John 4:1-6 "Now when Jesus learned that the Pharisees had heard, “Jesus is making and baptizing more disciples than John”--although it was not Jesus himself but his disciples who baptized--he left Judea and started back to Galilee. But he had to go through Samaria. So he came to a Samaritan city called Sychar, near the plot of ground that Jacob had given to his son Joseph. Jacob’s well was there, and Jesus, tired out by his journey, was sitting by the well. It was about noon" (NRSV).
Jesus was tired and needed a break. I’m glad that the Bible tells us that, because sometimes I get tired and need a break; I like knowing that Jesus and I have that in common. I won’t make assumptions about you or your life, but maybe sometimes you get tired out and are glad to know you have a friend like Jesus in those moments, too; God with us in our weariness.
The gospel tells us that Jesus wasn’t just a little tired. He was so tired that he sat himself down on the ground next to a well. His legs wouldn’t even hold him up anymore. I can imagine that the well provided some shade, cool air, or some back support. Or maybe it was just the nearest place to crash in the noonday heat. In any case, the heaviness of those words “Jesus, tired out from his journey, sitting by the well” puts Jesus’ unity with our human condition on full display. Jesus, God with us, experienced the deep weariness that sometimes overtakes us on this journey of life, when about all we can do is collapse at the base of an old well.
Jesus was worn out from his travels: yet another 100-mile walk between Judea and Galilee. Looking over the previous chapters of John’s gospel, it also seems possible that Jesus was worn out on the inside from his recent activity in Jerusalem. He had celebrated Passover, cleansed the Temple, stayed up late talking theology with Nicodemus, and baptized people with his disciples in the Judean countryside. It was good work, important ministry, and maybe more than a little internally draining.
As we know, hardships often multiply. So not only was Jesus tired but he was in Samaria where he was a cultural and religious other. Did Samaritans need a king of the Jews, especially one with a Galilean accent? Did the Samaritans really count among the people of Israel? Kinda sorta, a little bit. They had a shared history with the God of Jacob and the Davidic monarchy. In Jesus’ time, Samaria belonged to the same political territory as Jerusalem and Judea. But for the past seven hundred years, the Samaritans seem to have practiced a faith that blended worship of the Lord with worship of other local deities. Jesus was tired enough already. Working out the tricky theological relationship between his messianic calling and the faith of the Samaritan people wouldn’t be making things any easier.
And yet… This humble Samaritan rest stop became a key place of gospel proclamation and mission. The woman whom Jesus soon met at the well became Jesus’ single longest conversation partner in all the gospels. Then she herself went and told the people in in her city about Jesus: "Can you believe it? God is with us!"
There, worn out at the well, in that tired place of midday thirst, Jesus spoke the promise that “the water that [he] will give will become… a spring of water gushing up to eternal life.”
Jesus was living this reality for himself. He was feeling very empty, at least in body and maybe also in spirit. Jesus was tired, and the text never quite tells us whether or not Jesus even stood up when the woman approached. Maybe it’s just my funny imagination, but I can picture him still crashed out and parched on the ground while delivering this inspirational discourse about never thirsting again. God is with us, even if and when we can’t get up, giving water of life gushing up inside us.
As we make our way through Lent and through life with Jesus, Jesus--himself worn out on the journey--promises springs of living water. In this, he gives a refreshing foretaste of the feast to come, as on Maundy Thursday we taste and see how he turned a night of betrayal and fear into a meal of forgiveness and grace. This moment of Jesus’s weariness in the midday heat gives us a glimpse of Good Friday, when he emptied himself of divinity and took upon himself the sins of the world. Jesus, worn out at the well, announces the Easter promise that our emptiness, failures, weakness, and death will be transformed into fullness of life, gushing springs of living water.
God is with us, hungry, thirsty, and worn out as we may sometimes be. Jesus joins us in our troubles and tiredness, inviting us stop, rest, and drink with him from the springs of the water of life. Amen.
Preached at Loehe Chapel, Wartburg Theological Seminary
March 9, 2023
Jesus was tired and needed a break. I’m glad that the Bible tells us that, because sometimes I get tired and need a break; I like knowing that Jesus and I have that in common. I won’t make assumptions about you or your life, but maybe sometimes you get tired out and are glad to know you have a friend like Jesus in those moments, too; God with us in our weariness.
The gospel tells us that Jesus wasn’t just a little tired. He was so tired that he sat himself down on the ground next to a well. His legs wouldn’t even hold him up anymore. I can imagine that the well provided some shade, cool air, or some back support. Or maybe it was just the nearest place to crash in the noonday heat. In any case, the heaviness of those words “Jesus, tired out from his journey, sitting by the well” puts Jesus’ unity with our human condition on full display. Jesus, God with us, experienced the deep weariness that sometimes overtakes us on this journey of life, when about all we can do is collapse at the base of an old well.
Jesus was worn out from his travels: yet another 100-mile walk between Judea and Galilee. Looking over the previous chapters of John’s gospel, it also seems possible that Jesus was worn out on the inside from his recent activity in Jerusalem. He had celebrated Passover, cleansed the Temple, stayed up late talking theology with Nicodemus, and baptized people with his disciples in the Judean countryside. It was good work, important ministry, and maybe more than a little internally draining.
As we know, hardships often multiply. So not only was Jesus tired but he was in Samaria where he was a cultural and religious other. Did Samaritans need a king of the Jews, especially one with a Galilean accent? Did the Samaritans really count among the people of Israel? Kinda sorta, a little bit. They had a shared history with the God of Jacob and the Davidic monarchy. In Jesus’ time, Samaria belonged to the same political territory as Jerusalem and Judea. But for the past seven hundred years, the Samaritans seem to have practiced a faith that blended worship of the Lord with worship of other local deities. Jesus was tired enough already. Working out the tricky theological relationship between his messianic calling and the faith of the Samaritan people wouldn’t be making things any easier.
And yet… This humble Samaritan rest stop became a key place of gospel proclamation and mission. The woman whom Jesus soon met at the well became Jesus’ single longest conversation partner in all the gospels. Then she herself went and told the people in in her city about Jesus: "Can you believe it? God is with us!"
There, worn out at the well, in that tired place of midday thirst, Jesus spoke the promise that “the water that [he] will give will become… a spring of water gushing up to eternal life.”
Jesus was living this reality for himself. He was feeling very empty, at least in body and maybe also in spirit. Jesus was tired, and the text never quite tells us whether or not Jesus even stood up when the woman approached. Maybe it’s just my funny imagination, but I can picture him still crashed out and parched on the ground while delivering this inspirational discourse about never thirsting again. God is with us, even if and when we can’t get up, giving water of life gushing up inside us.
As we make our way through Lent and through life with Jesus, Jesus--himself worn out on the journey--promises springs of living water. In this, he gives a refreshing foretaste of the feast to come, as on Maundy Thursday we taste and see how he turned a night of betrayal and fear into a meal of forgiveness and grace. This moment of Jesus’s weariness in the midday heat gives us a glimpse of Good Friday, when he emptied himself of divinity and took upon himself the sins of the world. Jesus, worn out at the well, announces the Easter promise that our emptiness, failures, weakness, and death will be transformed into fullness of life, gushing springs of living water.
God is with us, hungry, thirsty, and worn out as we may sometimes be. Jesus joins us in our troubles and tiredness, inviting us stop, rest, and drink with him from the springs of the water of life. Amen.
Preached at Loehe Chapel, Wartburg Theological Seminary
March 9, 2023