What Ultimately Matters

Texts: John 4:5-42, Exodus 17:1-7

Jesus came to the well of his ancestor, Jacob, to get water after a long walk through the desert. It was hot. He was tired. He sat down at the well just as Jacob, his ancestor, had sat down at a similar well on his search for a bride. Jacob had met his wife, Rachel, at a well. He was not the only ancestor to meet a bride at the well. Moses had met his wife, Zipporah, at a well. Isaac’s servant had found for him his wife, Rebekah, at a well. To be at Jacob’s well was to be at a place where new relationships were formed, where two people became one. 

Along came a woman who had a hard life. While modern ears may judge this woman for having five husbands, thinking about people who have initiated multiple divorces in their lives, the original audience of this gospel would have heard something different. They would have heard of a woman whose husbands either died or dismissed her with a decree of divorce. She had no control over what happened to her husbands, nor was she responsible for her fate. She now lived with a man who was not her husband, something that becomes more understandable when one considers the immense pain she has felt within marriage, either through seeing loved ones die or being given a writ of divorce or both. We do not know her full story, but we know enough to see that this is a woman who has experienced multiple traumas in her life and who, for whatever reason, no longer desires to come to the well at the same time as other women, preferring being alone in the heat of the day to getting up early and walking there with others. 

Here, at the well, she finds not a husband, like her ancestors did, but the savior of the world. She is the one to whom Jesus reveals his identity as the Son of God. Jesus sees her in a way that she’s never been seen before and her witness to him is simple yet profound, “He told me everything I’ve ever done.” 

This is the longest recorded conversation in any Gospel, this connection with the woman at the well. It is a pivotal and vital moment in the Gospel of John. Within this narrative, two people are brought together as one. The ancient rivalry between the Samaritans, who worshiped on Mount Gerizim and the Jews, who worshiped in Jerusalem, is stripped away. They are both Jacob’s children, they are both God’s children, they are called to worship God in Spirit and truth, no matter where they gather. The location of the temple is not as important as they’ve claimed it to be. Indeed, it’s likely that this Gospel was written during a time when the temple in Jerusalem was no more. The temple doesn’t matter, the desire to follow God is what ultimately matters. 

It is also important that this connection of the two people happens through a woman. Jesus came into the world through the consent of his mother, Mary. She became the theotokos, the God-bearer. Jesus’ crucifixion and resurrection are witnessed by women. Without women, there would be no Christian faith. Without this woman at the well, there would be no Samaritan followers of Jesus. Women are vital to the Gospel story and the message of salvation for all, not just for some. While Jesus’ mother, Mary, guided him and directed him to do his first miracle, turning water into wine, this woman at the well was the first woman Jesus called as a disciple. Not only was she called, she was given even more information about who Jesus was than the men he had called just a couple chapters before. It is through her unique experiences and knowledge that many come to Jesus. Her witness leads the Samaritans of her village to ask Jesus to stay with them for two days, and they come to believe not only through her witness but through the words of our Savior. Through her witness, living water was poured onto her community. They never thirsted again. 

Now I don’t know about you, but sometimes I feel more like the Israelites in our first reading from Exodus than the Samaritans. When I’m tired, when I’m worn, when I’m not sure what the next step in life should be, I complain. I test God. I ask if God is really with us or not. 

The people in Exodus had just received manna from heaven, but they weren’t sure if they’d have any water. They were desperate. Their lives were at stake. No one can live too long without water, it’s even more necessary than food. So I can see their panic. They were going to die without God’s intervention. I may get into difficult situations, but I’ve never been in something that was so clearly life or death. Was God with them or not? 

The answer from God comes suddenly, with the power of water pouring out of a rock, “Of course I am.” It wasn’t just a dribble, it was a full stream, enough water to quench all of them, to help them feel secure as they encamped in the desert. They would not die, they would live. Now the majority of the people who received the water in the desert did not enter the promised land. They were in the desert for forty years, which is another way of saying they were in the wilderness for an entire generation. God was teaching them how to trust, how to believe, how to turn from being led to being leaders. It was through manna, through the water from the rock, through all the ways that God protected and led them, that the people were able to mature into a nation. It was their children who entered the promised land. They were the ones who had been raised with this deep reliance on God that was greater than anything we experience today. 

In all the trials, all the hardships, all the doubts, God firmly and persistently taught them that God was with them, no matter what. God’s living water ran through their veins. But soon enough they were in a land relying on their own labor, having matured into a nation that could sustain itself. The reliance on God took on a different flavor. Squabbles over what it meant to follow God broke people apart and separated them. Things like the location of the temple became so important that enmity enveloped people. We, who don’t have a centralized location for worship, might not understand the full weight of this debate, but when there is one location where the living and true God is most assuredly present among all other locations, it matters deeply whether that location is Mount Gerizim or the temple in Jerusalem. One is the true throne of God, the other is not. There can’t be two thrones for one God. There was a clear answer that Jesus gave to the woman at the well, the correct answer was Jerusalem, but that didn’t mean that there had to be enmity between the people. 

Jesus took the debate back to the time when the people were one, before the division broke them apart. He reminded them of their shared history. He then shared the ultimate truth: God is most assuredly present in all places. The living water of God flows under Samaria just as assuredly as it flows under Jerusalem. God isn’t accessible just in one place, though there are places where God’s presence is more easily felt. God is present in the water we drink, in the air that we breathe. God is spirit and truth. The Holy Spirit is key, it is the water of eternal life. If we allow God’s Spirit to live within us and guide us, we can connect to something deeper than the things that divide us and we can learn to live together in ways that heal division, not grow it. 

One of the biggest griefs I feel today is how easily we divide over things that ultimately won’t matter in a few generations. Free Will and Missionary Baptists separated out from other Baptists through debates that no longer seem all that important in the Baptist tradition. They aren’t unique in that regard, all traditions have done it. Denominations today split over gender equity and the full inclusion of people of all sexual orientations. All the mainline denominations have done it, ours included, but I have felt it profoundly this year with the split of the United Methodist Church, creating the Global Methodist Church, which holds more conservative viewpoints.That's not to say that these debates don't matter. They must be actively and responsibly engaged. The current debate is really about who has power in the Church as well as how we interpret scriptures, and those are important topics to consider and explore. I do also think there is a clear answer. I believe firmly that the Church will be strongest when all levels of leadership truly reflect the diversity of the people in the community. But if we're at the point of animosity over these issues, I have to ask: What will the children of our children have to say about this? Will it even be that important to them? Or will society have moved into a direction where it’s much less of an issue?

I think the Church has to come to a point where we don’t split over disagreements. If we're to truly seek God together, if we are going to stick it out even within disagreement because we see the deeper connections that we share, we have to ask: Where are the connecting points between us? Where is the living water being poured out upon us today? The truth is that our views on any particular topic won’t save us. It’s less important that we have it all right on all of the issues. Faith is not a set of rules that all must adhere to. It’s not about Mount Gerizim or the temple in Jerusalem. It’s not about the debates that create enmity between us. It's about respecting each other's dignity. It’s about reaching down deep into the well of life and pulling out living water. It’s about worshiping God in Spirit and in truth. 

So let us come to the well and reach in deep. Let us follow the example of this woman whom Jesus loved with all his heart. Let us live in the truth that Jesus knows and loves us completely. Let us share that joy with others. Amen.