The Lutheran Hour
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"Because of the Woman’s Testimony"
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Text: John 4:5-26, 27-30, 39-42
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A pastor once told me this story. He had a middle-aged fellow in his parish who was known to turn a few heads, not because of his rugged good looks, but more so because certain people in the parish didn’t like his hairstyle. He liked to grow his hair long enough to put into a rather large and bushy ponytail. On more than one occasion a parishioner was known to inquire about this man suggesting maybe that he should go to a less populated service, or shouldn’t come up for communion in front of everybody like that. After all, what self-respecting middle-aged man wears his hair that way?
It was almost with a certain amount of unrighteous satisfaction that this pastor had to explain the situation to his curious faithful. This man would actually grow out his hair regularly so that he could cut it off in one long bunch and then donate it to a program called, “Locks of Love.” It’s a program that takes donated human hair and fashions it into wigs for cancer patients who have lost their hair due to chemotherapy. After explaining the “whys” of this man’s different hairstyle, there was almost always a collective sigh of embarrassment and, like the character Roseanne Roseannadanna on Saturday Night Live, the familiar phrase, “Oh, never mind.”
Do you find it unusual that the church has often been a place where such judgmental assumptions and statements are made? Shouldn’t it be just the opposite? Shouldn’t the church be a place where there is grace and understanding, where the benefit of the doubt is given, and the best construction is put on everything? Well, ideally, I suppose that’s true. But we do live in a sinful world and the church is no exception. It, too, is full of sinful people in need of a Savior and in need of forgiveness. In fact, the church has often been compared to a hospital – a place you go when you’re sick.
I was reminded of all this again as I studied the Bible lesson appointed for this Sunday from John chapter 4. It is the story about Jesus encountering a Samaritan woman at a well. I would certainly encourage you to read the whole story from John 4, but in the interest of making a long story short for the radio, here’s the basic gist of it. Jesus happened upon a woman at a well who is drawing water in the middle of the day. Now, that behavior was unusual because most people would avoid the heat of the day and draw their water in the cool of the morning or the evening. This woman was obviously trying to avoid contact with other people. A long discussion followed between this woman and Jesus about different topics, from how Jesus can offer “living water,” to true worship and where it takes place, to this woman’s current living arrangements.
Now, this last part is the part that got my attention. Jesus asked the woman to go call her husband and come back to the well. She replied, “I have no husband.” Which was correct – technically. Turns out she was living with a man not her husband. Jesus then went on to tell her all about her private life and the fact that He knew she had had five divorces. Afterwards, the woman, perhaps because she was uncomfortable discussing her own failed marriages, changed the subject and the conversation continued.
But here’s what caught my attention. In preparation for broadcasting this sermon today I read a number of other sermons based on this very Bible story. And I was amazed how many preachers zeroed in on this one part of the conversation, the part about the woman’s multiple husbands. It was like a magnet to them and they automatically assumed that this was a loose woman who slept with, and married, any Tom, Dick, or Harry that came along. And at first glance, like a long ponytail on a middle-aged man, it does kind of catch your attention. And the tendency is to place this Samaritan woman in 21st century America and apply 21st century culture. After all, a woman divorced five times, who now has a live-in boyfriend, and who changes the subject of conversation constantly, does catch your attention.
So what does Jesus do for a woman like this? Does He jump on the self-righteous bandwagon and condemn her for her five divorces? Does He keep prodding at the fact that she has had five husbands because that seems to be the juiciest part of the story? In fact, does He make this the main part of the conversation at all? Well, you’d have to read the whole story for yourself and make up your own mind. But trust me on this one, the answer is “no.” These multiple husbands are not the main point. Oh, it might be the juiciest part of the story and the part we might pick on in order to make ourselves feel better (at least I’m not as bad as her!). But it’s not the focus of the story.
Try this on for size. In Jesus’ day, it was very easy for a man to divorce his wife. In fact, a husband could divorce his wife for no reason at all, and do it very quickly with little documentation or legal procedure. The wife was left with no alimony, no child support, no legal protections at all. She was at the mercy of her husband. Quite a bit different than today isn’t it? Now, to add insult to injury, it was almost impossible for a woman to hold any significant employment. Women didn’t have anywhere near equality in the workplace. Which means, if she intended to live, she needed a husband, especially if the rest of her family had already passed away. And, with one divorce under her belt, she became a marked woman in the culture with fewer and fewer men willing to “take a chance” on her. Now, imagine the 2nd, 3rd, 4th, and now 5th divorce, all of which may have had little to do with her, except to leave her with the consequences of no husband, no way to make a living, and no future. Add to that the sneers and jeers of your hometown and you can see why she might be avoiding the crowd by going to the well in the middle of the day.
So, how do you feel about this woman with the five divorces now? Different? Might she seem less like a loose, immoral woman and more like the unfortunate victim of a society without legal protections for women and marriage; forced into divorce, and then forced into a quick re-marriage just to survive? Now, we don’t know the situation for sure (we’re never told). But, perhaps – just perhaps – through little fault of her own, it happened this way and she found herself in an increasingly isolated and lonely position. And that’s why she was drawing water in the middle of the day.
That kind of changes things doesn’t it? It might make you think about her more compassionately, and with less judgment. But, even if it didn’t happen this way, my point is that there is more to this story than just a juicy Desperate Housewives storyline. There’s so much more to it than that.
More than anything, this is a story about Jesus’ great love, His mercy, and His patience toward someone who is caught in a life that is bringing loneliness, despair, and isolation. So, what does Jesus do for her if He doesn’t get all focused on her sex life? He talks with her. He listens. He challenges. He answers. He even allows her to divert the conversation a bit, away from the things that make her uncomfortable. But in doing so, He treats her, perhaps, with a manner of respect that she has not seen in years from another man. And, as they sat on the edge of the well, He offers her what He calls “living water” in order that she may have hope for her future.
So, why am I spending so much time with the personality of this mysterious Samaritan woman? Is it because I think she’s been misunderstood and maligned unfairly? Well, maybe just a little. But here’s what I’m more interested in. Are you someone who can identify with this woman? Has there been a time in your life, or are you in a time now where you are isolated, lonely, cut off from the rest of the world; judged, and, perhaps even judged unfairly? Can you identify with this woman?
Can I ask you something? How have you been treated by the church? Or how do you think the church would treat you, especially if you have a colorful past, or at least a questionable past? Have you been afraid to even set foot in a church or talk to a pastor because of how you think he might react or respond? Have you been afraid of the “self-righteous” response? The judgmental response? Perhaps it’s not even a question, you have experienced it. You’ve spent time and energy avoiding people because all they have to offer is judgment and you don’t need any help with that.
You have your own middle of the day “well” strategies. Maybe you hide behind a busy schedule, or by moving far away. Maybe you avoid people by being emotionally distant, or just irritating enough that people leave you alone. Or maybe you hide behind alcohol or drugs. You don’t do it because you like being lonely or isolated. Who likes that? But you do it, like this Samaritan woman, out of self-preservation. If you go to the well at the popular time, you know what’ll happen. The scene will repeat itself over and over – the others will be there with their disapproving glances, dismissive behavior and judgmental words. It’s happened a hundred times before.
Sadly, maybe the well you’re avoiding goes beyond the formal church, or church-people, or pastors, and goes to God Himself. You’re afraid of what He might say because you’ve heard what His people have said. The church-people, maybe even a pastor, has fallen into the trap of grabbing onto the sensational part of your life and has missed what you’re really looking and asking for. They’ve focused on the judgment and, quite honestly, you’ve had enough of that. What you’re looking for are answers and you haven’t heard them yet.
Well, if that has been the case, I will express regret on the part of all pastors and all parishioners everywhere. Unfortunately, even pastors are sinners and sometimes we respond in very un-Christ-like ways. But the important thing is, that is not what Jesus does. He didn’t do it to the Samaritan woman in this Bible story from John 4 and He won’t do it to you. The Samaritan woman experienced first-hand how the sinless Son of God would react to someone like her. I think it surprised her because it was not what she had experienced before. It was not what she was expecting. She was expecting more judgment and condemnation. That’s why she kept changing the subject and tried to be cagey. She knew what was coming. Or at least she thought she knew what was coming. But it didn’t turn out that way.
You see, the sinless Son of God did not come into the world to condemn the world. Sometimes we have the tendency to forget that. We forget Jesus’ own words from the chapter right before this, John 3:16: For God so loved the world that He gave He gave His one and only Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life. Yes, everybody knows that verse, John 3:16. But keep going. What is John 3:17? Do you know? It says: For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through Him.
Did you catch that part? God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, to marginalize it, to find a reason to judge it. No, He sent His Son into the world to save it through Him. It was a foregone conclusion that we often have disappointing, lonely, sinful lives. He didn’t really need to emphasize that. Instead, He needed to change it.
Jesus saw that Samaritan woman at the well and He saw someone in need. In the end, it doesn’t really matter if she was a victim of easy divorce, or her five husbands were the result of loose morals; either way she is hurting, and hurting as a result of the sinful world that is a part of her own life. Jesus came to save her from that.
For that reason Jesus spoke to her kindly, engaged her in conversation, listened to her, even challenged her to look, with open eyes, at her own life with all of its disappointment, loneliness, and regret. But He did it all in order that He might offer her what He called “living water.” He did it in order to offer her forgiveness and life everlasting through faith in Him. What this woman’s specific background was, is inconsequential. The point is that she is a woman in need; a woman who is lonely and marginalized and isolated; a woman who has been dealt with harshly by sin. And she needs an answer. She needs forgiveness. She needs love. She needs another chance. And Jesus gave it to her.
She believed Him. The Holy Spirit granted her faith in this Savior, Jesus, so that she went back into the village, back to the people she was trying to avoid, and told them very enthusiastically whom she had met. Come see a man who told me everything I ever did. Could this be the Christ? she said. And they listened. They actually listened to this social outcast. And they came out to meet Jesus, and talked with Him, and listened to Him, and they came to believe in Him too – all because of an outcast woman’s testimony. In this case, it wasn’t a pastor’s testimony, or an evangelist’s testimony, or even a radio preacher’s testimony, but an outcast woman’s testimony that was so powerful.
That’s exactly what it says in John 4:39: Many of the Samaritans from that town believed in Him because of the woman’s testimony, “He told me everything I ever did.” So when the Samaritans came to Him they urged Him to stay with them, and He stayed two days. And because of His words many more became believers.
I’ll ask you again: can you identify with this Samaritan woman? Then know that this same Jesus is still here today. He sees you. He knows what you’ve suffered. He knows everything you’ve ever done. And you know what? He’s not going to avoid you. And He didn’t come to condemn you. He came to save you. He seeks you out even as you try to hide at the well in the middle of the day. He loves you enough to suffer and die for you. And He offers you the same “living water” He offered that Samaritan woman. He offers you life, real life, real hope-filled living, plus life everlasting if you but believe in Him, in His suffering, death, and resurrection for you.
If you’d like to talk about this more, you can call us at The Lutheran Hour. We have compassionate people waiting who would be happy to talk to you more about Jesus and about this “living water.” In fact, we’d be happy to send you a free Bible so that you can read this story, and others, for yourself. Just give us a call at 1-800-876-9880. It’s a free call, and there’s no obligation. That’s 1-800-876-9880.
Oh, and by the way, after you’re done hearing about all that Jesus has done for you, don’t hesitate to do exactly what this Samaritan woman did. She went out and told everybody she could find what Jesus had done. Don’t be embarrassed. Don’t be shy, there’s absolutely no reason to be, for Jesus has given you new life, and you might be surprised at how many people will listen to you! In the name of Jesus, Amen.
LUTHERAN HOUR MAILBOX (Questions & Answers) for February 24, 2008
TOPIC: Are the souls in heaven aware of us?ANNOUNCER: Are the souls in heaven aware of us here on earth? Pastor Ken Klaus responds to questions from listeners. I’m Mark Eischer.
KLAUS: Hello, Mark, and hello to our listeners.
ANNOUNCER: Pastor, our question today comes to us from a lady whose Christian father died unexpectedly, and since then she’s given birth to a baby girl.
KLAUS: Now, we’re not talking about reincarnation here, are we?
ANNOUNCER: No, that’s not the topic. Our listener just wants to know if her deceased father, if her father who is now in heaven, is aware that he has a granddaughter. And, is he able to watch as she grows up? And she even asks if she takes her daughter to the cemetery, can her father somehow see this little gift from God?
KLAUS: Interesting questions, Mark. You know, these kinds of situations often happen. They happen so frequently that many people find it quite natural to link the events of birth and death – one person comes in, another person leaves.
ANNOUNCER: I’ve heard about that. But it’s not true, is it?
KLAUS: No, not any more than the expression “death comes in threes.”
ANNOUNCER: Well, sometimes death does come in threes.
KLAUS: Yes, and it comes in twos, ones, and fours. You know, I’ve noticed that when people have reached the number three and then another person dies shortly thereafter, they begin the next group of three. It’s sort of a manufactured pattern.
ANNOUNCER: Well, that’s all interesting, but I think we’ve wandered away from our listener’s original questions.
KLAUS: Right, we have. First, we need to give thanks to the Lord that our listener’s father died in the faith. As a result, we know that he is with the Lord Jesus Christ awaiting that day of resurrection when the world will be judged, when his soul will be reunited with a glorified body.
ANNOUNCER: But now, in the meantime, can he from heaven somehow see his grandchild when she is brought to the cemetery?
KLAUS: I have to say, Mark, that part of the question kind of bothers me. We need to realize that when a person dies, they are no longer in that body. It’s not like they have their eyes closed and they’re just laying very, very still. They can’t hear those people who attend the funeral. They’re gone.
ANNOUNCER: So, if our listener takes her daughter to the cemetery?
KLAUS: Well, a visit to any cemetery, Mark, is for the mourners, not for the person who is being mourned. When we go to the cemetery we may feel closer to the person; we may be showing respect for the person who is buried; we may even talk to the person who has died; but, as we just said, that person is gone.
ANNOUNCER: Well, let me ask the next question then: Does grandpa even know he has a granddaughter here on earth?
KLAUS: That’s a little harder question to answer, Mark.
ANNOUNCER: I thought it might be.
KLAUS: Let me say this. When someone we love dies, we mourn them. We feel a loss, an emptiness. Our lives have taken a pretty strong hit. As we go through each day we experience events and moments that bring back memories of things that will never be again. Those memories are, at first, terribly painful. After a while, though, they start to heal. It’s true, things will never again be the same, but those memories can be a wonderful blessing.
ANNOUNCER: I understand.
KLAUS: Now, let’s look at things from the perspective of someone in heaven. They are living in a place that has not been tainted by sin, death, and Satan. They are in the presence of the Savior; and their focus, their attention, is on the Lord. This is a good thing.
ANNOUNCER: But, have they forgotten about us?
KLAUS: I see nothing in Scripture which says going to heaven gives a person heavenly amnesia. In Jesus’ parable about the rich man and Lazarus, the rich man remembered he had brothers on earth. In the book of Revelation, the martyrs know the Lord hasn’t judged the earth yet. They ask, how long? So there appears to be an awareness of what is going on back there in time and space. However, I don’t think the folks in heaven are focusing their attention on what they left behind. They are with Christ – which is far better. Quite honestly, looking back on earth is not going to improve the perfection and peace of heaven. I know I wouldn’t be overly keen to think my Dad is watching all the sins I’ve committed, all the times I’ve messed up.
ANNOUNCER: I understand that. So, let’s summarize what we’ve said today.
KLAUS: People in heaven are looking to the Savior, not to the past. They probably have not forgotten us – and they await our arrival in the mansions the Savior has prepared for those He has redeemed through His blood.
ANNOUNCER: Thank you, Pastor Klaus. And we thank our listener for that interesting question. This brings us to the end of our broadcast for this week. Thanks for listening. This has been a presentation of Lutheran Hour Ministries.
Music selections for this program:
“A Mighty Fortress” arranged by John Leavitt. Concordia Publishing House/SESAC
“May God Bestow On Us His Grace” by Martin Luther & David Lee (Tune © 2004 David Lee)
“Jesus Sinners Will Receive” arr. by Henry Gerike. Used by permission
“When I Survey the Wondrous Cross” arr. by Kevin Sadowski. Concordia Publishing House/SESAC
“Prelude in d minor” by J.S. Bach. From Organist Frederick Hohman & Johann Sebastian Bach by Frederick Hohman (© 1988 Pro Organo)