Third Sunday in Lent with baptism

Jesus does radical things. He doesn’t do what is expected; he doesn’t conform to social norms; he challenges the status quo. Here in our Gospel, Jesus, a Jew, is asking for water from a woman he meets at a well. Sounds pretty simple until we learn that the Jews detested the Samaritans. They were seen as a scum underclass, described as filthy dogs. Although close to the Jews, living among them, and sharing to a great extent the same scriptures, the Samaritans followed a different path and believed themselves to be the most historic and true religion of the Israelites. This did not endear them to their more numerous neighbours, provoking distrust and mutual loathing. Here Jesus follows his own path, making his own decision. Every person is loved by God and every person is called to eternal life. Much to the shock and surprise of his disciples Jesus engages the women in conversation as an equal and ask of her a favour. He asked the woman to consider her response, to make a choice and to make her decision. Carry on the old way that was destructive and led nowhere, or make a positive choice and accept new life.

Today is a day of choices and decisions. The family here today are, like the Samaritan woman, choosing to take Jesus into their lives and to live in the promise of eternal life. They will make their commitment and will give their decision in just a few moments.

Why is this so important? Paul, in possibly one of the most important statements of the all the Epistles, gives us a strong pointer. We live in the world: our world is full of wonder and beauty, but also great tragedy and sorrow. Christians make an active choice on how we view the world. We make a commitment to view the world through the eyes of Christ. Eyes full of love and compassion, that see each and every person as born in the image of God, but to also see the world as the creation of a loving God, a God not distant but constantly involved renewing and making new, constantly creating - as the miracle of the birth of a new family member testifies. Christians make the choice to see God active in the world and in all that we do. We acknowledge suffering and recognise that we will at points in our lives suffer, through tragedy, loss, hurt – whatever form. But in faith, we will hopefully endure. Through endurance our characters are formed and grow, our faith deepens and becomes real, and as our characters grow, hope becomes real. We see the world as God sees it, full of possibility and wonder. We are called by God to share in his creation to be good stewards and (in the words of the Shorter Litany from the prayer book) “let the whole world feel and see that things which were cast down are being raised up, and things which had grown old are being made new, and all things are returning to perfection through him from whom they took their origin. Even Jesus Christ our Lord”.

We are not people of the status quo. We are people born again in hope, hope that will never disappoint us.