John 4:4-42

I wonder if you've ever been in the presence of someone and felt rather out of your depth because of their responsibility in life or the position in society that they hold. I remember a time when I taught in a Catholic school in Watford and the then leader of the Catholic Church in England, the late Cardinal Hume, came to visit the school, for a special anniversary.

I knew he was very committed in his faith but because he walked in, in his long robes and because everyone spoke of him as if he was God in the flesh, I felt quite unnerved about approaching him and chatting with him about his relationship with God. Needless to say, being me, I made sure I got the opportunity to see what was so special about this tall, grey-haired guy, who seemed to draw all eyes to him whenever he entered a room.

At first I felt very nervous about talking to him but as the conversation unfolded, I realised he was just an ordinary man with an extraordinary faith and an incredible compassion for all people whatever age, gender or race and whatever challenges that they faced in life. I guess it was these special gifts of consideration and kindness that made people so respectful of him. People were always taken aback when he stood and conversed very naturally with whoever was around him.

You could see that Jesus was his role model especially when you read the story we had today about the Samaritan woman at the well when Jesus went beyond the boundaries of His culture and reached out to someone in emotional and spiritual need.

The Bible tells us that Jesus HAD to go through Samaria. Some people read that as Jesus having to go through Samaria to get to wherever He was going, but if you look a the translation carefully, you will see that Jesus was committed to going through Samaria as part of His ministry. He had to go through Samaria to tell them about the Kingdom of God and to minister to them.

Jesus's ministry was never about those in His immediate vicinity or those in His immediate family or those in His immediate friendship group - Jesus's ministry was all about going where God was calling Him and guiding Him to go, even when it seemed ludicrous. Jesus was never afraid of being different or of moving the traditions that were so clearly in place in the Jewish faith if it meant allowing God's Kingdom to spread further afield.

In this event, Jesus was clearly preparing His followers to include complete outsiders whom they would very rarely even walk past, let alone minister to. The Jews of the day would rather cross the Jordan and travel on the East side than go through Samaria, such was their dislike of their neighbours.

Most Jews in those days were prejudiced about Samaritans because their beliefs didn't tally most of the time yet they worshipped the same God but just in different places: The Samaritans felt that Mount Gerizim was sacred and they should worship there whilst the Jews believed that Jerusalem was sacred and therefore should worship there. Did it really matter?

Well, on this day Jesus was clearly in a ludicrous mood. Not only did He choose to go through Samaria, but He also chose to sit down at a well and converse with Samaritan which would have made Him unclean in the eyes of the High Priest. Not only that but the Samaritan was a woman classed as immoral because she had been married more than 3 times.

Jewish religious teachers were not supposed to converse with women in public let alone minister to their needs. The well was a very public place where many would come and draw water. Jesus was definitely crazy that day - either that or He knew how important it was to spread the Good News of God's Kingdom beyond Jerusalem and beyond those in the Jewish faith.

Jesus made it quite clear to her that in the future, it really wouldn't matter where God was worshipped as long as it was in Spirit and truth. It wouldn't matter if it was on the mountain or in Jerusalem; it wouldn't matter if it was in an Anglican church, a Methodist church or an MCC; it wouldn't matter if it was women or men worshipping; it wouldn't matter if there were differences between the interpretation of the scriptures because what mattered was that they were worshipping in Spirit and in truth. All the same God and all in their own way.

It is so easy as Christians to get waylaid in the past or some would say in traditions. The Samaritan woman was stuck in her respect for the past. She asked: "Are you greater than our Father Jacob?" She was so rooted in this and what had happened many years ago, that she could not see the golden opportunity of the present. She was so determined to hold onto her historical beliefs that she almost missed the opportunity to worship God freely without being bound by her culture and religious law and customs.

Traditions can be wonderful, don't get me wrong - we have a tradition in MCC of praying with people during communion but I would hate to think that we were not able to change communion when the time was right - particularly if we were following a tradition just for the sake of it rather than because it was a blessing to people.

We get scared in our familiarity of change don't we? Sometimes when someone at home moves the furniture around we can't stand it, so I know how difficult it can be. The problem is that Jesus came to challenge people's comfort zones. He came to make people look at things differently and just because we look at our faith differently to the way the Jewish people did when Jesus walked this earth, doesn't mean we've got it right any more than they thought they had.

Surely if we are worshipping God in Spirit and in truth, we should still be challenging the way we do things so that our worship is always refreshing to us and to newcomers; so that we are always reaching out beyond the normal boundaries of our faith; so that God and our personal prayer times are not stale or predictable.

Maybe you think well actually, God is predictable - Jesus is the same yesterday, today and forever. Yes that's right but if Jesus is the same today as he was 2000 years ago then He would still be challenging issues and opinions so that everyone felt included; He would still be doing what His religion told Him not to if it meant people were more important than rules and regulations; He would still be fighting for the underdog and talking to those ostracised from society even if it meant putting himself in a vulnerable position and that some of those who knew Him would turn away from Him in disgust;

Jesus was NEVER predictable. The disciples hardly knew from one moment to the next what was going to happen, other than the fact they knew someone somewhere was going to have their life changed forever. That's why people were drawn to Him.

If we were truly living our lives in that way, in Spirit and truth, living for the present and not the past, what a change we'd be able to lead others to experience; what a growth we'd see in our churches; what power of the HS we would see in our lives.

Being a Christian is not about knowing we are saved and therefore being able to sit back and let others do all the work for God's Kingdom, being a Christian is about being Christ-like; fighting for the less privileged; being a voice for those who can't speak out for whatever reason; touching those whom society ignore and shut away; doing things in the unusual way Jesus would have to bring love and compassion into the lives of those who seem too far gone to ever be saved.

It doesn't matter if we are 9 or 90. If we love Jesus and He is Lord of our lives then we have a duty to tell others about Him - we know how much our lives have been changed because of Him, and whenever we can it is our responsibility to do likewise in a way that people can relate to. If that means doing something in our churches differently, then so be it. Rather we suffer the inconvenience and irritation of change than we stand by as souls around us lose their lives without knowing Jesus and all that a relationship with Him can mean.