Sermon: Knowing Gd (At The) Well

Sermon. St Michael and All Angels. 15 March 2020.  

Lent 3

John 4.5-42 

Jesus meets the Samaritan woman by the well. Much could be said – much no doubt is being said at precisely this moment up and down the country– about what the Jews of Jesus’ day thought of non-Jews in general and Samaritans in particular. Much could be said – and not doubt is being said at precisely this moment – about the attitude of men in Jesus’ day towards women. And at least as much can be said as to whether the woman here, with her history of husbands, was a great sinner, or more likely to have had a huge dose of bad luck, or of abuse. These are all good themes. For another time.  

What I want to bring today is that the well is a character in its own right. The Holy Land is desert country, with a thin strip of fertile ground. Water is always precious (we too are a little more aware of this than normal). Wells are always extra precious. So vital – literally life-giving – is water, and so rare are wells, that wells might be seen as both the banks and the market-places of the rural Holy Land of Jesus’ day. Everyone in the area would know where Jacob’s well was.  By the way, we still do.  

But more than that, everyone would know the stories attached to wells, sometimes of war, sometimes of love. It was at a well that Abraham’s servant met Rebecca, who gave him water, and who, through that encounter, goes on to become the wife of Isaac.  So wells are not just water-delivery devices, not just as important as banks and as oft-used as market-places, they are also places were intimacy is possible. Where one person can speak to another, over a drink of water. Indeed, where courtship might take place.  

So this is indeed a set-up. I mean the story is set up for us to expect an intimate encounter. Here it is not courtship, and no wedding follows. But I want to suggest that, though not sexual, it is no less intimate than courtship. I say this because this is clearly how the woman experienced it. “He told me everything I had ever done.” Jesus saw her, saw her life. And note: saw her without any shaming. Neither part speaks of shame. The woman’s shame is something we may read into the story. She was fully seen as she truly was. She was fully known. To be fully known is intimacy. This intimacy is promised for us, too.

   

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Jesus also says: “We [Jews] worship what we know, for salvation is from the Jews.” Here too the theme is intimacy. This is, I admit, a little harder to explain. I know this may sound like it’s just an expression of superiority or even exclusiveness, but it need not be anything of the sort.  

People standing in the Jewish tradition truly know Gd, Jesus says. And to know Gd in the Bible does not mean to understand Gd. It does not mean to have the right thoughts about Gd, the right definition and terms. It means to be acquainted with Gd. To be with Gd. And, even, yes, surely, to have intimacy with Gd. Some of you will remember from the older translations that “to know” in the Bible can sometimes even mean “to have sexual relations with”. So if Jewish people know Gd, it means they have all they need for all good proper life-giving intimacy with Gd. Indeed, surely we need to speak of the miracle of intimacy with Gd. It is a gift Gd gives.  

There still seems to be something harsh about Jesus’ words here. Jews have intimacy with Gd as Gd wills it; Samaritans do not. Why does Jesus say this?  

Different answers are possible. Let us look at one thing: what separated the Jews and the Samaritans when it comes to revelation. We know this. Again, we know this because it applies to this day. Samaritans believed and believe that revelation is found only in the five books of Moses, from Genesis to Deuteronomy, which I have often called “Torah”. Jews believed and believe that revelation is also found – if differently found - in the writings of the Prophets and the Psalms and other later texts.  

That, by the way, is the reason the Samaritans insist that the Holy Mountain is Mount Gerizim and not Mount Zion in Jerusalem. Gerizim is mentioned in Torah; Jerusalem isn’t.  

There is more: in Jesus’ day it may well not have been settled quite which books made up the third section of the Jewish Bible, the Writings.  

So simply put: Jews believed that revelation goes on. It is not closed. It is not all settled. We both know Gd and we go on getting to know Gd.  

We both know Gd, and we go on getting to know Gd. This is the promise that we Christians share with Jews. Of course, John’s Gospel insists strongly that the new story of our going on to get to know Gd is intimately bound up with Jesus himself. For us, this story itself comes out of the middle of revelation. But the core point is one, for Jews and Christians alike: we both know Gd and we go on getting to know Gd.  

Brothers and sisters, we are going to need to hold on to this truth.  

For a matter of months (at least) our worship here will be different (at least). I can tell you: I find it weird. It is not a minor adjustment, being forbidden to touch. And we know that ahead we may not be able to gather. It is a near-certainty that we will not be able to take the sacrament to some people in their homes, at least not without a great rigmarole. Principal pastoral care will probably be by phone. And these are but the direct consequences of the virus Covid19. Dare we even name the indirect consequences? The people with other medical needs which cannot be met. The companies which will collapse. The things we will have to do without.  

We will be called upon to pray for our nation facing a clear and physical crisis, and it will be harder to pray together as we should wish. This is painful.  

So, here, together, today, let us take stock.  

Even now, Gd goes on being Gd.  

The promise of intimacy with Gd is unchanged.  

Today and soon, we may well feel that we have to come to know Gd away from our usual practices and comforts.  

We may feel we are starting from scratch.  

But Gd knows us fully and sees our lives in full.  

And our salvation is from the Jews.  

This means: our salvation is from those who first believed that the revelation, the intimacy, goes on.  

We are called, as yesterday so today, as today so tomorrow,  

both to know Gd and to go on getting to know Gd.  

Amen.