Invite the Triune God who is with you, who knows everything about you, to stay with you and you will find life and hope – for you and for the world.
Pr. Joseph G. Crippen
The Third Sunday in Lent, year A
Text: John 4:(3-4) 5-42
Beloved in Christ, grace to you, and peace in the name of the Father, and of the + Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen
“He told me everything I have ever done.”
That’s what convinced this brilliant woman, whom tradition has named Photine, “luminous one,” to trust Jesus, to dare to hope that this strange Jewish man at the well might be the Messiah. It wasn’t his confusing talk about living water. It wasn’t his theological engagement on the differences between Jews and Samaritans. It wasn’t even his promise that in future, true worshippers will worship God in spirit and truth, not tied to nation or place.
What convinced her was Jesus saying, “you’ve had five husbands, and the one you have now is not your husband.” That’s her witness to her neighbors: “Come and see someone who told me everything I’ve ever done! Can this be the Messiah?”
It’s hard to imagine that inspired her trust.
We don’t have to make Photine into a fallen woman, either, rebuked by Jesus’ knowledge. John says nothing of the sort. No information is given about her husbands, and any speculation about that, or about her coming alone in the heat of the day without other women, ultimately remains speculation that John doesn’t feel the need to answer.
What is remarkable is that Jesus looks at Photine, knows her fully, and she receives that as welcome not judgment, as love not rebuke. Surely she was stunned at what he knew. But she heard it as hope for her and for her people. So much so she ran back to town in the heat to let the others know.
Would you want to meet someone who could look at you and know everything?
Someone who could see into your heart and know who you can’t stand and how hard it can be for you to love? Who could immediately know where you are sad inside, or lonely? Where you feel inadequate or a failure? Who could see every mistake, every horrible thing you’ve said, every unkind thought or action?
Yet not only did Photine embrace that as gift, so did her neighbors. They were so taken by Jesus they invited him to stay with them. For two days!
Inviting someone into your house is always a potential anxiety. You can’t hide in your own home like you can in public. They’ll see your messes and mistakes, even if you try to sweep them aside quickly before they get there. They’ll see a truth about you in how you live that you can easily mask when you’re not there.
But like so many others in the Gospels, knowing that Jesus already looked into their hearts and knew everything about them, they said, “could you stay with us, please?”
That’s because being known by the God of the universe was a gift of life to them.
Jesus said to Photine, “if you knew who I am, you’d ask me and I’d fill you with living water, with abundant, real life, that will forever change you.” And now Jesus says that to you.
Jesus says, “I give what you really need, not what you think you need. I give you living water. Life itself. Look, I know everything about you,” Jesus says. “Let’s be honest. Everything you wish you could hide, I know. Everything that if your neighbors knew you’d be ashamed of, I know. Everything you’ve ever done, ever thought, ever thought about doing, I know. And still, I offer you life.
“And the food and drink I give you at my Table, the words I speak to you, the hands of my many friends that hold you, these are my gifts to you that never end,” Jesus says. “I fill you up where no other food and drink can, where no financial security, no possessions, no chemicals ever will: inside. Where you hurt, and I know it, because I love you. Inside, where you doubt, and I know it, because you are my beloved child. Inside, where you are sad and lonely and think you aren’t good enough, or where you cling to grudges and hate, and I know it because I know your heart. Inside, where you struggle to live by God’s will, and I know it, because I shared your struggle.”
And Jesus comes to you with this offer because no one is to be left out of God’s life.
John says Jesus “had” to go through Samaria. Geographically, that’s not true. There were ways for Jews to go from Judea to Galilee and avoid hated Samaria.
Jesus “had” to go for another reason. So he could meet Photine and be God’s love to her, which he knew would then spread to the people of Sychar. And who knows how far beyond that city this good news spread to the Samaritans.
And so, encounter by encounter, visit by visit, this world can be healed. This world of fear and violence and oppression, this world where people of faith hate each other because they see their differences as vital, this world where love seems scarce so many days, all this can be brought into the love and abundance and grace of God. Where all are welcome and all are loved and all have their hunger and thirst filled.
And so Jesus can’t let you miss this encounter, this offer of life, either.
It’s scary to invite God-with-us who knows everything about you to stay with you in your home, in your life. But if you follow Photine you will, like her, like the people of Sychar, like millions after them, find abundant life. And full welcome. And healing hope.
Jesus said to Photine, “if you knew who I am, you’d ask me and I’d fill you with living water, with abundant, real life, that will forever change you.”
And now Jesus looks at you, knows everything you’ve ever done, and offers you the same life.
In the name of the Father, and of the + Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen
