June 17, 2007
Samaritans & Other Sinners
John 1:1-19
Eastern European Jews in the early 1900s had a very ordered
society that was not so different from the Jewish culture of Jesus’ day. Their
attitudes toward women were very similar. For them, the world of sacred and
scholarly learning belonged only to men. In the movie Yentl, a young,
unmarried woman named Yentl (Barbara Streisand) has an insatiable appetite for
learning and sacred wisdom. But there is only one way that seems possible to
obtain the kind of learning she desires. She leaves home, changes her name,
masquerades as an older boy, and gets accepted into a Talmudic academy.
In the beginning of the movie, before she pretends to be a boy,
Yentl is in a Jewish outdoor market selecting a book from a book wagon. The
bookseller finishes with another customer, then turns to Yentl and says, “You’re
in the wrong place, miss. Books for women are over here.” “I’d like to buy
this one, please,” Yentl says. The bookseller takes the book from her, saying,
“Sacred books are for men!” “Why?” she asks. “It’s the law, that’s why.”
“Where’s it written?” “Never mind where. It’s a law.” “Well, if it’s a
law, it must be written somewhere. Maybe in here. I’ll take it.” Yentl grabs
for the book, but the bookseller immediately grabs it back. “Miss, do me a
favor. Do yourself a favor. Oh, here, a nice picture book. Girls like picture
books.” Yentl asks, “What if I told you it’s for my father?” “Why didn’t you
say?” responds the bookseller, selling her the book she wanted.
In a later scene, over a game of chess, Yentl tells her father
that she envies students of the Talmud. They discuss life and the mysteries of
the universe while “I’m learning to tell a herring from a carp!” He tells her
that men and women have different obligations “and don’t ask why,” but he
finally gives in to Yentl’s requests for another study session. Yentl is happy
as she gets a large book from a well-stocked bookshelf. The father tells her to
close the shutters. As she’s closing them she asks, “If you don’t have to hide
studying from God, then why from the neighbors?” “Why? Because I trust God
will understand. I’m not so sure about the neighbors.”
In the Scripture we are looking at today, we have another woman
who has an interest in knowing about spiritual things. And she too is living in
a culture that does not place a high value on women — especially the kind of
woman she was. She has had several failed marriages, and now she is living with
a man. She is also of a race and culture which was despised by Jews. She is
not only scorned by Jews, as a woman and a Samaritan, she is despised by her own
people. She is an outcast in a society of outcasts.
Jesus scandalizes his disciples time and again in this story.
First, John tells us that unlike all other Jews, Jesus is willing to travel
through Samaria. Any good Jew would consider themselves to be contaminated just
by entering the outer territory of Samaria. So instead of taking the short
route to and from Jerusalem, they would take the longer and more arduous road
which went around Samaria. They would have to go through a ritual of spiritual
purification if they went into Samaria, or even entered a non-Jewish home. But
Jesus travels into Samaria and sits by a well, after he tells his disciples to
go to the nearest village and buy something to eat. This must have been a
disgusting task to them. They actually had to interact with Gentiles, non-Jews
— people they considered to be spiritual dogs. And to eat food that Samaritans
had prepared, or merely touched, would have been repulsive. And then, Jesus
talks to a woman, and not just any woman, a sinful woman — a woman whose own
people did not want to be around her. If the religious leaders of Jerusalem had
known about this, they would have had gone into spasms.
It is about noon, the hot part of the day when Samaritans did not
work or do things like carry water. It is unusual for a woman to come and draw
water at this time of day. But it is intentional. The other women of the
village despise her and attack her verbally when they see her, so she comes when
she thinks no one else will be around. Jesus begins the conversation politely:
“Please give me a drink.” He has nothing with which he can draw water from the
well on his own. The woman is amazed that anyone would speak to her, let alone
in a kind way, especially a Jew. And, because the disciples have gone to buy
food, the two of them are alone, which adds to the scandal and tension of the
moment. The woman was surprised, for Jews refused to have anything to do with
Samaritans. So she said to Jesus, “You are a Jew, and I am a Samaritan woman.
Why are you asking me for a drink?” A religious Jew would never drink from the
same vessel as a Samaritan, no matter how thirsty they were. The whole scenario
was beyond the woman’s comprehension. Jesus had broken every rule of conduct
that either of their cultures went by.
The woman’s curiosity is piqued and now Jesus introduces a
thought that has never occurred to the woman in her life. He said to her, “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.” She had never heard of
living water and had no idea what he was talking about. She, like Nicodemus,
interprets Jesus’ meaning literally and misses the point. She reminds him that
he has neither rope nor water jar with which to draw any water. She wonders if
he is going to dig a new and better well than this one which Jacob dug. Jesus
continues by saying, “Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again, but
whoever drinks the water I give him will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give
him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life.” Again she
takes his meaning literally and says, “Oh, you’re talking about a spring instead
of a well. And you’re talking about magical water that permanently takes away
thirst. Show me where I can get this water so I won’t have to come here and
draw any more. If I knew of another place to get water, believe me, I would go
there so I wouldn’t have to face the neighbors.”
But here the story takes a turn. How kind of Jesus not to mock
her or condemn her. It is more than obvious that she has a problem, a moral
problem which has caused her many social problems, but Jesus does not call her a
bad name or tell her that she is going to hell if she doesn’t change her ways.
She knew what her sins were. He simply says, “Go and get your husband.” Now,
it is obvious that he knows she does not have a husband, for when she said, “I
have no husband,” Jesus said, “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.” He compliments her honesty
and transparency. Honesty and transparency are important, because it is the
first step in our journey to God. But the conversation is just a little too
real for the moment, and she hopes to divert his attention by presenting a
religious question: “Hey, I get it, you’re a prophet. You know we have this
religious discussion all the time. Which mountain do you think we should
worship on, this one here, or the one in Jerusalem?”
But Jesus is not diverted by religious arguments, he goes right
to the point. I wonder what Jesus would say about the many arguments Christians
have over non-essential matters today? I think he would dismiss them like he
did in this story and go to the heart of the matter. Jesus said to her what he
would say to us, “Believe me, a time is coming when you will worship the Father
neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem. [It is not important where you
worship, but how you worship.] A time is coming and has now come when the true
worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for they are the kind of
worshipers the Father seeks. God is spirit, and his worshipers must worship in
spirit and in truth.”
But again the woman tries to get him into another religious
debate by talking about the coming of the Messiah, in whom both the Jews and the
Samaritans believed, but had their own ideas about. Jesus’ simple statement is
the climax of their conversation, “I who speak to you am he.” The woman is
stunned. She doesn’t know what to say, so she drops her water jar and runs into
the village. Maybe this juicy news would gain her new status in the community.
The NIV says that went to the “people” and said, “Come, see a man who told me
everything I ever did. Could this be the Messiah?” In the original Greek it
says that she went to the men. She did not get along very well with women, but
men she knew. Well, anyone who could tell everything this woman had done must
be the Messiah, or something close, so they all came streaming out of the town
to see the person the woman had told them about.
By this time the disciples have returned. It was very
uncomfortable for them to be among Samaritans. Their mindset was that
Samaritans were hopeless. Historically, Samaritans were part Jewish and part
Gentile. The poorest Jews of the land, who were left after the wars, had
intermarried with exiles from other countries. They were people without a
country who were barely tolerated by other people. But as the Samaritans came
toward Jesus and the disciples, Jesus said, “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.” In the distance, a spiritual harvest was walking toward
them — their robes looking like wheat blowing in the fields. Here were
spiritually interested and hungry people whom everyone thought of as spiritually
hopeless. While others see no hope for some people, Jesus sees infinite
possibilities. So be encouraged; there is hope for you.
The Samaritans begin to talk with Jesus, and after awhile, they
asked him to stay with them. This is amazing, because Jesus has not received
this kind of reception anywhere else — certainly not in Jerusalem, the religious
capitol of the Jews. The Jews, Jesus’ own people who claim to be followers of
the one true God, have rejected Jesus and are trying to kill him. This may be
part of the reason he is going through Samaria — to avoid them. The Jews
considered the Samaritans worthless barbarians, but the Samaritans have welcomed
Jesus with open arms. The Samaritans are so enamored with Jesus that they asked
him to stay with them. Again, this is scandalous. For a Jew would never enter
the home of a Samaritan, let alone stay the night with them. I wonder if the
disciples were objecting to all of this, in the interest of being spiritually
pure? But the Bible says, “And because of his words many more became
believers. They said to the woman, ‘We no longer believe just because of what
you said; now we have heard for ourselves, and we know that this man really is
the Savior of the world’” (John 4:41-42)
I think there are some important lessons to be learned here.
First of all, it is not our job to decide who is going to hell. The Jews were
certain the Samaritans were going to hell. Thank God that is not our decision.
You don’t have to be the grand inquisitor or the judge of the universe.
Everyone thought the Samaritan woman was on the fast track to hell — everyone
but Jesus. Jesus did not condemn her or beat her over the head with her sins.
He did gently confront her with who she was and what she had done. He wanted
her to be free from her self-destructive behavior. But he talked to her in a
way that made her know that he cared about her. If he had not, she would have
simply left in a huff. But she not only places her faith in him, she tells
others about him — others who eventually place their faith in him as well.
Jesus did not make her feel hopeless, he made her feel hopeful. Jesus did not
preach against her sin, he lifted up new possibilities for her life through
him. And guess what, she responded.
It is important to hear the Bible when it says, “So when you, a
mere man, pass judgment on them and yet do the same things, do you think you
will escape God’s judgment? Or do you show contempt for the riches of his
kindness, tolerance and patience, not realizing that God’s kindness leads you
toward repentance?” (Romans 2:3-4). The Bible says that it is not God’s wrath,
but God’s kindness that brings people to the place of repentance. Many people
seem to think we need to be more condemning, as though it would wake people up.
Normally, it only turns people off. The world has seen enough angry, judgmental
and condemning Christians.
One day the Pharisees saw Jesus eating with some outcasts. They
asked his disciples, “Why does your teacher eat with tax collectors and
‘sinners’?” (Matthew 9:11). On hearing this, Jesus said, “It is not the healthy
who need a doctor, but the sick. But go and learn what this means: ‘I desire
mercy, not sacrifice.’ For I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners”
(Matthew 9:12-13). Instead of being angry with sinners, he longs for them to
come to him. Jesus’ desire is for all of us to come to him. The Bible says,
“The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise, as some understand slowness. He
is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to
repentance” (2 Peter 3:9). He said about the sinners in Jerusalem: “O
Jerusalem, Jerusalem, you who kill the prophets and stone those sent to you, how
often I have longed to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her
chicks under her wings, but you were not willing” (Matthew 23:37).
Part of what I was trying to say last week is: What if instead of
looking at people as hopeless and quoting the Scripture to them about how sinful
they are, we actually went to them and got to know them. The Pharisees
condemned the Samaritans and would not think of getting next to them. Jesus
went to them, got to know them, and saw them as part of the harvest of God.
Instead of quoting the Scripture about who is right and wrong, he talked to them
about their need and offered them eternal life. Because of his kind of caring
and openness, they responded.
We never know who will respond to the love of God and Good News
of Jesus Christ, and it is not our job to figure it out, only to keep reaching
out to others and sharing the Good News. Mark Early tells the story of Gracia
Burnham’s ordeal. She and her husband Martin were missionaries in the
Philippines. They were on a much-needed, brief vacation near where they were
serving in order to celebrate their wedding anniversary, when they were abducted
by Abu Sayyaf rebels. Many of these rebels are mere children who had been taken
from their homes and forced into guerilla warfare. Early writes, “For 377 days,
Gracia Burnham, an American missionary, was held captive by Abu Sayyaf, a
Filipino group associated with Al Qaeda. During that time, she experienced
horrors we can’t even imagine. She also gained an insight to one of the world’s
most pressing issues. I’m not talking about Islamic extremism, although Burnham
obviously has some hard-earned insights into that phenomenon. I’m talking about
the use of child soldiers. After being kidnaped, Gracia and her husband Martin,
whose story is told in the June 4th issue of the New Republic, were starved and
force-marched through the jungle. Along the way they saw other hostages
beheaded and raped. Finally, she saw her husband Martin die after a botched
rescue attempt. One of Burnham’s principal tormentors was a 14-year-old Abu
Sayyaf soldier named Ahmed. Burnham admits to loathing him for ‘hoarding food
when she had none, throwing stones at her while she bathed — fully clothed — in
the river, and pushing her along the trail saying ‘faster, faster.’ And yet
Burnham prayed for a way to love Ahmed. She got her chance after he was wounded
in a firefight and soiled himself. When she saw that he was embarrassed, she
thought of her own son and felt love for Ahmed. She washed Ahmed’s clothes in
the river before he was taken into the jungle on a stretcher, bound, gagged and
‘stark raving mad.’ To this day, she has no idea what happened to him.”
I wonder if we are willing to go that far to reach out in love to
those that many see as hopeless? The Bible says, “The Lord is slow to anger,
abounding in love and forgiving sin and rebellion” (Numbers 14:18).
Rodney J. Buchanan
June 17, 2007
Mulberry St. UMC
Mount Vernon, OH
www.MulberryUMC.org
Rod.Buchanan@MulberryUMC.org
Mulberry
Street United Methodist Church