Accepting One Another

            Tony Norman had a column in the Post-Gazette this week describing how the young Muslims in Canada have been going door to door and introducing themselves, passing out pamphlets in order to counter the negative feelings that sometimes have existed even in peaceful Canada.  His column went on to wonder what would happen in this country if they did the same thing and speculated that there might be some shooting problems in the US with our Castle Doctrine, the extraordinary number of guns and the sometimes unabashed bigotry that we have in our communities.  Getting along with each other is certainly what we need in this nation.  We have had such a growth of conspiracy theories and misunderstanding over religion and politics.  I’m not sure that a house-to-house program led by the Muslims such as the Mormons and the Jehovah’s witnesses do would work very well.  We have become a nation that has become more or less averse to listening.

            The story of Jesus meeting the Samaritan woman at the well is one of the greatest stories in the New Testament.  Jesus has arrived at a town called Sychar, present day Nablus, which is the site of Jacob’s well.  We visited this place when we were in the Middle East and I got a jar of water from the well.  In the Gospel story, Jesus was sitting by the well at midday, thirsty from his trip.  His disciples had all gone into town to get some food.  The woman arrived at the well and Jesus said to her, give me a drink.  She was puzzled at this and she showed her puzzle by asking Jesus, how is it that you, a Jew ask me, a woman of Samaria to give you a drink? The Jews and the Samaritans had many differences stemming from the time of the Assyrian conquest of the northern tribes.  He told her that he would give her living water.  She said to him, give me that water so that I don’t have to come all the way out here to this well to get water. Jesus told her to go and to get her husband.  She said that she had no husband.  Jesus told her that she was right about that, that she had had five husbands and the man that she was living with was not her husband.  The woman went back into the town and told the people who were there that she had met an amazing man who had told her everything that she ever was and one who could possibly be the Messiah.  The people all streamed to the well to see Jesus.

            What strikes me about this encounter is not only the conversation between a Jew and a Samaritan, it also about Jesus encountering a cast-aside woman who deeply needed to find acceptance.  She came out to the desert to Jacob’s well to get water because the well in the town was surrounded by women who constantly rejected her because of her lifestyle, because of her many marriages.  You can imagine the tongues wagging as she went past the well where they were all gathered. 

            What is particularly impressive about this meeting that Jesus has with the woman is his lack of condemnation.  Jesus accepts her as a five-times married Samaritan who has no standing in her town and has to come all the way out to the desert to get water.  This is a beautiful demonstration of Jesus’ message to the world that God loves each and every one of us, that his forgiveness and his certain acceptance is there for each of us whenever we need to repent and get on with our lives.  He offers this to the woman at the well without any exception.  She is included.  What is amazing is that the people in the town, who have not accepted the woman at all are intrigued by her announcement that she has found a wonderful person who just may be the Messiah and come flocking out to Jacob’s well to see him.   All of their condemnation and bigotry evaporated because of her announcement that she had had such a wonderful experience at Jacob’s well.  I can imagine that the look on her face as she came to tell her story was enough to influence the people of the town.

            The lessons on these Lenten Sundays have been interesting in the way that we started with the Sermon on the Mount and Jesus’ definition of God’s commandments to include much more than we ever thought.  Thou shalt not kill now includes being angry with one another.  Committing adultery includes having lustful thoughts.  But Jesus goes on to show us in his interaction with the Pharisee Nicodemus and in this story of the woman at the well how that mercy and compassion are at the heart of God’s love for all of us.  Jesus told us how it would be best to live, but offered also the promise of God’s love and forgiveness when we fail.  In this culture of blame and finger pointing, this is exactly what we all need to hear.  Listening to each other is the key to our relationships.  Increasingly, the people in positions of power seem to listen less each day.  If we are ever going to have peace in this world and in this nation, we need to have them listen to us and we need to listen to them.  When that happens, we will begin to have understanding and understanding leads to peace and the better welfare of us all.