John 4: 1- 26
Grace makes beauty, out of ugly things.
Have you ever really screwed up? I mean, not just done something you know you shouldn’t have but something so big feel unable to look anyone in the face, especially the people that love you? Most of us have, and it is a difficult time to go through.
Now I’ve messed up plenty of times, and give you a long list of people who can vouch for that, but thankfully there have only been a couple of events where the world has felt like it is caving in on me. The pain here is not really about the actions, as wrong as they were, but about the relationship broken.
Often when I screw up, I can handle it in certain situations, I acknowledge the wrongdoing and work to change, but then, in those moments when you face the one you have hurt so deeply, you just fall apart, unable to go on.
A few years ago I did something that was really wrong, that hurt someone I love terribly. It is the most significant breach of trust I have ever committed. It was a painful time, and healing continues. What is most powerful to me is the grace extended to me by the one I wronged. It has changed me, made me a better person. Grace comes in the relationship.
This morning we will spend some time exploring the story of the Samaritan woman’s encounter with Jesus at the well along with hearing from some among us who have experienced grace. Maybe you too will want a share a moment of grace experienced.
A moment ago I referred to the Samaritan woman’s ‘encounter with Jesus’. And that isn’t the right word. It is about a relationship. The time spent physically together may not have been long but the impact was significant and real.
It has been suggested that this woman came at noon, during the heat of the day, because she knew no one would be there. All the other women would have drawn water in the morning, when it was cool. This was an opportunity to go to the well, most likely a common meeting place, alone. Now imagine with me, as I take some poetic license that I know the theologian in my family wouldn’t do. A woman with five ex-husbands and living with another might not be the most respected woman in the city. Perhaps she would prefer not to run into too many people during her daily routine.
Is there shame? Perhaps. I know that I have often avoided people when dealing with guilt. You just wants to run and hide don’t you? One of the hardest things my kids struggle with is facing up to their mistakes. It probably isn’t unique to me, or my children.
So here is this woman, attempting to grab her water and high-tail it back to her home, and she is confronted by a man, a Jewish man no less.
“Give me a drink” – What, no please?
It sounds like a simple request, a tired, hot traveler at the edge of a well but no way to get water.
And yet the woman is surprised, and rightly so. She wonders what a Jew is doing asking a Samaritan for water. I am not sure if I can make a good comparison for us today, as we try so hard to be open to all faiths and religions, but this is not a conversation that anyone would expect to see. Jesus is crossing gender and ethnic lines here, beginning a relationship that is quite unusual.
As the conversation continues, and the relationship builds, it becomes apparent to the woman that she is not talking to an ordinary man. He knows things about her that shame her and yet he offers her life. There is no reason for this woman to expect this gift.
Jesus says to her, “Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again, 14but whoever drinks the water I give him will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life.”
15The 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.”
The conversation continues, and Jesus observes the sin of her life. And here, for me, is where it starts to get interesting.
Grace can be offered, and often is, long before it is realized to be grace. At first this woman didn’t fully understood the gift being extended to her by this man who not only knew all that she had done, but had the power to forgive her for it.
Jesus was stepping into a relationship, wanting to build something powerful. What is amazing to me is that we have a God who, after all we have done, still wants a relationship. Still wants to talk to us and allow us to really develop intimacy.
Grace – there has to be acknowledgement of sin, of wrong-doing, in order to make Grace real. I think the power of grace comes in not simply knowing how badly you have acted, but more significantly how deeply you have hurt someone. When you understand the burden they are carrying because of your actions.
It is looking to someone and saying, “Do you know what I have done?”
“Yes, I do, and I am paying for it.”
“And yet you love me? And forgive me?”
“Yes, and I want a relation with you.”
Grace makes beauty, out of ugly things.
Later, in the piece of this story we didn’t read, she goes back to the city and shares her story with everyone. This telling results in many believing that Jesus was the savior. It seems she got it.
For me, I knew I had screwed up, royally, and I felt bad about it. I lived with that guilt for a while and the forgiveness offered by the one I hurt was a healing balm and necessary. What blew me away, however, was when I realized, when
it finally hit home, how much I had hurt the one I loved. I could be forgiven, and the wrongdoing of my action is wiped clean.
The one I wronged, the person hurt by my actions, has to live, and in the case of Christ die, with that pain.
For us, I think grace becomes cheapened when we fail to acknowledge that hurt, that intense pain. Knowing we have done something wrong is one part of the equation but if we know how much we are loved we will begin to understand how deep is the grace that is offered. It is not only knowing what you did was wrong, but understanding the depth of how someone was wronged.
The Samaritan woman came to realize that not only did Jesus know what she had done, but by acknowledging him as Savior, acknowledging that saving act, just how much pain she has caused him.
For us, admitting the sin, the actions that have caused pain is first step, the grace really starts to flow, to become real, to change our world, when we become fully aware of the depth of the pain we have caused Christ, and the yet how much Christ still desires relationship with us.
It is in that relationship, it is in that love, that Grace makes beauty, out of ugly things.
* * * *
Moments of Grace
What are your moments of grace? How have you experienced this?
A number of you have how come prepared to share, and I have a couple of pieces I will read from those who couldn’t be here this morning.
Audrey Wichert – has two minutes of something to share.
Pepper Parr – sent me the following
The Grace of God – I have to admit to not really knowing what that was before I walked through the doors of this church some six years ago.
It was when Lydia Harder was telling an Adult Education class about an occasion when she and Gary were visiting with neighbours and left the house of the neighbours on poor terms. Lydia told us how she and Gary knew they had to return to their neighbours that night and “make things right” – which they did.
That was my first inkling of what was meant by God’s grace.
I learned that when I have offended someone the person I offend has an obligation to tell me what I’ve done and I have an obligation to apologize to the person I offended. My apology must come from my heart. It must be visceral, real and the person to whom I make this apology must accept it. And their acceptance must be as real and profound as my apology.
It is when an apology is given and accepted that the grace of God settles on the people involved. Lydia Harder taught me that and I am grateful. Does that mean I’ve not offended anyone since that day? I’m afraid not.
But it is what I learned the Mennonite community means when they speak of being accountable to each other and for each other.
It is not as easy as I just made it sound.
If I did not mean to offend someone but they nevertheless felt offended – do I still need to apologize? I have learned the answer to that question is – yes.
For if you feel offended, God’s grace cannot enter into my relationship with you if I do not apologize. That I believe is what God’s grace is all about. I hope I did not offend you by saying that.
Ed Heese
When I was in my early 20s, I was hospitalized and Aeltester J.J. Thiessen from First Mennonite came to visit me. When he was leaving, he blessed me with the benediction from Numbers 6:
“The LORD bless you
and keep you;
25 the LORD make his face shine upon you
and be gracious to you;
26 the LORD turn his face toward you
and give you peace.” ‘
I was young and at the time, it felt a little awkward. But it has become a memory which is, perhaps not quite a spring of living water welling up, but certainly a place to which to retreat and draw comfort and strength to continue.
U2
Grace
She takes the blame
She covers the shame
Removes the stain
It could be her name
Grace
It’s a name for a girl
It’s also a thought that changed the world
And when she walks on the street
You can hear the strings
Grace finds goodness in everything
Grace, she’s got the walk
Not on
a ramp or on chalk
She’s got the time to talk
She travels outside of karma
She travels outside of karma
When she goes to work
You can hear her strings
Grace finds beauty in everything
Grace, she carries a world on her hips
No champagne flute for her lips
No twirls or skips between her fingertips
She carries a pearl in perfect condition
What once was hurt
What once was friction
What left a mark
No longer stings
Because grace makes beauty
Out of ugly things
Grace makes beauty out of ugly things