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Both of our readings today are about finding water in a dry place. Using the metaphor of water in the desert the scriptures explore how the struggle for survival in tough times affects our relationships with God and with one another. And, offers some strategies, not just for surviving but for thriving.
In Exodus 17:1-7, when his people express their need, Moses is defensive and hostile and conflict ensues. Blame will only increase the hostility. Trust is what is needed. God responds by inviting both Moses and the people to trust one another and restore their relationship so that they might journey forward together.
The conflict explored in John 4:5-42 is the brutal and longstanding one between the Israelites and the Samaritans which has led to a complete breakdown of relationship between the two groups.
Jesus seeks to repair this relationship by first acknowledging his own vulnerability and asking for help. He extends trust towards an enemy and an outsider. Beside the well, both Jesus and the Samaritan woman confront their shared human need: they need water to live and the best way to get it is with each other.
Meeting by wells in scripture (particularly this well, which appears in the stories of Abraham, Issac and Jacob) always mark a new beginning. The new life which becomes possible when people who have been distant and different take the risk of journeying together.
The readings invite us to reflect, on how we cope when times are hard, who we blame, who we shut out; and on how we can begin to build trust where there is none, so that, together, we may not only survive but thrive.
When I had my first child I knew nothing. I had not attended any classes, I had read nothing, learnt nothing, been told nothing. I didn’t have a clue what to expect. What I did have was trust. I trusted that the medical team and I trusted my Mum, a midwife, who was by my side. I trusted them because they had done this before.
This morning Nicodemus knows nothing. His knowledge, his learning, his intellect will only take him so far. When Jesus says: “are you a teacher of Israel and yet you do not understand these things?” he is not mocking him for his lack of knowledge, he is pointing out that you cannot live a life of faith by knowing, only by doing. We will never know what it is like to have a child until we have had one (and even then we only know what it is like to have that one child, the next one will be altogether different).
A life of faith, like giving birth, is a risk, a leap into the unknown, you do not know what the outcome will be, you cannot know what it will demand of you, until you do it. Nicodemus is unable to take the risk, he comes to Jesus in secret at night wanting reassurance but Jesus cannot tell him what his path will be. He can only assure him that he, Jesus, has done this before. He has descended from heaven, he will ascend to heaven. Jesus does this not in knowledge but in trust, that God is love and perfect love casts out fear.
If we want a life of faith, a life of grace, a life of purpose we need to take the risk of trusting the spirit of God to lead us where it chooses, knowing only that it chooses love.
Lent is sometimes seen as a test of piety and self-discipline and, at first glance, our readings appear to support this view: In Genesis 2:15-17, 3:1-7, Eve and then Adam are tempted and fail whereas, in Matthew 4:1-11, Jesus is tempted and does not fail.
But faith is not a pass/fail proposition. The word translated at “tempt” in Matthew can also be translated as try, test, attempt or examine. It expresses the process of trying to find out the nature and qualities of the thing or person tested. Jesus is not being tempted to sin as much as he is being tested to find out who he is: Satan repeatedly asks: “if you are or since you are …” in an attempt to discover what it means to be “the son of God”. Satan seems to have clear ideas about what this involves.
In our lives we discover that many people have ideas about who we are and how we should behave; and listening to them can draw us away from our true identity, as Eve learns when she listens to the serpent.
Jesus’ answer to the demands and expectations that others have of him is to return to his identity as a beloved child of God; he is as God has made him nothing more and nothing less.
Lent is not a test for us to pass or fail. It is a time for us to return to the ground of our being and remember who we are. It is about discovering once more that the only true and important thing about us is that we are beloved children of God.
Lent it is not about self-improvement. It is about self-discovery.