March 27, 2011
Jesus, Messiah, Lord, Savior, Christ…
- John 4:5-42
- Dr. Teri Thomas
The woman did not expect anything unusual to happen to her that day. She went to the well, just like always. But at the well she runs into a stranger. She has no idea who this man might be. She probably doesn't really even care who he is. She wants water, not conversation.
But conversation is what she gets. In fact- in all of scripture this is the longest recorded conversation with Jesus. During the course of their exchange she gradually begins to figure out who this man really is and what he might possibly mean to her.
At first meeting the woman simply calls him a Jew.
When he responds she tells him he is a man in the wrong place.
She calls him unprepared- you want water and you don't even have a bucket.
As they converse the woman discovers this is a man who could actually help her.
He could simplify her life with this never ending water.
He is a miracle worker.
He could do something for her.
But as the dialogue continues she calls him a prophet.
Finally she says he is the Messiah.
It is not unusual for our understanding of Jesus to change and expand the longer we know him. As we listen to his teachings, pay attention to his actions and converse with him in prayer , our image of who he is and what he means to us will likely be transformed.
We have as many descriptions of Jesus as we have people in the world. Maybe even more. Working on last Wednesday's Lenten study and today's sermon I read several books that try to explain Jesus. One author wrote that one of his critics accused him of believing -
Jesus was a limp-wristed hippie in a dress with lots of product in his hair. He drank only decaf, made pithy Zen statements about life while shopping for the perfect pair of shoes. Where as the critic himself believed- Jesus was a prize fighter with a tattoo down his leg, a sword in his hand, and commitments to make someone bleed.
We are all tempted to turn Jesus into someone we like- a suburban member of Kiwanis who plays golf a little under par,
a republican, democrat or Tea Party Jesus,
Jesus is a capitalist or a communist,
Organ music, stained glass sentimental Jesus,
Anti-scientific Jesus,
chauvinistic, homophobic white supremacist Jesus,
cuddly, sweet, child hugging Jesus.
We see Jesus through our own lenses, with our own blinders and our own preferences.
But we are looking at Jesus now because this is Lent and Lent is a time of repentance. When we look at the Greek roots of the word repentance, it is metanoia. Meta means beyond. The noun for the second part of the word is noose in Greek, and it means mind.
Putting that together, to repent means "to go beyond the mind that you have." In the season of Lent, a season of repentance, we are invited to go beyond the minds that we have to minds and hearts that are shaped by the Spirit of God.
We are invited to go beyond the minds that we have – to minds and hearts centered in the Spirit, alive to wonder, alive to seeing, and alive to compassion.
Marcus Borg- a contemporary Jesus scholar defines Jesus this way-
Jesus is for us as Christians the decisive revelation of what a life full of God is like.
Jesus is the Word Made Flesh.
Jesus is the Wisdom of God.
Jesus is the Spirit of God embodied in human life.
If Jesus is the revelation of what a life full of God is like- what does that mean for our lives?
That is actually very simple. It's taking seriously our relationship to God and caring about what God cares about in the world.
Listen to a modern day parable. There was once a woman who was disappointed, who was disillusioned, who was depressed. She wanted a good world, a peaceful world, and she wanted to be a good person. But the newspaper and television showed her how far we were from such a reality. So, she decided to go shopping. She went to the mall and wandered into a new store - where the person behind the counter looked strangely like Jesus. Gathering up her courage she went up to the counter and asked. "Are you Jesus?" "Well, yes I am," the man answered. "Do you work here?" "Actually," Jesus responded, "I own the store. You are free to wander up and down the aisles, see what it is I sell, and then make a list of what you want. When you are finished, come back here, and we'll see what we can do for you."
So, the woman did just that. And what she saw thrilled her. There was peace on earth, no more war, no hunger or poverty, peace in families, no more drugs, harmony, clean air. She wrote furiously and finally approached the counter, handing a long list to Jesus. He skimmed the paper, and then smiling at her said "No problem." Reaching under the counter, he grabbed some packets and laid them out on the counter. Confused, she asked "What are these?" Jesus replied: "These are seed packets. You see, this is a catalogue store." Surprised the woman blurted out, "You mean I don't get the finished product?" "No," Jesus gently responded. "This is a place of dreams. You come and see what it looks like, and I give you the seeds. Then you plant the seeds. You go home and nurture them and help them to grow and someone else reaps the benefits." "Oh," she said, deeply disappointed in Jesus. Then she turned around and left the store without buying anything." (As told in Spiritual Literacy: Reading the Sacred in Everyday Life, F. and M. Brussat, editors, p.359)
Amen.