[Propertalk] 3 Lent a 2017 - Part 1

[Robert P Morrison]

A draft for Sunday.
Part 1
Bob

	THE EPISCOPAL CHURCH OF ST. ALBAN, ALBANY THE THIRD SUNDAY IN LENT a

	EXODUS 17:107  19th MARCH, 2017

	ROMANS 5:1-11   PSALM 95

	JOHN 4:5-42

	 Men are a funny lot! They seem to think they’re rational,
they’re helpful, they’re understanding. And, of course, there ARE
times when they seem to be like that. It’s unfair to say that men
are any better, or worse, than women. But put men in certain
situations, allow them to believe that they have certain
responsibilities, and all sorts of patriarchal tendencies can surface.
We don‘t need to delve into history to find that either. We can see
it around us right here, right now – wherever we look, in fact. The
question is, how do we deal with the grace with which God blesses us?
How do we acknowledge the individual gifts and talents in each of us,
and learn to share them? How do we, for instance, take the Good News
of Love of which Jesus spoke and NOT keep it to ourselves, and NOT try
to use it to subjugate and control anyone else? As the apostle Paul
wrote of the gift of the Sacrament of Eucharist, Jesus said, “This
cup is the new covenant in my blood.” Jesus said that we were to
drink it. Not that some of us were to drink it. Not that a few of us
were to drink it. But that it is the Cup given to US. Full stop. We
don’t ask that the Spirit bless the Wine so that certain people may
find in it the love of God, and that others may not. The Sacrament,
just like the Gospel, is for ALL, without reservation.

	 This can be so hard to accept and to make the pattern of our lives,
though. This can and does lead to so much tension, so much abuse, so
much isolation – often precisely at the hands of the Church.

	 Take a look, now, if you like, at the first illustration in this
morning’s bulletin. 1 It’s a very early fourteenth century
depiction of part of the Gospel that was read by Deacon Peggy.

	 The initial encounter of the Samaritan woman and Jesus has taken
place. The pair have engaged in what was a discussion of really deep,
important theological principles. Both had been enlightened. Both,
now, according to the artist Duccio, are at peace with one another, so
much so that each seems to be offering a blessing to the other. Their
eyes are fixed on one another.

	 But look at the expression on the faces of some of the disciples.
They’ve returned from the city and are completely floored by what
they saw.

	 You don’t need me to rehearse all the reasons they think that
Jesus had broken the rules – an unattended woman, a Samaritan, the
middle of the day. But the disciples seem aghast that Jesus and the
woman are engaged in such an intimate encounter.

	 Look at the second illustration, the bronze statue in the courtyard
of Chester Cathedral, and try to tell me that this is not an
incredibly intimate moment into which the disciples have stumbled. 2

	 Yet this is one of the main points of the this recollection by the
evangelist. Jesus and the woman have discovered Love, the intensity of
God’s compassion for very last one of us.

	 THIS is what upset the disciples, perhaps more than the
rule-breaking. Jesus was sharing with that, that, that woman what they
assumed was for them, first and foremost, if not for them alone.

	 The theologian Jean Vanier puts it succinctly, “The meeting of
Jesus and this Samaritan woman at the well is a meeting of love.
Jesus, the divine Bridegroom, came to reveal his love to all who are
seeking to draw water from the well of love.” 3

	 Think of the sense of shock, the appearance of rivalry, that comes
when an only child is told that HER parents, HIS parents, are going to
bring in to the family a sibling to mean that love will have to be
shared.

	 I know that it doesn’t always happen this way, but we all know
that it can and does occur, that adjustments have to be made, that
potential disappointments have to be faced and dealt with.

	 I can imagine the disciples coming back from town, laughing, joking,
maybe teasing, and, all of a sudden, they’re stopped dead in their
tracks. You could have heard a pebble drop, probably.

	 Good grief, it would have been shocking enough if Jesus and a
Samaritan man had been talking to one another, and sharing about the
intensity of Love. But a woman! Had Jesus lost His mind?

	 We have – let me say it – men can have such a way that assuming
that they’re the best thing that God invented since goat cheese.

	 O.K., I know, it’s not just men. If we’re honest, it’s ANYone
who has, or assumes that they have, not only the power, but the divine
right to exercise it over others.

	 Once again, though, Jesus bursts open every single preconception we
may have. He even burst through some of His own, or rather, the
Samaritan woman gave Him a helpful theology lesson on the Love of God.
She taught Him that thirst for Love, both giving and receiving, is
something which everyone experiences, and for which everyone seeks
satisfaction.

	 This thirst was not new to the people of Jesus’ time. Thirst for
Life; Thirst for Love; Thirst for Justice; literal Thirst for clean
water – it’s as old as the first creatures.


-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://stsams.org/pipermail/propertalk_stsams.org/attachments/20170316/4d85333f/attachment.htm>