John 4:5-42
“Jesus Goes to Vegas”
By: Rev. Ken Sauer, Pastor of Grace United Methodist Church, Soddy Daisy, TN www.graceumcsd.org
In their book Justice in the Burbs: Being the Hands of Jesus Wherever You Live Will and Lisa Samson write: “The suburbs seem particularly designed to avoid facing the bigger issues of life.
It almost feels as if these communities were designed to avoid interruption by anything unpleasant or uncomfortable.
Planned developments have ways of controlling who comes near.
And electronic garage door openers seal the deal…
…The burbs are safe, but they are safe at the price of keeping out questions of need, questions of poverty, questions of insufficiency.
In fact, they are designed to maintain an illusion of a particular life, the American dream, where no one is needy, where there is a chicken in every pot and a car in every garage (and a boat, and those tools we never use, and a riding lawn mower…).
Let’s face it—we don’t want to be bothered by those in need…
…whole industries exist to create pleasurable experiences that divert us from the real pain of life…”
And as we see in our Gospel Lesson for this morning the people of Jesus’ day had created ways to divert themselves from the real pain in life as well.
In verse 4, we are told that Jesus “had to go through Samaria.”
Jesus could have avoided Samaria.
Most Jews, such as Himself did just that.
They were able to easily avoid that place by crossing the Jordan and traveling on the east side.
But Jesus “had to go through Samaria.”
Why?
Could it be that Jesus had to go through Samaria because the Love of God compelled Him to do just that?
Could it be that Jesus had to go to Samaria because, as the exact representation of God on this earth, Jesus could not do otherwise?
You see, the Jews and the Samaritans didn’t get along very well.
The Samaritans were a mixed race of people, and the Jews—keeping with their purity system considered Samaritans impure.
The Samaritans, on the other hand, refused to accept the Temple of Jerusalem as their Temple.
They helped the kings of Syria in the wars against the Jews, and around the time Jesus was born, some Samaritans profaned the Temple in Jerusalem by leaving human bones in the atriums.
After that, the Samaritans were prohibited from entering the Temple.
There were a number of other religious differences between the Jews and Samaritans.
And so there were many barriers which were set up between the two groups.
They basically hated one another.
Thus, Jesus “had to go through Samaria.”
Because Jesus faced the pain of the real world head on…Just as we, as Christ’s followers must face the pain of the real world head on!
Just imagine if I were to be the spiritual guide on a trip to say…
…Rick Warren’s Saddleback Church in Orange County, California…
…the American version of the Holy Land.
So I get a bunch of people together and we head out on our way, but as we enter Nevada I decide that I just have to stop in Vegas in order to talk with the working girls at the Kit Kat Club.
And after we get talking for a bit, I decide we need to stay there for a few days…cause these ladies really are hungry and ready to meet Christ!
Wouldn’t you think that some of the folks who had come along with me on our trip to the Holy Land would be on their cell phones talking with their spouses and with their friends saying, “This wasn’t my idea!”?
That’s sort of like the situation we’re looking at in our Gospel Lesson this morning.
There are many, many taboos or barriers and Jesus breaks them all!!!
Right off the bat, Jesus sits down by a well that—by societies’ standards—He has no business being at!!!
Then a woman comes to the well and Jesus speaks to this woman—which Jesus has no business doing!!!
For one thing, she’s was a woman, and in Jesus’ day it was terribly frowned upon for a man to make conversation with a woman.
I mean, there was a serious debate raging as to whether or not women even had souls!
For another thing, this woman was a hated Samaritan.
She was unclean.
Jews didn’t even give Samaritans the time of day!
Also, this Samaritan woman was a woman with a questionable lifestyle.
Her first thought may have been that Jesus was trying to proposition her.
After-all wasn’t that the only reason men had ever bothered to speak to her before?
I heard of a church in Texas where every Friday night people of the church pay the “call girls” just so they can talk to them about Jesus.
They have found this to be the most effective means of getting their attention.
And they do it by two’s or three’s of course.
Another interesting footnote is that Jesus asks this Samaritan woman for a drink of water.
Jews weren’t supposed to ask or take anything from a Samaritan!
In the eyes of the establishment, Jesus was stooping really, really low!
Jesus was breaking barriers!
But, then the woman at the well was trying to build barriers at the same time.
“How can you ask me for a drink?”
And Jesus, one barrier at a time, takes those barriers right apart!
“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.”
And when Jesus tells the woman to “Go, call your husband and come back,” she grasps for another barrier by saying, “I have no husband.”
But Jesus takes that barrier down when He non-judgmentally says 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. What you have just said is quite true.”
Then woman pulls up another barrier when she says, “We Samaritans worship on the mountain, but you Jews worship in Jerusalem.”
And how does Jesus dismantle that barrier?
“Believe me, woman, a time is coming when you will worship the Father neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem…the true worshippers will worship the Father in spirit and truth.”
Jesus is persistent is He not?
And thank God for that!
If only we could be so persistent in our desire to do good and bring others to a saving knowledge of Jesus Christ!
The woman puts up, yet another barrier…
“I know that Messiah” (called Christ) is coming.
When he comes, he will explain everything to us.”
And Jesus tears that one by saying: “I who speak to you am he.”
And the fact that the Messiah has come in the form of Jesus of Nazareth should be more than enough to break down any and all barriers we the people build up in order to separate ourselves one from another!!!
After Jesus says these things, His disciples return from whatever they were doing and they are shocked to find Jesus talking to this Samaritan woman!!!”
So they immediately try to put up a barrier themselves!
“Rabbi eat something.”
Which, in other words means, “Jesus let’s get out of here fast!!!”
Cause Jews weren’t supposed to eat Samaritan food!
But Jesus takes down that barrier by saying, “My food is to do the will of him who sent me and to finish his work.”
And then Jesus really does the unthinkable!!!
He decides to stay in Samaria for two whole days!!!
No self-respecting Jew would even entertain such an idea!!!
If you did indeed go through Samaria, you weren’t gonna stop, you weren’t going to stay the night—you were gonna move on through!!!
Barriers---Jesus breaks them all!!!
And why?
Because the fields were ripe for the harvest in Samaria…
…and even though, in the eyes of the Jews…
…there was no salvation for the Samaritans…
…Jesus knew that God’s salvation has nothing to do with race, sex or nationality, class or anything else as silly as that…it has everything to do with God’s grace available to all!!!
Can we even begin to imagine how radical a thing Jesus was doing at Jacob’s well in Samaria some 2,000 years ago???
Jesus was really breaking down barriers—tearing down walls…
…and as Christians, we are called, as Christ’s Body on earth, to break down walls that separate people as well for the sake of making disciples for the transformation of the world!!!
How are we doing at this?
We are called to stop shaping life according to societal definitions of what is acceptable and comfortable, and to express our openness to those who are different than we…
…just like Jesus did in His encounter with the Samaritan woman!
John Wesley told us that there is no Christianity without Social Justice.
And just by getting out of our comfort zones…we can see that there is a lot of injustice around!!!
It’s easy to ignore the outcastes of society…
…but it shouldn’t be easy for Christians!!!
In verse 39 of our Gospel Lesson we are told that “Many of the Samaritans from that town believed in” Jesus “because of the woman’s testimony.”
All it took was for Jesus to take the time to stop in Samaria and do the unthinkable—spend time breaking down the barriers people erect one between the other!!!
How are we doing at breaking down barriers?
How are we doing at being the first ones to open our mouths and begin a conversation which could lead to making disciples of Jesus Christ for the Transformation of the world?
Jesus “had to go through Samaria,” even though it would have been easier to avoid it.
What places are we called to go through—although we could easily them?
As Christians we are all called to follow Jesus…
…to go to the places Christ would go…
…to speak to the people Christ would speak to…
…to love the people Christ loves—no matter whether any one else loves them or wants to even be seen with them or not!
Like Christ, we are called to take the time to get to know people…
…not prejudge them!
We are called to break down barriers—not build more.
In the 1950s, U.S. government experts were predicting that because of increases in technology, the average American would work twenty-three hours a week.
So, how’s that working out for you?
We work too hard, and what do we have to show for it?
Stuff!
Well, life is like a monopoly game in that at the end everything has to go back in the box!
So what is our stuff really worth?
A friend once complained, “I work hard to make a nice home, and I’m never home to enjoy it.”
It seems as though we Americans do all we can to feel busy.
In fact, the prevailing answer to the question, “How are you?” is no longer, “Fine and you?” but “Busy!”
This allows us to feel like a player, a bootstrap puller, not a loafer or someone without goals or a to-do list a mile long, not like someone who isn’t really going anywhere far.
But does all this activity keep us from getting to know our neighbors…people like the woman at the well?
Perhaps we all need to simplify!
This sure would take a lot of stress-off and maybe we could accomplish more for the Kingdom of God!
But simplify, how?
Good question, but as the Body of Christ, don’t ‘ya think we ought to be leading the way?
We could stop getting cable t-v.
That would give us more time to spend with our families and our neighbors.
It would also cut our monthly bills.
We could trade our big, gas-guzzling SUV’s for smaller, cheaper and more fuel efficient cars.
That would drop a load of financial stress!!!
If we live in a house that is too big, perhaps we could “down-size.”
If our main reason for working as hard as we do is so we will be able to afford a big house with a big mortgage, and a big t-v, and so forth and so on…
…we really ought to re-evaluate our entire lives from top to bottom.
What motivates us?
What are we trying to achieve?
Jesus made it very plain and clear that we cannot serve both God and Money!!!
The biggest barrier between us and following Jesus Christ is our addiction to consumerism!!!
With Christ’s help…and for the sake of our families, our children, our neighbors, our world…
…how about we give a real shot to quitting?
I’m not saying we all go live in tents down by the river…but let’s learn to live more simply!
Let’s get our priorities straight.
Let’s do what we can to have food on the table, and a roof over our heads, but when it comes to all the extra gadgets, and special effects…we would all do well to go on a diet!!!
Let’s get to know our neighbors.
Living more simply…
…living with new priorities would make that possible.
And let’s face it.
Many of our neighbors are in plenty of trouble.
They are going through divorce, or abuse.
They are on the verge of bankruptcy and on the verge of losing their homes.
They are lonely.
They are isolated.
They need Jesus, just like we do!
Jesus “had to go through Samaria,” because His “food” was “to do the will of” God.
Is this not our food as well?
No wonder so many of us feel so spiritually malnourished!!!
Jesus said to His disciples and Jesus says to us, “Do you not say, ‘Four months more and then the harvest?
I tell you, open your eyes and look at the fields!
They are ripe for harvest.
And as the New Living Translation puts it, the “fruit” of the harvest is “people brought to eternal life.”
Now that’s something I want to be a part of…right here in Soddy Daisy…
…how about you?
