Sunday of the Samaritan Woman 2024
Byzantine Catholic Homilies • Sermon • Submitted • Presented
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· 1 viewOur readings show Jesus crossing a ethnic and cultural barrier with questions and later Jewish Christians evangelizing Gentiles directly in Antioch, forming one Church that was one with the Jerusalem Church. We should live our Jesus’ method of evangelism and the early Christian openness to peoples of other cultures and especially the unity of the Church and our care for our brothers and sisters across boundaries.
Notes
Transcript
Ambon Prayer (optional) 75
The Holy Apostles Jason and Sosipater; the Holy Martyrs Dadas, Maximus and Quintillianus; our Holy Father Cyril, Bishop of Turov.
After dismissal: “Christ is risen” x 3, Paschal Tropariion sung 1x by priest and 2x by faithful (DL 170)
Title
Title
Reaching Beyond the Boundaries
Outline
Outline
The Church started out Jewish
The Church started out Jewish
They were Jews of various stripes who followed the resurrected Jesus of Nazareth as exalted Lord and Messiah. At first they were mostly Aramaic speaking, but at Pentecost they expanded to include mostly Greek-speaking Jews. But it was not going to stay that way.
John points out that already in Jesus’ earthly lifetime he evangelized Samaritans.
John points out that already in Jesus’ earthly lifetime he evangelized Samaritans.
Jews viewed Samaritans as both taboo and hostile despite their following basically the same Torah. The hostility extended to the desecration of each other’s temples.
Jesus meets a woman who was “taboo” even to Samaritans, for she had either had 5 husbands die (as in Tobit) or had been divorced for some reason - she lived with a man but he did not touch her (was not her husband). She does do his housework, e.g. draw water.
Jesus asks for a drink which should have made him taboo in Jewish eyes and so shocks the Samaritan woman. Her shocked response allows him to offer her “running water” (there is a play on words with the term “living”)
This surprises her further and she asks if he is greater than Jacob who had dug the well. He responds by saying his water really quenches thirst: “whoever drinks of the water that I shall give him will never thirst; the water that I shall give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life.” Oh, she really wants such water! OK, call your husband. I have no husband. Jesus agrees, showing he knows her situation.
She wonders if Jesus is a prophet and raises the issue of Jewish differences over worship. “the hour is coming, and now is, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for such the Father seeks to worship him. God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth.” She does not full grasp this and responds, “I know that Messiah is coming; when he comes, he will show us all things.” And Jesus responds, “I who speak to you am he.” Off she shoots to the city to share her experience with Jesus.
Notice that Jesus proceeded by questions and responses to her that raised questions. He did not start with “I am the Messiah” or otherwise lay the gospel on her. She discovered it.
The result was disciples who were confused by his breaking barriers and were certainly more confused when Jesus accepts and dialogues with the people of the city insisting that this was the his real food, not that which his disciples had brought. Many Samaritans believed in him as “the Savior of the world.” Perhaps this is why Philip would later get a good reception in Samaria.
Jesus is precedent for the work of Barnabas and Saul and unnamed Christians
Jesus is precedent for the work of Barnabas and Saul and unnamed Christians
They were Greek-speaking and, as refugees from Jerusalem, preached to Greek-speaking Jews. But some addressed Gentiles directly in Antioch, had good results because the Lord was with them, and so Barnabas is sent from Jerusalem and because “he was a good man full of the Holy Spirit and of faith” he recognized this as God’s doing and joined right in, later fetching Saul (later Paul) from Tarsus to help. A Greek-speaking, largely non-Jewish Church developed. The gospel/kingdom had crossed another barrier.
But all are determined that there be one Church
But all are determined that there be one Church
When these Gentile Christians in Antioch hear a prophecy that a famine is about to affect Judea, they show their solidarity with those Aramaic speaking Jewish Christians by sending relief. Paul will repeat this in Greece as we see in 2 Cor chs 8 and 9.
What do we learn here?
What do we learn here?
There are differences among Christians with respect to background and language, but no language or background difference should stop the gospel. That is why Pentecost will be characterized by speaking in foreign languages.
The good news is best spread by living like Jesus and by asking questions and raising questions that drive the dialogue. No canned presentations in the first century, although it was all about Jesus.
Finally, there is only one Church, unified enough that years later Paul expected the Corinthians to recognize both the eucharistic liturgy and the basic message that had first been used in Jerusalem. And he expected the Corinthians to express solidarity with the Corinthians. There was not a Jewish-Christian Church and a Gentile-Christian Church. There were different languages, but the liturgy and message was simply translated. This still should be true today. I recognize the significant similarity of Eastern and Western rites and our full intercommunion.
Our duty is to live out all of this in our lives so the world sees that we reach out to all, accept all who believe, and live as one enriching one another with our cultural differences.