Search
-
March 18, 2017“God is Spirit, and those who worship him must worship in Spirit and truth.” Jn. 4:24
There are about 500 or so Samaritans still alive on the planet. Samaritans consider themselves the true heirs to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. Their reasoning is very straightforward. Samaritans and Jews are both heirs of the ancient Israelite tradition. But the Torah says nothing about centering worship in Jerusalem. Shechem at Mount Gerizim, is where Samaritans have always worshiped. The story in the gospel today happened at the foot of Mount Gerizim. Religion may divide us, but we are drawn together by our common needs. One of the most basic is water.
Jesus is sitting by the well when a thirsty Samaritan woman approached him. She came at midday and was alone, a sure sign that she is an outcast. When Jesus asked her for water, she refused because, among other things, he is a man and they are not family. Then Jesus says that if she asked him, he would give her “living water.” Jesus means the holy spirit. He said,
Life giving water is at the heart of Jesus’ ministry. The woman walked to the well because she wanted a drink of water and Jesus offered her something else. All our appetites, even thirst, can only be satisfied for a short time and then we thirst again. God offers a deeper well for a thirsty soul.“"Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again; but whoever drinks the water I shall give will never thirst; the water I shall give will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life."
I recently finished a book entitled, Won by Love by Norma McCorvey. Norma was the Jane Roe of Roe vs. Wade. Like many people who are angry at God, there is a back story. She was sexually abused when she was young. She was an alcoholic and habitual drug user. She was also physically abused by various men in her early life. She had three children, two that were removed from her custody by protective services. The last child she had was the subject of Roe v. Wade. Ironically, she gave birth to that child while the case was pending and put her up for adoption. She entered into a same sex relationship after the birth and, following the Supreme Court decision, worked for many years in the front office of an abortion clinic. She believed in a goddess, used tarot cards, Ouija boards, alcohol and drugs. In her book Won by Love, she tells the story of how she became a Christian through the friendship of pro-life counselors named Flip and Ronda. As in the story of the woman at the well, Norma’s journey to Christ started with simple friendship between people who saw themselves as adversaries. Norma died a Roman Catholic in February of this year.
Think of all the issues that separated Christ from the Samaritan woman. He was a Jew and she was a Samaritan. She was a female and he was a male. She was married five times. What did she think of men? Jesus told her about living water. He told her that he is the Messiah. He called her to worship not on a mountain, but in spirit and truth. People, like the Samaritan woman and Norma McCorvey, have a difficult past. Jesus does not begin his conversation by telling her she had five husbands. He began the conversation by offering a drink of life giving water.
Jesus shows us that we should go past the surface to a person's deepest needs. Last week, Jesus illuminated the mountaintop revealing his Divinity. This week, he illuminates this woman's mind and life. Grace reveals to us a life that we could not know on our own. The woman with the complicated past became living water for her village. We prepare for Easter by remembering her story. In every age, Christ’s disciples come with heartbreak and open wounds. When we take Christ out into the world, let us remember that nobody is defined by the worst moments of their life. Each of us is a child of God. Norma McCorvey rest in peace.
