"So the woman left her water jar and went away into the city and said to the people,
“Come and see a man who told me all that I ever did. Can this be the Christ?
... Many Samaritans from that city believed in Him because of the woman’s testimony…”
He told me all that I ever did.”
John 4: 28,29,39
Have you ever had a conversation with someone that entered depths you never intended or expected it to? A conversation with a friend perhaps that started harmlessly enough with talk about the weather or yesterday’s big game, but then somehow it turns to subjects more profound, more important and real. And in that conversation there is a sharing of thoughts, feelings, and beliefs at a level that surprised even you.
Those sorts of conversations aren’t all that common among us, are they. Frederick Buechner, a Presbyterian writer says in his book ‘A Room Called Remember’ ‘When we are with other people, we are apt to talk about almost anything under the sun except for what really matters, except for what is going on inside our own skins.’ He’s right of course. We tend to fill our lives with meaningless chatter and banter and say nothing of what really vital or important. And there is a certain safety in that.
When we keep all our conversations simple and shallow, there is no threat of transformation, and transformation is what we all fear most of all…being changed. And yet transformation is, ironically what we all need the most.
In today’s gospel passage, we overhear a conversation that Jesus has with a Samaritan woman. It takes place at the well… the community watering hole. This is where people come each day to draw their daily rations of water. It’s a meeting place not unlike the local coffee shop and conversation are common here. Most of the talk is just that – talk: people talk about the weather, talk about the big game, spread gossip about each other, share stories about their children, their upcoming vacations, their recent purchases. Lots of talk at the watering hole…but not a whole lot of real sharing going on here...not a place where people truly meet.
And there isn’t much hope of a true meeting between Jesus and this Samaritan woman either, is there? The odds are stacked against it. After all: They are both perfect strangers. Who strikes up a conversation with a perfect stranger? We keep those conversations short ...if we speak at all.
He’s a Jew and she’s a Samaritan…and Jews and Samaritans didn’t get along with one another. They had serious religious differences so to raise the topic of religion in a conversation with a Samaritan was to invite an argument.
He’s a man and she’s a woman…and in the culture of those days, men and women did not engage freely in conversation with one another in public. Women spoke to women and men to men, but men and women, not so much in public.
She is a resident and he’s just passing through…a visitor. And visitors are often overlooked and ignored …sometimes even in church (not this church, of course)
But most important of all, look at the difference in their backgrounds: He’s the Son of God and she’s had five husbands and the man she’s with now is not her husband. What could Jesus and this Samaritan woman possibly have in common? Well, you’d be surprised, because as soon as she shows up to draw water, Jesus engages her in conversation. He begins by asking her for a drink. She is quick to remind him of their differences:
‘How is it that you, a Jew, ask a drink of me, a woman of Samaria?’ Jesus responds by saying:
‘If you knew the gift of God, and who it is that is saying to you, ‘Give me a drink’, you would have asked him and he would have given you living water.’
Those words go right over her head: She says ‘You don’t have a jar and the well is deep; where you going to get this water?’
Jesus says ‘Everyone who drinks this water will thirst again, but whoever drinks the water I shall give them will never thirst. The water I shall give them will become in them a spring of water welling up to eternal life.’
Again, he’s talking over her head: She says ‘Sir, give me this water so I don’t have to come here anymore.’
Jesus tries a different talc: He says ‘Go, call your husband.’
She says, ‘I have no husband’
He says, ‘That’s true – you’ve had five husbands and the man you are with now is not your husband.’
She is beginning to get the picture: She says ‘I perceive you are a prophet. We Samaritans worship on this mountain and you Jews in Jerusalem, so tell me what is the right place to worship God.’
Jesus sidesteps that age-old argument. He says ‘Woman, the hour is coming when neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem will you worship the Father…the hour is coming, and now is, when the true worshippers will worship the Father in spirit and truth…’
She says, ‘I know that Messiah is coming and when he does he will show us all things.’
Jesus says plainly, ‘I who speak to you am he.’
With that the woman leaves her water jar and rushes back to the city and says to the people: ‘Come and see a man who told me everything I ever did. Can this be the Christ? He told me all that I ever did’ And in verse 39 John says these words: ‘Many Samaritans from that city believed in him because of the woman’s testimony, “He told me all that I ever did.”
What an interesting thing way to put it…’many believed because of the woman’s testimony.’ It doesn’t say ‘the people were sceptical but they went out to hear Jesus anyway. ’ While they did go to encounter Jesus themselves the text does say they first believed because of the woman’s testimony.
What is John suggesting here? I think he’s underlining the importance of testimony in bringing people to faith. He’s saying that testimony is what first brings people to faith. What first establishes faith in a person is not personal encounter with the Holy One, but testimony…what people say about Jesus is what first establishes belief in others.
That ought to strike a least a little fear into all your heart because it means your testimony is vital to the faith life of others. You Sunday School teachers, it means that you are doing more than teaching Bible stories, you are nurturing faith in our children. You parents, it means that if your children are going to have faith it’s going to begin with you inviting faith into the home… prayers at mealtime, reading the Bible at bedtime, answering their faith questions (and whether you are religious or not we all know kids have faith questions!), bringing them to church on Sundays and talking about what they learned on the way home afterwards. It’s all testimony and testimony is the soil that first nurtures faith.
And you members – this should strike fear in you too because Presbyterians have for too long been living by the motto ‘What happens in church, stays in church’. That not acceptable! You need to take what happens Sunday into the workplace on Monday…take your faith into the coffee shops, to the hair dresser, onto the golf course. And I know that makes some of your nervous because we Presbyterians like to show their faith by how we live, not by what we say. But it takes both…you need to be willing to live our faith and speak about our faith. And a good place to begin is with your own children – we need to have those important talks about going to church with our own children…the ones who don’t get up on Sunday mornings… and encourage them in the faith.
I was in San Diego last week at a church education conference. One of the workshops I took was called Developing a Mission-minded church by Kevin Phillips. He told the story of transformation at Hopewell Reformed Church, a mid-sized congregation in New Jersey. Back in 90’s, mission at Hopewell meant sending checks off to various institutions. In 2001 they sent 6 adults to the Honduras on a mission trip and when they came back mission exploded at that church. In 2003 they went to Mexico, South Africa in 2004, Ecuador in 2005, Florida, Tennessee, Niger and Dominican in 2006, Peru in 2007. Kevin himself was leaving the day for several months of mission work in Africa. How did this congregation grow as a mission-minded church? One of things Kevin pointed to was testimonial. After each mission trip people there was a time of celebration and people were invited to share their experience of the trip with the congregation during worship and with other groups and individuals in the church. This helped fan the flames of mission.
That should not come as such a surprise since testimonial has always been an important aspect of preaching. Anna Carter Florence (Associate professor of preaching and worship at Columbia) has just written a book entitled ‘Preaching as Testimony’. It comes out of hours of study of early itinerant women preachers in America. In the early years of the church women were not allowed to be preachers. The way these women got around that was by giving testimony instead. (Anyone could give their testimony but only men could be preachers.) From these studies she has written her book, underlining the importance of testimony biblically, theologically and ecclesiastically.
Testimony is important not only to preaching but to the entire life of the community of faith. We must proclaim the gospel message, yes, but we must also share what it means to us personally…’You ask me how I know he lives? He lives within my heart.’
‘Many Samaritans from the city believed in him because of the woman’s testimony.’ The Greek word testimony is ‘logos’…the same word used to describe Christ at the start of John’s gospel. In the beginning was the Logos (word/testimony) Many believed because of her ‘logos’. Our word bears witness The Word.
The testimony of Christ is recorded in John’s gospel. So where is your testimony recorded. I’ll tell you where – it’s recorded in the minds of your children and grandchildren who sat on your knee for bedtime stories and knelt with you for bedtime prayers. Your testimony is burned into the memory of your elderly neighbor who you brought in supper for after he had that nasty fall. Your testimony is burned into the heart of that friend of yours who went through a difficult time and you helped and encouraged ‘more than you’ll ever know.’
You are a witness every day…whether you know it or not…whether you like it or not. And it’s kind of scary, isn’t it? To think our testimony could be so important, so powerful that it could actually nurture faith in another. ‘And many believed because of the woman’s testimony.’ Remember the power your testimony as you go from here to live out your faith.
Amen