.

The story continues comparing the Disciples with this Samaritan woman. The Disciples who are called to be Apostles (literally sent ones) who are to invite people into relationship with Jesus are far more worried about managing Jesus than sharing his message. They fuss over the fact that Jesus was speaking with a woman. They fuss over the fact that someone else might have given him something to eat. You can’t leave Jesus alone for a second – he’ll wonders off and talks to some strange woman and eat non Kosher food! Jesus tells them that the harvest is ripe and they are called to reap what others have sown. But it’s the Samaritan woman who does the reaping. She shares her encounter with the Jewish man at the well and brings the whole town to meet Jesus! Wow! What an evangelist! Who is the true Apostle in this story?

Jacob’s well is one of the most authentic pilgrim sites in Palestine today. Archeological evidence indicates that churches have been built on the site since the 3rd century. In the Palestinian town of Nablus in the remains of an old Crusader church you go down 19 steps to a crypt and the well itself. It’s still there, 100 feet deep carved into the rock and still a good source of cool fresh water. Jesus stands before that Samaritan woman and before his disciples and before you and I looking on, in front of that deep source of cool refreshing water and he invites all of us to go deeper.

A priest friend of mine is fond of asking the question, where’s your bliss? I hate the question because I never know how to answer it. I’m all caught up in details and concerns about my parish ministry, about the people I serve, about my family, about my recreational activities. I work hard; I worry over the details; I believe in what I do; but where’s my bliss? What’s the one thing that lights up my life and makes it all worthwhile? I care for all of them. In some way it is each of those things I am engaged in and all of them together and none of them. Somehow I find my bliss in doing what I love and loving what I’m doing, and more than that I discover my bliss in losing my self-preoccupation as I truly love what I am doing to the fullest.

Jesus invites us to go deeper. I think this story invites us to contend with him and wrestle with our questions and assumptions. Don’t just accept what we see on the surface of things, but rather scratch that surface and see what’s underneath it. What about our differences(?), the Samaritan woman asked. She and Jesus wrestled with the religious and cultural differences between Samaritans and Jews. They worked through her defensiveness and vulnerability. We are blessed here at St. John’s with a rich, diverse tapestry of race and culture and heritage within the family of Christ. The story invites us to get to know one another at a deeper level. What makes us tick? How can we be fully present with one another and not merely polite? What are some of the riches in our different backgrounds and how in Christ Jesus are we united as brothers and sisters?

We are invited to go deeper in relationship with Christ? How does Jesus’ knowledge and love of you despite all that you’ve done wrong, despite all the ways you’ve failed… how does Jesus’ knowledge and love of you invite you to receive his life as living water that can bubble up as a spring inside your heart? How can his love become a source of forgiveness? How can his grace be a source of strength? How can his Holy Spirit lead you into truly new life? How can Christ’s acceptance help you have the faith and courage to minister in his name? How can we rediscover our bliss in Jesus’ love?

What are some of the substitutes you go to for that living water? At what watering holes do you try to slake that thirst for that living water? How do you try to fill your loneliness and anger and hurt and boredom and sense of incompleteness? The narrator in Kenny Chesney’s country song tried to numb the hurt and anger he felt after the fight with his lady with alcohol. There are all kinds of things – both negative and positive – with which we try and slake that thirst. But what is really the good stuff? Is it not receiving Jesus as living water? Is it not going deeper in his love? Is it not living more fully and deeply in Christian community? Is it not sharing the Good News we have experienced in Christ? Is it not being real and concrete in loving others? As we stand by the different wells where we come to quench our thirst, Jesus invites us to drink from a deeper, truer source. Jesus invites us to drink the good stuff.