THE THIRD SUNDAY of LENT 2008

February 27, 2008

(Exodus 24:12-18; Ps. 99; Philippians 3:7-14; Matthew 17:1-9)

The Rev. Ken Kroohs

OUR HUNGER AND THIRST

St. Christopher’s, High Point, NC

MAY THE WORDS OF MY MOUTH ... AND THE MEDITATIONS OF ALL OUR HEARTS ... BE ALWAYS ACCEPTABLE TO YOU --- OUR STRENGTH AND OUR REDEEMER   AMEN

   Our gospel today has so many obvious themes ... all relating to our Lenten theme of: “it only makes sense when viewed through the cross” ... “only when looking through the cross do we get a clear view”.

   If you could hear sermons from many churches today I guarantee that a significant percentage would focus on the fact that Jesus was speaking to a Samaritan — and even worse, a woman!  Those preachers would stress how the Samaritans were worse than outcasts.  There were a whole set of rules about how to clean yourself if you accidently touched a Samaritan.  So Jesus is breaking down a major barrier.

   And the fact that she is a woman ... alone.  No Jewish man would speak to a woman alone like that.  Add to that the fact that this is in the middle of the day when all the “decent” women have already collected their water and gone home.  This woman — notice she is never named — is only allowed to come when no one else is there – in the heat of the day.

   So Jesus reaches out to (1) a Samaritan, (2) a woman, and (3) an acknowledged sinner.  Makes no sense.

   Of course if we glance at the Romans reading we find Paul saying that Jesus’ death made no sense.  It is only because of God’s love the cross makes sense Paul explains.  “God proves his love for us in that while were still sinners Christ died for us.”  So here, pre-cross, Jesus is already reaching out to those who need it the most.

   As I read about this woman and her attitude I was reminded of the beatitude: blessed are the poor in spirit.  Blessed is this woman because she knows she needs help.  I suspect we would be much more blessed if we had as clear an understanding of our needs as this Samaritan woman.

   We call Jesus our savior and we may be able to agree that we are not perfect people so when measured against perfection we need a little extra help.  We see Jesus as the one who makes it possible for us to be received by God when that time comes, but not because we are particularly bad.  In fact, we are pretty darn good as measured against the rest of the world!

   No one appreciates the life guard until they are drowning!

   Is this case it would be better to say that no one appreciates the life guard until they KNOW they are drowning.  And we don’t really know that.  I am always struck by the biographies of the saints of the church when those people — the ones the church encourages us to venerate and copy — those people admit their shortcomings and weaknesses.  When the saints of the church admit they really do need a savior.

   I have told you about my brother’s tiny Methodist church which invites people from a nearby long term addiction recovery center to worship with them.  Those people KNOW they need a savior!  Sometimes I think it is easier for them to have a close relationship with God than it is for us because they know they need the help. ... blessed are the poor in spirit.

   If we could survey other sermons the second major theme probably would be the woman as an evangelist.  She learns something important about God and her first effort is to share that knowledge with others.  She tells them what she knows — doesn’t try to answer every question people might have just tells them what she knows and asks them ... doesn’t tell them but asks them, “could this be the messiah?”  They quickly understand about Him and say it is not because of what she said, but because they have heard for themselves that they know Jesus is the savior — the messiah — the one sent by God.

   There may be an interesting link between this theme of evangelism and the theme of knowing the need for a savior.  I am struck with how little Jesus says to the woman, and how little she has to share with the villagers.  I am struck with how little it takes to excite the villagers. 

   My thought is that the woman and the villagers were hungry ... hungry for a relationship with God.  They were outcasts, not allowed to be fully part of the Jewish religion and they were hungry.  Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness — a right relationship with God — because their hunger will be met.

   Like the need to know we need a savior, we need to acknowledge a hunger for a deeper relationship with God.  When we are content with our lives we won’t take the necessary steps to become closer to God.

   I suspect we don’t even really look AT the cross, much less examine ourselves THROUGH the cross. 

   And the little vignette in the middle of the gospel is not accidental.  The disciples come up to Jesus and ask Him if He needs food.  Jesus responds that His food is doing God’s will.

   Again, we don’t even realize we are hungry for that food.  When we do God’s will we are filled in ways we cannot really describe.  But then we tend to forget that feeling of fullness, and forget that hunger.

   Jesus goes on to speak about the crop being ready for the harvest.  I believe He is talking about the Samaritans, and all the other people of the world who are ready for a deeper walk with God.  And He tells the disciples, and us, that our job is to bring in that harvest — even though we did nothing to make it ready.  I suspect the reference to the labor of others is a reference to His own death and resurrection.  When we look through the cross we see that our part is actually extremely small.  Important – even essential, but small.

   The hunger for righteousness is parallel with Jesus’ discussion about being thirsty.  Almost certainly this woman began the conversation without any idea where it was headed.  But pretty soon she discovers that her thirst is for more than water.  Her thirst is for something only God can give.

   The Rev. William Davidson explained:  “Just like the people of Jesus’ time do you feel ... lost ... in a life so determined by the values of the culture?  Do you find your purpose and meaning and security in life in your social status, or your financial position, or good health.  Perhaps even say to yourself much as the holy men prayed in Jesus’ day: Thank God I am not poor or sick or old.”

   Davidson says that in this passage we see God seeking to draw life from a culture that yields nothing of value, purpose, or self-esteem.

   A good Lenten reflection ... always looking through the cross ... is to ask ourselves where we get our purpose and meaning and security from.  What of value are we creating?  What will last beyond our days?

   ... When we step back and look at the entire gospel passage we discover still another theme.  This theme speaks about what it means to live in community and to worship God.  Jesus says that the hour is coming and is now here when the true worshipers will worship the

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Father in spirit and truth.

   He never tells the woman she has to get her life right first.  Jesus makes a point of saying it doesn’t matter where the worship occurs.  By implication Jesus says the style of worship does not matter.  What matters is worshiping God truthfully in our spirit.

   Jesus is not concerned with the details that concern us.  I also believe He would say that if we are doing something that makes another person uncomfortable and would drive them away from worship that, up to some difficult to define point, we should accommodate — BECAUSE what matters is the worshiping community - the people.

   All of this is REALLY hard!  I sure don’t want to give up what I like.  I am not anxious to move out of my comfort zone because someone tells me that growing close to God will be even more comfortable.  Acknowledging our hunger and thirst, and then working to overcome that hunger and thirst will be difficult.

   So let’s finish with Paul’s advice from Romans.  I am going to paraphrase because I think our English words have changed meanings and miss the intent: “we also look back at and appreciate the difficult efforts because such difficult efforts produce endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope in God and hope in God does not disappoint us because God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit that has been given to us.”

   Thanks be to God.

           AMEN

We have previous sermons on our website.  To read an earlier recent sermon just enter: www.st-christopher.org/sermon.html.

CLICK HERE TO RESPOND: I would enjoy reading your comments about this sermon. Please feel free to discuss content or presentation.  (If you wish to use another email system send your comments to:  ken@st-christopher.com)