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Third Sunday In Lent
St. Stephen’s Anglican Church
The Rev. Jeffrey O. Cerar, March 23, 2014


The Glory of God is Our Joy

Text: John 4:5-42

During Lent this year we are reading some long passages out of the Gospel according to St. John. We are lingering over these stories, because they are a gold mine. The treasure in them is what they tell us about the character of God. We are looking at Jesus as He teaches, challenges, blesses and heals people along the way. And in the character of Jesus, we see the character of God. God’s character is the source of our confidence. Our confidence and our hope as Christians come not from our circumstances, but from the character of God.

This story today is about a woman whom Jesus met at a well in Samaria. He and the disciples were traveling through Samaria on their way from Judea to Galilee. They were hungry and thirsty. They stopped at a well on the outskirts of the town of Sychar. The disciples went into town to get some food, and Jesus stayed by the well. A woman came along to fill her water jar at the well and take it back home. Jesus engaged her in conversation, and the story that we love so much about the woman at the well began to unfold.

Why do we love this story so much? We love it because it is about the grace of God falling upon a woman who hadn’t seen much grace in her life. And, I suspect, we find hope in the fact that she was saved by Jesus; and if He saved a wretch like her, He can save a wretch like me. It is, then, a story of hope.

But last Thursday evening, Tad deBordenave spoke about Jonathan Edwards, the great 18th-century American theologian and preacher. As I listened, there came into focus in my mind a deeper understanding of what there is to love about this story. And that is what I want to share with you today. It is about the character of God, in which is our hope. But it is also about the Glory of God in which is our great joy.

First, let us pay close attention to the details of the story, and then I will tell you what I mean about God’s glory and our joy.

Samaria was a place that first-century Jews looked at as the other side of the tracks. They hated the Samaritans for several historical reasons, some of which weren’t even accurate. Jews traveling between Judea and Galilee would have wanted to keep moving and get through there as quickly as possible. That is why John says in verse 4, “They had to go through Samaria.” It couldn’t be avoided. The place where the story happened was of historical significance, because the well in that town was dug by the ancestor Jacob. John tells us it was about the 6th hour, which means noon. It was the hot part of the day, and along came the woman to draw water. The fact that it was in the heat of the day means something. Normally, people would wait until it was cooler to come and carry back a heavy jar of water. That would be when all the other women of Sychar would come out to Jacob’s well. But this woman came alone, because she was not honored by her own people. She was an outcast among the hated people of Samaria. From the perspective of the Jews of Jesus’ time, that made her the lowest of the low. There is more to know about her, and we shall get to that in a minute.

First, we note that Jesus started the conversation. He asked her to draw him some water. In her own words, John tells us why that was surprising. Jewish men didn’t talk to Samaritan women. But Jesus had a higher purpose than just getting a drink. He wanted to say something to her about eternal life. So when she expressed surprise about his asking her for water, Jesus said to her,

If you knew the gift of God and who it is that asks you for a drink, you would have asked him and he would have given you living water. [John 4:10]

The woman, of course, was thinking in literal, earthly terms, as was Nicodemus when Jesus said he had to be born again. She asked Jesus to give her some of this water so she wouldn’t have to keep coming back to the well. Many sermons have been preached on this part of the story, but let’s not stop here. Let’s continue with Jesus as He shifts the topic. “Go get your husband,” He told her.

Aha. Jesus knew all about this woman in His spirit. She had no husband, and Jesus said to her,

You are right when you say you have no husband. The fact is, you have had five husbands, and the man you now have is not your husband. [John 4:17-18]

She was startled that Jesus knew all about her, and she perceived that He was a prophet. She commented on their different styles of worship, and Jesus spoke about true worshipers, and about worshiping God in spirit and truth. Many sermons have been preached on this verse. But let’s keep moving. The conversation continued, and the woman began to suspect that Jesus was the Messiah. And He admitted to her that He was. In fact, she may have been the first person to hear Him admit that. She went running back into town, telling everyone to come out and meet this man she had met. “Could this be the Messiah?” she asked. (John 4:29)

Amazingly, they believed her testimony and ran out with her to see this man. And at the end of the story, we learn that many Samaritans became believers because of her testimony. Samaria was a place where the disciples later had considerable success in spreading the Gospel. It probably was because of what happened with this woman at the well in Sychar that day.

Now, I want to go back to what Jesus knew about the woman to begin to talk about the glory of God. Anyone who has been married five times obviously has a problem. No matter what the various contributors may be, five failed marriages show that something is out of whack. It is easy to assume Jesus was pointing to her sin. But in that culture, women rarely divorced men. Men divorced women. This woman may have had five men throw her out. Just imagine what she thought of herself. Can you hear her say to herself, “Nobody wants me. I’m no good. No matter what I do, I must not be loveable.” And we know already that she was an outcast, forced to come out to the well alone in the heat of the day. The other women didn’t want her to join their camaraderie. What John is showing us is a woman at the bottom.

Why is it that God delights in taking the lowest of the low and doing wondrous things through them? It all has to do with God’s glory, and God’s joy. What is glory? Glory, true glory, is something that belongs to God alone. Glory is the essence of God:

God’s glory is all these things, perfect, complete, unparalleled, and absolute. God’s glory is who God is. And it is so magnificent and beyond our imagination that it surprises us, delights us and gives us great joy to behold even a small encounter with God’s glory.

Now the fact that God is complete, perfect and absolute means that He needs nothing. He does not need to display His glory. But He delights in doing so, just because of who He is. He delights in giving us joy in our glimpses of His glory.

So here is the thought that may be eye-opening to you as it was to me on Thursday evening. The lower and more pitiful and more wretched a thing is, the better an instrument it is for the display of God’s glory. It is a marvelous thing when a person in abject need reflects God’s glory. It is a cause for rejoicing when a person who is sick, or whose body is all broken reflects God’s glory. And God wants us to have that joy.

We are all touched and inspired by stories about people who have overcome great adversity to triumph at something. There was a woman who won a medal for cross country skiing this month at the Special Olympics. She had no legs. She had already won many marathons for athletes in wheelchairs. But she wanted to compete in the Olympics, so she learned to ski just a few months ago, went to Socchi, and won a medal. A triumph of the human spirit, the commentators call it. A clear instance of man’s glory.

Well ratchet that up a hundred thousand times. Think about God choosing broken people to take His love and spread the good news of eternal life. Nick Vujicic is a man who was born with no arms or legs. He was ridiculed as a child. He was lonely. He considered suicide. But he grew up to become a powerful evangelist. He travels all over the world encouraging people with handicaps, and telling them about the saving love of Jesus.

Joni Eareckson-Tada is an American woman who broke her neck at the age of 17 and has been paralyzed from the waist down ever since. Now, a woman of 65, she paints beautiful pictures holding a brush in her teeth, and she has many ministries in which she shares the love and truth of Jesus.

Now ratchet that up again. Think about the human race from God’s perspective. We have none of His glory whatsoever. In fact, we are lost in sin. He knows what He made us to be, and He knows the miserable mess we are by comparison. The Bible is clear about it. “All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.” (Romans 2:23) In God’s perfect wisdom, love and grace, He decided that it is through us wretched sinners that He is going to manifest His glory. The lowest of the low. Some are poor, some are rich. Some are weak, some are strong. Some are smart, some are not. Some are beautiful, some are not. But every one of us is a sinner, totally undeserving of any reward or honor from God. And He zeroes in on us to show His glory. He started by picking Abraham and sending him on mission. He set apart the Hebrew people. He sent His only Son, Jesus, the Messiah into the world. And Jesus established the community of those who believe in Jesus, which we call the Church. Ephesians 3:10-11 says,

[God’s] intent was that now, through the church, the manifold wisdom of God should be made known to the rulers and authorities in the heavenly realms, according to his eternal purpose which he accomplished in Christ Jesus our Lord.

That is just mind boggling. God has claimed this community of sinners as His own, and it is through us, the Church, that He intends to manifest His glory. What a glorious God it takes to transform undeserving sinners and give them eternal life with Him.

And it is our great joy to be here to witness and experience firsthand and to marvel at God’s glory. We see right before our eyes God’s power, and love, and goodness, and majesty, and His compassion, mercy, wisdom, truth and purity. And when we do, our sin and our guilt and our unworthiness fall into the background as we rejoice in God’s glory. For the glory of the Lord is our joy.

Let’s go back to the woman at the well in Samaria. She was a sinner. But Jesus could have picked anybody for the role he picked her for. Everyone He ever encountered was a sinner, no less than any other. But there was something more about this woman. She was an outcast. She was desperate to find real love. She had found it in all the wrong places. She had been rejected by every man she had married, and she was having an affair with #6. In God’s reckoning, she was the perfect vehicle for God to show His glory. He transformed her into a believer and a witness. And through her, the Gospel spread in Samaria, Through her, God’s glory shone brightly. And you can be certain that for maybe the first time in her life, the woman at the well in Sychar knew true joy. For the glory of God is our joy.

He has that same blessing for you. As you get in touch with your sinfulness and unworthiness this Lent, you are opening yourself to realize how amazing it is that God has chosen you to express His glory. Go ahead and experience the joy. That is God’s great gift to you. It is the power and compassion and mercy of God that takes us

Celebrate! Shout for joy. Sing praises to God in heaven. For His glory is your joy.

© Jeffrey O. Cerar, 2014

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