Lent is a time for change. Lent challenges us to face our own demons, to improve ourselves, but sometimes this kind of change means that we need to be brutally honest with ourselves, and not afraid to let go of things that enslave us. Jesus challenged the woman of Samaria to let go, and the result was astounding ... but this story is not just written for the sake of enjoyment. It's meant to challenge us too, because all of us bring a bucket to the well, all of us draw water from this place, all of us can take away the gift of life, if we want to. Want more? Listen in or read on:
Buckets and blessings
I'm not sure whether you've thought about it before or not, but the bucket (the ordinary old bucket) has played a very big part in all our lives. What child has not filled a plastic bucket with sand at the beach? Some of us remember wooden buckets, or metal buckets, and now the plastic bucket seems to reign supreme. Buckets are used to carry the water with which we mop the floor, or to catch the water that drips from the ceiling. They're used to carry milk on the Menonite farms, and to draw water from the lakes around us, or from the wells that not all of us have forgotten. Where would we be without the humble bucket?
The Israelites who wandered in the dessert would have given their lives for a bucket, so perhaps it come as no surprise that the focus in today's Gospel is on the humble bucket. The Samaritan woman came to the well for a bucket of water, a mundane chore she had performed countless times before, but this time she and went home with the fullest bucket she had ever seen. She made a friend, she met a Saviour, she found a faith. It was extraordinary. In one visit to the well, her whole life was changed. She came for a bucket of water and went away with a bucketful of meaning. The living water Jesus offered her was the Gospel, the good news of salvation. She even went away with a bucketful of eagerness to share that good news with others, and share it she did. The Gospel tells us that 'many Samaritans from that city believed in him because of the woman's testimony.' (Jn 4:39). Of all the women who went to that well on that day, or for that matter to any well throughout history, did any leave with more than this Samaritan woman?
Was there anything at the well for anyone else? Yes, indeed there was, there always is. Not only was there a bucketful, there was, there is so much there for all of us in the encounter of Jesus and this woman. First, there is his attitude to women in general. The disciples were astonished that he was talking to a woman at all. The society in which Jesus lived was extremely patriarchal. Women, like children in Victorian times, were to be seen and not heard. Yet Jesus numbered many women among his personal friends: Mary Magdalene, Martha and her sister Mary, the women of Jerusalem and by no means least, his own mother. The woman at the well was on equal terms with him and he acknowledged her as an equal in a very public way.
There's a lesson in tolerance here for all of us too. In Jesus' time, the attitude of the Jew to the people of Samaria was like the attitude of white supremacists or racists toward the negro people. The Samaritans were a mixed race and of a different religion and consequently considered by Jews as beneath contempt. When a male Jew met a Samaritan, he did two things with his nose: he turned it up and he looked down it. The Samaritan woman was totally astonished that a Jewish Rabbi would even talk to her, much less ask her for a drink. By talking to a woman, and a Samaritan woman at that, Jesus tells us that he's in the business of breaking down barriers: between men and women, between races, between creeds. Equality, tolerance, reconciliation, these are the content of his message. This is what we receive in the bucket, along with the promise of salvation, because the living water he offered was not just for the Samaritan woman; it's for all of us too.
Do we have the kind of respect for women that Jesus demonstrated? Are we prejudiced against other people on the grounds of religion, race, creed, or any other grounds? The bucket we draw from the well today is filled with questions too, questions that may cause us to pause and reflect, questions that challenge us, questions that call us to growth.
One final thought. The English language contains the phrase 'to kick the bucket', usually exclusively used to refer to someone who has died. I'm not sure about the etymology of this phrase, but Jesus reassures us that 'the one who drinks of the water that I will give will never be thirsty. The water that I will give ... will become ... a spring of water gushing up to eternal life.' The bucket he's offering can be accepted, complete with its challenges and promises, but it can't be kicked.
The Saviour we meet in today's Gospel preaches equality and tolerance in this life, and everlasting happiness in the life to come. With all that in one bucketful, it was more than worth our while to pay a visit to the well.
Buckets and blessings
I'm not sure whether you've thought about it before or not, but the bucket (the ordinary old bucket) has played a very big part in all our lives. What child has not filled a plastic bucket with sand at the beach? Some of us remember wooden buckets, or metal buckets, and now the plastic bucket seems to reign supreme. Buckets are used to carry the water with which we mop the floor, or to catch the water that drips from the ceiling. They're used to carry milk on the Menonite farms, and to draw water from the lakes around us, or from the wells that not all of us have forgotten. Where would we be without the humble bucket?
The Israelites who wandered in the dessert would have given their lives for a bucket, so perhaps it come as no surprise that the focus in today's Gospel is on the humble bucket. The Samaritan woman came to the well for a bucket of water, a mundane chore she had performed countless times before, but this time she and went home with the fullest bucket she had ever seen. She made a friend, she met a Saviour, she found a faith. It was extraordinary. In one visit to the well, her whole life was changed. She came for a bucket of water and went away with a bucketful of meaning. The living water Jesus offered her was the Gospel, the good news of salvation. She even went away with a bucketful of eagerness to share that good news with others, and share it she did. The Gospel tells us that 'many Samaritans from that city believed in him because of the woman's testimony.' (Jn 4:39). Of all the women who went to that well on that day, or for that matter to any well throughout history, did any leave with more than this Samaritan woman?
Was there anything at the well for anyone else? Yes, indeed there was, there always is. Not only was there a bucketful, there was, there is so much there for all of us in the encounter of Jesus and this woman. First, there is his attitude to women in general. The disciples were astonished that he was talking to a woman at all. The society in which Jesus lived was extremely patriarchal. Women, like children in Victorian times, were to be seen and not heard. Yet Jesus numbered many women among his personal friends: Mary Magdalene, Martha and her sister Mary, the women of Jerusalem and by no means least, his own mother. The woman at the well was on equal terms with him and he acknowledged her as an equal in a very public way.
There's a lesson in tolerance here for all of us too. In Jesus' time, the attitude of the Jew to the people of Samaria was like the attitude of white supremacists or racists toward the negro people. The Samaritans were a mixed race and of a different religion and consequently considered by Jews as beneath contempt. When a male Jew met a Samaritan, he did two things with his nose: he turned it up and he looked down it. The Samaritan woman was totally astonished that a Jewish Rabbi would even talk to her, much less ask her for a drink. By talking to a woman, and a Samaritan woman at that, Jesus tells us that he's in the business of breaking down barriers: between men and women, between races, between creeds. Equality, tolerance, reconciliation, these are the content of his message. This is what we receive in the bucket, along with the promise of salvation, because the living water he offered was not just for the Samaritan woman; it's for all of us too.
Do we have the kind of respect for women that Jesus demonstrated? Are we prejudiced against other people on the grounds of religion, race, creed, or any other grounds? The bucket we draw from the well today is filled with questions too, questions that may cause us to pause and reflect, questions that challenge us, questions that call us to growth.
One final thought. The English language contains the phrase 'to kick the bucket', usually exclusively used to refer to someone who has died. I'm not sure about the etymology of this phrase, but Jesus reassures us that 'the one who drinks of the water that I will give will never be thirsty. The water that I will give ... will become ... a spring of water gushing up to eternal life.' The bucket he's offering can be accepted, complete with its challenges and promises, but it can't be kicked.
The Saviour we meet in today's Gospel preaches equality and tolerance in this life, and everlasting happiness in the life to come. With all that in one bucketful, it was more than worth our while to pay a visit to the well.
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