“Nearly
Living the Gospel”
a condensed version of the
sermon delivered by John Kendall on Sunday, February 24th, 2008
at Granville UCC
Usually when Pastors or someone come up here to the pulpit, they give their own interpretation of the week’s lessons. However, I feel that I have lived and experienced the gospel in the past 10 days. Now, it isn’t exactly what occurred that fateful with the Samaritan woman and Jesus, but it goes with what the gospel says in my mind, and by the end of this sermon, I think and hope that you will understand how I believe it all ties together.
This past Monday, I was involved in an accident. I am ok, but the car isn’t. That isn’t the point of this story. When I finished spinning the vehicle in the middle of a cornfield on the Putnam/LaSalle County line, 30 feet away from the road, a nice couple stopped and checked to see how I was. A lot of cars passed by looking at the damaged car and myself, but this nice couple made sure I was ok, that I wasn’t injured, and that I was going to be able to call for help, which I was able to do. Out of all those people that passed the field that day, I am thankful that those two nice people, whose names I will probably ever know, were there the minute I got out of the car to see if I was ok.
Another instance of the gospel I have seen within the last 10 days has been the recent events of Northern Illinois University. Now, we all know what occurred on Valentine’s Day, when six students were shot dead during their class in Cole Hall. However, it was people that the Northern Illinois University campus has never seen before that came out to support them. From California to New York, Virginia Tech to IVCC, we all became Huskies that day, and showed our love, compassion, sympathy, and support to the campus that had experience so much in a short amount of time. From wearing ribbons to dressing up in the Huskies colors, everyone came together to support one cause: to help NIU greave an unspeakable tragedy.
This week’s gospel lesson goes along this line. Even though this is hard to do with it 30 below outside right now, picture yourself out in a very hot and balmy place. You have no fans or air conditioning to help you. All you have is the clothes on your back, and the sun directly ahead of you, beating on your head. You are walking alone, as your disciples are dispersed throughout town gathering food. Jesus sits down, but his is very parched.
At that time we are told, a Samaritan woman comes alone to the well; however, this wasn’t an ordinary trip to the well for this woman. The trip entailed Jesus, a Jew, asking a Samaritan for a drink of water. Now, why did I just point out that Jesus was a Jew and this woman was a Samaritan, who is referred to in some of the readings as an "other"? Well, first off, we don’t know if this woman is divorced, widowed, working, or anything. However, just like it was back in the Civil Rights era, the Jews and Samaritans had nothing in common, not alone sharing a cup of water and a conversation with each other. It just wasn’t done! Even the woman was shocked when Jesus asked for a cup of water. "How is it that you, a Jew, ask a drink of me, a woman of Samaria," was the response of Jesus’s question.
However, an interesting note that I saw in the notes that I used to compile this sermon tells not only myself, but to everyone that this was the longest conversation that Jesus had with anyone. The longest conversation that Jesus had was with a woman of a different religion, not a religious leader or one of his disciples. This water that Jesus asked for was one that satisfies not only his thirst, but the thirst of the woman and our thirst as well.
We thirst for that water in our lives. Children go to their parents and ask for a drink of water, and athletes do the same. However, that water we drink will not quench our thirst. All of our work will lead us to the everlasting well. The well that is in today’s gospel reading is not that everlasting water that we crave, or the everlasting water that Jesus craved. We thirst for the everlasting water, and we will only receive that at a time that GOD deems appropriate.
Last week, we heard the story of Nicodemous, who questioned "how can this be?" However, we do not hear that line this week from the Samaritan woman. We hear, "Sir, please give me this water." Verse 13-15 of the Gospel lesson tells us that Jesus says, "Those who drink this water will get this thirsty again. But those who drink the water that I will give them will become in them a spring, which will provide them with life-giving water and them eternal life." It is following that quote that the woman asks for the water. "Sir, give me that water. Then I will never be thirsty again nor will I have to come here to draw water again."
Water is used to heal a lot of things, and makes us not quench for thirst anymore. Everyone outside this church right now is the Samaritan woman, and you are Jesus. Who needs this everlasting spring of water in their life? Is it someone in this congregation? Is it someone from this town? Is it someone from Biloxi, Mississippi or the Gulf Coast who STILL, nearly three years after the worst natural disaster in history, Hurricane Katrina, are still trying to rebuild their lives and their communities? Could it be us that need this life quenching water? I know that Pastor Ron and the rest of the people who went down to Biloxi this week are delivering this water to hopefully clinch the everlasting thirst for the people down there.
In their own way, the nice couple that stopped on the side of the road to see if I was ok after my car accident on Monday gave me that cup of water. Everyone who has supported Northern Illinois University after the heinous actions there on Valentine’s Day has given the Huskie family the everlasting water. There are people we know who need this water. Jesus was able to give a woman of a different religion and a different background a cup of everlasting water. Will you step up to the plate and help someone to the spring of life, the spring of eternity, and the spring of everlasting piece? Will you help someone to the living spring of Jesus and God?