Sermon on John 4:5-42

Pastor Jennifer Garcia

Many of the people in our readings from Exodus and John were concerned with their immediate needs when God was inviting them into something greater.

The Israelites in Exodus were worried about where they would get water to the point that Moses was afraid that they would turn to violence against him.

Then the Samaritan woman thought Jesus was offering literal water that wouldn’t run out so that she wouldn’t have to keep drawing water from the well.

And Jesus’ disciples completely misinterpreted Jesus’ response to them reminding him to eat. Again, they were thinking about literal food when Jesus was metaphorically talking about expanding the Beloved Community.

But it’s hard to think about spiritual things when we’re worried about our physical needs. Maslow’s hierarchy is all about this: that our most basic needs like food and water have to be met before we can address our needs in higher tiers like belonging and self-esteem.

That’s why the Israelites were like, “we can’t worry about God right now, because we will literally die without drinking water,” and why the woman at the well was like, “I’d have so much more bandwidth to think about spiritual things if I didn’t have to keep lugging water around,” and the disciples were like, “Jesus, we’re showing you that we care about you by making sure you eat literal food.”

So, God gave the Israelites water in the wilderness.

And Jesus taught the woman at the well and his disciples, none of which were in a state of dehydration or starvation, that he would provide what they truly needed—something beyond the basic needs of food and water.

The Israelites were still trying to figure out whether God was worthy of their trust or if God would just be another Pharoah, using them for their labor and not truly caring about their well-being.

But God proves over and over again to be trustworthy, forgiving God’s people every time we let our worries and jealousies and egos get in the way of our memories of God’s character and love for us.

God knows what we need and will provide for us. And one of the ways God provides is by creating Beloved Community where people take care of each other.

It’s a community where resources are shared, not wasted, and where people are treasured, not taken advantage of.

It requires mutuality, where everyone’s contribution is honored, and there’s no sense of “we” are giving to “them,” those poor souls.

And there has to be trust. Trust in God and trust in each other that there’s enough for everyone. It’s an abundance mindset that’s not the default for many of us.

We live in a society where there’s a scarcity mindset, where if you’re thriving, it might be at my expense. And where it’s encouraged that we keep striving for more, because we’re worried there might not be enough to go around. And where our stuff tells a story about how important we are and that we deserve more than someone else who must not have worked as hard as we have.

And if that comes at the expense of a species’ habitat, that’s too bad, but it’s not my fault.

Or if someone’s water supply becomes undrinkable because of the mine that supplies the materials for the smart phone in my pocket, that’s too bad, but it’s not my problem.

Or if the exhaust from my car adds to the pollution that will exacerbate the asthma of my friends’ kids and grandkids, that’s too bad, but it’s not like getting one car off the road will make that big of a difference.

I’m just one person—I can’t make a difference by myself.

But that’s just it. If millions and billions of people have that attitude, nothing will change, and we’ll throw the massive amount of power that we have collectively out the window instead of using it to love our neighbors, human and nonhuman.

Author Madeleine L’Engle wrote this about separating ourselves from the whole of humanity and the kinship of creation: “Perhaps I may not personally cheat the government, consider the poor expendable, murder, steal, mug, or rape. Perhaps I may not use a knife with the intent to injure or kill. Perhaps I try to eat a diet suitable for a small planet. But can I separate my own health from the rest of the world? My own good nutrition from the poor nutrition of billions? My longing for peace from the warring in the Middle East or South America or Ireland or anywhere else at all? In a universe where the lifting of the wings of a butterfly is felt across galaxies, I cannot isolate myself, because my separation may add to the starvation and the anger and the violence. I am not burdening myself with a lot of guilts which are impossible for me to resolve. But to separate myself from the suffering of the world is dis-aster. If I call myself “good” is that not separation?”

Just as Jesus called the woman at the well and his disciples to something more, God is calling us to kinship with humanity and the world that doesn’t stop with our individual concerns.

Beloved Community reminds us that we’re not alone. We’re not alone in our needs, and we’re not alone in our desire for a better world.

The Holy Spirit binds us together and moves us to compassion and collective acts of justice and mercy.

God calls us not just as individuals, but as the Body of Christ, to draw living water for others, to partake in the food that is doing God’s will, feeding the world body and soul.

Part of that means preserving the abundance of creation for future generations.

We talked during our 2024 yearlong Sabbath theme about seven-generation thinking. It’s the idea present in some Indigenous cultures that whenever a tribe makes a decision, they consider how it will impact people seven generations into the future.

Many of us consider what the world will be like that we’re leaving to our kids and grandkids, but how many of us think beyond that?

Could seventh generation thinking help us keep our descendants from becoming climate refugees?

Could it help prevent future wars fought over water and other basic resources?

Could it preserve the waterfalls and lush forests and pristine beaches we enjoy on weekend hikes and family vacations for generations to come, so that they don’t just survive, but thrive in God’s beautiful creation?

It’s natural for us to worry about our own basic needs and those of our loved ones. And God invites us to expand our imaginations from basic survival to life abundant for everything that has breath.

Let’s recognize our kinship in the Beloved Community where God is madly in love with every being from the beginning of time to the end of the age.

As we learn to live into that kinship, enjoy creation, help preserve it for the next seven time seven generations, and remember that God created you and calls you good.