"UNBURDENING: Giving Up Superiority" Texts: Jeremiah 9:23-24 Preached: 2/28/16 John 4:5-42 Jeremiah 9:23-24 23 Thus says the LORD: Do not let the wise boast in their wisdom, do not let the mighty boast in their might, do not let the wealthy boast in their wealth; 24 but let those who boast boast in this, that they understand and know me, that I am the LORD; I act with steadfast love, justice, and righteousness in the earth, for in these things I delight, says the LORD. Lent helps us prepare for the Holiest Week of the year -- the celebration of our redemption through the death and resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ. Our preparation this year has been UNBURDENING. While some of us are giving up a particular food or habit for Lent all of us must consider the things God invites us to give up, not just for forty days, but forever. Our Rummage Sale is coming up next weekend, so many in our church and community are decluttering their basements or garages, to provide us with things to sell. Think of UNBURDENING as spiritual de-cluttering. If we can give up things that crowd and impede our hearts we make room for the new life in Jesus Christ. We have already been challenged to give up CONTROL and EXPECTATIONS. This morning, we are challenged to give up SUPERIORITY. ** You are fortunate this morning in that you get a 2 for 1 deal. You get this special coupon simply as a way for me to say thank you for worshiping with us today! Since the New Testament scripture is so long, today only, we are counting it also as 40% of the sermon! So, simply be listening to the scripture reading, you get 2/5 credit for listening to the sermon, as well! Congratulations. The scripture comes from the Gospel of John it s the story of Jesus unlikely and surprising encounter with a Samaritan woman at a well. Listen for God s Word! John 4:5-42 5 So [Jesus] came to a Samaritan city called Sychar, near the plot of ground that Jacob had given to his son Joseph. 6 Jacob s well was there, and Jesus, tired out by his journey, was sitting by the well. It was about noon. 7 A Samaritan woman came to draw water, and Jesus said to her, Give me a drink. 8 (His disciples had gone to the city to buy food.)
9 The Samaritan woman said to him, How is it that you, a Jew, ask a drink of me, a woman of Samaria? (Jews do not share things in common with Samaritans.) 10 Jesus answered her, If you knew the gift of God, and who it is that is saying to you, Give me a drink, you would have asked him, and he would have given you living water. 11 The woman said to him, Sir, you have no bucket, and the well is deep. Where do you get that living water? 12 Are you greater than our ancestor Jacob, who gave us the well, and with his sons and his flocks drank from it? 13 Jesus said to her, Everyone who drinks of this water will be thirsty again, 14 but those who drink of the water that I will give them will never be thirsty. The water that I will give will become in them a spring of water gushing up to eternal life. 15 The woman said to him, Sir, give me this water, so that I may never be thirsty or have to keep coming here to draw water. 16 Jesus said to her, Go, call your husband, and come back. 17 The woman answered him, I have no husband. Jesus said to her, You are right in saying, I have no husband ; 18 for you have had five husbands, and the one you have now is not your husband. What you have said is true! 19 The woman said to him, Sir, I see that you are a prophet. 20 Our ancestors worshiped on this mountain, but you say that the place where people must worship is in Jerusalem. 21 Jesus said to her, Woman, believe me, the hour is coming when you will worship the Father neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem. 22 You worship what you do not know; we worship what we know, for salvation is from the Jews. 23 But the hour is coming, and is now here, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for the Father seeks such as these to worship him. 24 God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth. 25 The woman said to him, I know that Messiah is coming (who is called Christ). When he comes, he will proclaim all things to us. 26 Jesus said to her, I am he, the one who is speaking to you.
27 Just then his disciples came. They were astonished that he was speaking with a woman, but no one said, What do you want? or, Why are you speaking with her? 28 Then the woman left her water jar and went back to the city. She said to the people, 29 Come and see a man who told me everything I have ever done! He cannot be the Messiah, can he? 30 They left the city and were on their way to him. 31 Meanwhile the disciples were urging him, Rabbi, eat something. 32 But he said to them, I have food to eat that you do not know about. 33 So the disciples said to one another, Surely no one has brought him something to eat? 34 Jesus said to them, My food is to do the will of him who sent me and to complete his work. 35 Do you not say, Four months more, then comes the harvest? But I tell you, look around you, and see how the fields are ripe for harvesting. 36 The reaper is already receiving wages and is gathering fruit for eternal life, so that sower and reaper may rejoice together. 37 For here the saying holds true, One sows and another reaps. 38 I sent you to reap that for which you did not labor. Others have labored, and you have entered into their labor. 3 9 Many Samaritans from that city believed in him because of the woman s testimony, He told me everything I have ever done. 40 So when the Samaritans came to him, they asked him to stay with them; and he stayed there two days. 41 And many more believed because of his word. 42 They said to the woman, It is no longer because of what you said that we believe, for we have heard for ourselves, and we know that this is truly the Savior of the world. Jesus broke all kinds of social conventions by speaking to a woman in public, a Samaritan no less. The woman s own life was such a mess that it could have really ruined Jesus' reputation as a holy man. But Jesus brought her his message of grace and freedom, suspecting that in her humility, she would actually be open to hear and might respond. At the same time the religious people were too busy and self-important to consider Jesus words. God doesn't care about any of the artificial lines we draw to make ourselves feel superior to others. If we let go of our status symbols and judgmental attitudes, we too can hear Jesus call more clearly and respond more faithfully. Jesus offers Living Water to the woman at the well. Ironic, since he first asked her for a drink. She doesn t understand at first...has no idea Jesus is speaking in spiritual terms. As lowly as her position was in that ancient scene, a woman in relation to a man, a Samaritan in relation to a Jew, she still takes on an air of superiority. She sarcastically asks Jesus if he is greater than her ancestor Jacob, after which the well is named. It is not until Jesus stuns her with knowledge of her personal life in intimate and embarrassing detail that she begins to realize that the conversation is about spiritual life.
She acknowledges Jesus as a "prophet," remaining quite concerned about the cultural divide separating Samaritans and Jews. Yet Jesus continues to broaden the woman s horizons - this time beyond the particularities of people and place. He teaches that true worship is not dependent upon status or gender or nationality. In effect, he teaches her to give up Superiority and understand that "spirit and truth" are the only ingredients required for true worship. Finally the woman gets in-touch with Jesus' meaning. She knows the messiah is coming. Jesus offers, "I am he." The disciples should not imagine that their work for Jesus is better than others or that theirs is the end of the story. Like the woman, the disciples are invited to give up superiority. It s an age-old lesson that needs to be relearned periodically. The prophet Jeremiah didn t mince words: Boasting is not seemly for God s people, even when they imagine themselves wise, mighty or wealthy. Boasting of our superiority can only make us dry, parch us spiritually. The second half of the story brings the disciples back to Jesus while the Samaritan woman returns to her village. When they are alone, Jesus continues to speak spiritually about physical things - food, harvests, sowing crops. Jesus urges the disciples to be always mindful of the "others" who have done gospel work before them. One sows and another reaps. 38 I sent you to reap that for which you did not labor. Others have labored, and you have entered into their labor. If there is to be boasting, let that boasting be for God, who acts with steadfast love, justice and righteousness in the earth! This kind of boasting is refreshing to us and pleasing to God! Boasting of God s goodness is like pulling up buckets of Living Water.
For some of us this is a tough lesson, even if we don t have a complex. Others perpetually struggle with self-esteem, even inferiority...and so imagine that this lesson has nothing to do with them. But I suspect we all have something to learn. Most of us have insisted, at one time or another, something like I don t need help I can take care of myself...i m doing just fine. More than half of Americans say their culture is superior to others, according to the Pew Global Attitudes Survey... Americans are more likely than most Western Europeans to think their culture is better than others. (55%) agree with the statement, "Our people are not perfect, but our culture is superior to others," a larger percentage than in Canada, Spain, Germany, France, Britain and Sweden. You might console yourselves that Italians are even more arrogant than Americans in their cultural preeminence; unless, of course, your Italian-American! Here s a good antidote for Superiority a spiritual technique for giving it up! Rather than boasting in our individual perceived strengths...rather than carping about how we are better than another, let us early and often boast in the LORD! Giving up SUPERIORITY means recognizing that we are not the sole actors in our story in fact, we are part of a much bigger story---god s story. God is the great actor. We get all sorts of messages tempting us to be superior, feel superior, act superior. These are easy to accept, even if on an unconscious level. Part of our Lenten discipline is to resist these sometimes subtle messages. If we Americans think we are better than, say, Haitians, it will be hard to hear Christ s call. If we think we are superior because we have white skin as opposed to darker skin, it will be hard for us to hear Christ s call. If we think we are better than our neighbour who is handicapped or less-educated or impoverished or ugly or young or old or less athletic or however else we make ourselves out to be superior, it will be a barrier, a spiritual barrier to our relationship with Jesus.