Brothers and
sisters in Christ.
Today I read
about a Dutch comedian, you may not know him. Javier Guzman. I`m not a big fan,
but he is interesting because he has been battling his own demons, the demons
of alcohol abuse for a number of years now, and has been very open about that,
about this unquenchable thirst, so to say, that cannot be stilled by anything
man-made. No matter how much he tried to sate himself, with “buckets, no rivers
of wine” he always ends up in the same spot. I read this morning that he’s
checked into a clinic once again trying to stave off the worst.
A thirst that cannot be sated by
human means, is an
image that really fits a lot of existential issues. As fallen human beings we
always entertain wants and needs that are greater than the world can provide.
And even when our needs are sated for the day, they will return the next day
and the next. The water we drink slakes our thirst, but we too have to haul
water each and every day, or our thirst will become unbearable.
Today’s
Gospel is very long, even the short version is quite long. And there’s a lot
that’s going on here. I`ll try to elucidate it for a little bit.
The setting
is Jacobs well, it’s quite a bit out of town in the wilderness and it’s the middle
of the day. It’s not the most logical moment to be out there in the heat and
performing backbreaking labour, it’s not really the most logical moment to be
out anywhere either.
And yet,
there they are. Jesus and the Samaritan Woman. During the hottest part of the
day.The
Samaritan Woman apparently isn`t too popular in her home town. Apparently, she’s
not welcome to join the other women during the cooler hours of the day. And
Jesus knows why.And had
Jesus been any other man he would have ignored her. Most Jews of his time
despised Samaritans, an archaic offshoot of Judaism that fundamentally goes
back to the separation of the Davidic Kingdom into a northern and southern realm. So from the view point of the Jews of Jesus’ time, the woman is so to say, ultra-marginal.
She is a
woman, well those didn`t amount to much anyway. She is a Samaritan, an avowed
enemy of the Temple in Jerusalem. And… well. She’s a sinner to boot. Even the
Samaritans don`t like her. If there’s a bottom of the pile, she’s there!
Just the
fact that Jesus adresses her, let alone asks her to draw water for him is
already a shock. The mere possibility of human contact between a nobody and
Jesus was unthinkable but moments before. But what comes is much more shocking.
Jesus begins
to talk about living water, and this living water is a spiritual reality. But
of course the woman doesn`t get this, at first. This is something of a common
trope in the Gospel of John. Johannean Irony: Jesus tells something important,
and all the people who should get it,
don`t.
The disciples most often don`t get it. The teachers of the Law don`t get
it. But the Samaritan Woman does, after a while. It’s an achievement, it’s beyond an
achievement. The greatest truths are revealed to the smallest whereas does
considered wise are left holding the can.
And while
the disciples are fretting over whether Jesus has been eating properly and
wondering why he’s talking to a woman, she’s out there in the town, testifying
to all who would hear that the Messiah has come and they have to come see him.
She is, in effect, the first apostle, so to speak. It’s the world turned upside
down.
This is why
we’ve been reading the long version of the gospel. Because the short version
leaves out this dichotomy, about the disciples being fairly useless and the
Samaritan Woman with the dubious lifestyle choices has become a source of
living water, drenching the parched lands of Samaria.
And to be
honest you need only look out the window or step out of this door to see a lot
of desert land, a lot of wells that have fallen dry. Other wells seem to be gushing
forth lustily, but their water may not be good for us to drink.
As a country
we’re waiting for living water once again. And no matter how important our
history we cannot just point at organisations, institutions and buildings that
were erected two centuries ago and say “ah, but these wells were dug by our
ancestors of blessed memory” . They were. Christ doesn`t dispute the claim the
Woman makes about the well. “Our ancestor Jacob dug it”, indeed he did and you
Samaritans, as their descendants still drink from it. But the well must point
to a greater reality.
The story of
the well isn`t about the well. The story of the well is that someone will come,
someone greater than Jacob, who will bring living water, who will heal the
wounded and the addicted, who will open the gates to new life with God.
So we have to
be on the lookout, for living water. And taking this Gospel into account we
should expect the unexpected. The living water will come from unexpect quarters
and involve unexpected people. It will be an adventure, a great many people
will be upset. This is unavoidable!
It gets even
better when you become a source of living water, and draw more people in in
this ever widening circle of truth, goodness, beauty. And the new life it
engenders will prove to be contagious and uncontainable and what was wilderness will
come to bloom once more.
Amen.
