This sermon was preached at Glenwood and Canoe Ridge Lutheran Churches, Decorah, Iowa on Sunday, March 15, 2020. It’s based on Exodus 17:1-7; Romans 5:1-11; and John 4:5-42. If you’d prefer to listen to it, find it at https://soundcloud.com/stacey-nalean-carlson.
Exodus 17:1-7
1From the wilderness of Sin the whole congregation of the Israelites journeyed by stages, as the Lord commanded. They camped at Rephidim, but there was no water for the people to drink. 2The people quarreled with Moses, and said, “Give us water to drink.” Moses said to them, “Why do you quarrel with me? Why do you test the Lord?” 3But the people thirsted there for water; and the people complained against Moses and said, “Why did you bring us out of Egypt, to kill us and our children and livestock with thirst?” 4So Moses cried out to the Lord, “What shall I do with this people? They are almost ready to stone me.” 5The Lord said to Moses, “Go on ahead of the people, and take some of the elders of Israel with you; take in your hand the staff with which you struck the Nile, and go. 6I will be standing there in front of you on the rock at Horeb. Strike the rock, and water will come out of it, so that the people may drink.” Moses did so, in the sight of the elders of Israel. 7He called the place Massah and Meribah, because the Israelites quarreled and tested the Lord, saying, “Is the Lord among us or not?”
Romans 5:1-11
1Since we are justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, 2through whom we have obtained access to this grace in which we stand; and we boast in our hope of sharing the glory of God. 3And not only that, but we also boast in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, 4and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, 5and hope does not disappoint us, because God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit that has been given to us.
6For while we were still weak, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly. 7Indeed, rarely will anyone die for a righteous person—though perhaps for a good person someone might actually dare to die. 8But God proves his love for us in that while we still were sinners Christ died for us. 9Much more surely then, now that we have been justified by his blood, will we be saved through him from the wrath of God. 10For if while we were enemies, we were reconciled to God through the death of his Son, much more surely, having been reconciled, will we be saved by his life. 11But more than that, we even boast in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received reconciliation.
John 4:5-42
5[Jesus] came to a Samaritan city called Sychar, near the plot of ground that Jacob had given to his son Joseph.6Jacob’s well was there, and Jesus, tired out by his journey, was sitting by the well. It was about noon.
7A Samaritan woman came to draw water, and Jesus said to her, “Give me a drink.” 8(His disciples had gone to the city to buy food.) 9The Samaritan woman said to him, “How is it that you, a Jew, ask a drink of me, a woman of Samaria?” (Jews do not share things in common with Samaritans.) 10Jesus answered her, “If you knew the gift of God, and who it is that is saying to you, ‘Give me a drink,’ you would have asked him, and he would have given you living water.” 11The woman said to him, “Sir, you have no bucket, and the well is deep. Where do you get that living water? 12Are you greater than our ancestor Jacob, who gave us the well, and with his sons and his flocks drank from it?” 13Jesus said to her, “Everyone who drinks of this water will be thirsty again, 14but those who drink of the water that I will give them will never be thirsty. The water that I will give will become in them a spring of water gushing up to eternal life.” 15The woman said to him, “Sir, give me this water, so that I may never be thirsty or have to keep coming here to draw water.”
16Jesus said to her, “Go, call your husband, and come back.” 17The woman answered him, “I have no husband.” Jesus said to her, “You are right in saying, ‘I have no husband’; 18for you have had five husbands, and the one you have now is not your husband. What you have said is true!” 19The woman said to him, “Sir, I see that you are a prophet. 20Our ancestors worshiped on this mountain, but you say that the place where people must worship is in Jerusalem.” 21Jesus said to her, “Woman, believe me, the hour is coming when you will worship the Father neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem. 22You worship what you do not know; we worship what we know, for salvation is from the Jews. 23But the hour is coming, and is now here, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for the Father seeks such as these to worship him. 24God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth.” 25The woman said to him, “I know that Messiah is coming” (who is called Christ). “When he comes, he will proclaim all things to us.” 26Jesus said to her, “I am he, the one who is speaking to you.”
27Just then his disciples came. They were astonished that he was speaking with a woman, but no one said, “What do you want?” or, “Why are you speaking with her?” 28Then the woman left her water jar and went back to the city. She said to the people, 29“Come and see a man who told me everything I have ever done! He cannot be the Messiah, can he?” 30They left the city and were on their way to him. 31Meanwhile the disciples were urging him, “Rabbi, eat something.” 32But he said to them, “I have food to eat that you do not know about.” 33So the disciples said to one another, “Surely no one has brought him something to eat?” 34Jesus said to them, “My food is to do the will of him who sent me and to complete his work. 35Do you not say, ‘Four months more, then comes the harvest’? But I tell you, look around you, and see how the fields are ripe for harvesting. 36The reaper is already receiving wages and is gathering fruit for eternal life, so that sower and reaper may rejoice together. 37For here the saying holds true, ‘One sows and another reaps.’ 38I sent you to reap that for which you did not labor. Others have labored, and you have entered into their labor.”
39Many Samaritans from that city believed in him because of the woman’s testimony, “He told me everything I have ever done.” 40So when the Samaritans came to him, they asked him to stay with them; and he stayed there two days. 41And many more believed because of his word. 42They said to the woman, “It is no longer because of what you said that we believe, for we have heard for ourselves, and we know that this is truly the Savior of the world.”
Beloved of God, grace and peace to you in the name of Jesus. Amen.
What then are we to say about these things?
This is the question Paul asks in chapter eight of his letter to the Roman, and it’s the question I’ve been asking myself this week. Last weekend I was at a basketball tournament in La Crosse with lots of other people and didn’t give it a single thought. This morning I’m questioning the wisdom of even gathering together for this worship service. What are we to say about COVID-19?
On Tuesday night the worship committee and the Glenwood council discussed protocol we might adopt in order to mindfully care for the most vulnerable among us. The conversation felt both warranted AND it felt like enough. In the days since then, the landscape has changed so dramatically that it’s increasingly difficult to know how best to proceed.
What then are we to say about these things?
I heard a psychologist on NPR say that this is a time that requires us to think differently, to think collectively, to think about the common good. We live in an individualistic rather than a collective society, she said. This moment in time really asks us to think differently—to think about caring for other people and understanding our interconnectedness.
Cancellations and postponements for the sake of social distancing are about protecting the most vulnerable and slowing the spread of the virus so that hospitals and healthcare workers will not be stressed beyond their capacity to respond. Many of us may not be very concerned for ourselves, but we’re being called upon here to be concerned for others.
And I can’t help but think, isn’t this what Jesus calls us to ALL the time? Isn’t this what our faith compels us to do? Don’t we define sin as a curving in on ourselves that refuses to regard the needs of our neighbors? Don’t we believe Jesus has named the greatest commandments as loving God with all our hearts, souls, and minds and loving our neighbors as ourselves?
I’m thinking about the woman in our gospel reading for today. She shows up at the well at noon, in the heat of the day, the absolute worst time to go for water. Why? Why not go when all the other women of her community would have been there? Why not go when she could socialize with them and benefit from their love and care? The woman at the well was engaging in social distancing before social distancing was a thing. She was keeping herself isolated and alone. Why?
We know she had had five husbands, but we don’t know why. Had they died? Had they left her because she was barren? We don’t need to know the details in order to appreciate that she was desperately wounded and inescapably alone. If she chose to distance herself from her community, I imagine it was because she perceived that they had already distanced themselves from her.
Instead of offering love and care, it’s easy to imagine how her community would have instead offered judgment and disdain, questioned her value, questioned her morality. It’s easy to imagine this, because even in our day and age I’ve heard sermons that are quick to name this woman as sinful rather than as suffering.
She goes to the well alone—to protect herself, to distance herself from the judgment and the behind-her-back whispers or maybe even to protect herself from the pity, the eyes that refuse to meet hers. But when she arrives, she’s not alone. Jesus is there. Jesus, tired out by his own journey, is there. Jesus, who knows everything there is to know about this wounded woman, is there.
And in his presence, she speaks. She works through the whirlwind of shifting, changing information and asks Jesus for clarification. She learns that worship, in the realm of Jesus, is not about a particular place where all must gather; it’s about a person, it’s about God, it’s about spirit and truth. And when she shares her belief that the Messiah is coming, Jesus reveals his identity to her. She is the first to whom he says explicitly: I am he. I am the Messiah. I am the Christ.
At the well, where she had come seeking distance and simple water, the woman is met by her Savior. She is not alone. She worships. She learns. She receives understanding and clarity, compassion and care. She drinks deeply not of simple water, but of living water, gushing up to eternal life. And filled with that water, she returns to her community to spread not fear and judgment and pity, but hope. True hope. Real hope. Life-giving hope that refuses to disappoint us. Come and see. Come and see.
In the days and weeks ahead, we will need to distance ourselves from one another physically, but not spiritually. We will not gather in person for worship, but we will worship. We will pray. We will send a card, make a meal, deliver groceries, pick up the phone and check in on those who most need our support right now.
We will think collectively—rather than individually—as we have always been called by Jesus to do. And though we may feel alone, we will never be alone. Jesus meets us where we are and transforms us for witness, for true worship and true community, for a life devoted to loving and caring for our neighbors.
On Thursday I was feeling completely overwhelmed by all that this breaking news would mean for our life together as a community of faith, for our nation, for our world. The next day, I felt called to Dunning’s Spring, where I listened as clear water flowed persistently, cascading over rocks and wearing the rough places smooth. Gushing, living water, called to me with the voice of this world’s Savior: Listen. Breathe. Love. Live. I’m not going anywhere. You are not alone. My love will see you through. Listen. Breathe. Love. Live.
The Lord is among us. We will be saved by the life of Christ. God’s love has been poured into our hearts. By the work of the Holy Spirit among us, may that love now overflow in mindful, generous, disciplined love for our neighbors near and far. Amen.