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Sunday Sermons
Sermon: 2-24-08, Lent 3
Pastor Phil Lee
Title: "In Full Daylight"
Text: John 4:5-42
Theme: transition from unbelief to faith
Introduction
I was driving to church a few days ago (Wednesday morning) and the fog was thick. I think SeaTac airport was even shut down for a while. Fog diminishes visibility, so it can be disorienting and dangerous. But soon the fog lifted and the bright sun brought on the full light of day.
Fog lifting to reveal the full daylight – that’s a good metaphor (symbolic) for the lives of a lot of people who have come out of moral and spiritual confusion and the darkness of sin and unbelief into the full daylight of faith in Jesus Christ.
That is the story of today’s Gospel – Jn.4. In this story we hear a multi-layered conversation that takes place in full daylight and covers several subjects.
Point
In today’s Gospel, we read that Jesus was traveling through Samaria on his way to Galilee, and he was tired. So, he sat down at Jacob’s well at noontime. His disciples left to buy food, so Jesus was alone when a Samaritan woman came to the well to draw water. Jesus quickly engaged her in multi-layered conversation: The first subject had to do with Jesus’ offer of living water. The second subject was an honest and blunt exposure of the woman’s sinful lifestyle. The third subject came about probably because the woman was uncomfortable talking about her lifestyle, so she brought up another subject, much disputed between Jews and Samaritans, as to the proper place to worship God.
The fog lifted for this woman who first thought Jesus was a law-breaking Jew who wasn’t supposed to talk with a Samaritan woman. Then she became convinced that he was a prophet of God because of Jesus’ insight into her lifestyle. And finally, in the full daylight of faith, she gradually saw Jesus for who he really was, the Messiah.
As the story continued, the disciples returned (with food) and the woman left for home. She had come with a water jar to retrieve the necessary water for physical survival, but she left her water jar there at the well and, instead, she brought home “living water” for eternal life.
In a twist of irony, this Samaritan woman became one of the first missionaries to bring the good news of the Messiah to others who did not know him, resulting in many of her neighbors coming to faith in Jesus as “the savior of the world.”
“Abandoning her pitcher at the well she brought not water but grace back to the city…she had come to the well as a sinner but went back as a proclaimer…she left her pitcher behind at the well, and instead, brought back the fullness of Christ.” (ACCS, John, p.147)
Problem
In last week’s Gospel – Jn.3 – we were introduced to Nicodemus who came to Jesus by night. After a brief and confusing conversation with Jesus, Nicodemus faded into the darkness. The contrast between Nicodemus and the Samaritan woman is striking. Nicodemus was a Pharisee, an insider, a leader of the Jews. He was a man, he had a name, but he came to Jesus by night. The character to whom we are introduced today was a Samaritan, a religious and political outsider. She was a woman, she had no name that we are told, but she met Jesus at noon, in full daylight.
And the contrast between their conversations with Jesus is even more extraordinary. Nicodemus’s last questioning words to Jesus expose his disbelief – “How can this be?” The last words of the woman at the well are also posed as a question – “He cannot be the Christ, can he?” which leads her to witness to her whole town.
Nicodemus came in darkness and inquired of Jesus, and Jesus spoke to him of being born from above and God’s love for the world. But, Nicodemus disappeared into the night. Jesus approached the Samaritan woman in full daylight and spoke of living water, exposing her sin, and living for God. And she became a missionary.
These contrasting stories get to the heart of our concern: Will we disappear into the night like Nicodemus? Or will we receive the living water that Jesus offers in full daylight?
Power
I recently read an article from an online magazine (webzine) call “Boundless” that might help us to personalize today’s Gospel message. This article is called “The Hound of Heaven” by Matt Kaufmann, and it’s about Jane Fonda (of all people!). Fonda has had her share of headlines over the years, and her story is something like a modern-day Samaritan woman.
There is no one God cannot bring to faith, but, in the case of some people, it’s hard to believe. You probably know people who are hardened in their attitudes against Christianity, and you would be shocked if they ever professed to be believers. But, we never know when God is going to surprise us. Case in point: Jane Fonda (who made more headlines recently).
Since the 1960’s, Jane Fonda has been associated with the causes of the radical politics. She has cheered on the Communists and crusaded for the sexual revolution. She was married to Ted Turner, who once announced his contempt for Christianity, calling it a “religion for losers” (and later apologizing).
But something started to happen in Fonda about ten years ago. For all her causes, she recognized a spiritual void in her life. She talked with Christian friends, got into weekly Bible study, went to church – all in the process of developing a faith one friend calls “very real, very deep.”
We don’t (and can’t) know the details of what’s going on inside Jane Fonda, or anyone else. We don’t know where her journey will end – whether or not her faith will grow and mature. But we should be careful not to cynically dismiss it because the world is full of people whose journey has taken them out of the fog of unbelief into the full daylight of faith. There are hardened criminals and cynics of all kinds whose lives have been genuinely changed by faith in Christ. God works such miracles every day. They just don’t get press coverage. So, next to those stories, Jane Fonda’s is hardly unbelievable.
This isn’t to say that Fonda’s story isn’t remarkable, in light of all the years she’s spent in a cultural environment hostile to Christianity. You could say that Jane Fonda is a modern-day Samaritan woman.
So, this has implications for the rest of us. We may think that “those” people – the Jane Fonda’s of the world – would never listen if we spoke about our faith, so there’s no point to trying. But we don’t know this is true.
God does not call us to calculate the odds of witnessing successfully, but simply to witness faithfully. God does the work of conversion, and some time, when it looks most unlikely, God will surprise us.
Conclusion
See what an example the Samaritan woman has set for us. She how her faith invites us to join her in receiving the living water that Jesus offers. Will you drink in the sweet, life-giving water of love and forgiveness and hope that is offered through the crucified and risen Lord, Jesus Christ?
See what an example the Samaritan woman has set for us. She how her faith invites us to join her. Will you be a missionary like she was, bringing the good news of Jesus Christ to your neighbors?
See what an example the Samaritan woman has set for us. She how her faith invites us to join her. See what God can do in full daylight! Amen.
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