March 16, 2025 ~ Second Sunday in Lent
“Drink from the Fountain of Grace”
Rev. Beckie Sweet
In the summer of 1986, I moved to San Jose, CA to serve on the staff of the Willow Glen UMC. I had served three years as a student local pastor while in seminary. Then, that appointment went to full time for the following year. The appointment in San Jose was arranged between my bishop, Felton May, and the bishop of the Cal-Nev Conference, Leontine T.C. Kelly. It was quite a culture shock for me, going from very rural eastern Broome County to Silicon Valley, where millions of people are on the road all at once. It was called an “appointment beyond the bounds of the Annual Conference.” ~ I was a “pastor on loan.”
While I didn’t know anyone in San Jose before I arrived there, I slowly became acquainted with a wonderful congregation and small pockets of that huge community. Fortunately, I was able to stay in touch with my family with weekly phone calls, and I was able to come home for a week at Christmas time. But for long months during the year away, I heard nothing from my colleagues. It was before the days of email and texts. So, the phone and snail-mail were my lifelines with all that was familiar.
But, I heard nothing from my colleagues. That is until the day before Valentine’s Day in 1987. I received in the mail what we used to call a 2-penny Valentine. You know, the kind that first graders exchange in the classroom. The Valentine had been sent by Rev. Lisa Jean Hoefner, who had been the Director of Camp & Retreat Ministries at Sky Lake. That little Valentine, in the shape of a puppy hugging a heart, meant the world to me. I carried it in my wallet for years. That little bitty Valentine reminded me that someone cared! Someone cared enough to send that little Valentine clear across the country. A little gesture spoke volumes.
Feeling connected and valued is an important part of human well-being. And, it is something that Jesus models as a priority. His ministry to and with the marginalized is a primary characteristic of his life among the human family. He truly sees everyone and empowers believers to share with others the life that Jesus has given us.
The Samaritan woman whom Jesus encounters at the well is in a vulnerable position in many ways. She has clearly been through a lot in that she has had five husbands, and “the one [she] has now is not her husband.” THAT is more than most women could endure! You may want to note that there is nothing in the text to suggest that this woman is promiscuous as she would have no control or say about her marriage arrangements. Those arrangements would have been made by the eldest male in her family or due to social convention, such as marrying the brother of a deceased spouse.
Yet, she has been through a lot of change and, likely, loss. She comes to the well at mid-day due to the shame associated with her marital status. At this time of the day, the woman avoids encountering others who would have drawn water early in the day.
This unnamed woman’s vulnerability grows as Jesus, a Jew, engages in a conversation with her. Jews were not only to avoid speaking with women, but especially with a woman of such a despised race and culture as the Samaritans. That divergence from what was socially acceptable is echoed in the surprise that the disciples express upon their return to find Jesus.
Despite these barriers, Jesus shows up as the woman goes about her daily routine of drawing water for her family to drink, to be used in cooking, cleaning, bathing, and satisfying the thirst of their livestock. That is a lot of water to carry home from the well! Jesus sees her for who she is. Jesus asks for a drink, affirming that she is capable and worthy of providing water to Jesus. Once the conversation has begun, the woman asks theological and social questions of Jesus. And he takes her seriously as a conversation partner, in defiance of the norms I had mentioned about Jews associating with Samaritans and women. Jesus breaks down the boundaries and limits of her religious understanding to offer her something better. The woman is honest when Jesus asks her to call her husband, even if it makes her more vulnerable. Jesus sees the woman as a truthteller. And Jesus sees and accepts the truth of the woman’s life. There is no talk of sin, judgment, or ridicule. JUST conversation.
Jesus honors this woman, her questions, her religious and cultural background, her voice, and her life experience. As their relationship continues to grow, the woman goes from seeing Jesus as a Jew with whom she should not converse, to recognizing that Jesus might be the long-awaited Messiah. Even though the disciples are astonished that Jesus is speaking with a Samaritan woman, she becomes a key witness to who Jesus is. She shares her testimony with her community, and many come to believe in Jesus because of her. Jesus empowers her – just as she is – to share the gifts she doesn’t know she has. In her rush to tell the story of Jesus and living water, the woman finds grace and loses her shame.
Jesus takes the broken cup of this woman’s life, and makes it useful, beautiful, and valuable. Jesus asks the woman for a drink. And then by the end, her cup can hold and share the living water that only Jesus can give.
Last week we started to recognize that the cups of all of our lives are broken in some way. Think for a moment about what brokenness in your life might be preventing you from receiving the cup of living water that Jesus offers. . . . For example, like the woman, it might be questions about faith, or being so busy with the day-to-day that you don’t notice when you are encountering Jesus (perhaps through someone, something, or in prayer). What is Jesus really offering you?
Maybe there is a part of yourself, or your history, that you feel is unworthy and needs to be hidden. The Samaritan woman at the well is a model for us as we seek living water from Jesus during this season of Lent. She asks her questions courageously and honestly. She pauses – first for a thirsty person in need of her assistance to get a drink; then she engages in a full conversation. Her honesty about herself and her life before an unknown Jew is astounding as it defies social expectations.
And while the woman receiving living water is amazing and wonderful, the sharing of the Living Water with others is the real point of the story. Consider how you can own your story, so that it may be shared with others to help them encounter God. How do we share the living water that Jesus pours into our cup? Who do you know who is thirsty?
Jesus has equipped us to claim the power poured into us to offer living water to those who thirst. Remember that when Jesus offers living water, he sees and accepts the woman as she is. Jesus encounters her as a worthwhile serious conversation partner. May we follow Jesus’ example when we encounter need and brokenness, too!