"The Woman at the Well: What It Means to Be Fully Known and Fully Loved" | St. Peter's by-the-Sea

Fr. Craig Swan: The holy gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Fr. Craig Swan: According to John.

Fr. Craig Swan: Glory be to thee, O Christ.

Fr. Craig Swan: Jesus came to a Samaritan city called Sychar, near the plot of

Fr. Craig Swan: ground that Jacob had given to his son Joseph.

Fr. Craig Swan: Jacob's well was there, and

Fr. Craig Swan: Jesus, tired out by his journey,

Fr. Craig Swan: was sitting by the wall by the

Fr. Craig Swan: well.

Fr. Craig Swan: It was about noon.

Fr. Craig Swan: A Samaritan woman came to draw water, and Jesus said to her,

Fr. Craig Swan: give me a drink.

Fr. Craig Swan: His disciples had gone to the city to buy food.

Fr. Craig Swan: The Samaritan woman said to him, how is it that you, a Jew, ask a

Fr. Craig Swan: drink of me, a woman of Samaria?

Fr. Craig Swan: Jews do not share things in common with the Samaritans.

Fr. Craig Swan: Jesus answered her, if you knew

Fr. Craig Swan: the gift of God, and who it is

Fr. Craig Swan: that is saying to you, give me a

Fr. Craig Swan: drink.

Fr. Craig Swan: You would have asked him and he

Fr. Craig Swan: would have given you living

Fr. Craig Swan: water.

Fr. Craig Swan: The woman said to him, sir, you

Fr. Craig Swan: have no bucket and the well is

Fr. Craig Swan: deep.

Fr. Craig Swan: Where do you get that living water?

Fr. Craig Swan: Are you greater than our ancestor Jacob, who gave us the

Fr. Craig Swan: well, and with his sons and his flocks, drank from it?

Fr. Craig Swan: Jesus said to her, everyone who

Fr. Craig Swan: drinks of this water will be

Fr. Craig Swan: thirsty again.

Fr. Craig Swan: But those who drink of the water

Fr. Craig Swan: that I will give them will never

Fr. Craig Swan: be thirsty.

Fr. Craig Swan: The water that I will give will become in them a spring of water

Fr. Craig Swan: gushing up to eternal life.

Fr. Craig Swan: The woman said to him, sir, give me this water, so that I may

Fr. Craig Swan: never be thirsty or have to keep coming here to draw water.

Fr. Craig Swan: Jesus said to her, go call your husband and come back.

Fr. Craig Swan: The woman answered him, I have no husband.

Fr. Craig Swan: Jesus said to her, you are right

Fr. Craig Swan: in saying, I have no husband,

Fr. Craig Swan: for you have had five husbands,

Fr. Craig Swan: and the one you have now is not

Fr. Craig Swan: your husband.

Fr. Craig Swan: What you have said is true.

Fr. Craig Swan: The woman said to him, sir, I see that you are a prophet.

Fr. Craig Swan: Our ancestors worshiped on this mountain, but you say that the

Fr. Craig Swan: place where people must worship is in Jerusalem.

Fr. Craig Swan: Jesus said to her, woman, believe me, the hour is coming

Fr. Craig Swan: when you will worship the father, neither on this mountain

Fr. Craig Swan: nor in Jerusalem.

Fr. Craig Swan: You will worship what you do not know.

Fr. Craig Swan: We worship what we know, for salvation is from the Jews.

Fr. Craig Swan: But the hour is coming, and now is here, when the true

Fr. Craig Swan: worshipers will worship the father in spirit and truth.

Fr. Craig Swan: For the father seeks such as these to worship him.

Fr. Craig Swan: God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship in

Fr. Craig Swan: spirit and truth.

Fr. Craig Swan: The woman said to him, I know that the Messiah is coming, who

Fr. Craig Swan: is called Christ.

Fr. Craig Swan: When he comes, he will proclaim all things to us.

Fr. Craig Swan: Jesus said to her, I am he, the one who is speaking to you.

Fr. Craig Swan: Just then his disciples came.

Fr. Craig Swan: They were astonished that he was speaking with a woman, but no

Fr. Craig Swan: one said, what do you want?

Fr. Craig Swan: Or why are you speaking with her?

Fr. Craig Swan: Then the woman left her water jug and went back to the city.

Fr. Craig Swan: She said to the people, come and see a man who told me everything

Fr. Craig Swan: I have ever done.

Fr. Craig Swan: He cannot be the Messiah, can he?

Fr. Craig Swan: They left the city and were on their way to him.

Fr. Craig Swan: Meanwhile, the disciples were

Fr. Craig Swan: urging him, Rabbi, eat

Fr. Craig Swan: something.

Fr. Craig Swan: But he said to them, I have food

Fr. Craig Swan: to eat that you do not know

Fr. Craig Swan: about.

Fr. Craig Swan: So the disciples said to one another, surely no one has

Fr. Craig Swan: brought him something to eat.

Fr. Craig Swan: Jesus said to them, my food is to do the will of him who sent

Fr. Craig Swan: me, and to complete his work.

Fr. Craig Swan: Do you not say, four months more than comes the harvest?

Fr. Craig Swan: But I tell you, look around you

Fr. Craig Swan: and see how the fields are ripe

Fr. Craig Swan: for harvesting.

Fr. Craig Swan: The reaper is already receiving wages and is gathering fruit for

Fr. Craig Swan: eternal life, so that the sower and reaper may rejoice together.

Fr. Craig Swan: For here the saying holds true.

Fr. Craig Swan: One sows and another reaps.

Fr. Craig Swan: I sent you to reap that for which you did not labor.

Fr. Craig Swan: Others have labored, and you have entered into their labor.

Fr. Craig Swan: Many Samaritans from that city

Fr. Craig Swan: believed in him because of the

Fr. Craig Swan: woman's testimony.

Fr. Craig Swan: He told me everything I have done.

Fr. Craig Swan: So when the Samaritans came to

Fr. Craig Swan: him, they asked him to stay with

Fr. Craig Swan: them and he stayed there two

Fr. Craig Swan: days.

Fr. Craig Swan: And many more believed because of his word.

Fr. Craig Swan: They said to the woman, it is no longer because of what you said

Fr. Craig Swan: that we believe, for we have heard for ourselves, and we know

Fr. Craig Swan: that this is truly the Saviour of the world.

Fr. Craig Swan: The gospel of the Lord.

Fr. Craig Swan: Praise to you, Lord Christ.

Fr. Craig Swan: In the name of God, father, son and Holy Spirit.

Fr. Craig Swan: Amen.

Fr. Craig Swan: Please be seated.

Fr. Craig Swan: Yesterday afternoon, Maureen and I had the opportunity to go to

Fr. Craig Swan: see a Broadway style play.

Fr. Craig Swan: Now, obviously we didn't see this in New York because there

Fr. Craig Swan: really was no way we'd been able to go there and get back on time

Fr. Craig Swan: for this morning.

Fr. Craig Swan: So it was sort of an off

Fr. Craig Swan: Broadway play, way off Broadway

Fr. Craig Swan: play.

Fr. Craig Swan: And it was not exactly a professional play either.

Fr. Craig Swan: It was an amateur production.

Fr. Craig Swan: It was actually the fall River

Fr. Craig Swan: Middle School's production of

Fr. Craig Swan: Alice in Wonderland, produced

Fr. Craig Swan: and directed by our daughter

Fr. Craig Swan: Chelsea.

Fr. Craig Swan: And it was an absolutely wonderful play.

Fr. Craig Swan: And I'm not here talking about

Fr. Craig Swan: that because just because I'm

Fr. Craig Swan: proud of her for what she

Fr. Craig Swan: accomplished, but because of

Fr. Craig Swan: what I saw happen in the midst

Fr. Craig Swan: of that play, that was just so

Fr. Craig Swan: absolutely wonderful.

Fr. Craig Swan: And it has a lot to do with today's gospel.

Fr. Craig Swan: And because our daughter is the director, it means that Maureen

Fr. Craig Swan: are the last ones to leave because we're waiting to have a

Fr. Craig Swan: chance to see her.

Fr. Craig Swan: And so I get to observe a lot of what goes on after the play.

Fr. Craig Swan: And what I always found

Fr. Craig Swan: wonderful is after the play is

Fr. Craig Swan: over, after the applause is done

Fr. Craig Swan: and the faces of the parents and

Fr. Craig Swan: glowing over the pride of their

Fr. Craig Swan: children.

Fr. Craig Swan: The curtain goes down and all of a sudden you hear this huge

Fr. Craig Swan: cheer from behind the curtain.

Fr. Craig Swan: Forty five kids cheering, proud of what they had accomplished.

Fr. Craig Swan: And then, as each student exited the auditorium after taking off

Fr. Craig Swan: their costumes, many still in their makeup, there was a line

Fr. Craig Swan: of teachers and administrators.

Fr. Craig Swan: And no matter whether they had

Fr. Craig Swan: the lead or their part of the

Fr. Craig Swan: ensemble, each one was cheered

Fr. Craig Swan: for by their name and applauded

Fr. Craig Swan: by their administrators and

Fr. Craig Swan: teachers.

Fr. Craig Swan: And you could just see the kids beam.

Fr. Craig Swan: And then after all of that, there came the tears.

Fr. Craig Swan: And Marie and I, having been in high school productions, know

Fr. Craig Swan: what it's like to feel that letdown after you've worked so

Fr. Craig Swan: hard for so long to put something on like a play that

Fr. Craig Swan: all of a sudden it's over and there's a lot of emotion that

Fr. Craig Swan: needs to come out.

Fr. Craig Swan: But I realized after we left and were at dinner with Chelsea and

Fr. Craig Swan: she was telling me the stories about these kids, I realized

Fr. Craig Swan: there was something more to those tears than just a letdown

Fr. Craig Swan: at the end of a play.

Fr. Craig Swan: Every child, all forty eight

Fr. Craig Swan: children in that production, has

Fr. Craig Swan: a story, and she knew all of

Fr. Craig Swan: their stories.

Fr. Craig Swan: Many of them had special

Fr. Craig Swan: education labels, whether it be

Fr. Craig Swan: for academic issues or behavior

Fr. Craig Swan: issues.

Fr. Craig Swan: Many came from very poor, chaotic homes.

Fr. Craig Swan: She will often talk about in

Fr. Craig Swan: times past, where she would

Fr. Craig Swan: start with one student in a role

Fr. Craig Swan: and then all of a sudden have to

Fr. Craig Swan: recast it three weeks before the

Fr. Craig Swan: play because that family lost

Fr. Craig Swan: their apartment and had to move

Fr. Craig Swan: away.

Fr. Craig Swan: This year, she talked about the

Fr. Craig Swan: students who weren't there

Fr. Craig Swan: because in fall River, what we

Fr. Craig Swan: see on TV in regards to what's

Fr. Craig Swan: going on with Ice is their

Fr. Craig Swan: reality.

Fr. Craig Swan: Every child had an opportunity to shine in that production.

Fr. Craig Swan: Every child with different ethnic and racial backgrounds

Fr. Craig Swan: were part of that production.

Fr. Craig Swan: Every single child was seen over

Fr. Craig Swan: those two days of the

Fr. Craig Swan: production.

Fr. Craig Swan: For someone who was beyond whatever their labels are.

Fr. Craig Swan: And for many, maybe it was the first time that someone saw them

Fr. Craig Swan: beyond their special needs label or their inner city child label

Fr. Craig Swan: or whatever, somehow boxes them off and kind of shifts them to

Fr. Craig Swan: minority status or marginalized in this country.

Fr. Craig Swan: They were truly seen for that.

Fr. Craig Swan: Our production by their

Fr. Craig Swan: teachers, by their parents, for

Fr. Craig Swan: someone greater than they have

Fr. Craig Swan: been seen.

Fr. Craig Swan: Most of their time and most of their life.

Fr. Craig Swan: That feeling that they had of being fully seen is what today's

Fr. Craig Swan: gospel story is about being fully seen by God.

Fr. Craig Swan: We heard the story of the

Fr. Craig Swan: Samaritan woman, and as the

Fr. Craig Swan: story progresses, we begin to

Fr. Craig Swan: realize that this is a woman who

Fr. Craig Swan: has been ostracized not just

Fr. Craig Swan: because she's a Samaritan, but

Fr. Craig Swan: because of the events in her

Fr. Craig Swan: life.

Fr. Craig Swan: Now we hear that she has had five husbands.

Fr. Craig Swan: Now, unless she is the main

Fr. Craig Swan: character in the book of Tobit,

Fr. Craig Swan: who lost her husband on the

Fr. Craig Swan: night of her on her wedding

Fr. Craig Swan: night, each time it is clear

Fr. Craig Swan: that she has perhaps been

Fr. Craig Swan: widowed and also divorced, and

Fr. Craig Swan: now is forced for survival to

Fr. Craig Swan: live as if married with somebody

Fr. Craig Swan: else.

Fr. Craig Swan: And we know that she's been ostracized because the time of

Fr. Craig Swan: day that she's going to the well, the women of the community

Fr. Craig Swan: did not go to the well at high noon when it was hot.

Fr. Craig Swan: They went early in the morning to gather water to bring back to

Fr. Craig Swan: the home, to be used with cooking and washing and all that

Fr. Craig Swan: goes with it.

Fr. Craig Swan: So this is a woman who is fully

Fr. Craig Swan: labeled as not just unworthy but

Fr. Craig Swan: unclean, and has lived a life of

Fr. Craig Swan: being told that is what she is

Fr. Craig Swan: unclean.

Fr. Craig Swan: So imagine her surprise, as we hear in the gospel, when this

Fr. Craig Swan: Jewish rabbi comes into town.

Fr. Craig Swan: And as we hear in those words, there was such animosity between

Fr. Craig Swan: the Jews of Jerusalem and the Samaritans, who were also Jews,

Fr. Craig Swan: that a good Jew would not even receive a glass of water, let

Fr. Craig Swan: alone speak to a Samaritan.

Fr. Craig Swan: So she is shocked to know that Jesus, a Jewish rabbi, is even

Fr. Craig Swan: willing to speak with her.

Fr. Craig Swan: And then more and more, to her surprise, is that not only is he

Fr. Craig Swan: speaking to her because he needs a glass of water.

Fr. Craig Swan: He sees something greater in her than a woman who has had five

Fr. Craig Swan: husbands and living in what would be usually classified up

Fr. Craig Swan: until recently as living in sin.

Fr. Craig Swan: He saw a beloved child of God.

Fr. Craig Swan: And he treated her in that way.

Fr. Craig Swan: In that moment, she was no longer an unclean Samaritan

Fr. Craig Swan: woman, but worthy of God's love.

Fr. Craig Swan: An experience she most likely hadn't had in quite some time.

Fr. Craig Swan: And she is so moved by this experience that she runs out and

Fr. Craig Swan: tells the whole community of what she had experienced with

Fr. Craig Swan: Jesus, realizing that not only had it been a Jewish rabbi, but

Fr. Craig Swan: this was the Anointed One to bring salvation to the world,

Fr. Craig Swan: even to her who had been perceived as unworthy.

Fr. Craig Swan: Each and every one of us carries something with us that tells us

Fr. Craig Swan: that for some reason we are unclean or unlovable or

Fr. Craig Swan: unworthy, whether it be our trauma of our past or our

Fr. Craig Swan: deepest and darkest secret that we keep hidden behind the facade

Fr. Craig Swan: that we use to allow ourselves to be acceptable in our

Fr. Craig Swan: communities and our society.

Fr. Craig Swan: And all any one of us wants is

Fr. Craig Swan: to know that we are truly and

Fr. Craig Swan: fully loved.

Fr. Craig Swan: And that is why we come here, to be part of a community of faith

Fr. Craig Swan: that tells us that through the waters of baptism, we are truly

Fr. Craig Swan: adopted children of God, fully beloved by God, but not even

Fr. Craig Swan: because of our baptism, because we are God's child.

Fr. Craig Swan: To begin with, Psalm one thirty

Fr. Craig Swan: nine tells us that it is God who

Fr. Craig Swan: knit us together in our mother's

Fr. Craig Swan: womb.

Fr. Craig Swan: God tells Jeremiah that he knows

Fr. Craig Swan: the count of the hairs on his

Fr. Craig Swan: head.

Fr. Craig Swan: That is how intimately our creator knows us and how deeply

Fr. Craig Swan: our creator loves us.

Fr. Craig Swan: So much so that he gave us his

Fr. Craig Swan: only begotten son, so that we

Fr. Craig Swan: should have salvation and

Fr. Craig Swan: eternal life.

Fr. Craig Swan: That is truly the good news that

Fr. Craig Swan: the Samaritan woman came in

Fr. Craig Swan: contact with.

Fr. Craig Swan: And on some wonderful basic

Fr. Craig Swan: level, that is the experience

Fr. Craig Swan: that the young people in fall

Fr. Craig Swan: River had yesterday after they

Fr. Craig Swan: gave the best of their abilities

Fr. Craig Swan: on the stage yesterday afternoon

Fr. Craig Swan: to be told they had accomplished

Fr. Craig Swan: something great and were worthy

Fr. Craig Swan: of applause above and beyond

Fr. Craig Swan: their labels.

Fr. Craig Swan: And it is something that each and every individual that we

Fr. Craig Swan: come in contact with seeks, wants and needs.

Fr. Craig Swan: And so, just like the Samaritan woman, the fact that we have

Fr. Craig Swan: found something so unique and wonderful and joyful, we have no

Fr. Craig Swan: choice but to let that joy go forth into the world.

Fr. Craig Swan: And just like the Samaritan,

Fr. Craig Swan: tell everyone we meet about how

Fr. Craig Swan: deep and great the love of God

Fr. Craig Swan: is for you, for me, and for

Fr. Craig Swan: everyone else.

Fr. Craig Swan: Because this is truly a lonely

Fr. Craig Swan: and scary world, and it is only

Fr. Craig Swan: through God that we find

Fr. Craig Swan: connection and here that we are

Fr. Craig Swan: truly and fully lovable and

Fr. Craig Swan: beloved.

Fr. Craig Swan: Amen.