Lenten Links
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This Week at St. James
Wednesday, March 19
- N or M Meeting @ 6 PM
Thursday, March 20
Grief Recovery Program @ 2 PM
Vestry Meeting @ 6:30 PM Saturday, March 7 CCM Prep. Program@ 9AM
Quiet Day at Chapel of the Resurrection, St. Luke's @ 10AM - 4PM
Sunday March 8 Bible Study @ 8:45 Chancel Choir Rehearsal @ 8:45 Holy Eucharist @ 10:00 AM Children's Sunday School at 10:00 AM |
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| St. James Episcopal Church Westwood
Weekly Epistle - March 19, 2014
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Dear Sisters and Brothers in Christ
So he came to a Samaritan city called Sychar, near the plot of ground that Jacob had given to his son Joseph. Jacob's well was there, and Jesus, tired out by his journey, was sitting by the well. It was about noon. A Samaritan woman came to draw water, and Jesus said to her, "Give me a drink." (His disciples had gone to the city to buy food.) The Samaritan woman said to him, "How is it that you, a Jew, ask a drink of me, a woman of Samaria?" (Jews do not share things in common with Samaritans.) Jesus answered her, "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." - John 4: 5-10
Read Sunday's Lessons here. Jews and Samaritans culturally didn't like one another. Hatred would actually be more accurate. Animosity existed between the two peoples for at least four centuries before Jesus encountered the Samaritan Woman at Jacob's Well. Then as now, a major dispute existed between the two societies because the two peoples' values and religious beliefs clashed with one another.
Jesus doesn't seem interested in those historical facts. He walks into Sychar and brazenly asks The Samaritan Woman for a drink of water. It is in that demand that Jesus unabashedly violates two ancient Jewish norms. First, Jewish men did not initiate conversations with women they didn't know. Second, Jewish teachers (rabbis) never publicly engaged in conversation with woman. (O' Day, 1995). We might call such behavior misogynistic (hatred of women) but you don't have to look very far within North American and other world cultures to observe the disadvantages of being a woman around our nation and the world. I'd say, at a minimum, that Jesus was rude while he was operating out of the cultural norms of his time. Maybe it's ok for God's Son to do so but it doesn't sit well with me.
There are a couple more facts about this story that are worth mentioning. Jesus and his disciples are confronted with a geographic problem. The most direct route from Judea to Galilee was directly through Samaria. Jews therefore either had to travel a great distance to avoid interacting with Samaritans if they were traveling from Jerusalem to Capernaum. Alternatively, they would do like many human beings do and limited themselves to interacting with only the people they liked or knew. Imagine if you had to drive from Cincinnati's Westside to Cincinnati's Eastside and were forced to stop and stay overnight with strangers in Over The Rhine. Would you look for an alternate route?
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Jesus and the Samaritan woman. 12th-century Jruchi Gospels illumination
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This passage prompts all sorts of options for interpretation. What's very important to me is that the Messiah went out of his way in a directly intentional manner to interact with this Samaritan Woman. She, and only she, is able to share the Good News of Christ's Gospel with her neighbors. It's because of her personal, boundary violating, vulnerable encounter with God that other people in her community break bread with God and people that they otherwise would never encounter. Societal norms about acceptance and rejection are scandalously shoved aside for the sake of sharing God's love. Jesus offers water of life no else can. The Samaritan Woman receives it and shares it with other people.
Stories of reconciliation seemingly keep appearing this year. We're called to break down cultural barriers. Jesus guides us to set aside our personal desires for the sake of declaring God's love. Christ calls us at times into solitude, wilderness locations. Other times, he beckons us to follow him, as his disciples did, into places we would never go on our own. Such locations might include re-connecting with someone we became estranged from many years ago. Perhaps we've got a cultural or familial bias against a nearby neighbor or a group of people that aren't like us. God maneuvers us into resolving such disputes.
Lent is the season for repenting, changing our manner of heart, in such circumstances. To be sure, it's likely that we won't "go there" unless we faithfully believe that God is present, in Spirit and in Word. When we do, we can be assured that we will certainly learn something more about ourselves, the Samaritans in our lives, and God's way of life. Refusing to travel into such locales suggests that we prefer remaining entrenched in our past experiences and fearful
misconceptions about other people and ourselves. Engaging Samaritans around us probably means we'll receive a jug full of living water that will last a very long time.
Blessings Along The Way, Jim+ |
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Lenten Programs at St James
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Prayer, play, programming and more! Read all about what will be happening here during Lent on our special Lenten webpage.
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Enjoy a contemplative day of prayer and reflection. Contact Joyce for more information and registration. |
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Springtime Music Series Premiers Soon
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St. James 2nd Annual Springtime Music Series continues on Sunday March 30th at 2:00 PM. Learn more about the Series here.
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Breaking up Chains of Oppression
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Tears For Fears - Woman In Chains ft. Oleta Adams
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We might say many things about the Samaritan Woman and women like her. Assuredly she lived in a society dominated by men. Such societies implicitly promote violence against women. The consequences of such behavior, then and now, is real and terribly brutal. Tears For Fears' heart-wrenching yet beautifully sung "Woman in Chains" song tells the story of domestic violence that benefits no one and ruins the lives of millions of people that God loves. It is because of such evil that Jesus came into the world to offer us a different way of living with one another. Here are some helpful tips for ending violence against women and children.
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