'Twas the Samaritan Woman who drew from the well . . .
The
Collect of the Day
Almighty
God, you know that we have no power in ourselves to help ourselves: Keep us both outwardly in our bodies and
inwardly in our souls, that we may be defended from all adversities which may happen
to the body, and all evil thoughts which may assault and hurt the soul; through
Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one
God, for ever and ever. Amen.
1st
Reading: Exodus 17:1-7
At this
point in the Book of Exodus the people have fled from Egypt and successfully
crossed “the sea of reeds.” They now find themselves in the vast wilderness of
the Sinai and their elation changes to complaint. Moses is attacked as a leader
and he, in turn, complains to God. God responds with the miracle of water at
Massah and Meribah (Hebrew words that mean “test” and “find fault,” thus the
place is a memorial not to the miracle, but to the people’s unfaithfulness).
17:1 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 quarreled 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 quarreled and tested the Lord,
saying, “Is the Lord among us or
not?”
Psalm 95
1 Come, let us sing to the Lord; *
let us shout for joy to the Rock of our salvation.
2 Let us come before his presence with
thanksgiving *
and raise a loud shout to him with psalms.
3 For the Lord
is a great God, *
and a great King above all gods.
4 In his hand are the caverns of the earth, *
and the heights of the hills are his also.
5 The sea is his, for he made it, *
and his hands have molded the dry land.
6 Come, let us bow down, and bend the knee, *
and kneel before the Lord
our Maker.
7 For he is our God,
and we
are the people of his pasture and the sheep of his hand. *
Oh, that today you would hearken to his voice
8 Harden not your hearts,
as your forebears did in the wilderness, *
at Meribah, and on that day at Massah, when they tempted
me.
9 They put me to the test, *
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.”
2nd
Reading: Romans 5:1-11
5:1 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.
Gospel
Reading: John 4:5-42
We began our Lenten journey with individuals from John’s Gospel last
week with Nicodemus. Each of these
characters is faced with surprising newness from Jesus. Here newness comes through his speaking to
the woman at the well in the first place, his honesty with her, and his talk of
“living water” available even to her, a Samaritan. She gradually comes to
understand who Jesus is and her announcement of his dealings with her are the
first public witness in John’s Gospel. In later Christian tradition (especially
in the East), she is known as Photini, “enlightened.”
4:5 Jesus 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 worshiped 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 worshipers 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 labor. Others have labored, and you have entered into their labor.” 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 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 Savior of the world.”
The
Scripture quotations (except for the psalm) are from the New Revised Standard Version Bible, copyright © 1989 by the
Division of Christian Education of the National Council of Churches of Christ
in the U.S.A. All rights reserved. The Collect of the Day and the Psalm
translation are from The Book of Common
Prayer. Commentaries are copyright ©
2020, Epiphany ESources, 67 E. Main St., Hornell, NY 14843, www.epiphanyesources.com. All rights reserved. Permission is given to
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