Jesus and a Samaritan Woman -- A Sermon for Lent 3A based on Luke 4: 5 - 26, 39 -42

Walls can be signs of conflict. I think of Hadrian's Wall built to keep the Picts out, the Berlin Wall which was the ultimate sign of the Cold War era and the Wall that today exists in Israel which makes it at the very least time consuming for Palestinians to come in.

But walls do not have to be physical structures. Attitudes themselves can at times be as impreganable as any concrete structure. And those attitudes can be the sort of attitudes that keep those deemed other firmly on the outside.

It is that such walls that we find ourselves encountering this morning in our gospel reading. But the twist is that the text before us is one in which Jesus knocks the walls down by his conduct in this encounter with a Samaritan woman.

You see, this was an encounter that went against all social norms of the day. The Samaritan woman herself is surprised at the very beginning of the encounter. As she says;

"You are a Jew and I am a Samaritan. How can you ask me for a drink?"

Now just for a moment let us pause to look at the history of bad relations between Jews and Samaritans.

Back in 722 BCE the Northern Kingdom of Israel was overrun by the Assyrians. To avoid rebellion the Assyrians moved some people out and moved others in. The area became known as Samaria. A couple of centuries later when the leaders of the Southern Kingdom of Judah returned to Jerusalem after some 50 years of exile, they regarded the people of Samaria as havingfallen away from true religion and so rejected their offer of help in rebuilding the Temple of Jerusalem. In pique the Samaritans did their best to sabotage the building efforts. Relationships deteriorated further and the Judeans came to regard samaritans in a negative way on both racial and religious grounds. The situation was not helped by the Samaritans building a rival Temple on Mount Gerizim. Nor were things made easier when a Judean army destroyed that Temple in 110 BCE. Meanwhile Samaritans tried to disrupt festivals in Jerusalem. So by the time of Jesus the two peoples tried to avoid each other. Most Judeans travelling between Galilee and Jerusalem would take a diversion to the other side of the Jordan River in order to avoid setting foot in Samaria. That Jesus goes through Samaria and finds time to talk with this Samaritan woman shows him to be confronting a wall of prejudice.

The disciples perceive Jesus to be confronting another wall. In verse 27 we read;

"Just then the disciples returned and were surprised to see him talking with a woman."

To be honest the Greek word implies something stronger than merely "surprised." Now in our society we are in no way shocked at finding socialising between men and women. I suspect there was plenty of that on the streets of Bideford last night and in some cases shall we say people were being a little what we might call "forward." but that is not how it was at the time of Jesus. It was improper for man to speak to a woman to whom he was not related in public. It just wasn't seen as being right - let alone as in this case where the dialogue is a bit of a joust covering subjects such as relationships and deep religious concerns. So once more we see that in taling to this woman Jesus is confronting the very walls of prejudice.

But the matter does not end here. Often people make the assumption that the woman has an unsavoury personal history. The bit that is often used is the reference to 5 past husbands and a current lover. I want to suggest a little caution here. Jesus is not in the habit of showing interest in the details of people's love lives. It is quite possible that these references are a reference to the idolatry of Samaria and refers to the five peoples that 2 Kings tells us were imported into Samaria by the Assyrians with whom the people intermarried whilst the current lover could be seen as Rome which know exercised direct rule without such intermingling. Jesus may be making a Judean point with regards to what Samaria had become.

And yet the traditional understanding cannot be completely discounted. After all the Samaritan woman's action in coming to the well to carry out the drudgery of hauling water from the well and then to carry it back, at noon which is the hottest time of day, a time when others would not be there, suggests strongly that the woman was an outcast. These are the actions of a woman who was so desperate to avoid contact with others in the cool of the early morning or evening, that she instead chooses to endure the heat of the Middle Eastern sun at its very hottest. Once more a cautionary note needs to be sounded. Should she have had 5 husbands may not be a judgement of her morality necessarily. After all divorce was the prerogative of men not women. She may have been one of those women who have existed down the centuries, women who have been used and abused by men. But now she would face if not scorn, a sanctimonious pity. So in speaking with her as an equal Jesus is once again confronting the walls of prejudice.

And why does he do it? He does it it as a sign that in his Kingdom all have a place regardless of ethnicity, religious heritage, gender or them having been shamed. For in all his doings Jesus is throughly inclusive. Man made divisions must be set aside for this Jesus is the one who is for all. And he offers a living water which refreshes us not in the temporary way that the water from our taps refreshes us but for all eternity. Indeed as this story ends we find that this Samaritan woman does what supposed insiders like Nicodemus fails to do - she not only accepts the gift for herself but draws others in.

Who is Jesus? He is the One who is for all. He is the One who tramples on our prejudices with a vision of a Kingdom in which all count, a Kingdom in which unlike the demonic economics which is leaving tens of millions in our continent alone without gainful employment, everyone has a stake. He is for each and every one of us.

So this morning if you feel like an outsider lift up your head! Jesus who is God revealed in humanity says you count. He invites you to his kingdom where with others you can experience dignity and worth. And he invites you to share that living water with those you find it hardest to share it with. For his love is for all.

In our daily living Jesus goes on challenging us to follow his lead in demolishing the walls of prejudice that separate people and even dehumanise them - replacing them with bridges of unity and dignity.

And of course the greatest bridge of all is that which Jesus offers to bring us into harmony with God. Near the end of his life the great theologian Karl Barth was asked at a press conference at the University of Chicago what was the most profound truth he had learnt from his studies. His answer was simple;

"Jesus loves me, this I know, for the Bible tells me so."

And that truth is for each of you, those whom you love, those whom you need to overcome prejudice concern and yes even thoe who are a right pain in the ...........