I HAVE SOMETHING HARD BUT IMPORTANT TO SAY TO YOU

A Sermon for Lent 3

In The Message translation of Mark, Jesus sits down with his friends for the Last Supper and says to them, “I have something hard but important to say to you.” I read that passage a few weeks ago and this phrase from Jesus has been stuck in my head: “I have something hard but important to say to you.” In a way, this is a perfect summary of a central Christian message.

God is constantly working for our good, but sometimes it feels like we bump into that goodness and it startles us as if we weren’t expecting it. Maybe it even hurts because it bumps into our own will, one we were busy planning without any input from God. But even when we are unaware of God’s truth, God has a way of making it known to us. Jesus looks at every single one of us and tells us hard truths from a place of absolute love. These truths are meant to transform us.

Many of you are watching church online, constantly updating your screen for the latest pandemic updates. We worry about our loved ones—will they stay safe? We worry about ourselves—will I stay safe? None of us know what the following days, weeks, and months hold. But in the midst of the isolation and the fear, Jesus finds us when we are vulnerable and offers us truth.

This week we read about the woman at the well. It’s a story about a woman who is rejected from society, alone, thirsty, and working hard before Jesus enters her hopeless place and brings resurrection. He does that for her, and he does that for us too. I’m talking about the Coronavirus but also about the crisis of human existence. The crisis of Sin that separates us from God. Things that are blessings can at times lead us away from God. They can distract and separate us. We are prone to wander from a God who loves us.  

When we are alone with an empty bucket, and the sun is beating down on our backs, Jesus gently sits down next to us and tells us there is another way. This way will never leave you isolated from God; this way will never leave you thirsty because the water that he gives is a spring of water gushing up to eternal life. When this is offered to the woman, she desperately begs Jesus: Give it to me!

I imagine that Jesus takes a deep breath and then continues on to tell her something hard, but important. He knows exactly what is on her heart. He looks at her and says, you have been looking everywhere for purpose, hope, and security, but you aren’t going to get those things from your job or even from your family. Where you need to be looking is at me. Jesus is the source of truth, love, and peace.

In the collect from Ash Wednesday we prayed, “God, you hate nothing you have made.” God loves you so much that he came down to us so that we might know and be intimately known. Christ took on flesh to tell us truth bigger than the lies of sin. I wonder how many of us truly believe this truth: that the God of life offers not isolation and fear, but life eternal. 

The woman at the well did not know this truth but look at what happens to her life once Jesus shares it with her! Being intimately known by God, being loved by Jesus Christ, changes us. When the woman is done talking to Jesus, she leaves her water jar to run and tell everyone she can find about what just happened. This water jar was precious, it provided her with life. But once she knows the real truth, it becomes completely trivial. When is the last time any of us ran away from our precious objects to tell everyone we know about Jesus?  

In times of fear and uncertainty, it is easy to panic. But in the midst of our crises Jesus is with us. In seasons of isolation, Jesus meets us where we are and reminds us where we can drink from a place that will never leave us thirsty. This is not a small quiet truth, but rather one that is gushing with life.

Jesus spent his whole life preaching words that were hard, but important. They were so hard that they had to kill him for it. This kind of truth can challenge us so much that we might even find it offensive to our own will and way of operating. But ultimately Jesus offers us life eternal, life dependent on his goodness and not our own.  

In this season of Lent, we consider our faith in light of times that feel uncertain, when we are in the wilderness and alone. But we learn from the woman at the well that God meets us where we are and makes all things new.
God in the midst of our fear, in the midst of our isolation, help us to acknowledge your presence and your truth. Amen.