"Seeing You in the Water" March 23, 2014

Exodus 17:1-7 John 4: 5-42 Every good story has something which stands out, which does not fit in, a relationship in conflict. That which goes against the grain, that which stands out in conflict is what makes the story interesting, provocative. Our human problem, is that we often try to avoid conflict, to convince ourselves not to look, not to see. Because if we see, if that other registers in our vision, our intellect, our relationship, then we have to do; but if we do not see, if we ignore and have no name for a stranger, we do not take them in, they are not part of our reality. Makes sense, except that when we have a problem which is unresolved, which hurts, whether intentionally or subconsciously, we do respond. When we have been bullied, we bully others. When we have been wounded, the physical pain leads to shame, leads to shaming others. There is a cycle to human anxiety. We even teach children with Nursery Rhymes like the Farmer in the Dell. The Farmer takes a wife, the wife wants a child, the child wants a dog, the dog wants a cat, the cat wants the mouse, the mouse wants the cheese, and the cheese as an inanimate stinky old thing, the cheese stands alone. The point being that our shame, our pain, conflict never just goes away. The message of the Scriptures is that instead of ignoring conflict, instead of pretending we do not see, in faith we need to see, because in looking for the Messiah, in seeing what does not fit in, we find ourselves and the means of our redemption by witnessing others. Before we begin to see these texts we need to clarify that these stories are similar to ones we know, and we cannot muddle them all together, because these stories are not the others, the persons and stories here need to be witnessed and not ignored or lost. When we hear reference that the People Complained and found fault with Moses so he struck the rock and water came out, and he called the place Massah and Maribah, we immediately recall a similar story in the Old Testament Book of Numbers. In that story, in the Book of Numbers, the people again complained and found fault with Moses, so he took the staff which God had given and without seeking God, Moses took it upon himself to strike the rock in the wilderness causing water to flow, for which Moses is denied the opportunity of leaving the wilderness to enter the Promised Land. But even though in both stories the people were complaining and fault-finding, and in both Moses takes his staff and strikes the rock and water flows in the wilderness, and in Numbers just as here in Exodus Moses calls the place Massah and Meribah, even so, when we look closely we see that this story is unique and distinct. The point of Massah and Meribah in the story of Exodus is that when in Egypt the slaves had cried out from their need, God heard the people and God responded. God gave the Egyptian persecutors the plagues and the people of Israel the Passover, God saw the sacrifice the people had made to God and brought them through the Red Sea. God heard the need of the people for Food and God provided Manna and Quail, enough to satisfy. Again here, the people were in the Desert, they were dehydrated, they were suffering, they cried out to God, and when Moses struck the rock with his staff water flowed in the desert. What we are intended to see, is that the People demanded God hear their need, the People demanded God be God providing what they needed. What we are supposed to reminded of, is Isaiah the Prophet who describes God providing Springs in the Desert! We are supposed to hear Psalm 23 with God leading the flock by Still Waters, because rushing rivers can drown the sheep. But Unfortunately, like Moses we think too much. We believe we know where our story, where the Bible, is going to go. Moses hears the people's complaints and like so many leaders, instead of hearing the needs of the people, Moses hears the people fault-finding, creating a law suit against his leadership, threatening to stone him. That may be an appropriate response to the Book of Numbers story of Massah and Meribah, but in the Book of Exodus, all Moses needed to see was that the people needed God, and God alone could provide miracles like water in the desert. So in this story, God revealed to Moses not just that he take his staff and hit rock, but also that God would be with Moses, God would show Moses which rock to hit. Too often as leaders we ignore conflict, we ignore the real needs of people, we hear people's complaints, we fear litigation and fault-finding, and we take things upon ourselves, instead of seeing what people really need and want, and as leaders trusting we are not alone as we help people resolve what is out of place, as we help people see the conflicts in their lives and how to resolve them. The Gospel of John is about Water as well. John's disciples react to the rumors they hear, with jealousy, “Who does this Jesus think he is?” And John helps his disciples see, that John came to point the way for the Messiah. Sometimes those of us in leadership need to step back and swallow a cold drink, rather than trying to be the ones who lead. To fully hear and see this passage, we need first to remember this is not the story later in John of a woman at the City Center brought before Jesus because of adultery. Throughout this story, see that Jesus never once rebukes her, never blames her, never tells “Go and sin no more” because that is not this story. Also, this takes place at Jacob's Well. Over and over again in the Book of Genesis, the Patriarchs dug a well and the Canaanites took it over. This happened with Abram, and Isaac, and Jacob. Each and every time, the Ancestors of Israel then dedicated a new plot of land and dug a new well, so that those people would not use it. By naming Jacob's Well, this is a story about prejudice. More than 500 years before, King Nubuchadnezzar of Babylon invaded and destroyed Jerusalem. In the aftermath, trying to understand what happened, how God allowed this, people began to blame others, instead of themselves. Ezra and Nehemiah named that there had been intermarriage of Israel with Canaanites, and they should leave their marriages, just walk out. Those who did not, those who had married outside their race and culture, were named as Samaritans, and blamed for others' problems. We have in the past few decades experienced radical challenges to our accepted cultural norms. I can recall in my own childhood, separate drinking fountains, restaurants and restrooms in America for people of differing race. There were fears of touching, of drinking from the same cup, especially of inter-marriage. In the culture of the Gospel, in that time, for a man to speak to a woman in public indicated either that they were family, or that he was soliciting her. So what is out of place in this story: Jesus, is hot and tired and alone in a strange place, Jesus is Jewish and asks for a drink of water. A man speaks to a woman in public. An Israelite speaks to a Samaritan. One who worships in Jerusalem asks a favor of one who worships on a Samaritan mountain. He asks her if he can drink out of her jar. Jesus violates every cultural taboo. Even more, he then becomes even more intimate by asking about her husband, and when she says she has none, he reveals the truth that she has had 5 husbands and now lives with another man. This is not an accusation of sin, this poor woman had the worst circumstance. Possibly her husbands each walked out on her, possibly all five in turn had died. Possibly she was living with her husband's brother in a Levitical Marriage. We do not know. But, we can make an educated guess that because she is not coming to the well in the cool of early morning, or late day, as all the others of the town do, she came at noonday to avoid their gossip, to avoid their comments about her having had five different men and now living a man who was not hers. The marvelous element of this story, is that Jesus sees her, for who she is. When she responds about the place of worship, she is not changing the subject, she is in fact naming what is beneath all the other prejudices. Not only is their skin color and sex different, even according to the ways they worship God they are isolated, and for him to cross all boundaries and see her for who she is, he must be sent from God! And here, in the only place in all of the Gospel of John, Jesus says I AM. See in this, that not only is Jesus allowing her to see that he is the Messiah, but also the name given to Moses for who God is, was YHWH meaning I AM. Something happens to us, when we drop all the pretense and prejudices and cultural taboos, to see each other for whom each really is. There is empowerment. There is claiming of relationship. That which seemed out of place and in conflict, is resolved. Our most basic desire, the underlying reason for bullying, for shaming, for addictions, for hurting ourselves and hurting others, is that we need and want Validation. We need and want to be seen for who we are. We need and want to be loved.