Christ is risen. He is risen. In the name of
the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit,
glory to Jesus Christ. Glory to God. The Church
has wisely, very carefully, given us this reading
and all the readings that we've been hearing
since, well, every week. But especially since
Pascha, for a specific reason, and that is to
remind us, each of us, about the meaning of our
baptism, what's been given to us. The meaning
of the reception of the Holy Spirit in chrismation
as a gift, the gift of the Spirit. The meaning
of what it is to be joined to the Church, the
body of Christ, with Him at His head. and the
fellowship of one another. The reading from Acts
during this season tells us about the incredible
deeds of the apostles, their travels, the persecutions
that they just went through after the stoning
of Stephen, and the growth of the church, the
explosion, the amazing, amazing gift of God to
this people. This is all a reminder for the newly
baptized and chrismated. This is all a reminder
for those preparing for that awesome event that
will occur to them next week. We have baptisms
then. And this is a reminder, especially for
us, who perhaps have gotten tripped up in life
and are still thirsting for the living water,
that is the gift of the Holy Spirit and the peace
of God in our heart, but have neglected or forgotten.
or set things aside. The Lord is speaking of
living water to this woman. He tells her what
he's going to tell everybody in chapter 7, that
out of her will flow unending grace of God, the
Spirit of God. It's the birth from above, as
Jesus told. in the chapter just before this that
we read. It's not about getting a clean slate
and doing a simple makeover of your life, getting
some icons in an icon corner and changing your
routines about fasting. That's life. That's not
it. It's not life with a grace coupon. It's deeper.
It's spiritually remedial. It's about healing.
To repair what has been marred by our sin. So
we have fellowship with God by becoming a new
creation. A new creation. We hear this so much
that perhaps it just sounds like interesting
spiritual and religious words. But something
new. We not only recover what was lost in Adam
in the Garden of Paradise, but we gain what is
the fullness of Christ, the Word of God. by the
gift of the Spirit. This is worship in spirit
and in truth. The Holy Spirit and Jesus Christ,
the way, the truth, and the life. And all of
this requires a new way of thinking and of acting,
of believing. And it usually doesn't take very
long, speaking of myself, even after such a grueling
spiritual... exercises Lent and Holy Week and
Pascha, by the way, grueling for the egotistical
self. That's what it's grueling for. And the
ego, after all this, begins to reassert itself.
Even though we have drunk deeply of God's grace
during the fast and the feasts and Pascha, which
provides us with a way to overcome this self
that just keeps wanting to come back. And tell
us, relax. God is merciful. That's true. But
relax. And we miss out. Today we hear the account
of how Christ comes to a well in the heat of
the day. And he's tired. And he's thirsty. And
the disciples go off to find some food. You know,
there's not a mini mart there. And a woman comes
to get water at an odd time of the day for getting
water. She comes alone to get her water. And
one suspects, as we hear the reading go on, the
reason for that, that the women are looking at
her and gossiping about her when she does come
with other people. She's an unconventional woman.
Not only is she a woman, it was not usual for
a man to gauge in a strange woman in conversation.
Although, in the Old Testament, that's exactly
what happens with Moses and his wife to be Zipporah.
That's exactly what happens when Abraham sends
his servant to find a wife for his son. That's
exactly what happens when Jacob falls in love.
And the scripture says, Jacob loved Rachel. Jacob
falls in love with Rachel at a well, at this
well, at Jacob's well. So things are happening
at the well under the surface here, which there's
no time to go into. But it's fascinating and
it's inspiring and it's beautiful because Christ
is reaching this woman. Out of his immeasurable
love for mankind. And for her specifically on
that day. You know, it's hard for us to imagine
what can happen at a well. Because how many people,
don't have to show your hands, get their water
from a well every day? We go to the bathroom
or the sink in the kitchen and we turn it on.
There it is. That's beautiful. I'm very grateful
for that. I'm not saying we shouldn't do that.
In the scriptures, that well, and in the old
world, that well, that fountain, that spring
that's coming out. My wife and I were in Macedonia
and Serbia. Every village had a beautiful place
where spring water would come out, and it was
completely pure. And it's a gathering place.
It's where people meet one another. It's where
this woman knows that the ladies are going to
be gossiping about her. five husbands, and the
one she has now is not her husband. And something
amazing was happening in that world with Jesus.
Since he is eternal and his love is eternal,
you know, we can share. This is not just a story
of history, sacred history. This is a story to
enlighten and illumine us about what we can also
acquire. Our Savior is love. God is love, wrote
St. John. And all his interactions come from
his infinite love. So he can safely reveal to
Fotini, that's the woman's name, she becomes
a martyr for Christ, and reveal to millions of
others that he knows her. He knows her life.
He knows you. He knows the disarray of our life.
He knows our sorrows, our wounds, our broken
hopes. He knows our failures. And when Christ
reveals that he knows this, she does not become
insulted and offended. On this fourth Sunday
of Pascha, this noble, incredible woman is our
example. Her graciousness, asking Christ more.
Yes, she deflects a little. Oh, you're a prophet.
And she starts asking about religious things.
And Jesus brings it back to her. But she's gracious.
She accepts without offense. She's humble. And
those who are humble can receive the word of
God. She has joy. She's our example of joy. When
she learns that he is the Messiah, she runs and
tells her kinfolk and all her friends in that
village of Sychar. Her desire to share with others
was infectious because she knew the truth and
he was sitting there on the edge of that well.
There's a fresco right there in which you can
contemplate just a little bit. And she's our
example for her courage to accept what Christ
said. You know, Christ himself will die on the
cross for her sins, for her salvation. And she
died for him, too, as a witness of that crucifixion
and that resurrection. This is amazing courage
this woman has. And just as Jesus spoke to her
about living water pouring out of her, this is
God's light, his personal love for us. And this
light... Yes, will give us joy, but the first
thing this light will do, as I tell all the catechumens
in the chapter that we have on sin, this light
will reveal the sordidness of our fallen and
sinful condition. And we can change. Whereas
without Christ, an awareness would cause us to
be paralyzed and useless, with Christ we have
hope. We have expectation of being filled with
more of the Spirit of God. We are pulled here
and there, aren't we? So we don't bother to sit
at the well at prayer. It's simple, brothers
and sisters. Saturate yourself, says the elder.
Father John Kristyankin of Russia, the modern
elder. Saturate yourselves, dear friends, with
the water of life, he says. Approach Christ,
its source, and approach in spirit and in truth.
It's simple to acquire. It's prayer. It's love
of neighbor. It's keeping the commandments. And
it's love of God. It's simple to acquire. Our
parish should be like that well. where that woman
was. And we are all like that woman. We're seeking
more. But we've also been given the illumination.
The word, their name, Futini, means the illumined
one. So we congratulate Futini and Svetlana on
their name day. Those that bear the name Claire.
Our parish should be like that well of Jacob
where Jesus met the woman, a place where a sinner
meets Christ who is the truth and learns what
repentance is by the Spirit, learns what joy
is, learns what grief, learns knowledge. I hope
this parish can be like Jacob's well, a place
of encounter with Christ. You can go many places,
my dear friends. You can try to worship God.
When Jesus speaks to this woman about worship,
they're speaking about the worship of a lamb,
a sheep, or a bird, whatever, in the temple.
Jesus is speaking of a new worship. That is what
we have here in the Orthodox Church, the fullness
of the Christian life, the fullness of the Christian
worship, and the fullness of the Christian belief
and doctrine. enabling us to worship God in spirit
and in truth and not to leave here empty with
just a lot of sermons. No, we have these divine
services. They're called divine because they're
infused with the grace of God. And as we stand
in church and we hear those prayers, our hearts
are lifted up. Or perhaps we're convicted of
our sin and we have sorrow and we offer that
to God. And then we come and we receive his holy
body and blood. And the Spirit that we have called
down at the altar, all of us, again, we pray
to thee, O Lord. Send thy Holy Spirit upon us
and upon these gifts here set forth. And make
this bread the body of thy Christ. Make that
which is in this cup the blood of the... And
through the Spirit, we are not only illumined,
we are fed. And that grace of God, we will never
be thirsty for anything else except for that.
To our Lord, who has revealed himself to us,
be glory and honor now and ever, to ages of ages.
Christ is risen.