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A sermon is a manner of oral communication and therefore words and sentence structure/order would be added, altered, or deleted at the moment of delivery. + In Nomine Jesu + The Rev. Evan Gaerther Greetings, in the name of Christ, brothers and sisters. I would like to tell you my story. My name is Tobias and I am from the Samaritan city of Sychar. It is between Jerusalem and Galilee. There was a time not too long ago that that about summed me up. But today I greet you as a brother in Christ. I am a new creation, I have drunk from the waters of everlasting life. But before I share too much of my joy I best tell you a little bit about myself. The Samaritans, us, and the Jews, don’t get along. They say we have to worship in Jerusalem and we believe that the Lord Almighty has given us Mt. Gerizim to worship at. We have been living in this land for generations but they consider us people that are in the way. They walk around us and we walk around them. Maybe for your present times it might be best expressed as similar to the hostility between the Palestinians and Israelis in the Middle East today. The Samaritans and Jews have their own towns and places of worship and history. We both have the first five books of the Old Testament but our conclusions are always different. Well anyways before I get too far in talking about these differences, I better explain my joy in greeting you as brothers and sisters in Christ. It was midday everyone already had gone to Jacob’s well and returned for the day’s water. They would of course have to go back, maybe that evening, but at least the next morning, everyday. But there she was, just like everyday, waiting until everyone had returned and then she would walk out to the well. I saw some Jews traveling from Jerusalem to the north, to Galilee, they stopped at the well. I wondered if she was going to turn around and wait till they moved on. It looked to me like a little bit more than a dozen men. She probably would wait. Yep. She stopped. Then most of them moved on into the city for supplies. So she picked up her jars and was on the move again. She was determined to get some water. Looked like one in the group of travelers stayed at the well by himself. He looked tired; he was sitting by the well. I wouldn’t of even thought it possible that this guy sitting at the well would give me life, considering to whom he first introduced himself. This woman had been married five times and now was living with a man who was not her husband. Looking back the divorces were often the fault of the men, but still each time the village looked down on her a little bit more. Maybe that was why she was at Jacob’s Well at the midday, tired of the accusative glances of everyone. To meet and greet at the well with such a woman was like going down to the local watering hole and trying to find a wife. I know that in Christ I have been loved even though I don’t deserve it, but really on the grand scheme it still is hard to believe that Jesus would offer to her the gift of salvation. But sure enough she came away from talking with Jesus with a whole new light about her. It was clear we would listen to her, because the joy she shared was a new kind of joy. A joy frankly we all wanted to know and enjoy. It was a genuine joy. This woman had been dead to us, buried under all of her shame. But when she spoke about Jesus as the messiah, we found ourselves all listening. She said that He offered her to drink from the water of everlasting life. I then looked and could tell that she had left her water jars at the well, but yet still she was giving us to drink from this same water of life. At first, this Jesus, we thought was just naïve and didn’t know to whom he had been speaking to, but then she told us of how He knew everything about her. He knew about her and yet still he wanted to talk to her. Still he offered her life. This was a man we wanted to know. We may not have wanted to admit it, the way we looked at this woman, but frankly we knew that if people knew our own secrets they would like with shame upon us as well. We too would be, should be dead under the weight of our shame. IF this man was the messiah and knew us, even our deepest, darkest, remotest secrets, and still loved us, then this would bring true joy. Truly He is the messiah. He is the promise. He is the water of life. He is the hope that I now live in. I am Tobias, a Samaritan; I once was dead in my secrets. I once knew only division with anyone I looked at and saw walk by. I once only knew hatred and despised everyone that was not like me. To put it best I will use words from St. Paul in his letter to the Romans when he said, “For while we were still weak, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly.” Christ died for me. I couldn’t believe it. He had so many opportunities to avert this disaster, but he did not come to save himself. Now I understand what he said to his disciples, when he said, “My food is to do the will of him who sent me and to finish his work.” The will of the father is not the sects, divisions, and separations that divide us but unity. We have unity with the God the Father through Jesus. In Christ, in Jesus, I have seen a vision of the unity of forgiveness and justice that is the will of God. Jesus truly is the savior of the world. He reaches into the division of this world and breaks them down with his love. Once again listen to the words of St. Paul who wrote, “We also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received reconciliation.” We are so glad in Sychar that Jesus reached into our village and gave to us everlasting life. I pray that you are reaching into your community as followers of Jesus. I pray that you are running into your community like that woman at the well. She drank from the waters of everlasting life. Her joy changed our lives. I am certain that as you share the joy of Christ you change lives as well. Please don’t let the shame, divisions, and things that separate us, ever stop us from sharing the good news that the Savior of the world has come. Soli Deo Gloria -->> Home |