February 24, 2008

John 4:5–42

Romans 5:1–11

Third Sunday in Lent, Year A

Trinity Church, Valparaiso, Indiana

In the Name of the Father, and of the + Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

Newer members do not join Trinity mostly because our worship space looks as a church should look, or because of the music or the youth program or the pastors or even the preaching. If you ask newer members why they chose to become a part of Trinity, the most common reason is simply because we are a
friendly church.

I have always thought of myself as a friendly sort of person. I do not spend my time getting angry with the person who cuts in front of me on the freeway, or the person whose politics differs from mine. I have always been accepting of other people, regardless of whether they might be white, black, or some other ethnic “color.” Coming from California, I long ago gave up any concern over those who speak with an accent or those who cannot even speak English.

It was easy to be without racial prejudice in the sleepy little town in which I was raised. None of “those people” ever came to live in our little town. When an African-American family moved onto a farm far outside our little town, their house mysteriously caught fire and burned late one evening. One of my high school classmates suddenly disappeared from classes, only to return a year later amidst our scandalous whispers of her having given birth to a child. In my sleepy little town, our schoolteachers were model citizens, except for the junior high school teacher who was suddenly arrested one night for being a homosexual and never seen again.

My home parish was a friendly place where I always felt accepted and loved. In the years immediately following World War II, I never quite understood why the choir stopped singing “Silent Night, Holy Night” in German on Christmas Eve. Being a German Lutheran was not something you were proud of being. In my little church, we never had any scandals, except for Mr. and Mrs. Brown who, upon their divorce, suddenly stopped coming to church, sold their house, moved out of town.

Jesus had a habit of always associating with all the wrong people. Jesus had a habit of always loving the unlovable. “A Samaritan woman came to draw water, and Jesus said to her, ‘Give me a drink.’…The Samaritan woman said to him, ‘How is it that you, a Jew, ask a drink of me, a woman of Samaria?’…Jesus answered her, ‘If you knew the gift of God, and who it is that is saying to you, “Give me a drink,” you would have asked him, and he would have given you living water.’…The water that I will give will become in them a spring of water gushing up to eternal life.’…The woman said to him, ‘I know that Messiah is coming”…Jesus said to her, ‘I am he, the one who is speaking to you.’…Then the woman…said to the people, ‘Come and see a man who told me everything I have ever done! He cannot be the Messiah, can he?’…Many Samaritans from that city believed in him because of the woman’s testimony.”

Jesus was known as a friendly guy. The only problem was that Jesus was friendly with all the wrong people. In his conversation with the Samaritan woman at the well, Jesus broke all the rules of acceptable and respectable behavior. Jesus had a conversation with a woman to whom he was not married. Jesus also dared to talk with a despised Samaritan, a follower of a false religion. Jesus discussed the woman’s faith, without once damning her to hell. Jesus reached out to a despised woman with his gift of undeserved acceptance and love. Her life was never
again the same.

Every sinner who enters this church should experience not only that we are a friendly people, but also that we are a forgiving people. Saint Paul writes, “For while we were still weak, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly…God proves his love for us in that while we still were sinners Christ died for us.” That is Good News worth living. That is Good News worth sharing. That is Good News worth being in the lives of others.

Being a friendly church is important. More than being friendly, however, Jesus calls you and me to be loving and accepting of all other sinners, just as Jesus loves and accepts you. In Holy Baptism, Jesus did not call you and me to be friendly. Jesus calls you and me to be forgiving. Being a friendly church comes from living together at the foot of the cross. At Trinity, being forgiving—and friendly—is not an option; being forgiving as Christ is forgiving is our reason for being here in the first place. The next time you see a visitor in our midst, see him for the forgiven sinner he is. The next time someone at Trinity dares to be somewhat less than perfect, see her for the forgiven sinner she is. “For while we were still weak…God proves his love for us in that while we still were sinners Christ died for us.” That is Good News worth living. That is Good News worth sharing. That is Good News worth being in the lives of others.

Amen.

John Joseph Santoro +