The Woman at the Well -- A Message for February 1, 2026

  Friends, last week, in worship, we focused on Nicodemus’ middle-of-the-night visit to Jesus. Even though Nicodemus was an educated Pharisee and leader of the Jewish Council in Jerusalem, he struggled to understand the meaning of Jesus’ words when they spoke. And, he came to talk to Jesus secretly in the dark – he not only didn’t understand Jesus, but he also was afraid to be seen with Jesus. 

Today, we continue reading our way through the book of John and pick up where we left off.  Soon after Jesus and Nicodemus had their talk,Jesus and his friends departed Jerusalem and headed towards Galilee. The most direct route was one Jewish people usually avoided, because it took them across Samaritan territory.  

The Samaritans are the descendants of the people of Northern Kingdom of Israel – their country was defeated by the Assyrian army and their leaders were scattered across the Middle East in the 7th century BC. After the country was partially depopulated by the Assyrians, the people who still lived in Israel gradually inter-married with Gentiles. In the first century, the Jewish people considered the Samaritans their enemies, but both groups believe in God and follow much of the teachings of the Old Testament. 

Jesus and his friends walked through Samaritan territory as they travelled to Galilee.  Jesus rested by Jacob’s well….in the Old Testament, wells are places for “meet-cute” moments.  Moses met his future-wife Zippoarh for the first time at a well. Jacob met his future-wife Rachel at a well. Rebekah met Abraham’s servant at a well – after they met, she agreed to return to Israel with him to meet and marry Isaac. So, men and women meeting at wells were significant in the history of our faith – but, when Jesus met the Samaritan woman at the well in today’s story, he wasn’t meeting a future wife – instead, he revealed himself for the first time as “the messiah” and offered the woman living water and new life in Christ.  The woman became the first non-Jewish follower of Jesus and first evangelist on behalf of Jesus who wasn’t one of his disciples.

This story is lengthy – bear with me as we read from John chapter 4: 

Scripture Lesson John 4:1-42

Now Jesus learned that the Pharisees had heard that he was gaining and baptizing more disciples than John— 

although in fact it was not Jesus who baptized, but his disciples. 

So he left Judea and went back once more to Galilee.

Now he had to go through Samaria. 

So he came to a town in Samaria called Sychar, near the plot of ground Jacob had given to his son Joseph. 

Jacob’s well was there, and Jesus, tired as he was from the journey, sat down by the well. It was about noon.

When a Samaritan woman came to draw water, Jesus said to her, “Will you give me a drink?” 

(His disciples had gone into the town to buy food.)

The Samaritan woman said to him, “You are a Jew and I am a Samaritan woman. How can you ask me for a drink?” (For Jews do not associate with Samaritans.)

Jesus answered her, “If you knew the gift of God and who it is that asks you for a drink, you would have asked him and he would have given you living water.”

“Sir,” the woman said, “you have nothing to draw with and the well is deep. Where can you get this living water? 

Are you greater than our father Jacob, who gave us the well and drank from it himself, as did also his sons and his livestock?”

Jesus answered, “Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again, 

but whoever drinks the water I give them will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give them will become in them a spring of water welling up to eternal life.”

The woman said to him, “Sir, give me this water so that I won’t get thirsty and have to keep coming here to draw water.”

He told her, “Go, call your husband and come back.”

“I have no husband,” she replied.

Jesus said to her, “You are right when you say you have no husband. 

The fact is, you have had five husbands, and the man you now have is not your husband. What you have just said is quite true.”

“Sir,” the woman said, “I can see that you are a prophet. 

Our ancestors worshiped on this mountain, but you Jews claim that the place where we must worship is in Jerusalem.”

 “Woman,” Jesus replied, “believe me, a time is coming when you will worship the Father neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem. 

You Samaritans worship what you do not know; we worship what we do know, for salvation is from the Jews. 

Yet a time is coming and has now come when the true worshipers will worship the Father in the Spirit and in truth, for they are the kind of worshipers the Father seeks. 

God is spirit, and his worshipers must worship in the Spirit and in truth.”

The woman said, “I know that Messiah” (called Christ) “is coming. When he comes, he will explain everything to us.”

Then Jesus declared, “I, the one speaking to you—I am he.”

Just then his disciples returned and were surprised to find him talking with a woman. But no one asked, “What do you want?” or “Why are you talking with her?”

Then, leaving her water jar, the woman went back to the town and said to the people, 

“Come, see a man who told me everything I ever did. Could this be the Messiah?” 

They came out of the town and made their way toward him.

Meanwhile his disciples urged him, “Rabbi, eat something.”

But he said to them, “I have food to eat that you know nothing about.”

Then his disciples said to each other, “Could someone have brought him food?”

“My food,” said Jesus, “is to do the will of him who sent me and to finish his work. 

Don’t you have a saying, ‘It’s still four months until harvest’? I tell you, open your eyes and look at the fields! They are ripe for harvest. 

Even now the one who reaps draws a wage and harvests a crop for eternal life, so that the sower and the reaper may be glad together.

Thus the saying ‘One sows and another reaps’ is true. 

I sent you to reap what you have not worked for. Others have done the hard work, and you have reaped the benefits of their labor.

Many of the Samaritans from that town believed in him because of the woman’s testimony, “He told me everything I ever did.” 

So when the Samaritans came to him, they urged him to stay with them, and he stayed two days. 

And because of his words many more became believers.

They said to the woman, “We no longer believe just because of what you said; now we have heard for ourselves, and we know that this man really is the Savior of the world.”

After the two days he left for Galilee. 

(Now Jesus himself had pointed out that a prophet has no honor in his own country.)

Here ends this reading of the word of God for the people of God. Thanks be to God.  Amen…

Let us pray….

Message The Woman at the Well

This morning, we remember that Jesus revealed himself as the messiah to a woman – a woman who was a stranger to him – a woman who was one of his traditional enemies – a woman who was married 5 times – a woman who wasn’t Jewish. 

We don’t know all of the details about the woman’s history – maybe she was forced to marry her husband’s brother when her husband (s) died – maybe she was unable to have children, in a period when children cared for their widowed mothers – maybe her “job” was to carry water from the well to her town – maybe she was rejected by her people, her neighbors, her community – we don’t know her history.

But, Jesus offered her living water. And, Jesus told him that he was, “I am,” the Messiah. And, when the woman heard this news, she had no hesitation – she rushed to her town to tell everyone Jesus was there. She rushed to town and told everyone to come and meet Jesus – to meet the messiah for themselves.  She didn’t keep this meeting to herself, she wasn’t like Nicodemus who wanted to keep the conversation to himself….the woman went and told everyone about Jesus and told them where he was so they could meet him for themselves.

In this interaction, Jesus models for us how we should act….most Jewish men would have not spoken to the Samaritan woman – they would have ignored her. They definitely wouldn’t have asked her for water. If Jesus behaved like a typical 1st century Jewish man, he would have not even walked on the path through Samaria, so there would have been no contact at all between a Jewish person and a Samaritan person.

But, Jesus talked to his enemy. Jesus talked to a woman. Jesus talked to someone other people even in Samarian possibly avoided or ignored. And, Jesus offered her living water, new life in Christ. 

Twenty-first century people aren’t that different from 1st century people. We still divide ourselves up into groups – we still have “us” verses “them” – we steer-clear of people who we perceive as other: gay people or old people or teenagers or goths or ghetto people or foreigners or Muslims or Dallas Cowboys fans or MAGA people or antifa or theater kids  or people who live in the city– we avoid people we perceive as different, as we perceive as other. And, over and over again, Jesus demonstrates to us that instead of avoiding people who are different than us, we are called upon to draw closer to them. We are called upon to share our lives with people who at first glance we assume we have nothing in common with….because we believe in the God of Jesus Christ. And, the God of Jesus Chrsit wants us to work with each other…we are called upon to work together for the good of people who are experiencing needs – the hungry, the thirsty, the homeless, the lonely, the rejected, the ill, the disabled, the foreigner, the widow, the orphan. Jesus Christ came for all of us and Jesus Chrsit compels us to work together.

The Samaritan woman didn’t keep Jesus’ message to herself. She immediately left her water jug at the well and ran to tell everyone about Jesus. We are also called upon to share the Good News with others…to tell them about our faith in Jesus Christ…to tell them about our loving God….to share that we feel the presence of God’s Holy Spirit in our midst. 

So, let’s not keep our faith to ourselves….let’s share the Good News…and let us work to open our hearts and our minds to accept and love people who we once may have turned away from.

Amen.  

Nicodemus Visits Jesus -- A Message for January 25, 2026

 

Dear friends, we are reading our way through the rich Gospel of John in this, the season of Epiphany. Last Sunday, we focused on Jesus’ first trip to Jerusalem as a spiritual leader. He was dismayed by his trip to the Temple – within the walls of God’s house, people were being ripped off – financially exploited by greedy money exchangers and the people selling animals for sacrifice. Jesus overturned the tables of the money changers and cast out of the temple people selling animals. Jesus was furious – and Jesus’ actions led to him being noticed by quite a few people.

One of the people who noticed Jesus was Nicodemus – a Pharisee and member of the Jewish ruling council. He wanted to learn more about Jesus, but wanted to gather his information discreetly.  So, he visited Jesus at night, under the cover of darkness. Nicodemus had a lot of questions for Jesus, but he struggled to understand Jesus' answers. 

Listen to how John describes the conversation in his Gospel, chapter three, verses one through twenty-one:

Scripture Lesson John 3:1-21

Now there was a Pharisee, a man named Nicodemus who was a member of the Jewish ruling council. 

He came to Jesus at night and said, “Rabbi, we know that you are a teacher who has come from God. For no one could perform the signs you are doing if God were not with him.”

Jesus replied, “Very truly I tell you, no one can see the kingdom of God unless they are born again.”

“How can someone be born when they are old?” Nicodemus asked. “Surely they cannot enter a second time into their mother’s womb to be born!”

Jesus answered, “Very truly I tell you, no one can enter the kingdom of God unless they are born of water and the Spirit. 

Flesh gives birth to flesh, but the Spirit gives birth to spirit. 

You should not be surprised at my saying, ‘You must be born again.’ 

The wind blows wherever it pleases. You hear its sound, but you cannot tell where it comes from or where it is going. So it is with everyone born of the Spirit.”

“How can this be?” Nicodemus asked.

“You are Israel’s teacher,” said Jesus, “and do you not understand these things? 

Very truly I tell you, we speak of what we know, and we testify to what we have seen, but still you people do not accept our testimony. 

I have spoken to you of earthly things and you do not believe; how then will you believe if I speak of heavenly things? 

No one has ever gone into heaven except the one who came from heaven—the Son of Man.

Just as Moses lifted up the snake in the wilderness, so the Son of Man must be lifted up,

that everyone who believes may have eternal life in him.”

For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. 

For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him. 

Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because they have not believed in the name of God’s one and only Son. 

This is the verdict: Light has come into the world, but people loved darkness instead of light because their deeds were evil. 

Everyone who does evil hates the light, and will not come into the light for fear that their deeds will be exposed. 

But whoever lives by the truth comes into the light, so that it may be seen plainly that what they have done has been done in the sight of God.

Here ends this reading of the word of God for the People of God. Thanks be to God. Amen.

Let us pray….

Message Nicodemus Visits Jesus

Nicodemus wanted to understand who Jesus was and who gave Jesus the authority to do his work of preaching, teaching and performing miracles. Nicodemus was full of questions – but he knew it was unwise for a Pharisee and a religious leader to publicly question Jesus…so he showed up in the middle of the night outside of the house where Jesus was staying.

Most of us are scared when we hear noises in the night ... .we presume they indicate danger or that something is wrong ... .a neighbor is ill, there has been a car accident in front of our house, someone is in trouble, or maybe we are in trouble. Nicodemus knocking at the door in the middle of the night may have been an unwelcome surprise for Jesus and his friends.

But, Jesus woke up from his sleep and answered Nicodemus’ questions.  They covered a lot of theological ground….they talked about spiritual rebirth and salvation. Jesus’ teachings were a change from 1st century Jewish dogma – the Pharisees tried to follow the laws of Judaism in a very legalistic way – Jesus was less worried about following the rules and more concerned about following God’s intentions – love God, love each other, treat others the way you want them to treat you.

The nighttime conversation between Nicodemus and Jesus is where we are introduced to the idea of being “born again.” The New Testament was written down in Greek – the words Jesus said to Niodemus in Greek roughly translate into: “Very truly, I tell you, no one can see the kingdom of God without being born from above.” But, the word also means being “reborn” – Nicodemus heard it that way – he started asking questions about how it is physically possible for adults to have a new birth. “Can we reenter our mother’s womb?”  Nicodemus struggled to understand Jesus’ meaning – to be born from above means being spiritually reborn – to have a newly reinvigorated faith or a wholly new faith in God.

The concept of being “born again” started to be emphasised by Evangelical Protestants in the 1960s. Charles Colson, who was part of President Nixon’s administration, published a book called “Born Again” in 1976 about his conversion to Christianity just before he went to prison for crimes he committed during his political career. People in the Evangelical world started to ask other people if they were “born again” or when they were “born again” – but the phrase was sometimes used as a “test” of sorts – Some people may have thought Evangelicals are “born again” Christians, and everyone else is not authentically Christian enough. 

But, the purpose of Jesus telling Nicodemus that we must be “born from above” was not intended for us to use as a way to determine who is an insider or an outsider – instead Jesus wanted us to be filled with the Holy Spirit and to receive new life in faith – new life in Christ. Jesus wants us to believe in God – really believe in God. Jesus wants that belief to change us for the better – to be born from above, to be born again, our hearts and minds and souls are committed to God. This may not be a “one and done” experience – many of us have periods of our lives when we put our faith in God on the back burner, but when we are born from above, our faith becomes a priority for us.  

Jesus came to earth to offer people a new path to God – everyone is invited to become a child of God. We don’t have to follow all of the rules of the Old Testament, we don’t have to be born into a Jewish family, we don’t have to come to church every Sunday since the moment we were born, we don’t have to have unblemished pasts or clean criminal records, we don’t have to be a member of the right political party or right ethnic group or grow up in the right zip code. Our faith is not who we were, it is about who we are becoming in Christ. Jesus wants us to love God, and to make that love for God extend to love for other people. Jesus wants us to treat each other fairly and compassionately. Jesus wants us to serve the least of these – people who are struggling, people who are sad, people who are hungry, people who are homeless, people who are mentally ill, people who happen to have physical disabilities. Jesus wants our faith to inspire us to change our lives for the better – to believe in God and to have that belief inspire our actions for the good of other people and the good of our planet.

So, let us deepen our faith in God, invite the Holy Spirit to fill us anew, and live as those who have been born from above. Amen. 

 

Cleansing the Temple -- A Message for January 18, 2026

 

Friends, our worship services will focus on the Gospel of John over the next few months. Last week, we focused on Jesus’ first miracle – turning water into wine at the wedding of Cana. 

This week, we pick up where we left off last week. After the wedding, Jesus went to Capernaum for a few days with his mother, brothers, and disciples. Then, Jesus travelled to Jerusalem – and had a violent reaction to what he found in God’s city at the Temple.

Listen to the story as it is told in the Gospel of John, chapter 2, verses thirteen through twenty-five:

Scripture Lesson John 2:13-25

When it was almost time for the Jewish Passover, Jesus went up to Jerusalem. 

In the temple courts he found people selling cattle, sheep and doves, and others sitting at tables exchanging money. 

So he made a whip out of cords, and drove all from the temple courts, both sheep and cattle; he scattered the coins of the money changers and overturned their tables. 

To those who sold doves he said, “Get these out of here! Stop turning my Father’s house into a market!” 

His disciples remembered that it is written: “Zeal for your house will consume me.”

The Jews then responded to him, “What sign can you show us to prove your authority to do all this?”

Jesus answered them, “Destroy this temple, and I will raise it again in three days.”

They replied, “It has taken forty-six years to build this temple, and you are going to raise it in three days?” 

But the temple he had spoken of was his body. 

After he was raised from the dead, his disciples recalled what he had said. Then they believed the scripture and the words that Jesus had spoken.

Now while he was in Jerusalem at the Passover Festival, many people saw the signs he was performing and believed in his name.

But Jesus would not entrust himself to them, for he knew all people. 

He did not need any testimony about mankind, for he knew what was in each person.

Here ends this reading of the Word of God for the People of God. Thanks be to God. Amen.

Let us pray…

Message Cleansing the Temple

Jesus went to the Temple in Jerusalem and was dismayed by what he found. 

 

When Jesus walked the earth, the Temple was being rebuilt. King Herod the Great started improving and rebuilding the Temple in 22 BC – it had been destroyed by the Babylonians and then rebuilt, but Herod wanted it to be restored to its former glory.  So, it was being expanded and adorned with more and more splendid architecture. The Temple complex was full of activity – worship life and festivals and construction were on-going, year-round activities.

Every year, each Jewish male over the age of twenty was required to pay a Temple Tax. The tax was paid before Passover. The tax was used to maintain and expand the Temple in Jerusalem and pay the many priests who operated and administered Jewish life in Israel. The temple tax was not optional – every man, no matter his health or his profession, had to pay it. And, the tax couldn’t be paid in Roman currency – it had to be paid in Tyrian shekels – the coinage of the Jewish Temple.

In 30 AD, the chief-priest, Caiaphas, instituted the practice of selling animals to be sacrificed at the Temple in the Court of the Gentiles – before 30, people could buy animals outside the Temple and bring them to be sacrificed. Caiaphas changed things – under his leadership, believers had to go to the Temple, exchange their Roman money for Tyrian shekels, and then use their Tyrian shekels to buy animals to sacrifice in-house. 

This was all very profitable for the Temple and its priests. The Temple added a fee to exchange money. The Temple added a fee on every animal that was purchased. And, then after the animals were sacrificed to God, the priests and their families received the meat of the sacrificial animals for their own dinner tables.

Jesus’ public ministry just happened to begin as Caiaphus’ new profit-making strategy was put in place. 

And, this requirement was too much for Jesus – Jesus came to liberate us from oppression. And, he saw the charges and fees imposed on worshippers as oppression – the fees exploited the poor – the fees exploited the devout – the fees took advantage of people who wanted to worship God.

So, Jesus was furious. He turned over the tables of the money changers. He cast out the people selling animals in the temple. He wanted his Father’s house to be a place of prayer, not a market-place to exploit the faithful.

Jesus’ actions must have shocked the people in the Temple that day.  A man who was unknown to most of the people walked in and caused a huge disturbance. He objected to “business-as-usual.” He objected to making a financial profit off of the backs of the faithful who came to worship. He caused a big disruption. 

When Jesus was questioned about authority – “What gives you, Jesus, the right to disrupt Temple business? Show us a “sign” of your authority!” – Jesus didn’t show them a sign or do a magic trick to justify his qualifications – instead he made a prediction about his future – Jesus said: “Destroy this temple, and I will raise it up in three days.” Jesus was talking about his own resurrection, but the people in the Temple didn’t know what Jesus meant until three years later, until Jesus resurrected.

The Jewish people of the first century believed the only place they could properly worship God was at the Temple – They thought God dwelled in the Temple. They thought God required them to make animal sacrifices to atone for their sins and to offer thanksgiving to God. Most 1st Century Jewish people didn’t realize or recognize that Jesus was God incarnate. Jesus’ words and teachings, as well as his death and resurrection, would free believers in God from needing to make symbolic animal sacrifices to worship and honor God.   

Jesus objected to the priests and Temple authorities taking advantage of worshippers. They were making a financial profit from exchanging money and selling animals in God’s house. In order to worship God at the Temple, they had to be paid. Imagine how we would feel if we couldn't walk into our church without first paying an entry fee, and then couldn’t sit in the sanctuary pews without paying another fee, and then couldn’t receive communion without paying a third fee.

We would not want our lack of money to prevent us from worshipping God. We wouldn’t want our lack of money separate us from God.

As Protestant Christians, we believe that all people can access the Holy. We can pray and talk to God. We can sing our hymns and join the choir. We don’t require entry fees or mandate a set tithe or tax on our worshippers. We don’t believe in intercessors – we don’t need priests or saints to be go-betweens on our behalf with God. 

But, we have all heard stories about churches who are unfriendly. I have walked into unfamiliar churches on a Sunday morning and no one showed me where the sanctuary was. I have visited new-to-me churches and the minister ignored me when I walked past him at the door. I have heard about churches whose members come across more like country club cliques who ignore new people instead of welcoming them.  We all have had experiences of feeling excluded or unwelcome at churches, at God’s houses.

So, we must be the opposite. We must be invitational – and invite our friends and neighbors and co-workers to our churches. And, when people come, we need to be friendly….we need to be welcoming….we need to invite them to participate in whatever it is we are doing. 

Jesus wanted everyone to have access to the Temple – to God. He was furious when he felt people were being financially exploited when they came worship God. We must work to make not only our church welcoming, but to share with others that God is approachable to them. They don’t have to have money, or the right clothing, or live in the right neighborhood, or have the right ethnic background to be a part of the family of God. Let us do our part to be welcoming and to invite all people, all kinds of people, to join us here at worship.

Amen.