Here it is the third and middle Sunday in Lent. Two more Sundays, then Holy Week begins with Palm Sunday. Before we get all excited for the palm procession and the Passion, it’s still Lent. Our Lenten commitments to do, or not do, something different for 40 days are beginning to feel more like habits.
A key component of our Lenten commitment is self-reflection. What are we hoping will happen in Lent? What is the point of making time and spiritual space for prayer? Or changing our habits, fasting, or taking on a discipline?
The word discipline hints at what we desire. Discipleship. The Greek root of both these words means learner. We desire to learn. Learning that moves us beyond knowledge. Learning that changes our lens on the world, our understanding of ourselves and our agency as followers of Jesus the Christ.
In Lent, we are learning in scripture about God’s presence with God’s people through human history. Learning about our own faith and faithful failings through prayer and self-reflection. Learning about our common life as humans through almsgiving and service. The golden thread through all this learning is relationship - the mutual and interdependent state of learning about another being, whether that is God, creation, ourselves, or other humans.
After our most basic needs for sustenance, shelter, and safety, the deepest human desire is to know and be known (Maslow). We crave relationship. Feeling loved and valued just as we are. That we matter and we belong. By definition, relationship happens through our interactions with other people.
Scholars have often focused on the scandalous interaction of the unnamed Samaritan woman at the well with Jesus. And, from socio-cultural perspectives it is. A stranger, a foreign man, approaches a lone woman at a well and asks her directly for water. This violates all kinds of social and cultural norms of the day. Unrelated and unknown men and women did not speak directly to one another. A Jew conversing with a Gentile.
And this woman! Serially married, possibly barren, and thus not useful or important or named, now living with a man out of marriage. She has allowed herself to absorb shame for things beyond her control. Here she is, alone at the well at noon. Sure signs that she is a social outcast, an undesirable and hapless conversation partner for Jesus.
Our judgemental lens sees her, makes demeaning assumptions, and dismisses her. We shut down the conversation before we have a chance to know her. Or, as John likes to talk about, before we see her. Jesus, on the other hand, shows us a way to learning and relationship.
Backing up a little in the narrative, Jesus and his disciples travel to Samaria directly after the interaction with Nicodemus that we heard in last week’s gospel. Nicodemus, an educated Jewish man and teacher in the synagogue, comes to Jesus in the dark of night to ask questions about Jesus’ teachings that sound ridiculous to him. Jesus mocks Nicodemus and answers his questions with more questions. The interaction ends abruptly with Jesus' self-revelation of saving the world.
Five verses later, Jesus is sitting in the hot sun at a well in Samaria. The contrasts with the Nicodemus story are immediately noticeable.
It’s midday, not night
The woman is unnamed, not an educated named man
Jesus seeks her out, rather than the other way around
It’s a public place, not a private home
A couple of things make this interaction unique and notable. It is the longest dialogue Jesus has with any character in the gospels - and it is with a nameless woman. She becomes the first witness to Jesus as Messiah. This is the only time John uses the word savior. Jesus’ final statement to the woman is I AM, a reference to the God of the Old Testament and a clear declaration of his divinity.
It is a true dialogue, a give and take of inquiry and listening. Unlike the conversation with Nicodemus, which seems more about giving information about himself, Jesus responds to the questions the woman asks. His answers engage her further rather than pushing her away. Courage, curiosity, and openness to new ideas break down preconceptions and assumptions. In the course of this mutual exchange, Jesus and the woman are both learning and both transformed.
This is discipleship. Willingness to learn. To extend ourselves. To move through discomfort to wonder at the gifts offered in relationship extended to us. Risking trust and letting go of assumptions, to find ourselves in a place of where we are recognized, valued, and where we belong. And thus overflowing with excitement to share our discoveries with anyone who will listen.
This is the Lent to which we are invited. Opening ourselves to learning more about our relationships with God, with humans, with creation, and with our own hearts and minds. Letting go of our assumptions and judgements, and engaging the hard work of growing more and more into God’s desire for us to belong and thrive.
My sisters and brother, siblings in Christ, let it be so. Amen.
No comments:
Post a Comment