Morning Prayer: Shannon Cook Choral Amen Hymn of Faith *Jesus, Thou Joy of Loving Hearts* The Witness of Scripture: John 4: 5-42 Anthem *God Is Here* set. John Ferguson. FCC Chancel Choir Sermon *Tempted to Presume* David Spain
Recorded on March 12, 2023
Several weeks ago the Chancel Choir sang Joseph Martin’s magnificent anthem “Our God is God.” Written in one of Martin’s signature styles—beginning quietly and ending dramatically—the anthem’s title does stir a critical question. When something is entitled “Our God is God,” is there an unintentional claim implied the essence of which is ‘our God is God’ and ‘your God is not?’Nothing in the anthem nor in Martin’s many works would suggest his music is making an exclusive claim, but the sometimes disturbing downside of religious history knows there have been times through the centuries and still today when that is exactly the claim that at its worst has led to crusades and at its least leads to elitism, as in we are the only ones to be saved, or we are the only ones who can receive communion, or we are the only ones who baptize correctly, or we are the only ones whose doctrine is correct. The question comes down to how broadly the words ‘our’ and ‘God’ are understood.
John’s gospel is interested in this kind of question. When Nicodemus and Jesus engaged in a late night conversation, the question centered on ‘God.’ Now John is telling us about a noontime conversation between Jesus and a woman at a well in which the question is centered on ‘our.’ It is not lost on us that by placing these stories adjacent to each other, John is already making a statement about the words ‘our’ and ‘God.’ ‘Our God’ is not an exclusive statement but an inclusive affirmation—God of both the named Jewish leader and the unnamed Samaritan woman, both of whom become ‘disciples,’ the woman becoming a preacher. It is also not lost on us that this is the longest conversation Jesus has with any one in all the gospels—Jesus, Christ, Savior, Messiah, emissary of God, presence of God has this enduring conversation with a Samaritan woman. John does like to poke the bear!
John’s poking is initially just needling. John writes that after Jesus’ conversation with Nicodemus in Judea, he heads back to Galilee and ‘had’ to go through Samaria. No, he didn’t. In fact, there were many who would take the by-pass around Samaria. Well, we know about that—don’t take the off ramp there, bad part of town; or the other way that happens is some people just aren’t welcomed in some parts of town. There are boundaries, exclusivities. John wrote Jesus had to go through Samaria, which is not true navigationally but is true theologically. Jesus, being God’s presence, had to go through Samaria. It is another subtle layer in John’s gospel, that the surest way to miss God is to define the words ‘our’ and ‘God’ as narrowly as possible.
As John tells this story, we remember that if someone had snapped a picture of Jesus and this woman at the well in Sychar and posted it on Facebook, it would have stirred quite a response. Jews and Samaritans do not have a happy history—there are animosities well nurtured and pre-served even if no one agrees exactly what started the whole problem nor who is to blame. Some say it goes back 500 years or so when some of the Jews were deported and some were not, and some of them began to mix religious beliefs and practices—each accusing the other of doing that as suspicions grew. Additionally, each claimed a different holiest of places—the Samaritans at Mount Gerizim and the Jews in Jerusalem. It did not help when, about 125 years before Jesus was born the Jewish high priest dispatched a detail to Samaria and destroyed the temple on Mount Gerizim. Suspicion became presumption became destruction, and it is tragic at many levels not the least of which is this is a family squabble—siblings in the faith.Perhaps that is another layer to John’s story…who isn’t a sibling in the faith, a sibling on this glorious creation of God’s good earth, this God who is to be worshipped in spirit and in truth.It comes down to how broadly or narrowly people frame the words ‘our’ and ‘God.’ When John tells this story, what each party knows and holds on to is a deeply presumed disregard.
Animosities, long-standing animosities can become the accepted and unquestioned norm, presumptions that get passed down through the generations. Earlier this week a group of ministers gathered at a nice hotel in Norman to listen to Dr. Eric Barreto talk about his work in the gospel of Luke. We sat at a nice restaurant in this new hotel, the kind of restaurant where about every other word on the menu is a word you can’t pronounce even though it’s in English. We had a fine meal in this elegant setting as he talked about Luke’s gospel and how there is a remarkable continuity between the Hebrew Scriptures and the Christian Scriptures—Jesus isn’t replacing or superseding Judaism, for Christianity is part of the long ongoing history of God with us. He spoke, and behind him was a very large silver animal mounted on the wall—it was a longhorn hung upside down! Did anybody explain why such a fine restaurant would have such an odd display? It’s playful of course, we don’t take such things seriously around here; but it is a reminder that animosities get passed down over the years, and sometimes animosities become identities, so that to be in our group necessarily requires hostility toward your group. “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?” Her question addresses divisions that segregate people by race, gender, nationality, economics. Her question addresses anyone who is tempted to presume that saying ‘our God’ means God belongs to us rather than our belonging to God. We’re not talking sports rivalries anymore.
A Jew and a Samaritan are having a conversation…a Jewish man and a Samaritan woman and it is helpful to restore this woman from some of what has tragically and ironically been done to her over 2,000 years of misinterpreting.Five husbands and another man now—she must be of questionable reputation for she comes to the well at noon after all—it must be to avoid the gossip circle. We remember that her marital status is not her choice—men had the power to divorce and not women, but it might not even be that she is divorced.She could be widowed. That she must be sad and at some level broken-hearted and vulnerable is not hard to imagine…and perhaps a bit defensive when this foreign man speaks to her at this well. She knows about Jews and Samaritans and men and women, and she is the one who does not want to cross the border. She is a learned woman, a thoughtful woman, a spiritual woman who at Jesus’ invitation, engages him in deep conversation about God and about faith.
Like Jesus with Nicodemus and night not merely being about when their conversation happened, this conversation between Jesus and the Samaritan woman at a well is more than about location. When John mentions that Jesus meets this woman at the well, those who remember their religious history about wells will recall it was at a well that Jacob met his future wife Rachel; it was at a well that Abraham’s servant found Isaac’s wife Rebekah. Mention a well and the story is about connection, union, future, life, well-being, restoration, love. John wants us to know this is more than a story about a Jewish man and a Samaritan woman; this is, as is John’s inclination, a story on the grand scale—a story about division being overturned, about animosity being healed, about estrangement being reconciled. This is a story proclaiming when we say, ‘our God,’ our is as broad as it can be understood, and God is more than what any particular faith might claim. The way Jesus says it to the Samaritan is that God is not confined to a temple in Jerusalem nor a temple in Samaria—God is in ‘spirit and truth’ which does not lend itself to being confined. To be sure those two words can certainly be deliberated, but when we look to how Jesus embodied spirit and truth we see faith expressing itself in love, we see love expressing itself in compassion, we see compassion expressing itself in generosity, we see generosity expressing itself in mercy, we see mercy expressing itself in forgiveness, we see forgiveness expressing itself in reconciliation, we see reconciliation expressing itself in resurrection, we see resurrection being the expression of spirit and truth. That, says Jesus is the God we worship, that is what overcomes division, and he says that to of all people a Samaritan woman past five husbands who is so much more than any label put on her. John says Messiah comes to her.
You may have heard about a recent revival at a small school in Kentucky. It drew thousands of people from all over the world.Events like this happen periodically—it is part of our religious heritage dating back centuries. To be sure there can be plenty of manipulating associated with events like these, but one line in the report about this multi-week gathering was striking. “The revival is marked by humility for a generation traumatized by the abuse of religious power.” Pondering John’s story, Fred Craddock observed, “the woman said, ‘we think we ought to worship in this mountain and you Jews think you ought to worship in Jerusalem.’ And Jesus said, ‘that’s not the point. The point is worshipping God in spirit and in truth, and the time has come for everybody to worship God, not according to place, but according to God’s own nature, which is spirit and truth.’ There is no such thing as me accepting you, or you accepting me; it is God who has accepted all of us…in regard to the gospel there is no ‘handing down’ or ‘handing over;’ there is simply ‘the sharing of.’ (Cherry Log Sermons, pp. 52- 53)
So, we sing “Our God is God” in spirit and truth, thanks to Jesus and a woman who is his disciple, helping us see the deep, broad well of living water that frees us from ever having to be tempted to presume.