WEBVTT
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In the name of Jesus.
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Amen.
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The text of the Samaritan woman at the well is seldom set in the
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context of the Gospel's broader presentation of Jesus as one who bears
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the Holy Spirit and the one who gives the Holy Spirit.
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In John One, we hear the Baptist testify to this when he says, the one
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on whom you see the Spirit descend and remain, he is the one who
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baptizes with the Holy Spirit.
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Messiah bears the Spirit in order to give the Spirit to others,
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including the Samaritan woman.
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In John Four, Jesus promises living water to the Samaritan woman on
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the basis of John Seven, where Jesus teaches that out of the heart of
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those who believe in him will flow rivers of living water.
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We know that this living water he promises to the woman is the Holy
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Spirit, the gift of God.
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It is the Spirit whom Jesus will give to all who believe in him when
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he's glorified on the cross.
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Here in John Four, Jesus includes the woman in this promise.
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She will receive from Jesus the indwelling of the Spirit, who will
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flow from her like a spring of water, welling up to eternal life.
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The Spirit is the water of life that quenches all spiritual thirst,
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and life is never the same after you drink this water.
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The blessings that follow from Jesus giving of the Spirit to the
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Samaritan woman are many.
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But all point to one thing the end of the old life.
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Life according to the flesh and the beginning of a new life, a new
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birth from above.
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Life according to the Spirit who comes from Jesus.
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Remember those before and after commercials?
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Before picture bad.
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The old way of doing things.
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After picture great.
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A new look, a new life.
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The pictures show
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significant change, a stark contrast between the old and the new.
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If anyone is in Christ, he's a new creation.
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The old has gone, the new has come.
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Or, in John's language, the flesh profits nothing
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but the Spirit gives life. Before and after
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it's a bit like going to the optometrist for a checkup.
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You see better than before with that new prescription, a new set of
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glasses to help you see more clearly, more abundantly. Jesus life given
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words
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bring with them the life given Spirit, the gift that endures. Who
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dwells permanently in the saints, in the Samaritan woman, too.
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And now she's as good as new.
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She sees life in a new way, not through the eyes of the flesh that
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profits nothing, but with the eyes of the Spirit who points her to
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Jesus as Messiah, her source of abundant life.
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Before and after life is never the same after you drink this water.
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There are a series of stark before and after contrasts in the life of
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the Samaritan woman. Before life, or between life before Jesus and life
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after knowing seeing Jesus.
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And the difference lies in the gift of the Spirit who moves the
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Samaritan woman's life in another direction.
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Here are some of those contrasts.
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First, before the gift of the Spirit, the Samaritan woman can only see
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life in terms of her lineage her ancestors linked to Jacob, his son
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Joseph and the Blessed
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Well. After the gift of the Spirit, the Samaritan woman sees her life
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in terms of a more lasting lineage in terms of a more enduring
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relationship with God through belief in Jesus, who is greater than
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Jacob and his son Joseph. United to Jesus.
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wedded to Him
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she now belongs to a new family, the spiritual fellowship of those who
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put their trust in Messiah.
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She becomes a member of the church.
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She becomes an adopted child of God by the gift of the Spirit of the
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Son.
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Or to use John's language from the paraclete passages she will not be
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left orphaned if she lets go of that well, for Jesus will send to her
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the living water of the Spirit an enduring, abiding, indwelling
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presence.
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The Spirit who will living her and others like her in the unity of a
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new family, in the unity of the Church, where we become each other's
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brothers and sisters in Christ. Where we become spiritual mothers and
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sons to one another.
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Mother, here is your son.
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Son, here is your mother.
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That's the family that the Spirit brings about, and the Samaritan
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woman is a part of it.
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Another contrast before the gift of the Spirit, the Samaritan woman
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can only see devotion to God in terms of a particular dear holy place,
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Mount Gerizim, where the Samaritans worshipped.
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After the gift of the Spirit, the woman sees devotion to God not so
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much in terms of a place, but in terms of Jesus, who is God's truth.
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She now worships God in truth, in the Spirit and truth. Or to use
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familiar language, she worships the Father through the Son by the Holy
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Spirit, because Jesus is God's tabernacle, the temple, God's presence
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in our midst.
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One not need look for God in Mount Gerizim, nor in Jerusalem for that
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matter, where the temple is.
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Instead, the Spirit opens the eyes of the woman to know God and come
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to him through his Son, Jesus Christ.
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God has come to her in Jesus, and she sees this
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what she could not see before.
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The Spirit points her not to a holy place or building, but to a holy
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person, a Holy one.
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Jesus the Word may flesh and to his words of life.
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Another contrast.
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Before the gift of the Spirit, the Samaritan woman could only see life
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in terms of her unfulfilled relationships with her previous husbands.
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She's a sinner or a victim, an object of guilt or shame.
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After the gift of the Spirit, she finds the fullness of life in Jesus
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and in telling her people about him, a new found joy in union with
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Christ.
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Wedded spiritually to him, she finds all that she needs.
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Through her union with Jesus, any sins now are washed away.
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Her honor is fully restored.
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And more than that and because of that, she becomes a witness to
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Jesus, an agent, an instrument of his mission in the world.
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Brothers and sisters in Christ, are we that different from this woman?
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Jesus also gives to you at your Baptismal
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Well, the same Holy Spirit he promised to that woman. The same water
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that fill her with abundant life, the same gift of God abides in you.
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And so the same is true for you.
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Life is never the same after you drink this water.
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You know, like the Samaritan woman, we too at times find identity in
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our heritage and lineage, whether ethnic or religious, whether
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temporal or spiritual.
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Maybe we are not attached to names like Jacob or Joseph, but perhaps
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the names of our families or the names of our spiritual fathers and
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mothers in the faith.
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These names can, of course, be good, but they can also get in the way
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of the fullness of life if they displace the name of Christ from the
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center of it all.
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So the Spirit gently leads us.
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Sometimes he gives us what I call the Holy Ghost
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kick in the pants.
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Leads us to find our identity once again in Christ.
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Just as he led that woman to put her trust in Messiah.
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Life is never the same after you drink this water.
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You know, like the Samaritan woman, we too can find devotional,
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inspiration in venerable places, in holy buildings and
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institutions and traditions.
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These things could be good too, but they can also get in the way of
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true devotion.
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The means becomes the end, but the Spirit does not let that happen.
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The spirit ultimately leads us, pushes gently to worship in spirit and
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truth, to seek God not in holy places per se, but where Holy Jesus
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promises to be present and to come to us in his life giving words.
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Spoken even now from the pulpit, at the font, at the altar and
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wherever two or three brothers and sisters gather in his name to share
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the Gospel in mutual consolation and comfort. Life is never the same
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after you drink this water.
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And like the Samaritan woman, we too could see our lives as one of
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limitations, disappointments, failures, sins.
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We have sinned and we have been sinned against.
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We have shamed others and we have been shamed.
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And we could dwell on these things that bring guilt and shame and
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relive them in our minds and in our hearts.
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We need healing, we need restoration.
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Rather than dwelling on these things, Jesus sends the Spirit to dwell
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in us, to assure us of his ever present companionship and love for us.
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Spirit to dwell in us, to bind our wounds, to forgive and restore, and
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to make us then also joyful participants in Christ's mission to tell
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others in our community Messiah
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has come.
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Come and see that the Lord is good. Friends in Christ.
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People of the Spirit, Jesus has indeed quenched your thirst for
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abundant life.
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Indeed, Jesus has breathed new life into us, refresh us us with an
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enduring gift by sending us the gift of the Holy Spirit, the living
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water, by his abiding indwelling in us.
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May the Holy Spirit ever renew us to see with new eyes, to know Jesus
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more deeply and abundantly in our lives.
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Let us pray.
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Come, Holy Spirit, creator, blessed and in our souls, take up thy
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rest.
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Come with thy grace and heavenly aid to fill the hearts which thou
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hast made. In the name of Jesus.
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Amen.