with the Confirmation of our Catechumens today.
Jesu Juva
“The Master Catechist”
Text: John 4:5-30, 39-42; Romans 5:1-8
Grace, mercy, and peace to you from God our Father, and from our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. Amen.
We meet a most unusual catechumen today. Or maybe she is the perfect catechumen! This woman at Jacob’s well in Sychar, Samaria.
You heard the story again today. Jesus is going through Samaria - not a usual thing for a Jew to do! Jews didn’t show up much in those parts. It’s about the sixth hour, or high noon - hot. So Jesus sits down to rest.
And a woman comes out to the well - not a usual thing for a woman to do! Yes, women usually drew the water, but not at that time of day. High noon was not the time you wanted to exert yourself, like hauling up a heavy bucket of water from a deep well. All the other women would’ve been there already, at dawn when it was still cool, and then come again at the end of the day, when the sun was setting.
So why was she there . . . at that time of the day . . . alone?
And why was HE there . . . at that place . . . alone?
Well, she was there at that time probably because she wasn’t welcome with the other women. They didn’t want to be around her. She wasn’t respectable. We aren’t told the reason why she had five husbands - it could be that she had been widowed five times, but that probably would have been mentioned. She probably would have mentioned that, to explain. So more likely is that she was divorced five times. Told she was not good enough five times. Told she was not wanted five times. Or six, if you count the man she was now with who would not take her as his wife. Her life seems to have gone from one sadness to the next. She was damaged goods. Chewed up and spit out by the world. So perhaps we could say, not much surprised her anymore.
But Jesus did! Not just that He was there, in that place, at that time, but that He then spoke to her! She wasn’t expecting that; probably put her guard up. This was too weird . . . What’s going on?
So why was Jesus there, in that place, at that time? Coincidence? Not with Jesus. Not with the Jesus who searches out tax collectors and sinners and eats with them. Not with the Jesus was touches lepers and raises the dead. Not with the Jesus who heals on the Sabbath and says things like: the last will be first, and the first last. With this Jesus, you get the impression this was no accident. That He was there, in that place, at that time, exactly for this reason: to meet someone in need. To meet someone who was an outcast. To meet someone who needed love and hope and life. To meet her. For this woman was all that. And more.
So Jesus does His Jesus thing: He reaches out to her. He asks her for a drink - which, as she said, is not the usual thing for a Jew to do. But this, of course, is no usual meeting, and Jesus is no usual Jew.
And thus begins her catechesis.
She has already passed the first hurdle of all catechesis: she knows her wretchedness. She was living it. Now she needs to know her Saviour. And that’s where Jesus leads her. That little by little she get there. To the living water. The water she is thirsting for, and that Jesus wants to give her. To realize that here, in Jesus, is one who is not just a man, not just a Jew, but one who is greater than their father Jacob, one who is greater than the prophets, one who surpasses them all. And there’s only one who could do that: the promised Messiah.
And that’s the second part of catechesis: once you know your wretchedness, to then know who God is, and that He is your Saviour. To Creed. I believe. But not just to believe with the head, but to trust with the heart. For the Christian faith is not just a set of doctrines and propositions, but a betrothal, a marriage.
And who does Jesus want for His betrothed? All people, yes, that is true. But as the Bible tells us, He has come especially for the least, the lowliest, the farthest gone . . . people like this woman. This woman who we could probably safely say was the most damaged and notorious woman in Sychar! Yet here is Jesus, wanting this five-times divorced woman, as His Bride. Maybe her days of having an earthly bridegroom were over, but there was a heavenly Bridegroom here for her.
Slowly but surely her guard is coming down; her heart is opening up. She’s ready for the next step: she knows who she is, she’s beginning to know who God is, but the distance between them still seems enormous. How is she to have this God? Where can He be reached? How can she receive Him and His gifts? This is a prayer question, a worship/Divine Service question. Where do I go? she asks. Where am I supposed to go? This mountain? Jerusalem? As a Samaritan, she wouldn’t be welcome there . . .
Neither, Jesus says. The true worship of God is now not in a place, but in a person. To worship the Father in spirit and in truth is to come to the Father by the Spirit through the One who is the way, the truth, and the life (John 14:6). The One through whom all the gifts of God are given.
Now this woman is not dumb. She may be an outcast, but she is not dumb. She gets what Jesus is saying. That He is talking about the promised one, the promised Messiah. She just needs to know one more thing, which Jesus then tells her: I who speak to you am he.
And then she Creeds! She confesses this truth. She goes back into town to say the same thing. She puts it in the form of a question, but only to whet the thirst of others. But she knows. She has been catechized by the master catechist Himself. You can hear the joy in her voice. For she has gone from used to new, from unwanted to wanted, from notorious to loved. And it changed her. Forever.
This is the journey our catechumens today have taken. To know themselves, to know who God is, and to know His gifts and where to receive them. But to know not just with the mind, but with the heart. To trust and believe. For what’s in the mind may come and go, be remembered and forgotten. But what’s in the heart is lived, and loved, and brings joy. Years from now, our confirmands will not remember all I taught them these past years - heck, they’ve forgotten some already! As have all of you! But I pray they will still be here. Still receiving the Word of God, still repenting of their sins and receiving absolution, still eating and drinking the Body and Blood of their Saviour, the one who laid down His life for them. Wretched as they are. Unworthy as they are. That this, what we heard from the apostle Paul today, be always in their hearts and minds,
That while we were still weak, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly. For one will scarcely die for a righteous person—though perhaps for a good person one would dare even to die— but God shows his love for us - for them! - . . . in that while we were still sinners - outcasts, five-time losers - Christ died for us. That we be His own - His own heavenly, cleansed, radiant Bride.
So Jesus left the well that day in Sychar, Samaria and made His way to Jerusalem to do just that - to die for this woman. She was worth it to Him. She wasn’t worth it to anyone else! But she was to Him. And so are you. You may not think so. And no one else in the world may think so. But you are to the only one who really matters: Jesus. What He did He did not just for the world, but for you.
And that is what our catechumens have learned. That God has made ME . . . He has redeemed ME . . . and He has called, gathered, enlightened, and sanctified ME. He baptized ME and made ME His own. He absolves ME, wretched sinner that I am. And He is here to feed ME with His own Body and Blood. Not because I deserve any of this, because I don’t. And I never will. But He does not because of who I am, but because of who HE IS. The God of love, life, and salvation.
So Jesus left the well that day in Sychar, Samaria to do that for us. And I pray our catechumens - and all of you - leave this place today as that woman did - confessing your Saviour to friends and neighbors and anyone who would listen. Not because you have to (Law), but because you just have to (Gospel)! Because you can’t help it! Because of the joy of your Saviour in your hearts. The joy of His forgiveness. The joy of His promises and life. Of the one who doesn’t just love us when we’re good, or useful, or lovable - but always. And will never stop.
That’s why He has come here today. For you. To give you a drink. To give you His living water. To give you His Spirit. To give you His forgiveness. To give you His life. To give you His Body and Blood. To give you Himself. For here, there are no orphans or widows or outcasts - only Brides of the heavenly Bridegroom. The one who knows all we ever did, and loves us anyway. And who else could that be, but indeed, the Saviour of the world! Here, just as He was that day in Sychar, sitting by a well, waiting for a sinner. So is He here, for you.
In the Name of the Father, and of the (+) Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
