John | The Irreverent Reverend

Lent 3: Well well well!

Annibale Carracci ‘Christ and the Samaritan Woman‘

8/3/26
Lent 3
Exodus 17:1-7
Psalm 95
Romans 5:1-11
John 4:5-42

There are many studies, psychological and otherwise, that try to measure willingness to change. It takes a lot of effort and intention to make changes in our lives; this is when we are willing too! We only need to watch the news from the Middle East to witness the massive and generally unwanted changes that are occurring to millions of people. For some it might be short-term and others it will be irrevocable. It can put into perspective the changes we might be facing.

The stories of the Israelites and the woman at the well are about change. Moses had led the people out of slavery in Egypt to the promised land. They are struggling to connect with God’s past actions with their present needs; the default position is to panic and complain.

The woman seems unlikely to believe that her life will ever change. She is being offered salvation in the course of a single conversation; can’t be that easy can it?!

God’s mercy is all around them even though they cannot or will not see it. God’s mercy is all around us too. Mercy comes in many ways and in these two stories I want to talk about it coming physically, socially and spiritually.

Physically

Moses had only recently led the Israelites across the Red Sea to escape slavery in Egypt. On arrival into the wilderness of Shur, the lack of water is a big issue. The first water found at Marah was bitter and undrinkable. The Israelites’ reaction is to complain to Moses who in turn cries out to God. God does what God does and provides Moses with a piece of wood to be thrown into the water to make it sweet.

God then leads Moses and his people to Elim, where they camp by 12 springs of water and 70 palm trees. Lots of water and life is good. But they have to move on and lack of water again becomes a problem. Same response: complain to Moses with even more anger than last time; blame him for the exodus because he wants to kill them, their children and livestock. Woe is us!

God responds again by providing more water. This time Moses must strike the rock at Horeb. Water comes out and the people drink. Problem solved, for now.

What does this say to us today?

God provides. In a world of war and uncertainty this is still true. God provides all that we need. We do need to cry out though to make our needs known to God and to others. Mercy is all around. God uses other people to answer our prayers and uses us to answer the prayers of others. He gave us family, friends and our church family. Look at the people sitting around you, they could be the answer to your prayer. They can certainly help to meet any needs you might have right now but they do not know what they do not know.

Socially

The story of the Samaritan woman at the well is fascinating. She too has a physical need for water but her social circumstances dictated collecting her water when no one else was around. The well would have been a place of social gathering for the women of Sychar. Kind of like the modern-day equivalent of the workplace water cooler or village cafe.

But not for her. There was a lack of mercy and understanding.

The collection time is significant. Noon is the heat of the day. Who would want to schlep heavy jugs of water at the hottest point in the day? No one else would be doing this. She was on the margins of society. There is nothing to suggest she was a prostitute or promiscuous although that gets read into this story. There may have been many reasons for her five husbands. Maybe she married young. Her first husband could have died, and she was passed along to his brothers. She could have been infertile as there is no mention of children. She had no power to divorce her husband as that power was given only to the man.

Whatever the reason for her 5 husbands it might not have had much to do with her.

Then one day, she meets Jesus at the well, at the loneliest and hottest point of the day. There are huge social implications for Jesus and the disciples. In the wider story, Jesus and disciples are travelling around Judea and Galilee to teach, preach, heal, and cast out demons. They have arrived in Samaria, a place traditionally hostile to the Jews.

Jesus is not only in Samaria but talking to an unaccompanied, social outcast female Samaritan. Jewish men did not speak to lone women in order to avoid any form of sexual temptation or impropriety. Jesus is not bound by these conventions and the longest recorded conversation he ever has with anyone begins. This is an astonishing thought.

This woman on the margins, judged and looked down upon, with virtually no control over her situation gets the most face time with Jesus at the most socially active place in the city at the most deserted time.

What does this say to us today?

We were made to live in a community. We are born into them with our families. Think back to the isolation of Covid – a mere 6 years ago; the social and mental health implications of that time hangover many people. Some people live in isolation under normal conditions. There are people for whom any social isolation is the worst thing they can imagine.

There are some practical things we can do. There are people in the village who are isolated; if you know them, have you visited recently? If you are feeling isolated, make a list of things you could do around your house, a list of people to call, email or write to, a list of books to read or films to watch. Build a schedule – might sound silly but we all need purpose. I will be so crass as to suggest more prayer and Bible reading, it is Lent after all.

Despite our circumstances, Jesus will meet with us when we want to meet with him. The Samaritan woman was getting on with the business of everyday life when she met Jesus. He was waiting for her. He is waiting for us too.

Spiritually

There are many times when reading Gospel stories I would love to hear the original tone of voice. One commentary suggested that the woman comes across as cheeky, brave, vulnerable and a bit flirtatious. Jesus responds to her with warmth and humour yet continues to push her beyond the superficial. You can see a quick wit in her responses. Jesus responds on that level but everything he says has a serious point to it.

Jesus tells her that everyone who drinks the water from the well will be thirsty again, but those who drink the water He offers will never be thirsty ever. This water will become a spring of water gushing up to eternal life (John 4:13-14). This is of course the water that the Samaritan woman wants. She wants it because it will stop her from coming to the well by herself in the heat of the day to avoid the other women who judge and condemn her.

Jesus responds by asking her to call her husband, another external problem she has. By asking her to call husband six, Jesus shows that He knows what is going on internally too.

From a previous Lent study: ‘She longs for a more satisfying life. From freedom from the shame that made her go to the well when she expected no one else to be there. Jesus treats her with respect and dignity.’

The woman does admit that she knows that the Messiah is coming (verse 25) as an attempt to create even more distance. Yet again she is matched by Jesus. The Messiah she has in mind is safe and impersonal and won’t interfere too much in her daily life. That is not the Messiah she met though. She met the Messiah who very much wants to be involved in our lives and knows every detail.

What does this say to us?

Anyone else try to do that with Jesus? Try to distance and distract? Not letting Him get too involved in your everyday life and business. He wants to be with us – if we will let him! It is helpful to remember what Jesus doesn’t do: He didn’t tell her to sin no more, blame her, condemn her. Works with her where she is at.

She went away changed; the small but not insignificant detail of the left-behind water jug tells us that. She went for water as in H2O and came away having experienced some of the living water Jesus offers. She still had some doubt, ‘He cannot be the Messiah, can he?’ We are told at the end of the story that many Samaritans came to believe in Jesus because of her story.

It is a time of great uncertainty across the world. We may feel isolated, but we are not alone. Jesus is merciful; He is the living water we need to satisfy our thirst. He will provide for our physical needs as he did for Moses and the Israelites. He will provide for our social needs if we find ourselves alone at the well in the heat of the day. Jesus will meet our spiritual needs with his living water in whatever way we find ourselves isolated.

I will leave you with this final explanation for what the Samaritan woman found in Jesus that day. She had five husbands, was living with man number six, when she met Jesus, number seven. Seven, is the number associated with perfection. In Jesus, that woman met perfection. We too meet perfection in Jesus. Perfect grace, perfect mercy, perfect love.

Ash Wednesday: Trap, Truth & Transformation

Psalm 51:1-18
Joel 2:1-2, 12-17
John 8:1-11

This print is going to be the focus of my reflection today. It was painted by Pieter Bruegel the Elder in 1565 and now hangs in the Courtauld Gallery in London. It is entitled ‘Christ and the Women Taken in Adultery.’ This Gospel story has been painted by many others but none quite like Bruegel. The most striking feature is the different shades of grey. The greys represent the human response to sin; to point out the hypocrisy and the virtue of mercy that this Gospel story highlights so well.

The woman has literally been dragged from an adulterer’s bed and brought to the feet of Jesus. This is THE TRAP. The Pharisees are trying to trap Jesus using a woman’s public shame.

Her offence was punishable by death according to the law of Moses. The stakes are even higher for her. She is not looking at the crowd; but she is not looking directly down either. Her left ear is slightly cocked towards the crowd; maybe listening to what people are saying to her or about her.

We have all been trapped by sin. Maybe even publicly. Jesus came to free us from our shame by showing mercy. This is The Truth.

Jesus’s silence and response exposes the hypocrisy of the crowd, causing them to leave. The crowd, according to Bruegel, are showing the human reaction to being confronted with sin. The men closer to the front are much more exposed, a lighter grey than those at the back. Some are turning away, wanting to stay hidden, unexposed. The truth hurts much of the time!

The two men on the right are very exposed but notice their hands. One has his hands hidden under his cloak and the other’s hands are darker than the rest of his body. Their faces and mouths might say one thing yet their hands are telling another story. What is true? Our mouths and our hands need to match.

Every person in this picture except for Jesus is a sinner. Fortunately, this is not the end of the story for any of us. At the centre of this picture and in the most amount of light is Jesus. He is kneeling and writing in Dutch. Jesus is the best lit and most exposed person in this picture.

In this story Jesus is not who does the exposing but the scribes and Pharisees. He cares for this woman, protects her from death and puts her on a new path. The Truth is that we are loved and forgiven.

Finally, The Transformation (vv. 10-11): The shift from condemnation to grace (“Neither do I condemn thee”) and the command for a new life (“Go and sin no more”).

Many people fear being ‘found out’ whether for having done something wrong or by not being the person they present to the world. Some people have a view of God as being out to get them or expose them for their sins. God is the angry Father just waiting for a mistake to be made. Jesus does not condemn her as the crowd did. She does not get off the hook either as she is told to ‘Go and sin no more.’ She had some work to do.

Tom Wright says this about her forgiveness: “If she has been forgiven, if she’s been rescued from imminent death she must live by that forgiveness. Forgiveness is not the same as tolerance. Being forgiven doesn’t mean that sin doesn’t matter. On the contrary: forgiveness means that sin does matter but that God is choosing to set it aside.”

The same is true for us, if we have been forgiven then we must live by that forgiveness. We can all have this and do it. A clean heart and a new and right spirit. But we have to do some work first. Ash Wednesday is a time to reflect and pursue forgiveness of our sins. As Christians, the bigger issue is that we let things interfere in our relationship with Christ. It might seem small or insignificant but if we do not tend to these things or issues they can blow up at an exponential rate.

Ash Wednesday offers the chance to sit down in the ashes in some form of repentance to address our sin and brokenness. Sit down before you fall down. As we have seen from both the Gospel and the Psalms sin gets exposed. Sometimes rather publicly.

To come to a place of repentance is no small feat and is not for the faint of heart. It takes real courage to review ourselves and our actions, to acknowledge where and when we have been wrong, and been sinful. Repentance literally means to turn in the other direction and commit to change. It is only through Christ and being in Christ that death and sin are defeated.

Use this season of Lent to trade them in for the generous mercy and steadfast love that God has for you.

Epiphany 2: Who are you really?

Vaccaro, Andrea; The Infant Christ with the Infant Saint John the Baptist; The Bowes Museum; http://www.artuk.org/artworks/the-infant-christ-with-the-infant-saint-john-the-baptist-45149

2nd Sunday of Epiphany
18/1/26

Isaiah 49:1-7
1 Corinthians 1:1-9
John 1:29-42

In the Epiphany season we are encouraged to look, see and find afresh. The wise men saw a star, followed it and found Jesus, King Herod saw a threat and tried to eliminate it.

In John’s Gospel this morning, John the Baptist saw Jesus coming towards him – two days in a row! John called those around to look and see the Lamb of God. The Christian life is a continual cycle of looking, seeing and finding. It is part of what we are called to do.

It is rather fitting that the first recorded question Jesus asks his disciples is ‘what are you looking for?’ I think it is still a relevant question for us today too. In terms of your faith, what are you looking for? In those deep places within, what are the desires and drives of your faith?

As we move into a new year what are you hoping for, expecting, asking for, looking for in your Christian life? Anything? Nothing? Same Same? Something? Do you know? It is worth giving some time this week to ponder the question as though Jesus was sitting in front of you and asking ‘what are you looking for out of your faith?’

It is not an easy question. Fear not if it has thrown you already! The disciples gave a rather lame answer to Jesus. The best they could come up with was ‘Rabbi, where are you staying?’ As though Jesus was asking them if they had lost their keys or a jumper. Jesus’ question is much deeper than that. The disciples had just heard John the Baptist’s exclamation of ‘here is the Lamb of God!’ and had started to follow Jesus; at least physically follow Jesus if not yet spiritually.

‘Who are you really?’ is more likely the question the first disciples was trying to ask. The disciples, as followers of Judaism, would have been waiting for the Messiah.

The reading from Isaiah this morning is among the oldest and best known parts of the Old Testament. There are 4 passages in Isaiah known as the Servant Songs. These Songs introduce and share the profound idea of salvation through suffering. This was not how people thought about suffering or salvation at that time. If you suffered you had done something wrong; think the Book of Job.

The identity of the servant is revealed gradually from song to song but it is still concealed. In Isaiah 49, the servant speaks for the first time in his own voice and in a very individual way. He has been chosen by God to carry on the mission of Israel where Israel had failed.

The mission was to restore the people of God (the Jews). God is going to give the servant as a light to the nations, that salvation may reach to the end of the earth. This means to everyone – not only the Jews.

If the disciples recalled any of these passages, it would have been an overwhelming experience and would most certainly require something of them. Jesus’ answer also required something of the disciples as it was an invitation to ‘come and see’.

So they went and saw where Jesus was staying and spent the whole day with him. What a day that would have been! The disciples obviously saw something that day that changed them forever. If the answer to ‘what are you looking for?’ ends up being ‘come and see’, will you be willing to go and see?

What about this year?

How about you as a person? Are you looking for more life? Time? Money? Health? Belonging? Certainty? Affirmation? Consolation?

Jesus’ invitation to come and see is an invitation to leave our comfortable places, an invitation to challenge what we think we know and change our perspectives. Come and see is an approach to life that is expansive, dynamic and exposes us to new experiences and ideas. When Jesus offers this invitation it is to be fully seen and fully loved by the one who created us.

Like all invitations that come to us, we have the option to turn it down. To stay where we are and not see anything new. We have a choice of what we look for, what we prioritise.

When Jesus looks at us, He sees our deepest desires, hungers, curiosities, needs and wants. He saw it in those first disciples and called out to them. Jesus is still calling us now. As followers of Jesus we are to take the braver path, the follow where He is leading us.

Remembrance Sunday 2025: Marching into History

Micah 4:1-5
John 4:46-end

On this day, the guns of the Great War fell silent for the last time. It was the end of a conflict that scarred the nations that took part very deeply. It began 111 years ago and ended 107 years ago.

The years of remembrance have helped new generations understand more of what their grandparents, great-grandparents, great-great grandparents and maybe even more greats went through. The hardships they faced, the courage they showed and the faith they shared have become more real to us.

Maybe this is why more people seem to attend Remembrance Sunday services; there is an upward trend in attendance. Poppy sales would appear to be growing. Maybe some of you watched the Festival of Remembrance last evening or will catch up with the Cenotaph on iPlayer later. It would appear that we care about this stuff! Remembrance Sunday captures something in our individual and collective memories, touches a nerve, moves us to give our time, our money.

This year marked the 80th anniversary of the end of the Second World War; VE Day was celebrated in May and VJ Day in August. The number of those who served and survived is rapidly decreasing as they reach great ages.

Many of us will know people who served in the World Wars. We will know them as real people we had relationships with – parents, siblings, grandparents, aunts & uncles and cousins. We know them as more than stories. We miss them. We march into history at different times.

Micah was an Old Testament prophet whose messages from God to the people of Jerusalem were mostly negative and critical. Micah had to call out their sinfulness, bad behaviour towards the poor, they were greedy and full of pride. The people of Jerusalem were going to pay for it when the Babylonians swept through and sent everyone into exile for many years.

Then the tone changes. Micah looks beyond the present crisis to a time when the people return to Jerusalem to learn the laws of God and there will be peace between them. Everything will be reversed. All that was destroyed will be made right. Even relationships between people.

The royal official whose son was dying was looking for a reversal in his situation. This man went to Jesus to beg for his son’s life. We know some of the stories of prisoners of war who had to beg for their lives. Maybe some of us have had to beg God for the life of a loved one. Many of us would know what it is to plead for salvation and mercy. This royal official, probably not one who had to beg for much, invites Jesus to come to his son. Jesus responds by telling the man to go home and his son would live. The man believed what Jesus told him.

This story is one of trust and belief. Trusting that God will redeem and restore – life, health, situations. The exiled people of Jerusalem had nowhere else to go. The royal official had likely exhausted his own resources on his son and it still did not improve the situation.

There are places in the world that need disputes settled, weapons to be laid down, training for war to stop. We need to listen to God again as people, as a village, a nation and as part of the world.

What a different world it would be if we could abide in God’s love and live out the commandment to love one another as God has loved us. Maybe we would not be here today? Maybe I am a little idealistic. Like many people, I yearn for a world that is fair, peace-filled with love, joy and forgiveness for all.

As we remember those who have died in the theatre of war, we can be reassured that because of the resurrection of Jesus, it was not for nothing. The cost of their service came at a high price; it cost everything. The love, the life, the sharing of burden and suffering, the service required to work together for a greater good is not lost in death. There is more to the story.

So Charlwood, as we meet today to remember those who have died in war and tell their stories and share our many talents, let us do it from a place of love. Leave the judgment to God and work towards peace and respect for all. We need to march into history leaving things better than we found them.

Dedication Service for Emmanuel

Psalm 122 Ephesians 2:19-22 John 2:13-22

Welcome to the Temple of Sidlow Bridge for our Dedication Service this morning. As Emmanuel is not named after a saint with a specific date attached, we are able to celebrate the church with a Dedication Festival. My hope is that we will again show our thanks for all that God has done and continues to do for His little temple here. We also must show our love and gratitude for the wonderful humans who do so much to keep this place going.

What springs to mind when you hear the word temple? Stone? Hindu or Buddhist temples in India or Thailand? Jerusalem? A massive building? Something cold and imposing?

All three of our readings for today feature the temple in Jerusalem.

The Temple was the beating heart of Judaism. Anyone who has been fortunate enough to visit Jerusalem can appreciate the size and scale of it as the centrepoint of the city. The Temple was the home of worship, music, the focal point of politics and Jewish society, a place of national celebration and mourning. Westminster Abbey or St Paul’s Cathedral are somewhat a parallel in terms of significance to the people. The Temple was the place where YHWH, God had promised to live in the midst of his people.

It is useful to remember that Jerusalem has had two temples. The First Temple had been destroyed by the Babylonians around 587/586 BCE as the Jews were sent into exile by King Nebuchadnezzar. This was a devastating event for the Jews that reverberated for centuries. The house of the Lord referred to in Psalm 122 was likely connected to the First Temple.

The rebuilding of the Second Temple began about 50 years after the first destruction. It then stalled out for about 20 years. Two to three generations had passed, the exile was over and they could return home to Jerusalem. The Old Testament prophet Haggai was the great encouragement to get the Jews to go home again.

Haggai is a tiny two chapter book towards the end of the Old Testament. Not much is known about Haggai: his name means ‘festal’ which is fitting for the prophet who called the Jewish people to rebuild the temple of God and to bring back worship in Jerusalem.

In Haggai’s second sermon, he is reminding the Jews of the exodus when God called the Hebrews out of Egypt. Jesus and the disciples arrived in Jerusalem at the time of the Passover. Passover is a time to remember what God had done in the past when he saved the Jewish people from Pharaoh in Egypt. It was also a celebration of liberation, freedom and rescue from slavery.

Haggai was a champion for the homeless as he called the Jewish community to action in the rebuilding of the Temple. He was also calling the Jewish people to wake up to their responsibilities, obligations, privileges and promises of their heritage. And they do.

Jesus appears in the temple a few hundred years later. Sweet baby Jesus carried into the temple by his young parents for the expected rituals required by their Jewish faith. This ordinary event transitioned to a divinely appointed meeting with Simeon and Anna. Jesus is revealed as the light of the world and an ominous warning was given to Mary. Grown-up Jesus returns to the same Temple and causes some havoc.

Over time it became more of a market-place and one of corruption; and it is now under God’s judgement. Those who were selling the animals for sacrifice and the money-changers did need to be there. Jewish law required the right sacrifices to be offered. Unfortunately dodgy practices had infiltrated and corrupted the Temple. People were being cheated out of money by their own people. This is what Jesus was raging against.

We see Jesus on the side of those being cheated, devalued and treated badly. Jesus certainly had zeal; both for the Temple as his Father’s house and for the oppressed people. The Temple had been made into something it was never supposed to be. Jesus is correcting a serious wrong by showing that He will restore things to the way they should be.

Jesus did this by reminding the Jews of the Ten Commandment as they were breaking at least two of them: the making of idols (money) and stealing. Jesus was referring to himself in the remark about the destroyed Temple rising up in three days. Jesus is the true temple, the word made flesh and cannot be corrupted. Haggai proclaimed that the true glory of the Second Temple will not be the gold and silver of the nations but of God himself.

Jesus appeared in the Temple as a six week old baby and was shown to be the light of the world. He returned at that Feast of Passover pointing to himself, the temple of his body. Jesus is the one we are to watch and wait for. It is not always easy waiting. There is always work in the wait…

Lessons for Emmanuel

The whole structure is held together in him. Our temple is not a building but God. Churches/temples are places where people come together to worship God, meet each other, hold special events. And we should be able to do that anywhere. We are the dwelling places for God.

For the sake of the house of Lord, I will seek to do you good. Psalm 122 one of the ‘songs of ascent’; these were the travelling songs of the Jewish people as they travelled to the temple in Jerusalem for the yearly festivals. What good can we be doing for our neighbours?

Temples can be destroyed, and can be brought down. We need to resist the temptation to make this place a temple, a reservoir of memories of the past, how it used to be. We need to lean into what God is calling this church to be.

Temples can also be rebuilt. Jesus was raised from the dead, He is the resurrection and the life. We need to be built on his foundation.

Watch for the signs. Who here does not like a sign? We will reflect on the significance of signs for a few minutes. There are the obvious signs that feature in everyday life; fire exits, stop signs, traffic signals, push/pull, open/closed enter/exit, etc. These signs provide practical information and direction, keep us safe, and bring order to the world around us.

Then there are the signs from God. Many prayers have begun with, ‘God if you are real…give me a sign.’ These tend to be prayed in times of desperation and fear, when all control is lost and people come to the end of themselves. God in his infinite goodness answers these prayers. Often not as expected as the external conditions might not change and/or even get worse. The answer can be an internal sign or feeling of overwhelming peace and love, a change of perspective or defusing of intense emotion that can allow for clearer thinking.

We need to be people who can read the signs of the times correctly and it takes work.

My prayer for the next year is that this little Temple, on this side of the A217, is for clarity of purpose, that we put Jesus as the centre and foundation of all that we do, that we seek to do good for the parish of Sidlow Bridge. The secret is in our name, Emmanuel. God with us.

Thank you to each of you who work so hard to keep this temple going. Peace be with you.