Sermon - 2014-03-23

The story of Jesus with the Samaritan Woman is one that is very popular.  I am sure that many of you have heard this story once, twice, or even twenty times before.  It is a very important story within the Christian faith.  It has as much meaning as it did then when it happened as it does to us today.  For Jesus comes and speaks to a Samaritan woman in the noon day heat.  In order to truly understand this story, a person should truly understand why Jews and Samaritans did not spend time together.  

The story goes back hundreds of years.  When the people were taken out of the Promised Land of their Ancestors.  Here, there were the twelve tribes of Israel, the Chosen People of God. It was this nation, who would bear witness to the whole world.   It was this nation, who God was with and blessing.  However, the people of Israel were taken out of the land and placed into foreign lands.  This was known as the great Exile.  Other people from other lands were brought into the land of Israel.  Within this time, people of Jewish descendant were married to people of foreign descent. It was these marriages that many regarded as not ideal.  These families were seen as outside of the Chosen People of God.  Many of them still remained faithful to the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.  However, they were not welcome to be part of the ceremonies, services, and part of the nation that would be Israel.  

These rejected people, gathered together to form the nation of Samaria.  We come to the interaction of Jesus with this woman of Samaria.  A Jewish person would not approach or even associate with a person of Samaria because they were like second class people.  A people who were dirty and not worthy of the grace that God had given to the Chosen People of God.  However, today within this story, we bear witness to the true work of God within the world.  Here Jesus is breaking down the barriers that we created.  Jesus enters into the nation of Samaria, speaks to a woman who was not truly accepted by her community, and is witnessed by her coming to the well to get water in the noon day heat.  Jesus talks to this woman, of a people who others rejected.  Jesus encounters others, who we would regard as unworthy, unacceptable, or with whom we would not spend time.  Now, it is these very people  who Jesus actually knows, reaches out to, and bestows upon them the grace, love, and mercy that he gives to the Jewish people. God’s Chosen people.  

Jesus breaks down the barriers between countries, between people, and the hatred that we put in place.  Jesus breaks down the barrier, puts in place the very restoration, and good relationships for which we should strive.  Jesus declares that they are people just like us.  God created and sustained them, but they need to hear and receive the grace, and love that God has shared with us.  It is only then that we shall truly become part of our community, as we work with others, we will find that we shall grow and enrich our own life and faith journey within the world.  We shall bring forth the love that God has brought into the world that unites all people, and all of creation to be made new within the world.  It was through Jesus Christ, that we are all gathered together as the Chosen People of God.  

As we encounter and bear witness to this story of Jesus with the Woman of Samaria, we reflect upon how we treat others that we encounter.  More importantly, we should reflect on how we view others within our lives.  If we regard people as unworthy of the Gospel and the love that God has given to us through his own Son, Jesus Christ.  Then it is us, who create the barriers that separate us from the love of God.  Which is the very thing to which we are in need and aware, and is there for us every single day.  May you go forth, greeting others the same way that Jesus Christ has entered into your own life and sharing the love that God has given to you in his own Son, Jesus Christ. Amen.