3 Lent A March 19, 2017
Ex.17:1-17 Ps.95:6-11
Roman 5:1-11 John 4:5-42
Lectionary Link
Why do the Samaritans have a special status in the Bible and in the Gospels and in the book of the Acts of the Apostles? Are Samaritans Gentiles? If they are Gentiles why are they given a different status than say the people who are called Greeks or who are native of the various areas in the Roman Empire? Samaria is a region. Samaritan referred to someone who lived in the region to the North in Israel and to people who were members of a different sect of the Torah religion. The Samaritans during the time of Jesus were the hated former members of the unified kingdom of Israel. After King Solomon, the unified kingdom of Israel was divided into the northern Kingdom of Israel, located in the area of Samaria and the Southern Kingdom of Judah which claimed Jerusalem as the capital and spiritual home.
The Samaritans, during the time of Jesus, regarded themselves to be the true conservatives of the Torah. They believed that the Jews who returned after the exile in Babylon and Persia brought back a different religious expression of the Torah. The Samaritans believed that they retained a more traditional understanding of the Torah and that Mount Gerizim near the ancient Shechem was the location of the true temple.
Recent population census indicated there were 777 Samaritans left in the world. Their DNA tests show that they share a common heritage with the Jews but also indicate others strains shared with other people in the Middle East as well. The Jews during the time of Jesus are presented in the Gospels as those who despised and shunned the Samaritans. The Samaritans are given their own unique status in naming; they are not grouped with the Gentiles because they shared common lineage and a Torah based religion with the Jews. The Samaritans were despised because they were not regarded to be "pure bred." They supposedly had intermarried with Gentiles and lost their genetic purity.
One might say that Jesus was closer to the Samaritans than to the Jews in Jerusalem. Why? He was from Galilee in the north of Israel and so he lived closer to the region of Samaria and would have had more geographical proximity with the Samaritans. He must have been close because one of the criticism leveled at him was that he was a Samaritan. I guess that was better than saying that he was a glutton, a drunk, mad and in league with the devil. These were other criticisms of Jesus that are found in the Gospels coming from the mouths of his opponents.
What is the significance of the Samaritans in the Gospels? One of most famous parables in the Gospel is about the Good Samaritan. I would proposed to you that Samaria functions within the symbols which the Gospel preachers used to speak about the church and its mission. St. Paul and the early preachers proclaimed the church as the "new Israel." And what would be new about this "new" Israel? Well, it really wasn't a land-based country in this new understanding. St. Paul said that the walls of division and enmity had been broken down by Jesus Christ. Jews and Gentiles were now friends and practicing fellowship and mutual respect within this new Israel. And because the church came to Samaria, the church as the new Israel was believed to be a re-unification of the once separated Israel into two Kingdoms.
Can we now appreciate this discourse of Jesus and the woman at the well? It highlights important aspects of this practice of the church as the new Israel in the preaching of the church. In the new Israel, there was neither male nor female. The disciples in the Gospel story are presented as males who carried the bias of cultural separation of men and women. But Jesus is shown to be unafraid of women and he is unafraid of a foreign woman who was despised by Jews. Jesus is shown to be breaking a highly restrictive social taboos. Jesus was shown to reveal himself as the messiah to this foreign woman.
This discourse with Samaritan woman is also presented as an origin discourse of the church in Samaria. The Acts of the Apostles indicate that the church spread into Samaria and this Gospel reading would indicate that the Jesus Movement in Samaria was planted before the crucifixion, before the resurrection and before the day of Pentecost. This Gospel is a testimony to the deep roots of the church in the region of Samaria and among those who had been members of the Samaritan Torah-based religion.
It is instructive for us to look at the appeals made by Jesus to the Samaritan woman. We are tempted to honor regional or denominational loyalties as being the main issue of religion. I'm Episcopalian and the bishops says this is how to worship. I'm Roman Catholic and this is how the pope says to worship. You can only do authentic worship in my Episcopal Church, my Roman Catholic Church, my Lutheran Church, my Methodist church. What does Jesus say? God is Spirit and you have to worship God in Spirit and in truth. And God's spirit can be on Mount Gerizim, in Jerusalem, in the Episcopal Church, in the Roman Catholic Church, in the synagogue. God's spirit is not limited by gender, race, location or even religion. So, essentially Jesus was saying, "Don't limit God to your own small little local understanding of God and your particular pieties."
What do the words of Jesus in this Gospel teach us about understanding God? Jesus teaches us not to be too literal in our understanding. The Samaritan woman was talking about drinking water; Jesus was speaking something inside of a person whose deepest inner thirst could be quenched and relieved. When a person converted to Judaism they had to be baptized. It is called mikvah. The water had to be "living water." Jesus promised the Samaritan woman a baptism with living water that would be inside of her. This baptism is a different kind of cleansing and a different kind of thirst quencher than what one gets with actual water. The disciples were speaking about Jesus eating food. Jesus was speaking about experiencing another kind of inner sustenance which could do something substantially different for the soul than what food could do for the body.
So how can we practice the Gospel that we've read today? First, by always being the peacemakers; offering friendship. If we believe God is Spirit, then we will believe that there is always the possibility for peace. If we want to over-emphasize our differences, we will not be peace makers. Next, let us practice the Gospel as a message of unification and re-unification of all people. Are men and women different? Are gay people and straight people different? Are Roman Catholics and Episcopalians different? Are Jews and Christians and Muslims and Atheists different? Are Americans and Canadians and Chinese different? Yes, yes, yes but is the Spirit available to everyone who exists in a world of differences? Yes, and we should seek this inner baptism of the living Water of God's Spirit to help us find love, justice and unity in a world of differences.
Those who worship God must worship God in Spirit and in truth. Truth here could mean honesty and sincerity. The secret to living in the midst of differences, small and extreme differences, is to exert one's energy of worship in Spirit and in honest sincerity.
The Gospel of Jesus to the Samaritan woman was this: God is Spirit and those who worship God must worship God in Spirit and in sincerity. And this is the same Gospel for you and me today. As we center ourselves upon the One Spirit, we can negotiate peace with people who are different; not to overcome or deny difference but to partake of the only thing that can unify us, even God as Spirit. Jesus invites us to worship in the one Holy Spirit. Jesus came to share the secret of discovering that God's Spirit is one in and through us as we worship as very different people. Amen
Ex.17:1-17 Ps.95:6-11
Roman 5:1-11 John 4:5-42
Lectionary Link
Why do the Samaritans have a special status in the Bible and in the Gospels and in the book of the Acts of the Apostles? Are Samaritans Gentiles? If they are Gentiles why are they given a different status than say the people who are called Greeks or who are native of the various areas in the Roman Empire? Samaria is a region. Samaritan referred to someone who lived in the region to the North in Israel and to people who were members of a different sect of the Torah religion. The Samaritans during the time of Jesus were the hated former members of the unified kingdom of Israel. After King Solomon, the unified kingdom of Israel was divided into the northern Kingdom of Israel, located in the area of Samaria and the Southern Kingdom of Judah which claimed Jerusalem as the capital and spiritual home.
The Samaritans, during the time of Jesus, regarded themselves to be the true conservatives of the Torah. They believed that the Jews who returned after the exile in Babylon and Persia brought back a different religious expression of the Torah. The Samaritans believed that they retained a more traditional understanding of the Torah and that Mount Gerizim near the ancient Shechem was the location of the true temple.
Recent population census indicated there were 777 Samaritans left in the world. Their DNA tests show that they share a common heritage with the Jews but also indicate others strains shared with other people in the Middle East as well. The Jews during the time of Jesus are presented in the Gospels as those who despised and shunned the Samaritans. The Samaritans are given their own unique status in naming; they are not grouped with the Gentiles because they shared common lineage and a Torah based religion with the Jews. The Samaritans were despised because they were not regarded to be "pure bred." They supposedly had intermarried with Gentiles and lost their genetic purity.
One might say that Jesus was closer to the Samaritans than to the Jews in Jerusalem. Why? He was from Galilee in the north of Israel and so he lived closer to the region of Samaria and would have had more geographical proximity with the Samaritans. He must have been close because one of the criticism leveled at him was that he was a Samaritan. I guess that was better than saying that he was a glutton, a drunk, mad and in league with the devil. These were other criticisms of Jesus that are found in the Gospels coming from the mouths of his opponents.
What is the significance of the Samaritans in the Gospels? One of most famous parables in the Gospel is about the Good Samaritan. I would proposed to you that Samaria functions within the symbols which the Gospel preachers used to speak about the church and its mission. St. Paul and the early preachers proclaimed the church as the "new Israel." And what would be new about this "new" Israel? Well, it really wasn't a land-based country in this new understanding. St. Paul said that the walls of division and enmity had been broken down by Jesus Christ. Jews and Gentiles were now friends and practicing fellowship and mutual respect within this new Israel. And because the church came to Samaria, the church as the new Israel was believed to be a re-unification of the once separated Israel into two Kingdoms.
Can we now appreciate this discourse of Jesus and the woman at the well? It highlights important aspects of this practice of the church as the new Israel in the preaching of the church. In the new Israel, there was neither male nor female. The disciples in the Gospel story are presented as males who carried the bias of cultural separation of men and women. But Jesus is shown to be unafraid of women and he is unafraid of a foreign woman who was despised by Jews. Jesus is shown to be breaking a highly restrictive social taboos. Jesus was shown to reveal himself as the messiah to this foreign woman.
This discourse with Samaritan woman is also presented as an origin discourse of the church in Samaria. The Acts of the Apostles indicate that the church spread into Samaria and this Gospel reading would indicate that the Jesus Movement in Samaria was planted before the crucifixion, before the resurrection and before the day of Pentecost. This Gospel is a testimony to the deep roots of the church in the region of Samaria and among those who had been members of the Samaritan Torah-based religion.
It is instructive for us to look at the appeals made by Jesus to the Samaritan woman. We are tempted to honor regional or denominational loyalties as being the main issue of religion. I'm Episcopalian and the bishops says this is how to worship. I'm Roman Catholic and this is how the pope says to worship. You can only do authentic worship in my Episcopal Church, my Roman Catholic Church, my Lutheran Church, my Methodist church. What does Jesus say? God is Spirit and you have to worship God in Spirit and in truth. And God's spirit can be on Mount Gerizim, in Jerusalem, in the Episcopal Church, in the Roman Catholic Church, in the synagogue. God's spirit is not limited by gender, race, location or even religion. So, essentially Jesus was saying, "Don't limit God to your own small little local understanding of God and your particular pieties."
What do the words of Jesus in this Gospel teach us about understanding God? Jesus teaches us not to be too literal in our understanding. The Samaritan woman was talking about drinking water; Jesus was speaking something inside of a person whose deepest inner thirst could be quenched and relieved. When a person converted to Judaism they had to be baptized. It is called mikvah. The water had to be "living water." Jesus promised the Samaritan woman a baptism with living water that would be inside of her. This baptism is a different kind of cleansing and a different kind of thirst quencher than what one gets with actual water. The disciples were speaking about Jesus eating food. Jesus was speaking about experiencing another kind of inner sustenance which could do something substantially different for the soul than what food could do for the body.
So how can we practice the Gospel that we've read today? First, by always being the peacemakers; offering friendship. If we believe God is Spirit, then we will believe that there is always the possibility for peace. If we want to over-emphasize our differences, we will not be peace makers. Next, let us practice the Gospel as a message of unification and re-unification of all people. Are men and women different? Are gay people and straight people different? Are Roman Catholics and Episcopalians different? Are Jews and Christians and Muslims and Atheists different? Are Americans and Canadians and Chinese different? Yes, yes, yes but is the Spirit available to everyone who exists in a world of differences? Yes, and we should seek this inner baptism of the living Water of God's Spirit to help us find love, justice and unity in a world of differences.
Those who worship God must worship God in Spirit and in truth. Truth here could mean honesty and sincerity. The secret to living in the midst of differences, small and extreme differences, is to exert one's energy of worship in Spirit and in honest sincerity.
The Gospel of Jesus to the Samaritan woman was this: God is Spirit and those who worship God must worship God in Spirit and in sincerity. And this is the same Gospel for you and me today. As we center ourselves upon the One Spirit, we can negotiate peace with people who are different; not to overcome or deny difference but to partake of the only thing that can unify us, even God as Spirit. Jesus invites us to worship in the one Holy Spirit. Jesus came to share the secret of discovering that God's Spirit is one in and through us as we worship as very different people. Amen
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