Unexpected Conversations

In last week’s gospel reading, Nicodemus, a leader of the Jewish people, went to see Jesus in the night, seeking to have a conversation with him; to find out if Jesus was, indeed, from God. For in Nicodemus’ mind, no one could do the signs that Jesus was doing unless they were from God.

During this unexpected conversation, Jesus tells Nicodemus that doing the work of God – building up God’s kingdom – comes when one is born from above, of water and the Spirit. At the end of the reading, Jesus says to Nicodemus:

For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him may not perish but may have eternal life. Indeed, God did not send the Son into the world to condemn the world

but in order that the world might be saved through him.

These words remind us that it is God’s intent that the whole world – and everyone in it – be saved – healed and restored and made whole – and have eternal life with God, now, in this moment.

God’s gift of love and grace and peace and abundant life is meant for all people on earth today.

In today’s gospel reading, Jesus has an unexpected conversation with a woman at a well. It’s a significant conversation for both the woman and for Jesus. Jesus is on his way home, traveling north from Jerusalem through Samaria back to the Galilee. He stops to rest at the well while his followers go off to find food. It’s the middle of the day; the hottest part of the day.

Jesus is thirsty; he is human, after all. He sees the woman at the well. She is there in the middle of the day, alone by herself. This is not what one would expect to see – usually women went to the well early in the day; it was a social event; a time for people to gather and chit chat about what was going on in the city.  Jesus asks the woman for a drink. This too is unexpected. One would not expect a strange man to speak to a woman in pubic (it was a very patriarchal society).

And, as the woman so boldly points out, one would not expect a Jew (in this case, a Judean like Jesus) to ask for anything from a Samaritan (Samaritans and Judeans, both of whose ancestors belonged to the tribes of Israel, had a long, shared history that, by this point in time, had devolved to some animosity; much of it based on their divergent religious beliefs).

Nevertheless, 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.” The woman is also thirsty; she is thirsty to know God in a deeper way. Now, unexpectedly, she is given the opportunity to know more. Where do you get that living water?, she boldly asks Jesus.

Then they are off – the woman at the well and Jesus, the Jewish rabbi; engaging in the back and forth of a lengthy conversation (the longest conversation that Jesus has with anyone in the gospels); questioning each other about their faith beliefs; listening to each other; sharing their own points of view; getting to know each other as the full and unique individuals that they each are.

The woman holds her in own in what becomes both a personal and a theological conversation. Despite – or maybe because of – whatever has happened in her life up to this point, it seems the woman has been reflecting and pondering on the meaning of life and the place of God in her life for some time. She is waiting for the Messiah (who is called Christ) to come.

The woman is thirsty to know more; to receive more. She is bold enough to speak honestly to Jesus and humble enough to be open to experiencing God’s presence in a new way.

Then the woman hears something she did not expect – Jesus said to her, “I am he, the one who is speaking to you.”

I am he – With these unexpected words, the woman hears the voice of God telling Moses at the burning bush this is God’s name: “I am who I am.” (Exodus 3:14). This is the God who sends Moses to deliver the Hebrew people from the bondage of Egypt and lead them into freedom in the promised land.

I am he – With these unexpected words, the woman recognizes Jesus as the Messiah, the one sent by God to deliver God’s people out of the bondage of sin and lead them into freedom and liberation and reconciliation with God and with all people.

I am he – With these unexpected words, the woman is filled with great joy and excitement; she becomes fully alive. Leaving her water jar behind her, she returns to the city and invites everyone she meets – Come and see….

Come and see the man who knows me completely – who sees me and blesses me as the full and unique person that God created me to be. Can he be the Messiah?

Unexpectedly, the woman is now an evangelist – eager to share the good news of Jesus Christ (that is, the Messiah) with everyone she meets; eager to testify to what she has seen and felt and experience.

Her thirst has been quenched; she has received the living water. Now she shares that water freely, lovingly, spontaneously, publicly, out loud, in her words and in her deeds, calling others to come and see Jesus. And they do.

All of this because of an unexpected conversation with Jesus at the well during the course of an ordinary day.

So, I wonder – Where do you go to have your thirst satisfied? Your thirst to know God, to be seen by Jesus, to be filled with the living water of the Holy Spirit. Where do you meet Jesus in the course of your ordinary day?

That you are here in worship – Sunday after Sunday – worshiping God in spirit and in truth – is a sign that you are thirsty; that you long to be in conversation with Jesus; to hear Jesus say to you “I am he, the one who is speaking to you.”

And when your thirst is satisfied – through the water and the word of baptism and the bread and cup of communion – to whom do you go with great joy and excitement to share the living water – the Word of God and the Spirt of God that gives life? How do you testify to the good news of Jesus Christ in your words and in your deeds – out loud and in public?

What unexpected conversations are you having with the people you meet as you go about your daily tasks?

The good news for today is that Jesus is the Messiah – the one sent by God to save all people – redeem all people – reconcile all people back to God, who loves each one of us with an everlasting love.

The good news for today is that our thirst for living water is satisfied – again and again – whenever we turn to Jesus and drink deeply from the cup of salvation that he offers.

The good news for today is that God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit that has been given to us. (Romans 5:5) May you receive that good news – the living water – deep in your soul with joy and excitement and may you share that good news in unexpected conversations with everyone you meet in this world that God so dearly loves.