Trespassing? (2014-03-23, Lent)

[__01__]   We read this Sunday, the 3^rd Sunday of Lent, the Gospel traditionally titled, “The Woman at the Well” or…. “The Samaritan Woman at the Well.”

Jesus is a visitor on private Samaritan property – a Jewish visitor in the land of Samaria.

What I’d like to reflect on this Sunday are …

1. “Private Property Rights”  What do we try to guard…how do we try to protect our property … our resources?

2. The Visitor or “Trespasser” on private property… what’s the next move? Call 9-1-1?

[__02__]     First, “private property”.

This Samaritan woman is surprised – alarmed … saying, “How can you [a Jew] ask me, a Samaritan woman, for a drink?”  (John 4:__)

Of Jesus, she might ask, where is his passport, visa, credentials? What possible right would he have, as an outsider, to this well, to this spring of water deep underground, built by the patriarch Jacob?

Well water, or underground springs or sources, are often found on private property. Have we not observed that, during a drought, some residents are under “drought and water restrictions” and some are not.

That is, even the though the public reservoir may be at a low point, the springs underground are still plentiful.

Golf courses do it this way… keeping their fairways and putting surfaces green while everyone else waits for a good thunderstorm.

[__03__]    Jesus is asking – and surprising – this Samaritan woman, asking for water from a private well. He’s on private Samaritan property.

At times, we are being asked by God to give from our own “private resources” to serve others.

Here, I’m not strictly referring to a donation of money to a charitable cause.

Rather, we may be asked to give of our patience, our time, our knowledge, to someone in need. Perhaps, this other person would not know of our “underground” assets.

At such times, we are often tempted to close the gate to trespassers.    And, we are called to pray – is this request of God, is this Jesus asking for some of the water which I happens to be in my reserve, my well?

Do I use private boundaries to define only what I will protect…or can I use these boundaries to define what I can give away freely?

[__04__]   Secondly,  The Visitor or “Trespasser” on private property… what’s the next move? Call 9-1-1?

The Samaritan woman calls 9-1-1, makes an urgent call, feels an urgent calling – vocation – as a result of the Lord’s visit.

However, she is not calling 9-1-1 to have him arrested… she is, in a spiritual sense, calling 9-1-1 to make his presence known urgently to others.

Encountering Jesus as Messiah, this woman feels moved to share this good news with others.

We read that she leaves her water jar and goes into town.

She becomes a missionary, an evangelizer, bringing the good news of the Gospel.

Also, leaving her water jar behind, she is no longer protecting this private resource. Go ahead, have a drink….

[__05-conclusion__]   Jesus crosses a border, being perceived as a trespasser at first in the Gospel.

When we are at prayer, God takes us, outside of our comfort zone. Or, the Lord enters into our comfort zone.

We read in Psalm 139 ….

“LORD, you have probed me, you know me:  you know when I sit and stand; you understand my thoughts from afar. You sift through my travels and my rest; with all my ways you are familiar. Even before a word is on my tongue, LORD, you know it all. Behind and before you encircle me and rest your hand upon me.”  (Psalm 139:1-5)

Arriving in Samaria, Jesus is on private property and also speaking to the woman about her life…. Perhaps, this makes her uncomfortable for a while.

She might prefer, at first, to guard her well, her water source and her history.

However, her conversion – change – comes because she is willing to accept a new source of water, a new source of refreshment, a new way of life.

[__06_]   Jesus also invites us to do things that might seem uncomfortable or impossible.   We are invited, in particular, to pray for the things that seem impossible…

And, also, to welcome into our private lives, which invites us to –

• Repent of our sins
• Forgive the faults of others
• Bear patiently the wrongs and sins of others.

All of this draws us away from the privacy of our well, and may take us into the center of town, the center of attention, the center of our family or workplace to share the good news by our words and by our actions. [__fin__]