Sunday Homily - March 15th, 2020 - Spiritual Disease and the Cure

Jesus and the Samaritan Woman at the Well Icon

Third Sunday of Lent:

Exodus 17:1-7

Psalm 95

Romans 5:1-11

John 4:5-42

Isolation. 

 Separation. 

  Distance.

No, I'm actually not talking about the coronavirus

 or the recommendations from the CDC. 

I'm talking about a much more widespread

 and perhaps much more contagious disease

  than any pandemic present within the U.S. at the moment. 

   And this disease has been growing rapidly in the recent years.

That disease is called "despair,"

 a feeling of hopelessness,

  something that makes us believe that no one cares for us,

   and a close and sinister companion of loneliness.

Despair rears its head in subtle and deadly ways. 

It can manifest in the belief that no one and nothing cares for you.

 Not even your family.

  Not even God. 

It can also practically cut you off from others. 

 If you are caught in the net of despair,

  it can seem like nothing is worth your time

   and no one is worth spending time with

    because, after all, no one cares for you. 

And the most sinister outcome of despair

 is when it convinces you that you yourself are worthless. 

When you see yourself as only a burden,

 as someone who only weighs people down,

  who is good for nothing, and isn't worth the time or money,

   your own relationship to your own self is clouded by this killing disease of despair. 

In fact, we have seen the affects of despair throughout our society. 

Suicide rates, 

 in Arkansas,

  have climbed 25%

   since 1999.

    And the rates are disproportionately associated

     with groups that have been told and have internalized

      that they are worthless,

       such as many of our elderly population,

        people from lower income in rural areas,

         and LGBTQ+ persons who have been abandoned by most of society. 

[https://www.americashealthrankings.org/explore/annual/measure/Suicide/state/AR]

Despair is a pandemic that we are all still trying to minister to,

 and those who are in helping professions know how entrenched this disease is.

Sometimes the physical, viral diseases are not as sinister

 as the spiritual diseases that kill us from the inside out. 

But for those who are isolated,

 alone,

  perhaps even who have decided to tune in to this first ever livestream at Trinity,

   I want to introduce you to a person who wants so much

    to heal you with the vaccine of new life:

     and that person is Jesus.

And Jesus Christ,

 the Eternal Word of God,

  has been doing this for millions of people

   throughout time and space. 

And one of the clearest examples happens in today's Gospel from St. John. 

I.

Did you know
 that the longest dialogue
  between Jesus and anyone else in the New Testament
   is this exchange between him and the Samaritan woman at the well?

Yes, it is true,
 this is the longest exchange between Jesus and anyone else.
  Which means that it is good for us to pay very close attention
   to the very important details of Jesus and the Samaritan woman.

We start with Jesus showing up at a well.
 But not just any well.
  The well of Jacob,
   the same Jacob whom God renamed Israel,
    which becomes the name of the Jewish people:
     "Israelites."

Jesus is tired,
 so he takes a seat by the well.
  And then up comes a Samaritan woman.
   Jesus asks her if she would get him a drink of water from the well.

Now, if you put on your 1st century Jewish glasses,
 Jesus just did something incredibly audacious.

You see,
 the relationship between Jews and Samaritans at this time
  was absolutely nasty.

Many Jews and Jewish rabbis believed Samaritans to be unclean from birth,
 as they were of impure blood,
  mixed breeds, so to speak,
   and that Jews not only shouldn't speak to them,
    but should not even touch them.
     Some teachers even went to far as to say that any food or water that they touched was unclean.
      Sound like racial segregation to anyone?
       [Keener, The IVP Bible Background Commentary: New Testament, pg. 273)

But not only that,
 it was highly discouraged for men to speak with women for too long,
  even their own wives!
   But rabbis especially warned against speaking with Samaritan women.
    [Keener, IVP Commentary, pg. 273]

So for Jesus, a rabbi, to engage with a Samaritan woman
 and to speak with her for longer than ANY other dialogue in our New Testament,
  God may be trying to teach us something about how his sacrificial love
   is literally for ANYONE.
    Because no matter how differently we treat people,
     EVERYONE is made in the image of God.

But now we also need to recognize something
 that is easy to miss about the Samaritan woman.
  She comes to the well alone.

And this is probably because of her marital status.
 Or, lack thereof.

Jesus, our Loving Lord,
 asks the woman about this very thing,
  and she answers honestly.
   "I have no husband."

For she has been through 5 thus far,
 and the one who she lives with is not her husband.

The reason this woman shows up alone at the well
 is because she has been shunned by most of her own Samaritan people.
  [c.f. Oxford Commentary on the Bible and IVP Commentary]

She comes alone because that's the only way she can live:
 isolated,
  separated,
   distanced.
    Despair close at her door.

But Jesus Christ does something different than anyone else she had met.

Jesus,
 without regard of his Jewishness and her Samaritan-ness,
  without paying any attention to her gender,
   and even most scandalously, without any nervousness about her past marital problems,
    guides this woman on a discussion and discovery
     of the wideness of God's mercy.

The Samaritan woman comes for water for her body.
 Jesus Christ points her toward the spiritual water for her soul:
  "Lord, give me this living water always!"

The Samaritan woman comes having no one with her.
 Jesus Christ points her toward the coming of the Church,
  where all in the Body of Christ at One, just as the Father and Son are one:
   Jesus said, "But the hour is coming, and is now here,
    when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth,
     for the Father seeks such as these to worship him.
      God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth.”

The Samaritan woman comes, looking forward to the coming of the Messiah.
 Jesus Christ reveals to her the Messiah:
  "I am he, the one who is speaking to you."

And what is the response of the Samaritan woman,
 a woman who came to the well alone, disowned, and dismissed,
  but who came away from the well having met the very God who loves her?

She cannot help but go and tell her town
 what she has seen and heard.

This is what is called "evangelism," by the way.

Think of the bravery and the strength it took
 for her to begin to tell her town about what she had seen and heard
  especially with her reputation among her people.

And yet, as we see by the end of the story,
 through her testimony,
  she brought people to Jesus:
   the Scripture says, "MANY Samaritans from that city believed in [Jesus]
    because of the woman's testimony."

She came alone,
 and God showed her she is not alone.

She came needing basic physical necessities,
 and God showed her the deep needs of her soul.

She came lost,
 but she was found.

III.

Jesus Christ shows us how to overcome the disease of despair.
 And the vaccine for the soul that Jesus shows us
  is the spiritual waters of new life that are found in our Baptism into Christ
   and in the living out of our Baptism by breaking down the barriers
    that trap us and our neighbors in despair.

Where in your life is Jesus calling your to disregard the walls that society builds
 between us and our neighbors
  and to love them with the sacrificial love of God anyway?

We all have people we may be thinking about right now,
 those people that we may be tempted to think are beyond help,
  are their own worst enemy,
   and maybe even tempted to believe that they are worthless.

But, friends, when Jesus gets ahold of them,
 there is a transformation of soul that happens
  that can change someone's life forever.

If YOU are that person that you believe is worthless,
 please understand,
  there is no such thing as a worthless person.

Jesus Christ shows us that plainly today,
 and I pray, friends, I pray that the Holy Spirit gives you the power to accept this truth.

But God has also called us to be witnesses to the love we have experienced as well!

As you experience God's love,
 I hope that we all recognize that the natural,
  the normal,
   the regular Christian response to what God has done for us
    is to SHARE that love with others!

Tell out what God has done for you,
 and bring others WITH you.

Share the compassion of Jesus Christ Our Lord with the world who desperately needs it.

And maybe, if I may be so bold,
 even in the midst of the coronavirus that haunts our mortal bodies with sickness,
  always remember the responsibility we have for the wellness of people's spiritual health.

For those who are shut in,
 as far as it is in your power and in safety,
  check in with them and minister to them.

There will be many people in the coming weeks who may be too sick to go to the grocery store.
 Maybe Jesus is calling you to head down to Harps
  and grab a loaf of bread and some veggies for them.

There will be many who are vulnerable to physical disease
 and will need, for good reason, to be isolated.
  Call them on the phone.
   Pray for them by name.
    Ask them how you can pray for them.
     TELL THEM Jesus loves them and that you love them, too.

And as you do these things,
 remember Jesus and the Samaritan woman.

And know that no matter what your past looks like,
 no matter what your present feels like,

Jesus love you, this we know,
 for the Bible tells us so.

In the name of the +Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.