John 4:5-42
This woman took the long way to where she needed to be. She went alone, she went at noon, at the time of day when she knew all the other women would not be there. She avoided others, she avoided their gaze, their stares, their scrutiny. She avoided being seen, so that she did not have to see herself through their eyes, so that she did not have to feel the shame. Her predicament could have been her own fault, or it could have been rough circumstances of life which put her in a place in which she would never have imagined herself. Either way, she was a woman who found herself in a place in life where she did not seek the company of others, a place in life where she did not want to be around people who knew her, knew “who” she was and the unfortunate place in which she had found herself.
She lived her life on the outside looking in. She was not a part of the regular goings and comings of her community. She was living in the margins. She walked in the shadows (which in this case means in the bright noonday sun), doing her best to be small, to go unseen, to remained un-harassed, so that she did not have to feel the sting. She excluded herself, so that she did not have to be actively excluded.
On this day, she went to the well, to draw her water by herself, at midday, to be alone, to be left alone. Jesus met her there. And even then she still felt the glass jar which society put around her, which distanced her from others. He was a man, she was a woman. He was a Jew, she was a Samaritan. She was unclean and untouchable, even if she did not have a sordid past and a currently unholy lifestyle.
She was alone, she was an outcast. And Jesus met her, and released her from her separation, from her solitude. He drew her in. She found Jesus when she was outside of everything, continually looking into all the places she was unwanted and unaccepted. By the end of the day, not only was she wanted, accepted, but she would lead her people. She quite literally ended that day a different woman. Jesus changed everything.
Jesus saw her, knew her, knew everything about her and accepted her. When he saw her he did not see someone to be avoided, someone to be shunned, be excluded. He did not see someone to be pushed away and ignored. He saw her and saw her as valued, important, needed, and wanted. And he chose to reach out to her, to speak to her and to give her hope. She was an outcast among outcasts. She was not even accepted by those nobody else accepted. Jesus assured her there would be a day when she would be wanted, accepted. He did this by talking to her about worship. Whether you worship here or there does not matter, but one day we will all worship (together) in Spirit, where not the location, but the heart of the worship is what matters.
She spoke to him about separation, about what it means to be an outcast. We worship here and you worship there. The insiders worship in one place, but we, the outsiders worship in another. And Jesus told her that one day they would all worship together, in spirit and in truth, no exclusive worship place for these and another for those. Jesus essentially told her that a day is coming and it is coming soon when there will be no Greek or Jew, male or female, slave or free. He, a Jew, sat there and talked to her, a Samaritan. He, a man, sat there and talked to her, a woman. He, someone who was righteous, sat there and talked to her, a shameful woman. He told her that one day we will neither worship here or there, but we will worship in Spirit and in truth - together.
Jesus tore down the walls, which separated her from everyone else. She was outside looking in, she found Jesus and Jesus found her. He took her by the hand and drew her into the center. Jesus tore down the walls that kept her from everything and everyone. A lonely woman, drained of hope, drained of dignity, drained of even the will to find herself amongst people, went to the well that day and an empowered woman fled from the well that day, who embraced the hubbub and commonality of at the center of town, spoke to them boldly about the man, possibly the Messiah, who was waiting there for them, all of them, at the well. She went to the well that day, a woman on the outside of it all, she returned a different woman, with an important message (to preach [Symbol]), and then she lead the people of her town to Jesus.
She was not the only outcast in that village. She was an outcast among outcasts, a Samaritan village. She met the Messiah, he changed her life, changed her perspective, offered her what no one else was willing to offer; offered her what no one else could offer. She knew that everyone in her life, deserved to meet him. She did not return to her village and quietly live her new life, she invited others to join her. She invited others to experience what she experienced. She wanted everyone who was on the outside, everyone who felt alone, everyone who knew the sting of exclusion to know what she now knew, to experience what she had experienced, to find the one whom had found her when she found him at the well that day.
She left an outcast and returned a preacher, a leader and she was never the same, her town was never the same. And then together, that little town of outcasts, make the most profound confession found anywhere in all of the Gospels, “This is truly the Savior of the World.” And the Savior of the world stayed that day, (Stayed two days) and that town was never the same again!
In many ways we can all see ourselves in this woman. There are parts of who we are of which we are ashamed. These are the parts we hide from the world around us. There are ways in which we feel like we are on the outside looking in; pushed to the side, excluded from the in circle. We feel alone. There are barriers that separate each of us from the places we want to be, or people with whom we want to be. There signs that say keep out. We are drowning in shame, fear, guilt, wrong doing, or hurt. They surround, confine and overwhelm us. When we find our selvees overwhelmed by these things in our lives, that is when we find the long way to the well, when we choose to avoid, and choose loneliness, for protection for solace, in vain hope that we might be able to hide from the so very painful feels that we feel. We find ourselves looking from the outside in.
In our shame, our guilt, our fear, loneliness, and separation; we are outcasts, marginalized, walled off, put behind barriers and set apart from places and people, it is then that Jesus comes to us; to the places we are and meets us there. Jesus sees us on the outside and draws us in. When we find Jesus, when Jesus finds us, he sees us. He invites us to be apart, he invites to the table, to drink of the water only he can provide. When we find Jesus, we are no longer on the outside, because we are found. When we find Jesus and Jesus finds us, we see that no one is on the outside, that all are drawn in, that all are invited to sit, to talk, to worship, to drink. When we find Jesus everything changes, because Jesus sees things differently and Jesus teaches us to see things differently. And we are forever changed; everything is forever changed. We are truly found.
Each of us individually might find ourselves in this woman, due to circumstances in our lives, parts of ourselves we keep close, we might even keep hidden. But, We are this woman, this church. We may not always feel that we are the Church we want to be, the church we could be, the Church we use to be. But in Jesus’ eyes we are so much more than we could ever imagine ourselves to be. Jesus sees it all, sees us for exactly who we are and Jesus sees something we don’t see! Jesus sees that we might feel that we are on the outside, that we don’t have as much to offer as other churches, we are not as big, or as important, we don’t have all the programs, all the extras and amenities, but Jesus does not see what we see. Jesus sees us and invites us in, invites us to worship, invites us to drink and be satisfied. Jesus sees us, loves us, and calls us to lead, to lead others, like us to him, so that we may be found, so that they may be found, so that we can all find Jesus and no longer find ourselves outsiders looking in.
Jesus meets us. He shows us who we are. Jesus replaces our shame with beauty, our unworthiness with worth, our pain with joy, our brokenness with wholeness. And we are empowered with this knowledge. We may wonder how we can go on, we may wonder where our future may be, but in Jesus’s eyes, we can go out from our meeting place and be the people, the Church Jesus sees us to be. We are empowered, emboldened and we can go from here into our world and say, I met a man who told me all about myself! I think he is the messiah come and see. Come and see! He is the Savior of the world.
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