On
Monday Ian and I went to the movies with some friends. We saw the movie: Hidden
Figures. Now for people like Ian and me who like Maths and Science and
technical stuff, it was great. If you aren’t into the technical stuff, it is a
wonderful story.
The
film is set in the space race era, at NASA; as the US attempt to get a man into
space.
This
was pre-computers, so all the calculations for the orbit of the rocket were
done by people. The same for the calculations of where the rocket would land on
re-entry.
Who
do you imagine did all those calculations, and checked and double checked them?
Calculations that could be the difference between life and death?
…..
Jesus
and his disciples are travelling from Judea to Galilee.
Galilee
is in the north, then [below that is] Samaria, then south of there is
Judea. Jesus and the disciples are
heading north, but good Jews do not
go through Samaria, they go the long way to avoid the place. But Jesus and the disciples take the
‘short cut’, which means a three to four day walk.
….
In
schools, and some other groups, there can be people who are always left out –
children that the other children don’t want to play with, or sit with. It maybe
they have look different or smell different, or for some reason are considered
‘odd’.
We
meet one of these ‘odd’ people in this morning’s reading. Well, maybe we meet
two : )
This
is the longest recorded conversation Jesus has with anyone in the Gospels, and
it
is with a woman
who
is not Jewish,
and
worse than that,
she
is a Samaritan
with
a chequered past.
What
was Jesus thinking?!
Well…
maybe
he was just thinking
I’m
thirsty
She
has a bucket
We
are at a well
Maybe
she will give me some water, if I ask her.
Thirst
led to a request, which led to a conversation
A
conversation about where to worship.
The
people of Samaria and the Jewish people are both descendants of Abraham.
But
they were also enemies.
And
like many family feuds, it permeated into many parts of life.
Where
to worship was one such area.
This
woman who was ‘wrong’ in the eyes of many,
This
woman talked theology with Jesus.
The
woman who was the wrong gender
and
the wrong colour and
from
the wrong place,
who
was without a husband
becomes
a theologian and an evangelist.
She
saw in Jesus something that others had not.
And
Jesus saw her in ways that others had not.
This
woman is often portrayed as a sinner, but there is nothing in the conversation
between Jesus and the woman to suggest that Jesus saw her in that way. In the
time when Jesus was on earth, women were property of men. And without a man,
you didn’t have a home, or food. Without a husband, or son or father, you
needed to resort to begging or prostitution.
……
Each
of us will have received messages from family and friends and colleagues, about
who we are and what we are. I was told at school that while I was an
enthusiastic singer, I was not good enough, and was no longer part of the
school choir.
The
people who did many of the calculations in the rocket program were black women.
In a time when only some schools took non-white children, and educational
pathways were limited, NASA realised they needed the best available brains. That didn’t mean they were treated equally. The
bathroom for ‘coloured women’ was across the campus from where one of the
characters was working. Her boss wondered why she disappeared for 40 minutes a
couple of times a day.
I
have lived in country towns where the phrase ‘the wrong side of the tracks’ was
real. Disadvantage was shown by the railway track, or the river, or the
highway.
It
is easy to see people in terms of one characteristic – colour, gender,
religion, race, test score. But we are not one characteristic.
The
reading about Jesus and this woman, is one of my favourite in the gospels. I
really wish she had a name!
This
story speaks to me of how we are known, fully known; and loved. Despite what others
may say about us,
No
matter how odd people think we are
No
matter how hard a life we have had
No
matter what our life might look like to others
Jesus
comes
Is
willing to chat, not tell us off
And
offers us life giving water
When
Jesus offered the woman living water, it wasn’t to wash away her sin.
Living
water is about refreshment,
like
rain after a hot day
or
a hot bath in winter.
When
the woman left her water jar behind. She also left behind her abandonment,
rejection, marginalization.[i]
Are
there things you would like to chat with Jesus about?
What
difference does it make to you that you are fully known, and fully loved?
Are
you willing to accept the life giving water Jesus is offering?
