Beyond Labels

This past Sunday was the third Sunday of Lent, the Sermon Title was “Beyond Labels.” The Psalm was 95: 1-5 and the Scripture reading was Exodus 17:1-7 and John 4:1-19.

Labels and Titles are handy when one needs to sort things out. Labels are not so great when they’re used to sort some people into categories like slut, homo or gay, liar, cheat or traitor to distinguish them from righteous people, people who adhere to the Law, have a high regard for the Truth and a keen sense of Justice.

My home church has a long history of seeking social justice. It’s an affirming congregation. We have two lead ministers. One is openly gay and married. The other is straight and married.  So, this past Sunday’s sermon piqued my curiosity. I asked myself. “What is our straight minister getting at?”

In his sermon, the Minister simply reiterated the traditional version of Jesus’ encounter at the Well of Sa Maria. The way the story is traditionally told, one thinks of the Woman who went to draw water at the well in Sa Maria as some kind of social outcast because according to traditional teaching, respectable women, women with the right titles come to draw water in the cool of the morning. They don’t come at Noon as this Woman did.

Back in the day at a little church I attended when I was a new mom not yet 30, people said the Woman of Sa Maria was a slut. I protested saying just because the Woman had had five husbands and the man she is currently with (in the story) is not her husband does not make her a slut. I argued the 5 husbands could have been the 5 books of Moses and the Man she was currently with could have been Jesus.

The more I protested and tried to convince the then male Minister and the other women in the Bible Study, the more they scolded me, silenced me and told me to read the commentaries of trained theologians.

As last Sunday’s Sermon unfolded, the Minister praised Jesus for his theological and deep metaphorical thinking and contrasted it to the Woman’s thinking as if she was an unschooled homemaker incapable of conversing with a renowned Teacher with many disciples (schooled in Latin, Hebrew and Greek) at a deep philosophical, theological and spiritual level.

My mind leaped to another story, the Minster told that morning. It was a story about a man needing an operation during the middle ages.

The man was an unkempt man of no apparent means. So, the operating physicians thinking this unkempt man was uneducated spoke freely to one another in Latin, the language of their profession. They thought he was a loser, someone who didn’t have a chance of living and someone who did not deserve their attention.

To their surprise, the unkempt man responded to what the physicians had said by quoting the well-known Christian scripture verse “whatever you do for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you do for me”—in Latin.

This past Sunday’s sermon like so many others cues the listener to pay attention to the Woman’s response. She runs off to tell people about this prophetic Teacher who she met during the Noon recess of a summer conference.  As she runs off, she leaves her jug behind.

Now if you know a little Greek and know who the man is who was speaking with her that day. You would know that he is familiar to many who have made the trek to the Samaritan Gorge.  You would also know it is essential to carry a jug, a κανάτα (pronounced Canada) to collect spring water along the way.

Today just as it was back in the day, Jesus is the Woman speaking with the Rabboni, the Teacher who speaks Latin, Hebrew, Greek and Aramaic and even German. They are calling the people of the jug she left behind when she first rushed off. They are inviting them to sit down with her, the Teacher and his staff in the platonic tradition of symphilosophein to secure peace and eco-justice http://www.oac.gr/en/

Yet, still today many people educated in the best schools think the Woman is a loser, someone not worth their time, someone who has not been formerly trained in theology or philosophy, let alone environmental science. So, they are ignoring her invitation to attend Ecothee 17, an eco-justice symposium. Perhaps, they like the physicians in the Minister’s story have written her and this call off as a lost cause. There are so many credentialed women and just causes needing their time and money.

Rightly so, Jesus is a community of believers who live in love and share the Gospel and their faith in the one the disciples have recognized and called Jesus for 2 thousand years. Teachers and disciples all over the world know Jesus died, rose again and then ascended into the sky to live with God the father. Scripture bears witness to the event. The community of Bethany saw it happen (Luke 24:51).

The notion that Jesus will return at the end history to separate the goats from the sheep and toss weeds and unbelievers into a fiery furnace, an energy system, seems like science fiction (Matthew 13: 24-30). Nobody really believes it will happen.

Yet the Woman inviting people to come see the Samaria Gorge believes the planet can develop a sustainable energy system that includes fossil fuel so that every nation has enough clean energy to shine like the sun and pump life giving water to every city and person. See my paper “Biofuel: Wild Plants Among the Wheat” http://www.lindavogtturner.ca/papers.html Many environmentalists disagree.

Environmental protesters think the only way nations can deliver clean potable water to nations, cities and farming communities is to keep the oil in the soil and to stop mining coal. They mistrust business interests and refuse to trust research and development engineers that promise to develop, use and deliver oil and coal “cleanly.”

In this Sunday’s Gospel reading Jesus makes a promise to her. He says, “those who drink of the water that I will give them will never be thirsty. The water that I will give will become in them a spring of water gushing up to eternal life” (John 4:14).

The Hebrew Testament reading this past Sunday came from Exodus 17:1-7. In this passage, people are quarreling with Moses. They are thirsty and badly in need of water. So, Adonai commands Moses to use his staff and strike a certain rock that Adonai stands upon. As Moses obeys the LORD, water gushes forth. Adonai is the plural of the Hebrew word, for “adon,” the Hebrew word for Lord. Exodus is the Greek word for “the way out”.

At the close of Sunday’s Worship.  When many people were making their way out. Those nearby saw the Woman turn to a woman sitting in the pew beside her. Heard her say. “The Greek word for ‘jug’ is Canada.”

The other woman loudly replied. “How can that be? Did the Greeks steal the word from us? It’s an Iroquois name meaning village.

Then another elderly woman on the other side of the Woman, said. “Don’t you know, the Service is not over.”

The Woman apologized and said. “Yes, you’re right. I should have known better. The Postlude is part of the Service. I’m sorry the Spirit caused me to speak.”

With the closing notes of the Postlude, the Woman rose and turned around, for she was sitting in the front row with the two women she spoke to and other members of the Gospel Choir. Looking back, the Woman waived to a local black musician and song writer well known to many in the congregation. He was standing alone, off to the right in the aisle, beside a stone pillar.

Making her way towards him, she bent and spoke to an elderly black woman saying. “Don’s here, I’m going to go say hi.” Then the Woman walked down the aisle on her left to where the local musician stood and planted a kiss gently on his black mouth.

This man can’t be the Rock from which Moses and Jesus draw their water? Can he? (Exodus 17: 6; John 4:14).