Rev. Zach

Psalm 42:1-5 ; John 4:1-42 Last week we were reminded not only that we are working our way through John’s Gospel, but also that this gospel has ongoing themes and threads that weave in and through itself. In fact, these threads connect and build upon the message of hope and love that we find throughout the whole canon of scripture that is the Bible. This is especially true this week, even though this story stands in stark contrast with last week's text which was the story of Nicodemus, a teacher of the law who came to Jesus under the cover of night. Today we have a woman of Samaria (doubly outcast by Jesus’ contemporaries) who meets with Jesus in the middle of the day. I’ll say more about that later, but first I want to pull a few more threads to say that this text and the story that it tells builds on the stories of the Old Testament about Jacob and his proposal to mary Rachel and the abuse he takes for it that we find in Genesis 29. The well itself is a call back to that story, a...

Psalm 66:1-5 ; John 1:35-51 Today is the day we hear Jesus say, “Come see!” Those who live in this region will recognize this as a phrase used with children, or perhaps when an explanation does not do something justice, or the person you are communicating with just does not understand, then we say, “Come see. Let me show you.” It’s a very useful phrase, but it was funny the first time my eldest used it on her Tennessee cousins. They were certain there was supposed to be more to that sentence, but there was not. It’s just a simple invitation that lets you know that there is a reward for participation. Come and you will see. What’s interesting about Jesus’ use of the phrase is the way he uses it to call his disciples in the Gospel of John. Given the way John’s Gospel starts with the idea of Jesus as the Divine Logos – the Creative Genesis of God enfleshed – you might think this gospel would start with something miraculous like bursting nets of fish to call the disciples. Instead, it star...