663: Lent 3A (3/8/2026)

0:00Hello and welcome to the Pulpit Fiction Podcast, the Electionary Podcast for Preachers, Seekers and Bible Geeks. This is episode 663 for March 8th, 2026. It's the third of Sunday of Lent and Year A. Today on our show, we're going to have the gospel reading of John 4 verses 5 through 42, the woman at the well. Our second reading will be Exodus chapter 17, the verses 1 through 7, the wilderness of sin. Our epistle reading will be Romans 5 verses 1 through 11 as we just share a brief conversation about that as our tasty wafer. But I'm Rod McCoy and I'm the United Methodist pastor here in Rock Island, Illinois. I'm joined as always by my good friend and co-host from the Shining Shords of Crystal Lake. Professor, how are you doing, buddy?

1:01Good. Just been a little running around, so if I've seen a little lot of sorts here at the beginning of the show, it's just been one of those of kids in the dentist and cars that are breaking and you know, all the fun things are life, but a lot of first world problems, but nothing that big of a deal. Other than that, things are good. Lent is good. Yeah. Life is good. Yeah, yeah. We've had a total meltdown of our computers. Our domain name, like, picked us out of our Google drives and we do everything with Google Drive. Oh, no. On our email, shut down our drive, like our bulletins, our slides, like everything. So we've been scramble and trying to figure that out. It resolved itself a little bit, but I'm trying to figure out why it happened now. So it's Wednesday, as we're recording, and we are live at 2.10 on Wednesday. It feels like it's been a week since, like, I've had a week in three days. It's just crazy.

2:01Yeah. It was good to be with you. And we had a protest march last Friday, which was fun as well. Yeah. It saw that online. It looked like it went well. Well, it was a well-attended. I mean, considering it was like zero, like windshield, as we walked across a bridge, considering that the weather did not cooperate, but we had a really good, we had a pretty good turnout. It was a really good day. And I wrote a statement and that I think was well received by folks. We're going to mail it to our local legislators and stuff like that as well. So nice. Yeah. That's great. That's awesome. Yeah. That one coming up up here, so yeah, and just my phone's ringing off the hook with all of the political people, which I'm sure, you know, we're in primary season, so nothing like getting a bunch of calls from our known numbers and them being like, oh, it's a political person. It's not a prisoner in need. Right. Yeah.

3:01But anyway, let's, let's turn to our first reading for today with a little bit of the good news. All right. Well, the good news this week, it's John for five through forty two, just a warning to folks to, you know, we're in, John, we're in these big readings. And this, I think is the largest one we have a lot of big readings this slent, but this one's, it's such a good passage of women at the well, but it's big. So just, you know, be prepared for that at something like what, thirty seven verses. So it might be something to just prepare your lecture or literature just for or to maybe break up and use a couple of different voices, you might want to be a little creative just because it's so long, but we're not going to be creative. We're just going to read it and it's the common English Bible.

4:03He came to a Samaritan city called Sikar, which was near the land that Jacob had given to his son Joseph. Jacob's well was there. Jesus was tired from his journey, so we sat down at the well. It was about noon. A Samaritan woman came to draw to the well to draw water. Jesus said to her, give me some water to drink. His disciples had gone into the city to buy him some food. The Samaritan woman asked, why do you, a Jewish man, ask for something to drink from me, a Samaritan woman? Jews and Samaritans didn't associate with each other. Jesus responded, if you recognized God's gifts and gift and who is saying to you, give me some water to drink, you would be asking him and he would be giving you living water. The woman said to him, sir, you don't have a bucket and the water is deep. Where would you get this living water? You aren't greater than our father, Jacob, are you? He gave this well to us and he drank from it himself as did his sons and his livestock. Jesus answered, everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again, but whoever drinks

5:05of the water I will give will never be thirsty again. The water I give you will become in those who drink it a spring of water that bubbles up into eternal life. The woman said to him, sir, give me this water so that I will never be thirsty and will never need to come here to draw water. Jesus said to her, go and get your husband and come back here. The woman replied, I don't have a husband. You are right to say I don't have a husband. Jesus answered, you've had five husbands and the man you are with now isn't your husband. You've spoken the truth. The woman said, sir, I see that you are a prophet. Our ancestors worshiped on this mountain, but you and your people say that it is necessary to worship in Jerusalem. Jesus said to her, believe me, woman, the time is coming when you and your people will worship the father and neither here on this mountain nor in Jerusalem. When you and your people worship what you don't know, we worship what we know because salvation is from the Jews, but the time is coming and it is here when true worshipers will worship

6:08in spirit and truth. The father looks for those who worship him in this way, God is spirit and it is necessary to worship God in spirit and truth. The woman said, I know that the Messiah is coming, the one called the Christ. When he comes, he will teach us everything. Jesus said to her, I am the one who speaks with you. Just then Jesus' disciples arrived and were shocked that he was talking with a woman, but no one asked what do you want or why are you talking with her. The woman put down her water jar and went into the city and she said to people, come and see a man who has told me everything I've done. Could this man be the Christ? They left the city and were on their way to see Jesus. In the meantime, the disciples spoke to Jesus saying, Rabbi, eat. Jesus said to them, I have food to eat that you don't know about. The disciples asked each other, has someone brought him food? Jesus said, I am fed by doing the will of the one who sent me and by completing his work.

7:08Don't you have a saying for more months and then it's time for harvest? Look, I tell you, open your eyes and notice that the fields are already ripe for harvest. Those who harvest are receiving their pay and gathering fruit for eternal life so that those who sow and those who harvest can celebrate together. This is a true saying that one sows and another harvest, and I have sent you to harvest what you didn't work for. Others worked hard and you will share in their hard work. Many Samaritans came in that city believed in Jesus because of the woman's word when she testified, he has told me everything I've ever done. So when the Samaritans came to Jesus, they asked him to stay with them and he stayed there two days. He more believed because of his word and they said to the woman, we no longer believe because of what you have said or we have heard for ourselves and know that this one is truly the savior of the world. Yeah, it's a lot. It's a big, it's a big time. Long passage. Long passage. It's just one of, gosh, it's got to be one of the longest in the entire election area,

8:11I would think. It just, not just verse numbers, but a sheer words and it's an interesting one because there's definitely some parts that you could edit out, depending on your focus. I mean, I don't want to belabor this too much, but because it's one of my favorite stories, but there is this sort of, I feel like it could have ended earlier and then skip ahead to the end. There's definitely, like basically when the disciples get back, it's kind of like, this story jumps to shark when they get back. No, it's still, it's worth exploring. But, gosh, this is one of my favorite passages, this, this, this meatcute, right? I mean, there's so much of this story that is set up by the context of last week with Jesus meeting Nicodemus, that there are Nicodemus coming to Jesus at night and now it's Jesus encountering this woman at noon, at the, at the, at the brightest time of the day.

9:15Of course, Nicodemus being the, the Pharisee who doesn't understand and here we have the Samaritan woman who does understand just an incredible text and, and so many directions you can go whether it be about women in ministry, about the power of evangelism and meeting people where they are, whether it be, you know, the, the ability to just connect to people and the grace of just, of not sort of, you know, the, the grace of just encountering somebody with, you know, where she is and when meat, you know, what she is, what, what she needs, the whole sort of meatcute, right? Of Jesus and a woman meeting at the well, Jacob's well is, you know, that's where, you know, romance happens in the Bible. This could be Tom Cruise and Meg Ryan or, you know, or not Tom Cruise, Tom Hanks and Meg Ryan.

10:16I don't know, there's just so much here. It's such a rich story. I think part of the, as far as a preacher is concerned, it's just like, pick a lane as I'm not picking a lane here as we ramble on, right? I mean, it's, it's really just such a rich so many, I mean, our show notes are just like pages and you've got to scroll so much to get through all the, the notes and the resources we've got. It's one of those things. What's jumping out of you today? Yeah. Yeah. As you said, I mean, I love the, the comparison to Nicodemus. She does, and I mean, I would just say a couple of the things today, right? I mean, she gets it. She doesn't come to Jesus. She's just there. Jesus is the outsider, but it's interesting that they both point out this impossibility of the thing that Jesus is talking. You know, being born again last week, this week, it's this living water and trying to understand what that is, but they're both, they're intrigued. Of course, she wants it. She's all in and, and is sharing and doing it. Um, I, you know, a lot of this is, it's a long story.

11:19It's a great narrative. Uh, there are these contrasts. I think that the cultural lift is huge here. Um, just to say how different this is that they would encounter here. Right? I mean, last week, you might have said, wow, it seems a little bit weird. You know, that, that year you have a, one of the, the main Pharisees coming to Jesus at night. This is way more scandalous. You said, as you said, yes, it's a bit of a meet cute, but it's not a meet cute. It's a mew cute, gone wrong in all the ways, right? So a man and a woman might meet at the well and, and have that sort of thing. And there are a lot of stories about that. Maybe not, you know, there's some illusions to it in scripture. Uh, do you think of the servants and Rebecca, for example, and there's, there's other examples on things in scripture, but this is also just generally an ancient, nearly literature. But for this one, for the man and the woman to both be there and presumably, Rob, there's no one else there, which is weird, because it's a pretty public place, but it also makes sense like it's questionable.

12:21Why would somebody be there at noon time? Uh, we can get into that about why, you know, maybe she's there at noon because of some other aspects that Jesus kind of reveals in her life that are going on, that could be an issue, but there's no one else there. Uh, it's a rabbi and a woman and it's questionable like how much interaction rabbis and would have had directly with women. This is still a society in which, uh, the two were kept separate to a major apart. As we talked about, you know, it's a Jew and a Samaritan. And so you've got, at the end of the day, you've got this Jewish rabbi and the Samaritan woman alone in a space that even the disciples are like, oh, buddy, like this is not, you know, they don't say anything, but it has to point out all the things I love that scripture points out all the questions they had, even though they didn't ask any of them. And so, so we get this just regular, uh, peace overall that that's coming together. And in the same way that the living water is not the water and all this, right, we have this intimacy, this very intimate moment, which of course

13:21is not Tom Hanks a migraine. It's not a romantic me cute. It's not, it's a, it's a betrothal in a completely different way, right? It's, it's an invitation into a completely different relationship. In the same way that last week, Jesus is inviting Nicodemus into a very different relationship. So I love that kind of parallel and, and of course, that response is something we've heard over and over in the Gospel of John, not as much an electionary, but her response and things, which is common see cut, you know, this great invitation, common see, common see, common see, Nicodemus isn't there yet, right? But she is. And so it's this not only what, what does she experience, but then she immediately goes out to invite others into that same experience. Yeah, I mean, it's the subversion of the betrothal, right? I mean, and, and, and the fact that like it, it's a set up of, of an old trope that then gets twisted in a good way, right?

14:22Because, and here's the thing too, like the context itself is interesting because, you know, what are they, you know, they set up right at the beginning, you know, the Gospel writers are notorious for not having good geometry or geography, right? But like, if they're traveling from Jerusalem to Galilee here, and now all of a sudden, I'm sucking, guessing myself, I forget which way they're going. Like, it wasn't common to travel through Samaria. Like, right, it's there. It's between the two that Jews would have gone around on the east side of the bank of the, and that's a lot of like the cultural unpacking that you're talking about is just lifting up that this isn't, this isn't the good Samaritan, right? I mean, it is. This is a good Samaritan. It's the woman is a good Samaritan, but again, just like the good Samaritan story, the whole point is that it's, the Samaritan's work good. They were enemies and she brings it up. And this is the part that I love too is that she starts to get into this dispute

15:25a little bit more so than any of the other Gospels. I think the other Gospels just kind of leave it, you know, as just the, the cultural air that people understand, she gets into it. Like, so who's right, right? We worship here, you guys worship there, what, you know, which is it? And she wants to know, and I love that, right? The inquisitiveness of her, the sort of, she's heard the culture war battles. And she wants to know, when we all love to ask Jesus, who's right here, right? With whatever, you know, insert any battle debate, you know, you could joke about, you know, so Jesus, which enough, I'll team to you really root for because everybody, every quarterback always thinks God after you win, which one is really your favorite team? Like, that's kind of what she's asking, except in a much more serious way. Who, who's right? And he says basically neither, right? And this is, again, just like is always so much of the case,

16:28Jesus offering a third way. It's not about some irritants or Jews. It's this other thing. It's, it's not about where you're going to worship. It's, you've got me now. You don't need either of these places. And that's the, you know, that's the kingdom of heaven and the synoptics, right? That is, should we capitulate to Rome or have a violent overthrow or violent revolution? And he says, no, it's a third way, right? This is another example of Jesus transcending the sort of cultural norms, the cultural, you know, the, the culture war is kind of battles. The, the false dichotomies that people want to set up. And him saying, no, abide in me that there's something more, there's something more truthful, more eternal than these battles that you're so worried about. Yeah, that's it. And not only does he void the culture wars, but then unites the saints. I listen together, we're going to do this like together, we're going to have this. Now we have a little bit of backchecking. And he says like, you know, you worship what you don't know, we worship what we know.

17:31But, but the funny thing was even as it seems like he's kind of, you know, entering into that later, he still brings that peace back in, right? He still brings that aspect in of like, you know, yes, we are different, right? These two different things, but we're all going to come in. And it's fascinating that what's going to bring us together? Where are we going to worship? We're going to worship in spirit and true. And, and so to, you know, beat a metaphor, you know, to go back to your, your football thing, because I don't know how it is in the Quad Cities where you're at. I know where I am, like, I've got probably two thirds bears fans and one third packers fans. And there's a smattering of just others in there, right? So, but talking bears, Packers can be a little, can be a little dicey. There's an interesting piece here where, you know, when we talk about the spirit and the truth, the truth is that God doesn't really care about either one. And the spirit of it is, can we just enjoy the spirit of the game and hope for a good game?

18:31And, and hope that nobody gets hurt too bad. We're not going to rejoice when, you know, Jordan Love gets concussion. We're not going to, you know, celebrate those things, you know, when, when the Packers are giving DJ more a late hit. But what we are going to do is we're going to enjoy just the spirit of this game, right? And what's happening in it? And in the same way, you know, that might be beaten the metaphor too much. But in the same way, like, what is the, and that's Jesus is constant peace. And all the Goss was included in the Gospel of John, which is this embodiment. John brings in the truth piece, but what is the spirit? What's the spirit behind the law? What is the spirit of God of, of the word that is coming out? And it's not divided by Samaritan versus Jew. Even though Jesus is a Jew, is like, listen, like we're still kind of right. But at the end of the day, it doesn't, it doesn't really matter because at the end of the day, we're going to end up worshiping the same God, but we're going to embody. And, and that's where I think, inviting that disciples piece in when he's talking to the disciples is listen, you need to embody this is, this is an active faith. It's not just about where we go to worship, but it's about every moment and what we do to embody that spirit and that truth.

19:37Yeah, that's the, the, yeah, when the disciples come back, you know, I joke, that's kind of, you know, the, the labor part of the story, but that's also the part where Jesus reminds them that this isn't just about. Yes, it's about following me, but it's also about doing the work yourself, right? There, there's a, you know, there is something here. Look what, look what just happened. Like here I am with the Samaritan woman, she's going to spread the word, you know, she becomes the first evangelist, but he reminds, he's, he's convincing them that this is the right thing to do as well, right? Like this, that, that, that finding people that you wouldn't otherwise think you wanted to find is part of the job. Yep, right? The mission field is much bigger than he is not just about finding like-minded, you know, folks like us. And I'm thinking about that with, you know, I mentioned the, the protests that we had and we were protesting, you know,

20:39the escalation of violence against ICE and the use of force and the use of masks, eight masked agents and all of this stuff. But one thing we, we, one, we identified from the start that it was from people of faith. And we're united in our love of God and our love of humanity. And this is why we're doing it. And so there was a part of the same thing that we read that was explicitly for those who are changing their mind. Who are seeing that things are that, you know, we honestly, we said, you know, you, we believe there are people that thought this earnestly was the right thing to do, but that you are seeing the violence you're seeing, you're troubled now by what's happening. And inviting people into that relationship was an important part of us, part of what we wanted to do. That was something that we really wanted to make sure that we were talking about. We want to invite people into repentance, right? Invite people into relationship to, to know, yeah, I understand why you started this way.

21:42But if you see that things are going the rock, going sideways, it's not too late. And I think that's, you know, that's part of what's happening here, right? It's inviting into relationship. Yep, you had it wrong. Even if he did some irritants, you messed it up. But you know what? You can still be invited into this relationship. You can still abide in me. You can still have this water that you'll, that will never run dry is still offered to you. And the disciples might not have seen that, they're confused by this whole thing. And, you know, I don't think it's John, you know, where they're like, let's rain down fire on them, right? But it doesn't have to be the same. They, this, this, this, this good Samaritan thing is tricky for everybody else, but Jesus in all the gospels. Yeah. Yeah. No, I mean, it's a, it's a real struggle, as you said, for, for all of those people to kind of figure that out.

22:47And I like what you said, you know, about the, the invitation and bringing people in because the amount of, you know, video things where you see someone who was very much, you know, in favor of the current administration. And how many of those folks who voted and were in favor or in favor and didn't vote for whatever reason who have gotten deported and or detained or whose family has gotten deported. And the attitude of, well, that's what you deserve or that's what you get is not only unhelpful, but it's also just not faithful either, right? There's this constant call to see what we can do and where the repentance is. Now that the tricky thing here, Rob, is too often this passage has also been put forward as, well, this is Jesus offering this woman repentance because look at this. She's just kind of sleeping around, you know what I mean? Look at her getting divorced and having all these husbands, you know, she had five husbands, the man she's with isn't her husband. It's been. So, first of all, I think that's an unfaithful reading of this text and other biblical scholars agree, I'm not just coming up that on my own.

23:52You know, this has been used to condemn sexual promiscuity or sin or, you know, this idea of her being a tramp or a five time losers all this shame, you know, this kind of shame aspect that later Christians have have heaped onto this text. It's not in a text that's not here. In fact, actually, as Carolyn Lewis and so many others have pointed out, this is actually devastating. It's a moment of deep compassion because there's a possibility that she was widowed or divorced five times, right? The fact that she had five husbands, this isn't nowadays. And even if it was, even if it was today, that's still not something where somebody's walking around like, you know, delighted in or things like that. It's, it can be a devastating aspect. Lewis says, you know, likely widowed or divorced the fact alone of having five husbands would have indicated some sort of curse against her family. It could also mean the woman has been divorced often for trivial matters, but more likely because she was barren. And if she was barren, she wouldn't even have a family to turn to in the case of being widowed, which would further exacerbate her dependent status.

24:58There's this piece of, and we talked about this earlier, which of deep shame, not necessarily because of something she's done, but because of the situation that she finds herself in, which we have nothing to do with anything she did, but it also could be why she's going to the well in the heat of the day at noon, when maybe she's not expecting anyone to be there, hopefully maybe getting away from, you know, the shame of the other people in the town, which is an interesting and Jesus's response is compassionate, but Rob, it's interesting to see if we go down that just a little bit farther, and if she is, because it's odd for her to be going to get water during the heat of the day at noon. And it'd be interesting if she's doing that to avoid people, avoid what they're going to say, avoid what they're going to do. Then we truly see transformation in this encounter, because she goes straight from here and what does she do? She goes out and immediately seeks out all those people, who may have thought that she was cursed, who may have been deriding her, who may have been casting her aside, or thinking she was less than all the things that people had had blamed her for, all those pieces that you were just talking about, Rob, and now she's no longer bound by shame.

26:14Only by that abundant joy, of course, which is a big part of the gospel of John. Yes, and I think the, I don't think it's too much to read that she is marginalized in some way. Right. Right. But I think it's more of her being victimized by the culture, not something that she brought upon herself, which is, which is exactly what you're saying. And then, and like you said, that does show the transformation, it's not just her transformation, who now the woman who was doing this thing, you know, probably to avoid people who now runs to the people, they listen. Yeah. Right. They believe her. They listen and believe because of what she testified. And that is no small task either. Right. Because she told, but I've always been puzzled by this phrase. He told me everything I've ever done. He did. Like that's a weird phrase, but it kind of reminds me of this is very similar to the call at the beginning of John. Right. When Jesus, you know, as an Andrew, he sees under the tree and like, he just kind of knows his name and knows where he's from and he's like, oh my gosh, this is amazing. Like I'm going to follow you forever. And Jesus like, you're going to follow me just for that. You haven't seen anything yet. Right.

27:38So there's a there's an element here of the miraculous knowing, right. I think that's, you know, whether the detail, whatever the details are, just like that first calling. It was a miraculous knowing that Jesus knew that first disciple here. It's a miraculous knowing that Jesus knows this woman. And of course, you know, this is the gospel of John and the great miraculous knowing is in the resurrection. When Mary recognizes him when he calls her Mary, right. When he says her name, she, it's the miraculous knowing that's almost reversed, you know, or not really reverse. It's it's Jesus knows her. And that's when she recognizes him again. And so this is again, the gospel of John, the that's not about the kingdom of God. It's about abiding in me. It's about this deep relationship. It's about this living and breathing intimacy of eternal life that is depth and breadth and meaning and all of these things.

28:45That miraculous knowing leads Mary then to re enter her community to know and the community knows her and they know Jesus too. So it's not just about this one woman. It's also about a whole community of people who were enemies, now also knowing Jesus and how miraculous that is. Yeah, yeah, and this idea, I think in addition that knowing too is which is still extraordinary today, which is the joy it is to be fully known. I mean, how many people in your life truly know you and even the people that know you the most probably don't know everything about you. They don't know everything you've done. Right, there's still things whether intentional or unintentional things that we just don't share don't know about or things like that. I mean, my wife, you know, I've been together for over, you know, 20 years. And and things will still come up and I'll say, I didn't know that. I didn't know that thing about you know, I mean, we're we still sometimes learn things about each other 20 years later things like that. Here's Jesus. Jesus knows everything about her. And it's amazing.

29:55What Jesus doesn't ask her to do is to repent. Right. Like he knows everything about her and all he does is offer her his presence, his grace and his invitation into this new life. That's it. That's all he's done. His do that piece. And what is it like for somebody to fully know everything that you've done every success that you've accomplished, every absolute and utter failure that you've done all of those things. Every aspect, every thought that you've thought, all of those things, somebody who knows everything about you. And what we have here in this moment is utter acceptance of the Samaritan woman, not for who she will be not for what she has done, but for exactly who she is in this moment right there at the well. That is a miraculous thing that is an extraordinary thing. It would be an extraordinary thing if he met anybody at the well, but especially again coming back with somebody who is so other on every level, it makes it even more extraordinary because he does this he accepts and he doesn't he's really not asking for anything. I'm looking at this passage drop. I mean, he's not he he's declaring

31:08But he's never says he never asks her for anything. So it's I mean, he asked her for water. He asked her for something to drink. Give me some water to drink. That's that's the beginning. Right. So I just I think that that's there's I think in that message is a powerful message for people to hear Like you can be known fully and loved fully for exactly as you are and what a what a joy that is that's the joy that makes you want to run to the minute of town and say, oh my gosh, you got to experience this because who else does that, especially in our transactional society, which it was which it was at that time too. Yeah, yeah, and what and what you know, in the end Jesus received something to right he does. It's not transactional, but he stays with them for two days. Right. He sits deeper into the relationship. He he goes even farther than anyone would have imagined that he's not just passing through. He stays with them even longer and many more believed his word.

32:19Until they took it for themselves. Right. It's no longer just you. Now we understand this too. And this this model for evangelism that is about meeting people where they are offering them relationship knowing you're knowing somebody and inviting them into again, not inviting them to repent or go and send no more or anything like that. Just it's simply just an invitation to relationship and you know with nothing else in return. And that is what evangelism I think really should be. Yeah, absolutely. The last piece that I wanted to say on this before we we need to move on to the Exodus passage is up keys and I don't know if it's in our notes. I don't know if we got this beginning with Charles Couser. It might have been.

33:19But this idea of the otherness coming together with Samaritan, the Jew, the man, the woman coming together at the well sharing a drink of water. So there's two aspects of it. One is the power of again, Jesus asking for water, not demanding and not offering, but asking first and the power we have and asking for help that connects us with on another. But more than that, too, is actually in that power structure. Right. Yeah. Right. Right. But the other thing that this reminds me of is Jesus as Jesus with Mr. Rogers and the swimming pool. And he's having the conversation. Remember at the swimming pool with the police officer who's black and they have a swimming pool. What a dramatic moment that was because people didn't share pools. Right. Jews and Samaritan's don't share wells. They don't they don't spend this time together. And what what a thing that is just to be together while they're talking. And so there's I think there's aspects of that. Right. I mean when we talk about, you know, Jim Crow, which wasn't that far off and different drinking fountains and

34:24and and what a radical thing. We have elements of that. I think that the preacher could tap into. Yeah, absolutely. I want to throw out real quick too that you know, one of our notes is that will the Gaffney, you know, the great scholar and woman is theologian. When she wrote her, when she created the woman's electionary, she put this as one of the texts for Pentecost. Yeah. And I like that. That's really cool. Like because this is the birth of a church. Right. This is the birth. This is the first of agile. This is the Holy Spirit. I mean, it's not mentioned. Right. But this is. Uh, well, spirit and truth. Well, yeah, spirit and truth. What does she do? She leaves the jug. And I think that's a powerful piece, Rob. She, she leaves the jug. And then she literally shares the living water. It's a cool. Yeah. I think that that is that. Yeah. All right. More on the show notes. Go check that out. Publifixion.com.

35:29Previously on the Bible. I smell heaven's bakery cooking up something good for you, sister. Well, now we have Exodus 17 verses one through seven. The whole Israelite community broke camp and set out for the sin desert to continue their journey as the Lord commanded. They set up their camp at Refidim, but there was no water for the people to drink. The people argued with Moses and said, give us water to drink. Moses said to them, why are you arguing with me? Why are you testing the Lord? But the people were very thirsty for water there. And they complained to Moses. Why did he bring us out of Egypt to kill us our children and our livestock with thirst? So Moses cried out to the Lord. What should I do with this people? They are getting ready to stone me. The Lord said to Moses, go on ahead of the people. Take some of Israel's elders with you. Take in your hand the shepherd's rod that you used to strike the Nile River and go. I'll be standing there in front of you at the rock on the rock of Horab. Hit the rock. Water will come out of it. And the people will be able to drink. Moses did so while Israel's elders watched. He called the place Masa and Miraba because the Israelites argued with and tested the Lord asking, is the Lord really with us or not?

36:56Okay. I like the NRSV of this raw better only because it talks about the wilderness of sin. And that's it. I mean, if I was ever going to go back in time and have a high school heavy metal band, that's what I would call it, the wilderness of sin. Be great. Anyway, this is an interesting piece put this in context, parting of the Red Sea 14 Exodus 14 song of praise followed by the first water complaint when which they turned saltwater to fresh water in 15 last of what the one right before the 16 as mana from heaven after this. We're going to head up to the Mount Sinai and we're going to have the pre-decalogue, decalogue business and all that sort of thing. But here we are in the wilderness of sin. Now, I think that that piece, you know, awesome band names aside, the wilderness of sin or the sin desert is I think is a powerful preaching hook for me in this too. Because sin is not this is not the wilderness of sin like the wilderness of wrongdoing or missing the mark or all of those things.

37:58This is sin as in there was a moon goddess called sin that was worshiped in that area. This was the area of that space where people worship to the moon goddess. We have a link to an article in the journal biblical literature of traces of worship of the moon goddess sin among the early Israelites. And I think this is a powerful thing, Rob, because they have just escaped from the empire of Egypt. Right, they just escaped where where Pharaoh held himself up as a god for all intents and purposes. Right. Pharaoh caused the sun to rise and set Pharaoh caused the Nioh to flood and go down. I mean, this is the whole Tetontet with the what Pharaoh could do or not do and what God could actually do even unto life and death from Pharaoh trying to kill the firstborns and failing to God killing the firstborns and succeeding. And so they go from this this one area dominated by the the cult of Pharaoh and the empire of Pharaoh and now they're in the wilderness, but they're in the wilderness of sin. And it's an interesting piece that in in this when they were in Egypt, they didn't know who God was and it says they didn't know who got even Moses didn't know who God was who should I say is calling me.

39:11And now they've made it out and there's this idea of like as a kid I always thought Rob, you know, they made it out and now they can worship God, but they don't understand it. And so they're in this spot in the sin desert and and they still don't know who God is and they're still trying to figure this out and they're still this idea of is this really is this really who we want to worship. And they probably would have been more comfortable worshipping the moon goddess than this Yahweh who yeah brought them on a slavery yes provided water and mana, but what's Yahweh done for me lately. Yeah, and of course, you know, the wilderness of sin is definitely more rolls off the tongue that doesn't the sin desert or the desert of sin. I think is helpful for people that, you know, here in the Midwest when we think of wilderness, we think of like state parks. Yes, for us and you know, you know, starved rock or like, you know, waterfall and I think that's part of what helps you know, it's a desert right this is a dangerous place.

40:14But remember what you know what Moses asked fair to do in the first place was let my people go out into the wilderness to worship Yahweh to worship our God and now they're out in the wilderness and they are figuring out is this really who we want to worship. Is this what you let us out here did you let us out here to worship or did you lead us out here to die and this is a you know there's an easy. You know all those complaining Israelites right all the here they are whining again shouldn't they remember. You know, shouldn't they remember that God let them out should they remember God part of the sea should they remember that God you know gave them the Passover. Yeah they did but they're thirsty and they're going to die like that doesn't do you a lot I mean we joke what have you done for me lately but in the moment of like you can't live without water for very long right so this there's a real this is still a real need and to if your first response to somebody suffering is well i've helped you before.

41:22It's not that hopeful right I mean that there's a response to suffering here that God sees. That is that's real and I think that you know a faithful response to suffering is not ask. You know well what did you do with the last water I gave you right I drank it like you know so I think that's part of this to that it's an easy it's there's a real tendency to sort of. Just you know blame those you know white Israelites well and but I and yes absolutely I think the verse two is interesting to which is. The people argued with Moses and said give us water to drink and I think this comes back to you know the gospel passage somewhat. They think Moses did it. They think Moses brought him out of Egypt they think Moses did these things and it's a fascinating thing where Moses like why are you talking to me. Like you know why are you testing the Lord like he he's redirecting them into it and and so this idea to which says that.

42:28Are we I gosh Rob I feel too often like I mean I want to I want to I want to put this on my church. But I'm I'm right there with them which is when there's a problem. We often we think well we got to figure out how to fix it and we don't think about how to bring it to God. Yeah right what what are the ways and it's not just that it's all thoughts and prayers but there is a piece of like. When things are bad in the church. As many of our churches had at times how often do we. Bring it to God or do we try to focus on and expect the pastor or the council or somebody else to just fix it. As opposed to saying God what let's discern what what we're God is calling us. Yeah yeah it's interesting did why did you bring us out of Egypt to kill us they say to Moses. It's kind of I mean it's not exactly kind of reminds me of the you know your dog made a mess there you know not or your daughter is in trouble not you know that.

43:38It's kind of the opposite that but uh. Yeah who's claiming who's claiming this relationship and this whole what is the this what is the journey and wilderness. What is lend but remembering this relationship and like focusing on it and remembering it and restoring it and hear the people the the relationship is. They're still navigating it this is the first time that they're navigating it and the people are trying to figure out what this relationship is what does it mean to be God's people. We don't have the law yet you know we've got our stories about our for our patriarchs and matriarchs but who are we yeah and they're still navigating that and I think that's part of what lent us to right who are we. Are we navigating this faithfully are we are we test you know he says why are you testing the Lord I mean are we why are we testing are we testing ourselves are we testing this relationship.

44:44Are we asking God to help us through this are we seeing where God is helping us through this or are we just complaining about what we don't have. Well and along with that too is uh. They have to leave. They find themselves in a wilderness of sin and part of it is God says which may be comfortable for them right in the wilderness of sin like they broke camp and set out from the sin. Or to think they can't stay there. I mean so it's interesting that the Lord says to Moses you got to go on ahead I'm going to lead you to Mount Horib which is in the Sinai the wilderness of sin but it's not in the wilderness of sin and so part of it is. How often Rob do we want everything to be fixed we just don't want to change everything to do it right we don't want we don't want to go where God is leading us we don't want to do those pieces we just want God to provide for us right here right now. Moses God through Moses and the elders doesn't provide water for them right there where they want it. Even though they're claim and what they need is as you pointed out earlier is powerful and important legitimate they are going to die otherwise.

45:52But the only way to survive is they've got to move and the only way for Moses to lead them is with them right he's got to take the elders he can't and Moses doesn't just lead him alone. He it's very specific he takes the elders and leads it with them it's not just Moses guiding the prayed here but it's he's inviting them into that relationship with that he has with God. Yeah it's recognizing where God already is in this relationship to it you know right we have the old story of the guy you know stranded on you know the floods come in and he stranded on his house on the roof of his house right and he prays to God deliver me and that guy shows up in a boat and he's like no I'm praying to God and then another guy you know shows up in a you know with a life raft he's a no I'm praying to God and then he ends up dying yes God why didn't you save me and he said I sent the boat I sent the guy with the right you look. I sent all these people you kept refusing it what do you mean you know why didn't I save you I tried and I think that there's an element of that here too right it's God is with us through it all we just don't wreck are we faithful enough for equipped to recognize it when God is with us if we can we see the rocks for ourselves that are that are giving that are giving the living water even if we don't realize it.

47:14Yeah it's a worthwhile and I think that this question which they're going to ask repeatedly it I think there's the other piece that goes along with that Rob which is the questions wrong. The question is how do we know that God is with us and what they're going to learn in their 40 years in the wilderness well we're still learning is that's the wrong question. God's with you the question is are you with God yeah and so to some of this they have that and I'm a beat up on the Israelites but that question you know what they say is the is the Lord in in your midst of course but the question is are you are you with God are you following in that way of spirit and truth that we were just talking about are you doing these things or not right so that place you know is the Lord really with us or not well are you really with the Lord or not. Or you with sin or you with Pharaoh right later they're going to say like send us back to the flesh pots of Egypt to be with Pharaoh are you with God are you not and this is the same thing obviously that we all struggle more in the show notes go check that out over at pulpit fiction dot com.

48:25Now that's a tasty wafer all right I are tasty wafer brings us back to Romans it's going to be Romans 5 1 through 11. Therefore since we have been made righteous through his faithfulness we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ we have access to faith into his grace in which we stand through him and we boast in hope of God's glory but not only that we even take pride in our problems because we know that trouble produces endurance endurance produces character and character produces hope and this hope doesn't put us to shame. Because the love of God has been poured out in our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given us while we were still weak at the right moment Christ died for ungodly people it isn't often that someone will die for a righteous person although someone might dare to die for a good person but God shows us love for us because while we were still sinners Christ died for us.

49:27So now we have been made righteous by his blood we can be even more certain that we will be saved from God's wrath through him if we were reconciled to God through the death of his son while we were still enemies now that we have been reconciled how much more certain is it that we will be saved by his life and not only that we take pride in God through our Lord Jesus Christ the one through whom we now have a restored relationship with God. All right so we're not exactly picking up where we left off but pretty close we're skipping a few verses last week we're left off at Romans 417 here we're picking up Romans 5.1 here's the very first thing that I think is incredibly important is this very first line and the common English Bible. Therefore we have since we have been made righteous through his faithfulness we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ a more traditional translation at least in the NIV and I'm looking up the NRSV as well yeah that's what I thought this is a famous line therefore since we are justified by faith.

50:42Who's the his? Is it his faith in Christ? Is it Christ faith? Is it our faith? Is it as a tech as a context suggests? Is it Abraham's faith? Right because we're talking about we're just talking about Abraham and frankly if you read the end of chapter 4 but the scripture says that it was credited to him it wasn't written only for Abraham's sake it was written also for our sake. Because it is going to be credited to us too it will be credited to those who have faith in the one who raised Christ our Lord from the dead he was handed over because of our mistakes and he was raised up to meet the requirements of righteousness for us. Therefore since we have been made righteous through his faithfulness we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ again I ask whose faith is it? And for centuries we have read this this is the Reformation this is it's our faith and so faith we are only justified by our faith but this feels like this is about either Abraham but actually more likely we're reconciled through Christ faith.

51:54Yeah Christ had faith in us Christ faith that he was willing to be obedient even to the cross because he had faith that we were going to finish the job. It's a really important is that's all I'm saying here. Yeah well and it calls back to Romans 3 that this righteousness is given through the faith of Jesus Christ to all who believe there is no difference between right and so I think that you're right it's this piece of it's and it's been mistranslated right and it comes it starts from there where it says most like the NIV says this righteousness is given through faith in Jesus Christ all who believe that is the only spot. In all of Greek where that word is translated as in it's not in it's the faith of the faithfulness of Jesus Christ not faithfulness in and I think that you're absolutely right Rob that's an important aspect to kind of look at this piece which says that we are redeemed by the faith of Jesus Christ and it's the faith that Christ has not only in God but the faith that Christ has in and I love how you said that Rob the faith that Christ has in us as well.

53:04Yeah I mean I think that's the again this is we talked last week about this being somewhat an argument about you know universal salvation I think there's the same Christ had faith in us that's why he was he was he was he was willing to be obedient even to the cross because he had faith that the church would finish the job yeah. I don't know maybe that's heretical I feel like that is a way of reading this though that it's faithful and empowering to us it's not about it's not it's not about faith versus works it's not even about our faith it's about who God is who Christ is that had faith that that you know guess we are sinners but he's willing to die for us anyway yeah because he knew that the death was not going to be the end also. And this is the not because we're going to stop sinning but this is something that he's going to release us from this I don't know it's a it's a powerful his and I feel and I cannot but feel like you know early translators just couldn't accept that this they had to had to take it out you know that it's that it's because the is just didn't make sense to them.

54:23Well I mean I think that that's probably too often or not with the church it's that but and I think it's you alluded to this Rob it's a bold fan right I it's a it's a as we're kind of in this lent in journey through the wilderness to the cross there's a faithfulness that Christ has in the way his way the way of God of love forgiveness redemption reconciliation even unto death in the cross and the death of the cross is not the end and that's and I think the faith so it's the faith that he has in God that this is right and it's the faith that then we are involved in bold and to live in that same way all the way through but I think it's that same piece that then calls us to this the trickiest part of this passage which is boasting in sufferings right because there is an aspect of of you know well we can boast in sufferings because we know and I think the aspect

55:23of redemptive suffering is at the very least difficult and tricky and it's really problematic when too often we tell other people that they should boast in their sufferings and again Paul is writing we boast not you should boast in your sufferings but we boast in our sufferings Paul is also suffering in the midst of this but in the same way too like we remember that Christ the best of us also to suffered and also died even though we had done nothing to deserve it at that point right didn't believe in God didn't do those things right there's also a piece and we we boast in suffering because we know suffering and death don't have the final word but it's also a question of of if we're not suffering to some extent which is not to glorify and lift up suffering we also have to ask ourselves are we actually following the way of Jesus Christ yeah right are we are we doing without so that others can have are we paying more for what we have because we know that it's better for the environment it's better for workers so that there aren't

56:30sweatshops and things like that that are happening are we making sure that we're buying food more humanely and sustainably and maybe eating less meat I'm not saying you had to go full vegan but eating less meat or using public transportation or you know leaving apathy and ignorance behind and finding ways in which those suffering aspects kind of call us into it. Yeah yeah absolutely are we doing the work ourselves or hiring artists or are we using AI right I mean these are the things that this is it's suffering and that's a thing that's I mean our first world problems talking about suffering it's mild inconveniences are we trying to do things other than you know not supporting Amazon right there's so much here and and you know we I think I've shared many times or we've talked about it. Before like you know there's the famous quote if the where the you know word of God is preached without opposition yeah it's not the word of God if you're you know a popular message about Jesus I'm one you know it's not meant to be popular we're not meant to be popular we're not meant to be

57:41yeah it's not meant to be easy there's a countercultural understanding especially when when the dominant culture is empire and and power Christ proclaimed as a countercultural thing and not easy. My colleague Emily preached and we have a beetle Sunday is many of our listeners know every year and she preached on the Beatles saying that they were more popular than Jesus and was such a great sermon because she was like of course you're more popular than Jesus that's not the point of Jesus right and people are mad at the Beatles and she was like you missed the point yeah yeah Jesus shouldn't be I mean picking up your crop take up your cross and follow me is not a problem. Popular message sell everything you have and give it to the poor then follow me it's not a popular message you know leave your father to be buried by somebody else is not a popular message yeah so that is a justice you know turning over the money changers making worship more difficult is not a popular message just just a seldom popular yeah.

58:51Friends so much more in the show notes you can find all of that over at pulpitfiction dot com. Well thank you all so much for joining us for this episode of the Pulpit Fiction podcast we would love to hear from you oh first a special shout out to any new listeners that are joining us welcome to the Pulpit Fiction podcast we're so delighted that you are joining us. Here today and part of the Pulpit Fiction community we love to hear from you old listeners new listeners and everybody in between go to our home and web page Pulpit Fiction dot com where you can find past shows all of our actual notes as well as links to many the resources we've referenced. Along with that too you can also leave comments right on those web pages if you've got good ideas and things like that we would love to hear them and if you have any corrections Lord knows that we're not perfect and sometimes we get it wrong so we love to hear those two. You can also reach us an Instagram and Facebook at Pulpit Fiction you can follow us on X at Pulpit F Podcast you can also always email us directly show at Pulpit Fiction dot US you can support us by going to Pulpit Fiction dot com slash support friends that helps us keep that website going and live and keep this podcast going so we really appreciate all of our amazing supporters who went to Pulpit Fiction dot com slash support.

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