Sunday of the Samaritan Woman 2020 Fr. Lawrence Margitich

When I was an altar server as a boy, I didn't

like this reading because it was so long. We

had to stand there so long with the candles.

But now, it's my favorite reading, at least of

this season. When Jesus says to this woman, if

you knew, who it was that is speaking to you.

You would ask him for water, and he would give

you water for which you would never thirst again,

springing up into everlasting life. So our question

this morning is, are we conscious of that in

our life? Do we live according to that in our

life? Is this a desire, a thirst that we have

for God? Or is our thirst quenched by many sundry

things in our life? The fresco of St. Nihilus

of Sora at the back of our church says something

like, knowing how brief this life is, avoid the

tumult of the world. Now this doesn't mean avoid

charity. This doesn't mean avoid hospitality.

This doesn't mean avoid taking care of your neighbor

and watching out for someone. This means don't

let that world be in your heart because there

will be no room for that water to spring up from

Christ. I've preached on this gospel 15 times

maybe in the 20 -something years, 22 years I've

been a priest. So I'm not going to speak about

the Samaritans. Father Stephan, a Mahalik last

night, in his introduction at Vespers to this

Gospel, reminded us, you can see this online

on their YouTube channel at St. Nicholas, he

reminded us of what our former Bishop Tito used

to say, don't tell people about all the historical

events, they don't need to know. They can look

that up, they don't need to know at the service.

They need to know it, but they can look that

up themselves. You know about the Samaritans.

You know that this woman divorced five times

or had five husbands, was not divorced maybe

five times. We can't think of Phyllis Diller

or Jar Jar Borg. No woman could divorce a man

in that culture, so we don't know why she had

five husbands. We do know her life was in serious

disarray. And she had terrible wounds. And she

had terrible sorrows. And we know that Christ

came a long way around to Samaria. He didn't

have to go through that. And he came to see her.

So there's three things I want to tell you about

this today. This wonderful gospel. This conversation

that we are privileged to listen to. It's an

incredible thing that we can hear so much. of

the words of Christ speaking to one person, it

becomes not just a conversation with this woman.

We know her as Fotini Svetlana, who had become

a martyr. No, it becomes a conversation of Christ

with the soul. Our soul. The first thing we ought

to know is that Christ will do anything to come

to us. Die on the cross. Leave the glory of the

kingdom, the glory of the Father, Son, and Holy

Spirit, unspeakable glory of paradise. The creator

of all things, the word of God, became man for

us. And he searches each one out, no matter where

this person is, the Samaritan woman, the persecutor

Paul, The woman taken in adultery. The thief

on the cross. You and me. He came to seek us

out. There's no depth that he won't go to. Whether

we hide in Hades, he is there. Because he descended

into Hades when he died. And he filled that place,

that realm of death, with his light. We ascend

to the heavens, he is there. No matter where

we go, he is there for us. The second thing,

he's going to illumine us. But we have to have

the desire to continue the conversation like

this woman in the gospel. The Lord revealed to

her something about her life that was terribly

painful. And she could have said, I've got things

to do. I have to leave now. She said, oh, you're

a prophet, and she had some religious questions.

She thought, he's a prophet, I can ask some religious

questions. She knew something about the scripture.

She knew something about God. She had some kind

of inkling, the story of salvation. Jacob and

Abraham and the whole story. Even though she

was a Samaritan and a heretic. And she kept the

conversation going. She stayed to listen to Jesus.

As one preacher said, she was like a string on

a violin. And the bow touched that string. And

it sang. And it sang to Christ. And he gave back

to her. He spoke to her about illumination. Worship.

The Father, worship of the Father in spirit and

truth. That should be a capital S of spirit and

a capital T. Because we come to the Father only

one way. Through Jesus Christ, the Word of God.

And he says he is the way and the truth. And

we come to Jesus only because the Spirit has

enlightened us to see Christ. And to know Christ.

And so we worship God and our whole life becomes...

centered around the worship of the Father in

the Holy Spirit and in truth, which you, brothers

and sisters, were given when you were immersed

in the baptismal font. And that's why this reading

is here now, to prepare us for Pentecost and

to remind us of Pascha and the baptisms that

would have occurred. You were baptized, you were

immersed in the Holy Spirit. That water was sanctified

water. When we say spiritual, we don't mean a

feeling. We mean the Holy Spirit of God. And

the Word of God was given to you, and you worshiped

the Father. I said there's three things, but

I'm going to leave off the third thing. The Lord

is always with us, but we don't always go to

God. We don't always continue the conversation.

This is why there's a real danger that remains

for us. And this is why I asked you at the beginning,

what's your relationship to this phrase? Whosoever

drinks of the water that I shall give him shall

never thirst. The water that I shall give him

shall be in him a well of water springing up

into everlasting. life. She didn't understand

that, but we do because we've been given the

Spirit. Don't let fear, don't let the tumult

of this world enter your heart to push out what

Christ can give you, life and life eternal. We

can be at the well of life in the church and

remain dead. We can be drawn close to the source

of living water, that is, the holy altar, that

is, prayer, that is, prostrations, that is, love

of God and neighbor, and still remain thirsty,

we can be near grace, that is, those who bear

the Spirit within them, who live according to

the Spirit, who walk according to the Spirit,

and we remain graceless. Dear brothers and sisters

in Christ, there is no special time or special

circumstance for worshiping God or for a life

in God, but always and in all things an authentic

life in God consists in our having concern for

salvation, illuminated by the light of truth,

so that what we bring to Christ in prayer is

the desire to have him uncover our thirst for

him, if we don't know it. Just as he did for

this woman. Saturate yourselves, dear friends.

Saturate, immerse yourself in the water of life

through prayer. Approach Christ. He is the source.

All week, all week we're going to sing hymns

in her honor, Fotini's honor. This woman. at

the well, who became maybe his first evangelist

and went to this village, this town, Sychar,

and told them, saying, he told me all things

because the Lord said more words that are in

this gospel, revealed to her her heart and revealed

to her eternal life, that he had come for her,

that he had come a long way, that he was weary,

but he loved her and he illumined her. And the

town said, We know for sure now because Jesus

stayed with them because we believe in him. We're

going to be singing hymns in her honor, this

great and eccentric woman, beautiful woman. We

know that she will become in time a martyr with

her sons. She will give her life's blood in testimony

of the resurrection for the Messiah who gave

his blood. Christ is risen. Christ is risen.

Christ is risen. Christ is risen. Christ is risen.