- Romans 5:1-11 with Gill Lefevre
- John 4:5-42 Jesus and the Samaritan Woman
- Psalm 95 Richard Bruxvoort Colligan (Psalmimmersion.com, @pomopsalmist, Patreon)
- Exodus 17:1-7 Water from the Rock
Voice in the Wilderness: Romans 5:1-11 with Gill Lefevre
Featured Musician - Steven Schallert, “Tremble, Tremble,” from his album “Songs of Sorrow/Songs of Hope”
- Romans 5:1-11 with Gill Lefevre
- John 4:5-42 Jesus and the Samaritan Woman
- Psalm 95 Richard Bruxvoort Colligan (Psalmimmersion.com, @pomopsalmist, Patreon)
- Exodus 17:1-7 The Wilderness of Sin
Introduction and Check-in
- Pulpit Fiction Survey 2.0
- Back to work
Voice in the Wilderness: Romans 5:1-11 with Gill Lefevre
Featured Musician - Steven Schallert, “Tremble, Tremble,” from his album “Songs of Sorrow/Songs of Hope”
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Gospel Reading: John 4:5-42 Jesus and the Samaritan Woman
Initial Thoughts
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(Texts for Preaching: Year A, p. 206-7) “The preacher who chooses to preach this Sunday from the Gospel reading is faced with a finely crafted story, rich in details and nuanced conversation, and raising several important themes that permeate the larger Johannine narrative. So many sermons with different foci could be (and have been) preached from the chapter that in moving from text to sermon one is forced to make critical decisions about limits.”
- In other words - this could take awhile.
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According to Charles Cousar, there are Five Scenes:
- 1-6 Establishes the setting
- 7-26 Jesus’ conversation with the Samaritan woman
- 27-30 Return of disciples and departure of the woman
- 31-38 Jesus and the disciples
- 39-42 The Samaritans and the woman
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Contrast to last week’s text on Nicodemus
- Man vs Woman
- Night vs Day
- Private vs Public
- Pharisee vs Samaritan
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Evangelism
- A little rude
- Jesus listens and had an actual conversation
- Jesus puts in the work to stay and abide with the people
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John is multi-layered
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Water
- Drink and never be thirsty
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Food
- “I have food to eat that you don’t know about… I am fed by doing the will of the one who sent me”
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Harvest
- The fields are ready and ripe for the harvest.
- Those who work receive the pay of eternal life.
- “I have sent you to harvest what you didn’t work hard for” (not about social services, but boy is it tempting).
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Water
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Charles Cousar: two themes are radical newness and radical inclusiveness
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Radical Newness - Jesus presents something that is so radical that it is difficult to even comprehend.
- Conversation about water quickly turns into something more.
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She wants him to settle an old dispute - pick a side, but he offers a different way.
- Jesus says “But the time is coming - and is here - when true worshippers will worship in spirit and truth.”
- The term forever is easily read in our culture as starting after we die. Here though, forever does not start with death, “This is a continuing theme in John's Gospel: life in Christ begins now and continues even through death.” (Rob Myalis, LectionaryGreek.com)
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Radical Inclusiveness - The way in which it is presented is radical not only in nature, but in who is included in the presentation.
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Samaria
- Apparent prohibitions on Samaritans and Jews sharing a dipper (sound familiar, Jim Crow?).
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Woman
- There at noon, probably not a part of the regular community.
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Married five times, not married now.
- Begs many questions, but culture has put too much shame on this woman. Unpack the things that tradition claims to “know” about her.
- She does not withdraw from conversation, but actually digs deeper.
- Reveals a level of understanding and ability to comprehend.
- Even disciples are “shocked that he was talking with a woman.” (John 4:27)
- Becomes an apostle to the rest of the Samaritans, and “many Samaritans in that city believed in Jesus because of the woman’s word.” (4:39)
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Samaritans
- This is more than a one-on-one, it opens up the ministry to an entire people.
- Led at first by her testimony, but then by Jesus’ own words.
- She tells them about Jesus, they are intrigued, but it is Jesus who truly convinces them that he is the Savior of the world.
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Samaria
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Radical Newness - Jesus presents something that is so radical that it is difficult to even comprehend.
- “Repeatedly in the narrative we find details that remind us that the new age fulfilled in the presence of Jesus breaks down barriers. No longer are Jews and Samaritans, males and females, to be thought of in isolated, segregated categories. Salvation comes “from the Jews” but something new has occurred in Jesus… The sweeping, inclusive character of Jesus’ mission is a note that needs sounding again and again today. Rebuilding walls seems so much easier than tearing them down.” (Cousar, Texts for Preaching, 1995. p. 208
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To never be thirsty would be quite something.
- Compassion and Service: Thirst is such a universal experience, and bringing someone something to drink is such a fundamental act of service. Think of who brings you something to drink - host at a party, server at a restaurant, a parent to a child in bed. Thirst is a fundamental need, and to satisfy someone’s most fundamental need is a remarkable act of service and love.
- Justice and Mission: Think of how hard people once (still do) had to work to get a drink of water. It is an ordeal to walk to a well, carry the water, and bring it back. For many girls in particular, the need to get water every day keeps them from school, training, and independence. In many places, the lack of clean water is the most pressing need for an entire community.
Psalm Nugget: Psalm 95 Richard Bruxvoort Colligan
Second Reading: Exodus 17:1-7 Water from the Rock!
Initial Thoughts
- Wilderness of Sin is a great band name...
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Context:
- 14 - Parting of the Sea
- 15 - Song of Praise followed by first water complaint (salt into fresh water)
- 16 - Manna from heaven
- Before the decalogue (19-24)
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Wilderness of Sin
- Not sin as in missing the mark, sinfulness or wrong-doing.
- Sin was the name of a Semitic moon-goddess (see Andrew Key’s article, “Traces of the Worship of the Moon God Sîn among the Early Israelites” from Journal of Biblical Literature, Vol. 84, No. 1 (Mar., 1965), pp. 20-26.)
- Located in the Sinai Peninsula about ⅓ North up the coast of the Gulf of Suez.
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Complaints to Moses
- Moses holds the Israelites accountable
- Moses brings the concerns to God in prayer (not to other members of the community in the parking lot)
- Moses redirects their focus to God
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Central question, “How do we know that God is with us?”
- Literally, “Is the Lord in our midst or not?”
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Often arises when people find themselves in the midst of H.A.L.T. (Hungry, Angry, Lonely, Tired)
- When things are great people do not doubt that God is with them (or they are too busy praising themselves)
- When things are bad it must be because God has abandoned them
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This is the question that has plagues Israel since the beginning with abundant evidence of God’s presence:
- Plagues
- Parting the Sea
- Drinkable water
- Manna from heaven
- Also calling out from the experience of slavery - where was God in the midst of generations of slavery?
- Moses (and presumably the Elders) see God standing on the rock, the rest of the community does not - how to reveal the miracle within the ordinary?
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God’s house
- Houses of worship were traditionally designed to answer this question - God’s presence could be felt in the mystery of the Holy of Holies, in the grandeur of flying buttresses, in the reformed starkness of what walls and grand pulpits.
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Not alone
- Moses does not go off alone to bring water from the rock but with the elders.
- Exodus 17:8-16, Immediately after this is a story of God working through Moses to lead the Israelites into victory over Amalek, but he is only able to do so with the help of Aaron and Joshua
- Neither Moses - nor you - can do it alone, called to serve God through community
- How often do we find ourselves in the same position of the Israelites: forgetting to give thanks to God for what God has done and instead blaming God what what we think God is not doing? It is the “God, what have you done for me lately?” complex. How do we overcome it?
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What about when we cry out to God for a miracle that never(or seemingly never) comes?
- Israelites cry out to God in the midst of slavery- are eventually saved, but after generations of oppression
- We constantly cry out to God for prayers that are seemingly unanswered (and not all of them can be summed up by Garth Brooks)
- Moses gets to see God standing in the rock - the rest of the community only gets to “see” God in the spring of water. How can we reveal God’s presence in the seemingly ordinary?
Tasty Wafer of the Week:
- Liturgy Man - Taylor Burton-Edwards answers questions about liturgy such as “who should get Communion first?” and “Should we stand at the reading of the Gospel?” While the segments are Methodist-centric, there is some interesting historical background in most of the short episodes.
CLOSING
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Voice in the Wilderness: Romans 5:1-11 with Gill Lefevre
Featured Musician - Steven Schallert, “Tremble, Tremble,” from his album “Songs of Sorrow/Songs of Hope” ++
Thanks to our Psalms correspondent, Richard Bruxvoort Colligan (psalmimmersion.com, @pomopsalmist). Thank you to Scott Fletcher for our voice bumpers, Dick Dale and the Del Tones for our Theme music (“Misirlou”), Nicolai Heidlas (“Sunday Morning”, "Real Ride" and “Summertime”) and The Steel Wheels for our transition music(“Nola’s First Dance” from their album Lay Down, Lay Low) and Paul and Storm for our closing music (“Oh No”).