This week’s Readings and Sermon for the Third Sunday in Lent
The Collect for This Week
Eternal God, give us insight to discern your will for us, to give up what harms us, and to seek the perfection we are promised in Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen
The Post Communion Prayer for this week
Merciful Lord, grant your people grace to withstand the temptations of the world, the flesh and the devil, and with pure hearts and minds to follow you, the only God; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen
Psalm 95
1 O come, let us sing to the Lord; let us heartily rejoice in the rock of our salvation. 2 Let us come into his presence with thanksgiving and be glad in him with psalms. 3 For the Lord is a great God and a great king above all gods. 4 In his hand are the depths of the earth and the heights of the mountains are his also. 5 The sea is his, for he made it, and his hands have moulded the dry land. 6 Come, let us worship and bow down and kneel before the Lord our Maker. 7 For he is our God; we are the people of his pasture and the sheep of his hand. 8 O that today you would listen to his voice: ‘Harden not your hearts as at Meribah,
on that day at Massah in the wilderness, 9 ‘When your forebears tested me, and put me to the proof, though they had seen my works. 10 ‘Forty years long I detested that generation and said, “This people are wayward in their hearts; they do not know my ways.” 11 ‘So I swore in my wrath, “They shall not enter into my rest.” ’
Glory to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Spirit. As it was in the beginning is now and shall be forever. Amen
The Old Testament Reading for this Sunday is taken from the Book of Exodus, Chapter 17, verses 1 to 7
1 From the wilderness of Sin the whole congregation of the Israelites journeyed by stages, as the Lord commanded. They camped at Rephidim, but there was no water for the people to drink. 2 The people quarrelled with Moses, and said, ‘Give us water to drink.’ Moses said to them, ‘Why do you quarrel with me? Why do you test the Lord?’ 3 But the people thirsted there for water; and the people complained against Moses and said, ‘Why did you bring us out of Egypt, to kill us and our children and livestock with thirst?’ 4 So Moses cried out to the Lord, ‘What shall I do with this people? They are almost ready to stone me.’ 5 The Lord said to Moses, ‘Go on ahead of the people, and take some of the elders of Israel with you; take in your hand the staff with which you struck the Nile, and go. 6 I will be standing there in front of you on the rock at Horeb. Strike the rock, and water will come out of it, so that the people may drink.’ Moses did so, in the sight of the elders of Israel. 7 He called the place Massah and Meribah, because the Israelites quarrelled and tested the Lord, saying, ‘Is the Lord among us or not?’.
This is the Word of the Lord Thanks be to God
The New Testament reading for this Sunday is taken from the Letter of St Paul to the Romans, Chapter 5, verses 1 to 11
1 Therefore, since we are justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, 2 through whom we have obtained access to this grace in which we stand; and we boast in our hope of sharing the glory of God. 3 And not only that, but we also boast in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, 4 and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, 5 and hope does not disappoint us, because God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit that has been given to us.
6 For while we were still weak, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly. 7 Indeed, rarely will anyone die for a righteous person—though perhaps for a good person someone might actually dare to die. 8 But God proves his love for us in that while we still were sinners Christ died for us. 9 Much more surely then, now that we have been justified by his blood, will we be saved through him from the wrath of God. 10 For if while we were enemies, we were reconciled to God through the death of his Son, much more surely, having been reconciled, will we be saved by his life. 11 But more than that, we even boast in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received reconciliation. .
This is the Word of the Lord Thanks be to God
The Gospel reading for this Sunday is taken from the Gospel of St John, Chapter 4, verses 5 to 42
Hear the Gospel of our Lord, Jesus Christ, according to John Glory to You, o Lord
5So he came to a Samaritan city called Sychar, near the plot of ground that Jacob had given to his son Joseph. 6 Jacob’s well was there, and Jesus, tired out by his journey, was sitting by the well. It was about noon.
7 A Samaritan woman came to draw water, and Jesus said to her, ‘Give me a drink’. 8 (His disciples had gone to the city to buy food.) 9 The Samaritan woman said to him, ‘How is it that you, a Jew, ask a drink of me, a woman of Samaria?’ (Jews do not share things in common with Samaritans.) 10 Jesus answered her, ‘If you knew the gift of God, and who it is that is saying to you, “Give me a drink”, you would have asked him, and he would have given you living water.’ 11 The woman said to him, ‘Sir, you have no bucket, and the well is deep. Where do you get that living water? 12 Are you greater than our ancestor Jacob, who gave us the well, and with his sons and his flocks drank from it?’ 13 Jesus said to her, ‘Everyone who drinks of this water will be thirsty again, 14 but those who drink of the water that I will give them will never be thirsty. The water that I will give will become in them a spring of water gushing up to eternal life.’ 15 The woman said to him, ‘Sir, give me this water, so that I may never be thirsty or have to keep coming here to draw water.’
16 Jesus said to her, ‘Go, call your husband, and come back.’ 17 The woman answered him, ‘I have no husband.’ Jesus said to her, ‘You are right in saying, “I have no husband”; 18 for you have had five husbands, and the one you have now is not your husband. What you have said is true!’ 19 The woman said to him, ‘Sir, I see that you are a prophet. 20 Our ancestors worshipped on this mountain, but you say that the place where people must worship is in Jerusalem.’ 21 Jesus said to her, ‘Woman, believe me, the hour is coming when you will worship the Father neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem. 22 You worship what you do not know; we worship what we know, for salvation is from the Jews. 23 But the hour is coming, and is now here, when the true worshippers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for the Father seeks such as these to worship him. 24 God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth.’ 25 The woman said to him, ‘I know that Messiah is coming’ (who is called Christ). ‘When he comes, he will proclaim all things to us.’ 26 Jesus said to her, ‘I am he, the one who is speaking to you.’
27 Just then his disciples came. They were astonished that he was speaking with a woman, but no one said, ‘What do you want?’ or, ‘Why are you speaking with her?’ 28 Then the woman left her water-jar and went back to the city. She said to the people, 29 ‘Come and see a man who told me everything I have ever done! He cannot be the Messiah, can he?’ 30 They left the city and were on their way to him.
31 Meanwhile the disciples were urging him, ‘Rabbi, eat something.’ 32 But he said to them, ‘I have food to eat that you do not know about.’ 33 So the disciples said to one another, ‘Surely no one has brought him something to eat?’ 34 Jesus said to them, ‘My food is to do the will of him who sent me and to complete his work. 35 Do you not say, “Four months more, then comes the harvest”? But I tell you, look around you, and see how the fields are ripe for harvesting. 36 The reaper is already receiving wages and is gathering fruit for eternal life, so that sower and reaper may rejoice together. 37 For here the saying holds true, “One sows and another reaps.” 38 I sent you to reap that for which you did not labour. Others have laboured, and you have entered into their labour.’
39 Many Samaritans from that city believed in him because of the woman’s testimony, ‘He told me everything I have ever done.’ 40 So when the Samaritans came to him, they asked him to stay with them; and he stayed there for two days. 41 And many more believed because of his word. 42 They said to the woman, ‘It is no longer because of what you said that we believe, for we have heard for ourselves, and we know that this is truly the Saviour of the world.’
This is the Gospel of the Lord. Praise to You, o Christ
Note :All readings are shared from the Church of England Lectionary App and are subject to copyright . © The Archbishop’s Council
This week’s sermon is delivered by Lorraine Ashworth
We have had a long Gospel reading so I think it's right that the sermon should reflect it.
The story of the Woman at the Well. It's a familiar story and often associated with her being a fallen woman.
Yet it might not be correct. This woman might had five husbands for many different reasons - for example, because the man had complete control over his wife, he could write her a bill of divorce and send her out of the house for many simple acts. For it says clearly in Deut.24:
"When a man takes a wife and marries her, if then she finds no favour in his eyes, because he has found some indecency in her, he may write her a bill of divorce and put it in her hand and send her out of this house."
Maybe she was simply a bad cook and unlucky that those she was married to were food critics. Perhaps the indecency was letting her headscarf fall off when in public or saying something that put her husband in a bad light amongst his friends.
Another possibility, could have been the idea of the "Levirate" marriage, where if a man dies and they have no children, the brothers of the dead husband must take her to be his wife, Remember the story in Matthew 22:23-45 where Jesus was tested by being questioned about the seven sons who each dies without his wife having children, she marries each one in turn and the Sadducees asking Whose wife the woman would be in Heaven?
This could of happened to the Samaritan woman 5 times, or she could have been divorced 5 times because she couldn’t bear children.
As I say, it's not said why she had been married 5 times and there is certainly nothing to suggest that it was because she was unfaithful – in fact, if she had been unfaithful she wouldn't have been at the well at all, she'd have been stoned to death.
And the man she is living with now is not her husband, but she could be engaged to him, or he could have been a relative of one of her late or divorced husbands.
So we do not know why she had been married 5 times, we do not know why she was living with a man who wasn't her husband.
We do know that she came to the well at mid day when it was the hottest and this is not a time when most women would be there. Most of the women came to the well either early in the morning or later in the evening when it was cooler. Possibly she did not want to face the other women of the city.
She definitely comes with a troubled heart, knowing that her life has not turned out the way she expected it too.
So she comes to the well by herself and sees a man sitting on the stone wall surrounding the well. She is surprised to see him during this part of the day. Most people don't travel during the hottest part of the day. They find somewhere shady to rest. Was the well shaded? We don't know.
She goes about her business of drawing water from the well. And then it happens! Jesus speaks to her. He says "Give me a drink."
Jesus begins the conversation with the woman in an innocent way. Give me a drink of water!
The woman is taken a back by this Jewish man asking a woman of Samaria for a drink of water so she questions Him in a defensive kind of way.
Then Jesus knowing her situation reaches out to her with his response.
I feel that she senses that Jesus has compassion, a kindness she had not seen nor felt from anyone, let alone from a man, for a very long time. I think she kept the conversation going, because she felt something different inside as she visited with Jesus. She felt her despair, her loneliness, her guilt, her brokenness, all coming to the surface of her heart, mind and soul. Somehow, she felt free in His presence, to release, to let go of all that was making her feel less than God intends anyone of us to feel.
So she keeps the conversation going going by saying: "where do you get that living water?"
And then Jesus says the point of this lesson;"Every one who drinks of this water will thirst again, but whoever drinks of the water that I shall give him will never thirst; the water that I shall give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life."
This conversation has started off being quite simple but it quickly gets complicated and very personal. The woman does not understand about living water at first but senses in Jesus something that allows her to stay and keep on talking with this Jewish man.
When Jesus tells her to go call her husband, and then says he knows that she has had 5 husbands and the one whom she is living with now is not her husband, the conversation becomes very personal. Jesus understood her predicament. He reached out to her in this very simple way of asking her for water but look at what comes next.
They speak about worshipping on this mountain then the woman speaks about the Messiah coming saying "I know that Messiah is coming (he who is called Christ); when he comes, he will show us all things."
She knows that a Messiah is coming and then Jesus lays the bombshell on her by saying: "I am he." Jesus tells her he is the Messiah - it is very rare that he tells people so plainly who he is - and the woman believes Him. From a simple conversation about water to a complex conversation about the Messiah this story has it all.
The woman goes from someone who draws water in the middle of the day so she can be alone, to one who rushed into the city to tell everyone that she has found the Messiah.
Can you believe one of the first missionaries for Christ was this woman at the well.
Jesus saw through the brokenness of that woman and gave her hope, comfort, a renewed sense of self-worth, and the courage to go back to the city and not avoid people, but proclaim to them the great news that she, SHE, a woman, an outcast had seen and talked with the Messiah. What a day, what an experience for her.
And the amazing thing is that the people of the city actually believed her when she told them. Then they went and saw for themselves and more believed.
Jesus stayed in a Samaritan city, with Samaritan people for 2 days, teaching them, speaking to them about who he was. These people, despised by many Jewish people were among the first to really recognise that Jesus was the promised Messiah.
Jesus took this trip to Samaria on purpose. Most Jews would have walked around, but Jesus did not. He went through. He came to proclaim that the Messiah was for all people.
An encounter with the Messiah changed the woman's whole life. As we live with the Messiah in our lives, He changes us in the same way.
we feel helpless, that we don’t have any worth, we are like the Samaritan woman as she walked up to the well in the heat of the day.
Jesus saw her worth when everyone else did not. He sees our worth and reaches out to redeem us through his body and blood.
This lady was touched by the living water. And we need to be touched by that water also.
Jesus is reaching out to us with His living water to redeem our lives, to ease the burdens we carry, to heal the hurts, to mend the bruises, to bring a measure of His grace into our lives. He comes to those who mourn and gives them comfort. He comes with the living water to those who are ill and gives them a measure of his peace and courage. The living water is flowing through the the word and sacraments into our lives from the reservoir of Christ.
This is a favourite sculpture in the garden at Chester Cathedral showing Jesus meeting the woman at the well. It shows how connected they are. Let's put ourselves into the the statue in her place.
Are we connected to Jesus? Will we drink of His living water?
Amen.