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February 22, 2012
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Soul Thirst Sermon by Don Portwood February 24, 2008John 4:5-42 So Jesus came to a Samaritan city called Sychar, near the plot of ground that Jacob had given to his son Joseph. Jacob's well was there, and Jesus, tired out by his journey, was sitting by the well. It was about noon. A Samaritan woman came to draw water, and Jesus said to her, 'Give me a drink'. (His disciples had gone to the city to buy food.) The Samaritan woman said to him, 'How is it that you, a Jew, ask a drink of me, a woman of Samaria?' (Jews do not share things in common with Samaritans.) Jesus answered her, 'If you knew the gift of God, and who it is that is saying to you, "Give me a drink", you would have asked him, and he would have given you living water. ' The woman said to him, 'Sir, you have no bucket, and the well is deep. Where do you get that living water? Are you greater than our ancestor Jacob, who gave us the well, and with his sons and his flocks drank from it?' Jesus said to her, 'Everyone who drinks of this water will be thirsty again, but those who drink of the water that I will give them will never be thirsty. The water that I will give will become in them a spring of water gushing up to eternal life.' The woman said to him, 'Sir, give me this water, so that I may never be thirsty or have to keep coming here to draw water.' Jesus said to her, 'Go, call your husband, and come back.' The woman answered him, 'I have no husband.' Jesus said to her, 'You are right in saying, "I have no husband"; for you have had five husbands, and the one you have now is not your husband. What you have said is true!' The woman said to him, 'Sir, I see that you are a prophet. Our ancestors worshipped on this mountain, but you say that the place where people must worship is in Jerusalem.' Jesus said to her, 'Woman, believe me, the hour is coming when you will worship God neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem. You worship what you do not know; we worship what we know, for salvation is from the Jews. But the hour is coming, and is now here, when the true worshippers will worship God in spirit and truth, for God seeks such as these to worship God. God is spirit, and those who worship God must worship in spirit and truth.' The woman said to him, 'I know that Messiah is coming' (who is called Christ). 'When he comes, he will proclaim all things to us.' Jesus said to her, 'I am he, the one who is speaking to you.' Just then Jesus disciples came. They were astonished that he was speaking with a woman, but no one said, 'What do you want?' or, 'Why are you speaking with her?' Then the woman left her water-jar and went back to the city. She said to the people, 'Come and see a man who told me everything I have ever done! He cannot be the Messiah, can he?' They left the city and were on their way to him. Meanwhile the disciples were urging him, 'Rabbi, eat something.' But he said to them, 'I have food to eat that you do not know about.' So the disciples said to one another, 'Surely no one has brought him something to eat?' Jesus said to them, 'My food is to do the will of the One who sent me and to complete God’s work. Do you not say, "Four months more, then comes the harvest"? But I tell you, look around you, and see how the fields are ripe for harvesting. The reaper is already receiving wages and is gathering fruit for eternal life, so that sower and reaper may rejoice together. For here the saying holds true, "One sows and another reaps." I sent you to reap that for which you did not labour. Others have laboured, and you have entered into their labour.' Many Samaritans from that city believed in him because of the woman’s testimony, ‘He told me everything I have ever done.’ So when the Samaritans came to him, they asked him to stay with them; and he stayed there for two days. And many more believed because of his word. They said to the woman, ‘It is no longer because of what you said that we believe, for we have heard for ourselves, and we know that this is truly the Saviour of the world.’ What a great story. It’s probably one of the longer scriptures read in the lectionary readings over the three year cycle. It’s jam packed with things to preach on, but before I get to the one I’ve chosen for this morning, let’s take another look at it. First, it’s from the gospel of John, the 4th gospel, written last and 60 – 70 years after Jesus, 20-30 years after the first Gospel Mark was written. John had more time to digest who this Jesus was. So many of his stories contain a much more developed theological understanding of Jesus, that John then puts back into the story and the words of Jesus. In this story Jesus was leaving Judea and had to pass through Samaria to get to his destination of Galilee. Many scholars believe this story written was written at the time the early church was engaged in mission to Samaritans (not just Jews) and was written as a justification for that ministry to people who before had always been considered outcast and beyond contempt. For Samaritians weren’t really people of Israel, even though they lived in the same land. When Assyria defeated Israel around 700 B.C. many of the Jewish people 27,290 (according to King Sargon the 2nds own records) were taken captive and deported to faraway places. Sargon then moved other captive people from Babylon, Cuthah, Avva, Hamath into the cities of Samaria. These people all brought their religions with them, and even though Jewish priests went into Samaria to teach them about Yahweh, the people built their own shrines and still worshiped in their old ways. Fast forward 700 years and this is the land with ancient hostilities that Jesus is passing through. It’s hot, it’s noon, Jesus is tired, so the disciples head into town and Jesus stops by the well that Jacob had dug, a well that tradition said bubbled up and overflowed with water. This wasn’t a self serve kind of well. There must have been a rope, but you had to bring your own water jar to tie to the rope…to let down into this deep well to get any water. A Samaritan woman walks up to the well and Jesus speaks to her, “Give me a drink”. Recognizing him as a Jew, she was surprised he would speak with her. Just as today, there was considerable sexism in the religions and the culture. Jesus didn’t side with culture and tradition and instead begins to talk about giving her living water. She says, you don’t have a jar to draw water out of this deep well, are you greater than the one who dug this well, Jacob. Jesus says, drink from this water and you will thirst again, but whoever drinks of the water that I shall give will never thirst; the water that I shall give will be come a spring of water welling up to eternal life. And the woman says, that sounds like what I’ve been looking for, my soul has been thirsting for something more, I’ve got a good job and a good house and I’m still not satisfied, movies, shopping, food, everything I’ve been trying to consume has been able to quench this deep thirst. Sir, give me this water. She then experiences Jesus ability to read her, like the gospels say he could read so many others…recognizing she wasn’t married to the man she was living with. She calls him as a prophet and asks him to settle the question of where people are to worship, on Mount Gerizim (where the Samaritans had built a temple) or in Jerusalem, where the Jewish people had their temple. And Jesus said, the hour is coming and now is, when it’s not location that matters, but worshiping God in spirit and truth. With that she began to recognize Jesus is more than a Jewish Rabbi or a prophet sitting there and says, I know that Messiah is coming he will show us all things. And Jesus says, “I am he.” This is the first time in John that Jesus (again through John) points to Jesus divinity, using the name that God gave to Moses in Exodus 3, “I am who I am, say to the Israelites, I am has sent me to you. Six more times John has Jesus says that, “I am he” (6:20; 8:24, 28, 58; 13:19; 18:5-8). It’s also only in John that again seven times Jesus says the other I ams, “I am the bread of life, the light of the world, the door of the sheep, the good shepherd, the resurrection and the life, the way, the truth and the life, the true vine.” To make this long story short, eventually the disciples return and Jesus discusses with them how this “Samaritan field” is ready for harvest and sure enough, many Samaritans believed in Jesus because of the woman’s testimony and when Jesus stayed around a couple more days, they experienced the savior of the world for themselves. What a great story for the early church to have under their belt and refer to when people opposed them as they shared the gospel of Jesus Christ with Samaritans. Those people. Those people who lived in their same land, those people who for years were treated with contempt and hatred. And now, the good news of God’s love and forgiveness was reaching the people living in Samaria. What a lesson for us in this day – to keep the doors opened for all those people…those people we may hold in contempt…Those people different from us….those people that may have come into our land without being invited…those people who look different, sound different, act different. This scripture is about the thirst all people have for life, real life, satisfying life…and the Jesus spirit breaking down the walls of divisions that cultures and nations and belief systems erect around women and race, gender identity, tribe and nationality. Just about the opposite we read in the paper about – nation against nation, Kosova, Serbia, tribes in Kenya, religious in Iraq, denominations separated by gender and sexual orientation issues, sexism and racism on public display in the race for the white house. But that’s just my introduction to the scripture for this morning. Because what I want to talk about briefly, as you would have guessed from my sermon title, is that section about the woman asking Jesus for water that satisfies her deeply. In our consumer culture, what is it that satisfies our souls thirst? This morning’s scripture and Christian tradition says the answer to that question is Jesus. Jesus is the living water, bread, way, door, to satisfy the souls thirst. But I’m afraid that John has done what every other religion has done, discover and experience God’s love and grace embodied in one and then says, and it’s only in that one. Yes it is in that one….but no only that one. I’ve been receiving a daily Lenten email course called Practicing Spirituality with Thomas Moore. Thomas Moore was Catholic, in his youth was in a catholic lay order, then got a Theology and Religion degree and became a practicing Jungian Psychotherapist. He’s written many books, including: Care of the Soul: A Guide for Cultivating Depth and Sacredness in Everyday Life; The Souls Religions; Soul Mates; Dark Night of the Soul; The Soul of Sex: Cultivating Life as an act of Love; and the Re-enchantment of Everyday Life.” The first day of the practice the organizers, Frederic and Mary Ann Brussat gave seven descriptions of what the soul wants, from the writings of Thomas Moore. It was a great way to look at what the soul thirsts for. 1. The Soul thirsts for reflection. “The soul doesn't have to know what is going on in life. It doesn't need interpretations, explanations, or conclusions, but it does require musing, reverie, consideration, wonder, and exploration.” (from Soul Mates). You soul thirsts not for black and white answers, but for pondering the questions, the gray areas, the muddy stuff. Your soul knows the depth of life and knows life is much more complex than an easy answer, it thirsts for ponderings, musing, wrestling with the stuff of life. Many of you have heard that My daughter-in-law Jaina and my son Matt are pregnant again. And they’ve found out that she’s carrying twins. Most of you know their first child died a day after being born, last August 11th. So them getting pregnant so quickly and having twins, is for us something to celebrate, but also something to ponder and wonder about. Kayla Collins is calling them M & M. Miracle and Mystery. The soul thirsts for musings and wonder, not explanations. 2. The soul thirsts “for an intense, full-bodied spiritual life as much as and in the same way that the body needs food.” (from Care of the Soul) A full bodied spiritual life. So much of what we’ve learned in Christianity is about denying the body or even denigrating the body…we are of the spirit, the flesh is bad. Moore reminds us the soul needs a full-bodied spiritual life that incorporates all of who we are. We have an embodied spirituality, the word became flesh and dwelt among us….so your spirituality better include your body or else. Every wonder why so many ministers, preachers, evangelists have trouble with sexual problems? Not just hypocrites, but have denied who they are and left their bodies out of the equation of what it means to be soulful person. 3. “Care of the soul is not solving the puzzle of life; quite the opposite, it is an appreciation of the paradoxical mysteries that blend light and darkness into the grandeur of what human life and culture can be.” (from Care of the Soul) The soul is able to live in the mystery, again not thirsting for the answer, but living with mystery, with paradox, with light and darkness, good and bad, never actually sure which is good and which is bad. “Where should we worship, on Mount Garazain or in Jerusalem which one. Jesus, location not important, worship in spirit and truth. Great zen story about the farmer who buys her son a horse…and all the people say how good it is that she did that. Then the son falls off the horse and breaks his leg and the people say how bad that happened, then the army comes through and rounds up all the healthy boys to send them to war and the people say how good that the son didn’t have to go…and on and on it goes. 4. The soul thirsts for attention. “When soul is neglected, it doesn't just go away; it appears symptomatically in obsessions, addictions, violence, and loss of meaning.” (from Care of the Soul) It’s not a question of whether to deal with our soul or not, it’s a question of when…it will get our attention in a variety of ways. Often through our bodies or our relations, or our jobs or on and on an on. The woman at the well had 5 husbands and the one she was with was not her husband. She had some so work to do and she knew it, men weren’t what she needed. She thirsted for something deeper. Living water, life giving water. 5. The soul thirsts for quiet conversation. “One of the central difficulties involved in embarking on care of the soul is grasping the nature of the soul's discourse. . . . It presents images that are not immediately intelligible to the reasoning mind. It insinuates, offers fleeting impressions, persuades more with desire than with reasonableness. . . . The soul's indications are many, but they are usually extremely subtle.” (from Care of the Soul) The soul is not reasonable and loud and on call for us. It comes subtley in dreams and urgings, in our desires and passions; in deeper yearnings that have nothing to do with our careers or incomes, whether we are Jewish or Samaritan or Christian, resident or immigrant, straight, gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender, questioning, queer, white, black, Hispanic, biracial, androgynous, male, female. It comes in images, impressions, desires. It’s not clear cut. 6. The Soul thirsts for nurture. “Care of the soul requires ongoing attention to every aspect of life. Essentially it is a cultivation of ordinary things in such a way that soul is nurtured and fostered.” (from Care of the Soul) Soul is that God part of us moving us to health and wholeness, a shalom place of justice and love, compassion, mercy. And it shows itself in our who life, in the ordinary everyday things of life, eating, cleaning, relating, self talk and how we talk about others. Where are thoughts run and how much our mouth runs. 7. “We care for the soul solely by honoring its expressions, by giving it time and opportunity to reveal itself, and by living life in a way that fosters the depth, interiority, and quality in which it flourishes. Soul is its own purpose and end.” (from Care of the Soul) The soul thirsts for expression, for time to discover and reveal. It comes to us through the arts, music, writing, visual arts, beauty. Try though we might, we can’t just force ourselves into the box that society or our family or our heads think we should be in. Our soul knows what it needs for health and wholeness and like a seed growing in a crack in a sidewalk, it will make it’s will/God’s will known. That last line gave away my understanding of soul…it’s about the God in us working through us for health and wholeness, doing the soulful work we need to do to nurture in us more love and justice, more willingness to break down all the walls the our fear and our society raise in us, that we may do the will of God who sends us to accomplish God’s. For God knows this world needs more people sowing love and justice, deep soulful love and justice…that has come through quiet and mystery, paradox and shadow, reflection and struggle. May the deep waters of God’s spirit, cleanse and refresh, nurture and quench our souls thirst. Amen |
© 2012 Lyndale United Church of Christ
