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Lent 3 March 15, 2020 Psalm 63, Genesis 29:1-2,9b-13; John 4:3-42 We who are thirsty… ************************************************************** We’ve just read together through the longest recorded conversation Jesus has with anybody anywhere in the bible. Reminding us – last week we were listening as Jesus spoke with a religious leader named Nicodemus who came to visit him by night. And at the end of their conversation Nicodemus, the scholarly religious authority figure was still in the dark… Not understanding Jesus… Today a woman of Samaria (and now we’re reminded Jews and Samaritans avoided each other’s company and would not normally share hospitality with each other) – but today a Samaritan woman meets Jesus in broad daylight and remains in lively conversation with him… Gradually coming to see more and more of who Jesus truly is… This is a longer conversation today by comparison with last week. And at the same time, a relatively brief conversation within the larger story of the love of God that begins even before the first book of the bible… And in this larger story, we now find ourselves in a story within the story… in the biblical narrative of a man and woman meeting at a well that begins in Genesis (24)…. as… Abraham, patriarch of Israel, sends his servant to find a bride for his son Isaac back in the country he and his wife Sarah left when God said go…And the servant goes back to Haran, and comes to a well, where he prays for success…And as he prays, here comes Rebekah, tending her family’s sheep. And behold, Rebekah becomes the wife of Isaac – and later the mother of Jacob – who we’ve seen today returning to that same well in his grandparent’s home town – where he meets Rachel, shepherding the sheep. And Rachel becomes his wife. Their son Joseph is sold into slavery in Egypt… And 400 years later, their great-great-great grand-nephew Moses flees Egypt after killing an Egyptian slave driver. And arrives in Midian, where he sits at a well and meets a group of shepherd women watering sheep – drives away some other shepherds harassing them – and marries one of them, Zipporah. Long story abbreviated – up to now anytime a man and woman meet at a well in the bible, marriage happens. So we have expectations… though – Of course we know Jesus is not like other men. (Mild understatement.) So – we listen closely… As Jesus engages with this woman in a different kind of courtship… Wooing her with words of mystery and wisdom… Coaching her to know him as Messiah… Never forcing the conversation… Just offering the gift of Who He is and what He has to offer… (and…) As with Nicodemus last week, there’s some word-play at work here… as Jesus asks for water – and the woman asks “what’s a Jewish guy like you doing talking with a Samaritan woman like me?” And Jesus replies “if you knew the gift of God and who you’re talking with, you would ask and he would give you living water.” (And…) We can hear her skepticism… but also a hint of interest… in her response… as she says, “Sir, you don’t even have a bucket, and this well is deep. Where do you get this living...

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