Sermon on Third Lent, Year A: The Foreign Woman at the Well
This gospel is rich in many topics on which to preach, not just because of its length, but in its wealth of the word of God. The story is simple: on a journey through Samaria, Jesus rests on a hot day by a well. He speaks with a woman there, who tells the people of her city about this possible Messiah, and many of them believed in Jesus.
Remember first, Samaritans were bad people from the Jewish point of view. They were heretics, invaders who falsely sought what was proper to the Jews. Remember second, Jewish society did not respect women. Nonetheless (and over the objection of his own disciples) Jesus proclaims the Good News to a Samaritan woman directly, and then her neighbors. Indirectly he is proclaiming the Good News to everyone about “the Savior of the world” who brings “eternal life.”
We can do the same work that Jesus did, the work of sowing and reaping. Even though we are different from one another, we have the same opportunities to serve Christ and to be saved by him. We do the work of Christ when we reconcile with people of whatever differences, especially sexual identity or ethnicity.
Written for the parish of St. James & St. George 2020 March 15
URL: <http://therev.brianpavlac.org/srms/20200315.html>