Lent 3

Lent 3A: Exodus 17:1-7; Psalm 95

Romans 5:1-11; John 4:5-42

The Rev'd Margaret Dyer-Chamberlain

March 8, 2026

https://vimeo.com/1173449511

May the words of our mouths, the meditations of our hearts and the actions of our lives be acceptable in your sight, O God, our rock and our redeemer.

Good morning, St. Aidan’s.

Today, we find ourselves squarely in the middle of Lent, with the Gospel story of the “Woman at the well” as this text is often referred to. It’s a familiar story, and yet this time around I found myself struck by something that hadn’t quite hit me before. I began to realize that this story is all about dialogue, questions and answers, give and take. It also is a long conversation – one in which we’re not immediately sure quite where it’s going. It has a few surprises. It has complexity and nuance. [At the 10:00 service], Mark Henderson and I will proclaim this Gospel together – in the voices of Jesus and the Samaritan women – to underscore the conversation that this Gospel is sharing with us.

The Gospel begins with a vulnerable Jesus, tired and probably dusty and hot, sitting by a well in a city he is not familiar with. A city full of strangers – Samaritans – people unlike him. When a woman comes by to draw water, Jesus asks her for a drink. I have to wonder if he was surprised by her response – I think he might have been – because she immediately notes that she and he are very different – and that it is unusual for a man of his status to even be interacting with her at all. “How is it that you, a Jew, ask a drink of me, a woman of Samaria?” she asks.

This is not your typical conversation starter, and it begins a long and deep dialogue. Jesus and the woman talk about the gifts of God, about living water, about ancestors and worship and salvation. The woman asks a series of questions which Jesus tries hard to answer. They seem to be attempting to understand one another but they are not always connecting. Even so, Jesus and the woman take their time – there is a respect and a spirit of listening and a thirst for coming together embodied in their interaction. Jesus works hard to reassure the woman about faith and to meet her where she is – “Woman, believe me, the hour is coming … when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth…” Jesus conveys that he might understand a little bit about what she is longing for.

And then – at the end of the conversation – we have the great reveal. Jesus discloses to the woman that he is the Messiah she has been waiting for. “I am he, the one who is speaking to you” he says. This must have been a surprise – the woman had previously noted that she saw in him the face of a Prophet – but the Messiah? The Christ?

The disciples, as is often the case, enter the scene at this point but they don’t really get it. They are stuck on the fact that Jesus is talking with a woman - a stranger - and they miss the significance of what has just happened. But the woman doesn’t miss a beat – she goes to the city to tell everyone she knows about the man who told her he is the Messiah. Our Gospel notes – “She said to the people, ‘Come and see a man who told me everything I have ever done! He cannot be the Messiah, can he?” And the Samaritans, probably very curious about all of this, come to Jesus, who stays with them for two days. They come to believe in Jesus, and his ministry spreads. The Samaritans see Jesus as the Savior of the world. It’s big.

It seems to me that both Jesus and the Samaritan woman are changed by this conversation. We don’t know exactly what becomes of the woman after this, although various commentaries I read believe that her presence is symbolic of the significant role of women in Jesus’ ministry. I hope so, because I have to wonder – if Jesus had never met the woman at the well and had this conversation with her – would he ever have met the Samaritans and would his ministry have spread to them so readily?

Conversation and dialogue and questioning and – even disagreement – changes us, moves us forward and deepens our understanding of the world. Yet we humans struggle to engage in deep conversation, particularly now - in our divided time. Karoline Lewis, in writing about this passage noted, “We are living in a time when conversation needs to be cultivated and valued. Practiced and pursued. Longed for and lived. Without real conversation, we lack intimacy and understanding; connection and empathy. Without real conversation, we risk detachment and distance.” She further noted, “The woman at the well shows us that faith is about dialogue, about growth and change. It is not about having all of the answers.”

This story of the woman at the well has caused me to think about ongoing conversations in our world in general and in particular about a dilaogue I’ve had over the last few years with an acquaintance of mine, a man I’ll call Rick. I see Rick from time to time, usually in social settings. We are very different – he’s a devout Catholic who is firmly opposed to the ordination of women, I’m an Episcopal Deacon, we have very different politics and professions and lives. We are well aware that our world views don’t often align. We generally tiptoe around sensitive issues politely when we see each other – when Donald Trump comes up I change the subject to religion – go figure……. And sometimes, in those moments, Rick and I find ways to talk about faith. I’ve felt that it’s important to stay in conversation even though it can be hard – and I think Rick feels similarly.

A few years ago, at a holiday event, Rick approached me and said there was something he needed to tell me. I wasn’t sure what to expect. What he disclosed surprised me. He wanted me to know that his church had sponsored and was supporting a Syrian refugee family. His wife Molly, a deeply faithful woman, was very involved with the family from the start, but Russ told me he was initially wary. “I’m a Republican, I don’t believe in letting all of these refugees and immigrants into the country” he said. But Molly encouraged him to get to know the family. He started slowly, by doing some repairs on the home that the church had made possible for them. Then he started talking with the father of the family, and he also got to know their very smart children. He came to understand what their experience had been like, he talked with them about shared values and faith and dreams. They became friends. “They are joining us for Christmas!” Rick told me. “We can’t imagine Christmas without them.” Rick shared that he was surprised that he had become so fond of this family, and that he was helping the eldest daughter with her college applications. “What happened?” Rick said to me. “I never expected this.” This caused us to talk about how the Holy Spirit might be moving in Rick’s life and about whether his experience might have something to do with following Jesus.

There are a couple of reasons I thought about Rick’s story in the context of this Gospel text. One of them is that I would never have heard this inspiring story of Rick’s heart changing had he and I not remained in conversation over time. I hate to think that I might have missed the gift of such a beautiful story. Another reason is that Rick and Molly and their beloved Syrian family could not be more different and yet – with the help of God, they have come together. They have found common ground as beloved children of God. Their friendship goes beyond nationality or politics or status or anything of this world. Conversation and relationship and love came into their lives.

This is what Jesus was after, and this is what the story of the Samaritan women at the well reflects for us, I think.

There is plenty of conflict and division in our world, I don’t need to remind any of us of that. We are engaged in a war in the Middle East because nations refuse to pursue conversation and diplomacy and the hard work of peacemaking. It’s no different than the time of Moses that we heard about in our lesson from Exodus this morning – we quarrel and we compete and we can’t figure out what to do. We wonder, just as the Israelites did – “Is God among us or not?”

And we know the answer – as Psalm 95 puts it, we know that God is the rock of our salvation, that we need not harden our hearts, that we are the people of God’s pasture and the sheep of God’s hand. We know, as Paul wrote to the Romans – that “God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit.” We know that we are invited into a lifetime of conversation with God.

It’s just hard to remember all of this sometimes, and particularly when we feel worried and afraid.

Which brings me back to Jesus and the woman at the well. Maybe if we can remember just a few things from this story, we can stay close to our own conversations with God. I thought of 4 things – I’m sure there are more, but let me try these out on you, and you can see what you think.

1) We all have times when we’re tired and vulnerable, as Jesus was.

2) Like Jesus and the Samaritan woman, if we can draw on patience and respect, perhaps we can find ways to stay in dialogue and conversation with one another, even across difference.

3) Learning from stories and conversations has the capacity to change us, sometimes in unexpected ways. These ways might seem small, but maybe they are bigger than we think.

4) God is with us in every story, every conversation, and every journey. And as St. Paul reminds, “God’s hope does not disappoint us.”

Amen.