2^nd Sunday in Lent at Epiphany on February 17, 2008

John 4:4 Now he had to go through Samaria . ⁵ So he came to a town in Samaria called Sychar, near the plot of ground Jacob had given to his son Joseph. ⁶ Jacob's well was there, and Jesus, tired as he was from the journey, sat down by the well. It was about the sixth hour. ⁷ When a Samaritan woman came to draw water, Jesus said to her, "Will you give me a drink?" ⁸ (His disciples had gone into the town to buy food.) ⁹ The Samaritan woman said to him, "You are a Jew and I am a Samaritan woman. How can you ask me for a drink?" (For Jews do not associate with Samaritans.) ¹⁰ Jesus answered her, "If you knew the gift of God and who it is that asks you for a drink, you would have asked him and he would have given you living water." ¹¹ "Sir," the woman said, "you have nothing to draw with and the well is deep. Where can you get this living water? ¹² Are you greater than our father Jacob, who gave us the well and drank from it himself, as did also his sons and his flocks and herds?" ¹³ Jesus answered, "Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again, ¹⁴ but whoever drinks the water I give him will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life." ¹⁵ The woman said to him, "Sir, give me this water so that I won't get thirsty and have to keep coming here to draw water." ¹⁶ He told her, "Go, call your husband and come back." ¹⁷ "I have no husband," she replied. Jesus said to her, "You are right when you say you have no husband. ¹⁸ The fact is, you have had five husbands, and the man you now have is not your husband. What you have just said is quite true." ¹⁹ "Sir," the woman said, "I can see that you are a prophet. ²⁰ Our fathers worshiped on this mountain, but you Jews claim that the place where we must worship is in Jerusalem ." ²¹ Jesus declared, "Believe me, woman, a time is coming when you will worship the Father neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem . ²² You Samaritans worship what you do not know; we worship what we do know, for salvation is from the Jews. ²³ Yet a time is coming and has now come when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for they are the kind of worshipers the Father seeks. ²⁴ God is spirit, and his worshipers must worship in spirit and in truth." ²⁵ The woman said, "I know that Messiah" (called Christ) "is coming. When he comes, he will explain everything to us." ²⁶ Then Jesus declared, "I who speak to you am he."

Quench Your Thirst

This morning I want to introduce two people to you – not made up, but real, live people whom I have met over the years. First, there is Pete. Pete was a soldier on Ft. Knox . After Pete’s family attended our VBS and worship, I visited Pete and his family. Pete said that he had grown up Lutheran, but while in college he attended a Unitarian church. “I’m still a Christian,” Pete told me. “But I don’t really believe that Jesus Christ is the only way to heaven – there are lots of ways – to each his own.” That’s Pete.

Then there’s my neighbor, Wayne. Wayne used to be Lutheran, but not he doesn’t go anywhere. He says, “I’m still religious. I believe in God – that there is a God. I worship him in my own way.” That’s Wayne .

Both of them believe they are Christians. But what really is Christianity? Christianity is the religion of Jesus Christ. Christianity focuses on Jesus Christ, and all the things that Jesus Christ said and did. That’s Christianity. Pete is not a follower of Christianity. Pete is making up his own religion – a vague belief in God and other things. That’s not Christianity. That’s the religion of “Pete-ism.” Whatever Pete says, that’s what’s true.

Wayne believes she is still “religious,” but a nebulous notion of being “religious” is not Christianity. Wayne is making up his own religion as he goes through life – the religion of Wayne-ism. Whatever Wayne wants to believe, than that is what is true to him.

Many, many Americans are caught in this trap. Believing that you are a Christian, but in reality, you aren’t. Christianity is the religion of Jesus Christ. What he said. What he did. Many people aren’t following Christianity, but the religion of “Me-ism.” Whatever is true for me, whatever I make up in my head, that’s my religion.

I’m not here to lambaste all those people, because, in many ways, all of us are plagued with “Me-ism” – the religion of me – whatever I like, whatever I think is true, that’s what I believe, that’s what I’m going to do.

What is it like for the soul who is trapped in “Me-ism,” or “Pete-ism” or “Wayne-ism”? “Water, water, everywhere; nor any drop to drink.” That line from the Rime of the Ancient Mariner describes being stranded in a small boat on the ocean. Even though an ocean of water surrounds you, you can’t drink any of its water. That’s because the ocean is saltwater. Drinking saltwater is dangers. First, salt makes you thirsty. So the more saltwater you drink, the thirstier you become. But there’s a greater danger. Your body can’t get rid of salt as quickly as it can get rid of water. So salt builds up in your body, especially in your kidneys. This salt build-up causes your organs to shut down. That eventually kills you.

Those souls who are trapped in “Me-ism” are dying, or may be already dead, from spiritual thirst. A thirsty soul wants to learn the truth about God, wants to worship the true God. A thirsty soul wants to have a real relationship with God. But all they are receiving is the deadly saltwater substitute of “Me-ism.”

All of us have a deep thirst, a spiritual thirst. Today we learn how Jesus quenches a thirsty soul with living water.

Jesus is tired from a long journey. He sends his disciples away and he sits down at a well in Samaria for some rest. Along comes a lone Samaritan woman. She comes during the heat of the day, at Noon , the sixth hour, when no one else would be at the well. Everyone knows about her and she is alone. She is an outcast from her community.

This Samaritan woman is a thirsty soul, looking for satisfaction in life in all the wrong places. She has a vague belief in God and lax morals. Hmm? Sounds pretty similar to our society.

The woman doesn’t realize that she is thirsty. Her life isn’t great, but she is getting by. She doesn’t realize what she is missing.

Many of the people around us don’t know what they are missing. Hundreds flocked downtown on Wednesday to listen to Barak Obama speak, hoping that if he is elected President he will direct the government to give them more benefits and make their lives more fulfilling. Many of the people caught in adulterous homosexual or heterosexual relationships are looking for love without commitment, sexual fulfillment without social responsibility. Teenagers caught in Racine gangs are searching for a community to fit into. Whether it is alcohol or pills or illicit affairs or even shopping sprees and get-away vacations, people are looking for something to add excitement or remove depression or alleviate stress. They are looking in all the wrong places. They are thirsting, but don’t know how to quench their thirst.

The Samaritan woman’s personal life was a disaster. She had five previous husbands and now a live-in boyfriend. She was so involved in adultery that her bedroom had a revolving door to it. She was trapped in the false religion of “Me-ism”: “I believe in God, and whatever I want to do that makes me happy, God must support.” By bringing up the sensitive subject of her sin, Jesus wanted her to realize that she couldn’t quench her spiritual thirst in the sinful pleasures of the flesh.

Jesus wants you to realize that, too. We look for satisfaction, but we look in the wrong places. You can’t find lasting happiness by indulging in Valentine’s chocolates or alcoholic beverages or late-night parties. You can’t find true joy in sexual escapades or illicit online movies. You can’t find inner peace by winning the lottery or traveling to exciting locations. You can’t shield yourself from the guilt that haunts you by working longer hours or driving yourself to exhaustion. You are looking for something to quench the thirst in your soul.

The Samaritan woman tries to change the subject of her sins by asking a question about where she should worship God. The Samaritans had worshiped God on Mount Gerizim , about 25 miles north of Jerusalem . On that mountain, the Samaritans practiced a hodge-podge religion. They blended parts of the Old Testament with a smattering of religious ideas floating around the ancient world.

The Samaritans were much like Americans today. Religion in America is like eating at the Old Country Buffet. People pick and choose what they like from all sorts of religions just like people pick and choose their food from the buffet table. They may like many of the traditions of Christianity, but they don’t want to be tied down to any denomination. So they visit the Catholics, then the Baptists. They’ll dabble with Lutheran teachings and then the Methodists. They might even try the Pentecostals, the Mormons, the Muslims and the Hindus. It is the religion of “Me-ism,” whatever works for Me is what I choose to believe.

This is our modern American culture. It is adrift upon an ocean of materialism, pleasure-seeking and confused spirituality. People are thirsty for meaning to life. People swallow the idea that you are only worth something if you have a big house, drive a big SUV and wear the latest fashions. People think they can only find happiness when they socialize with the in-crowd, eat at the best restaurants and have rotating relationships with the best-looking people. People think they can satisfy their deepest needs if they follow the latest spiritual fad and the more off beat it is, the better.

But indulging in materialism, pleasure-seeking and trendy spirituality is like drinking salt-water. It will only leave you thirsting for more. In the end it will leave you spiritually dead.

Don’t think that you are immune to this religion of “Me-ism.” Don’t think that you aren’t tempted to sip from the salt-water of worldly pleasures and religious liberalism. This danger also threatens Christians like you and me. We soak up more of our culture than we realize. Like this world, we have a thirst for things, for pleasures and for the latest fashions in spirituality. That’s why we need Jesus just as much as any unbeliever. This is why we need to sit beside the Samaritan woman at the well of Sychar. We need the same spiritual water that Jesus offers her.

We need the season of Lent. Lent is like an oasis in the desert. Lent is that time in the church year when your thirsty soul sees Jesus and receives living water. “Drink this living water,” Jesus says, “And you will never be thirsty again.” What is that living water? It’s a message. And the message is this: God knows that you are sinful. But God is merciful. Instead of punishing you for your sins, he sends his Son, Jesus Christ into the world. To most, Jesus seemed like your typical Jewish man. But he was anything but typical. Jesus was God in the flesh, and he did something special for you. He lived a perfect life for you. And then, he died on a cross. And while he was on that cross, he was punished for your sins. God loves you so much, that instead of God punishing you for your mistakes in life, your sin, he punished Jesus Christ, his Son, instead. God loves you. And because of what Jesus did, God forgives you.

This message is the water of life. When you hear that message, when you hear that your sins have been taken away, that your past has been wiped clean, it’s water for the thirsty soul. Your soul hears this message and says, “Thank you! My guilt is gone! God has forgiven me. I finally have peace in my heart. I am finally close to God. I only want to worship the true God!” The water of life is the forgiveness of sins. And when your soul drinks that water down, it finally feels satisfied and satiated, fulfilled and at peace with God. Instead of a dried-out soul that is dying or dead of thirst, your soul becomes a spring of water, overflowing, welling up to eternal life.

There is an ancient Roman aqueduct located near the city of Segovia . The aqueduct — a sort of elevated trestle over which water flows — was constructed in the year A.D. 109. For 1,800 years, the aqueduct carried cool water from the mountains to the hot and thirsty city. As many as sixty generations depended on this marvel of engineering for their drinking water. Then came another generation, in more recent years, who said to each other, “This aqueduct is an architectural marvel. It’s a historical treasure that ought to be preserved. We should give it a well-earned rest.”

That’s exactly what they did. They detoured the water flow away from the ancient stones and channeled it instead through modern pipes. They put up historical markers so tourists would know who had constructed the aqueduct, and for what purpose. They celebrated the fact that their city’s water system was now modern in every way.

But then, a strange thing began to happen. The Roman aqueduct began to fall apart. The sun beating down on its dry mortar, without the constant flow of water to cool it, caused it to crumble. In time, the massive structural stones threatened to fall. What 18 centuries of hard service had not been able to destroy, a few years of idleness nearly did.

What’s important about your faith life is not how much you produce or how you look to others, or even how good you feel about yourself. What’s important is staying connected to the flow of Jesus’ grace, through hearing his voice in the Word of God and receiving his body and blood in Holy Communion.  “The one who remains in me … bears much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing,” Jesus cautiously coaxes (John 15:5).

Jesus doesn’t ask for a certain level of production or output from you. He promises that will happen. He asks us to remain connected to his life-giving flow of forgiveness, love, and guidance. Without that constant flow of living water we fall apart. This world is a very dry place to life in and the sins we commit make our own souls even drier. The world is a spiritual desert, filled with people who believe in some form of a nebulous God and try to make up the rest. We live in a world filled with religions that don’t satisfy and materialism that doesn’t satiate. Receive the flow of forgiveness Sunday after Sunday, service after service, at the font and at the communion rail. Keep coming. Be refreshed again and again with the water of life. Here Jesus changes your dry soul into a spring, welling up to eternal life. Here you can invite your loved ones who also need water for their thirsty souls.

To paraphrase the Rime of the Ancient Mariner, may our prayer always be this: Jesus, Jesus everywhere; he’s all my faith will drink.” Amen.