Third Sunday in Lent
Third Sunday in Lent
(A)
March 23, 2014
Text: John 4:5-30, 39-42
It is
a recurring theme in Holy Scripture: marriages are made at the well. Just this past week in Bible Study we
witnessed Abraham’s servant find a godly wife, Rebekah, for Isaac, that the
promise of Abraham’s Seed through whom all the nations would be blessed be
carried forward through Isaac’s line (Gen. 24).
You’ve also been reading that account this week if you use the Treasury of Daily Prayer for your
devotions. Isaac’s son Jacob, whom God
would later name Israel, likewise met his wife Rachel at a well (Gen. 29). Moses met his wife Zipporah at a well (Ex.
2). Now, to be sure, our Lord Jesus is
not interested in making a marriage with the Samaritan woman in our Holy
Gospel, though marriage is a rather important, albeit incidental, topic of the
discussion. Still, there is something
coming to fulfillment here at Jacob’s well to which all the other wells and
marriage-matches point in testimony. Our
Lord is not looking for carnal marriage with the woman at the well. But as a Bridegroom, the Lord Jesus, by the
living water of His Word, has come to incorporate this Samaritan woman as a
member of His holy Bride, the Church.
Jesus
meets sinners at the well. Jesus meets
us at the water. He meets us at the
font. And there He does for us what He
did for the Samaritan woman. He meets us
in mercy and incorporates us into the Body of His Bride, the Church. “Truly,
truly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter
the kingdom of God” (John 3:5; ESV), Jesus said to us last week. He was speaking of Holy Baptism, where water
is joined to God’s Word, by God’s command, and in this way becomes a
life-giving, sin-cleansing, Spirit and faith bestowing water by which God
writes His Name on you, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, and makes you His
child. He meets you at the well, right
there at the font, to make you His own.
And He starts by drowning your unbelieving and incapable of believing
sinful flesh. The Old Adam in you must
be drowned and die with all sin and evil desires. It happens in Baptism, and it will continue
to happen each and every day as you live your Christian life in your
Baptism. It is a daily thing, this
drowning. We call it repentance. Jesus accomplishes this in you by pointing
out your need. He does this by making
demands of you that you cannot keep. In
other words, He preaches His holy Law, so that by looking in the mirror of the
holy Law you will recognize your sin, your lack, and realize just how badly you
need what Jesus comes to give you. So,
for example, Jesus says to the woman at the well, “Give me a drink” (John 4:7).
The request is simple enough on the face of it. But it leads to a discussion whereby Jesus
shows the woman a greater need within herself than simple physical thirst. She needs living water, water which, when you
drink it, you never thirst again. And if
she knew who it was who was asking her for a drink, she would have turned the
question around. She would have asked
Him. Because only He can give this
living water. And what is that? It is His life-giving Word. It is the Gospel. It is that which Jesus pours out upon us at
the well in Baptism, in Scripture and preaching, and in the Supper of His Body
and Blood. It is that which raises us
out of death to new life in Christ. It
is the forgiveness of sins. It is
eternal salvation. It is the Spirit of
the living God. It is the water that
takes root in a person and becomes an ever flowing spring, a living faith in
Jesus Christ that wells up to eternal life, that then spills over in works of
love toward the neighbor.
The
disciples, and the woman herself, for that matter, think it an astonishing
thing that Jesus is speaking to a Samaritan woman, and one who has a reputation,
at that. To be sure, this woman is a
notorious sinner. Jesus gently points
this out. Divorce, and living together
outside of marriage: sins, in spite of what our culture teaches us. “Go,
call your husband,” He says, innocently enough (v. 16). But He knows what He is doing. He is leading her to confess her sins. Again, He is putting to death her Old Adam,
the sinful nature, the flesh. “I have no husband,” she replies (v.
17). “You are right in saying, ‘I have no husband’; for you have had five
husbands, and the one you now have is not your husband. What you have said is true” (v. 18). Notice that Jesus is gentle with this poor
sinner, and yet, He does not ignore the sin.
He does not allow her to go on living dishonestly. She must come face to face with the sin, so
that it can be dealt with in such a way that it no longer destroys her and
others. Love demands that Jesus state
the matter plainly. Love demands that
Jesus proclaim the Law. But He doesn’t
do this to condemn or to shun the sinner. He always does it for the sake of proclaiming
the Gospel. He kills so that He can make
alive. He brings this poor woman to the
realization of her thirst, of her mortal dehydration, that He may give her the
living water of forgiveness and restoration and life eternal. “(T)he
hour is coming, and is now here, when the true worshipers will worship the
Father in spirit and truth” (v. 23).
The hour is coming and is now here when the true worshipers will worship
the Father by the new birth of water and the Spirit; by Spirit-given faith in
the Son, Jesus Christ; by believing the living water of Jesus’ Word. The hour is coming. And the hour is now here. It is here in
Jesus. “I know that Messiah is coming… When he comes, he will tell us all
things” (v. 25). Indeed. And here He is. “Jesus
said to her, ‘I who speak to you am he’” (v. 26). No, you miss the full force of it in that
English translation. Here is what the
text really says: “Jesus is saying to
her, ‘I AM, the One who is speaking to you’” (translation mine). I AM, YHWH, right here, in the flesh, come to
give living water to the thirsty, righteousness to sinners, life to the
dead. Jesus comes to the well… God comes to the well, to meet the
sinful Samaritan woman and take her as His Bride, make her a member of His holy
Church.
And
that is what He does for you. It is an
astonishing thing that Jesus would want to hang out with a sinner like you,
take you to Himself, and make you His own.
But He does. That is His
mercy. That is His love. He meets you at the well. He drowns you in Baptism. He drowns your sinful flesh by the preaching
of His Law. He does not let you go on
living the lie… you know, that you’re basically a good person. He does not let you go on destroying yourself
and others in unrepentant sin. He makes
you confront the fact that you are a poor, miserable sinner. He brings your sin out in the open where it
can be dealt with by the forgiveness of sins, by the application of His
precious blood which atones for your sin.
And He raises you up out of the water to new life, His resurrection
life, the Christian life, the Baptismal life of repentance and faith, death and
resurrection, a life in Christ who was crucified for your sins and has been
raised from the dead, from whom your whole life flows. He meets you at the well. He takes you for Himself. He makes you a member of His holy Bride, the
Church. St. Paul describes the love of
Christ for His Bride this way: “Christ
loved the church and gave himself up for her, that he might sanctify her,
having cleansed her by the washing of water with the word, so that he might
present the church to himself in splendor, without spot or wrinkle or any such
thing, that she might be holy and without blemish” (Eph. 5:25-27). What is true for the Church is true for
you. Christ loved you and gave Himself
up for you, that He might sanctify you, having cleansed you by the washing of
water with the word (which is to say, Baptism), so that He might present you to
Himself in splendor, without spot or wrinkle or any such thing, that you might
be holy and without blemish, sins washed away, robed in the righteousness of
the Savior, crowned with His glory, radiant with His holiness.
Christ
fashions a Bride for Himself from His riven side. Sleeping the deep sleep of death on the
cross, the side of our new Adam is opened by a spear, and out pour water and
blood. The water from His side fills the
font. The blood from His side fills the
chalice. And the Church comes to life. And here we understand that Jesus Himself is the well from which we
receive this living water. He is the Rock
Moses struck in our Old Testament reading (Ex. 17:1-7), from which water flowed
for God’s people. St. Paul comments on
this very account: “all drank the same
spiritual drink. For they drank from the
spiritual Rock that followed them, and the Rock was Christ” (1 Cor.
10:4). Our Rock was struck on the
cross. Our Adam’s side was riven on the
tree. And out poured water and blood. “For
there are three that testify,” St. John writes: “the Spirit and the water and the blood; and these three agree” (1
John 5:7). These flow from the well that
is Christ. His living Word through which
the Spirit testifies, the water of Holy Baptism, the Blood poured out for you
on the cross and poured down your throat in the Sacrament. Jesus meets you at the well. Jesus is the well. And in Him a marriage is made. You are His and He is yours. And because you belong to Him, you will never
have to thirst again. In the Name of the
Father, and of the Son (+), and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
2 Comments:
Brilliant and beautiful sacramental preaching, thanks so much. I found your translation of verse 26 very interesting - I've not encountered that before. It certainly makes the messianic and divine claim much starker than the NIV.
Thank you, Derrick. God be with you.
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