{"id":746,"date":"2014-03-24T09:02:47","date_gmt":"2014-03-24T13:02:47","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/stjohnscorbin.org\/?p=746"},"modified":"2014-03-23T00:07:46","modified_gmt":"2014-03-23T04:07:46","slug":"being-seen-by-jesus-sermon-march-23-2016","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/stjohnscorbin.org\/2014\/03\/24\/being-seen-by-jesus-sermon-march-23-2016\/","title":{"rendered":"Being Seen by Jesus (Sermon) March 23, 2016"},"content":{"rendered":"

Sermon \u2013 March 23, 2014
\nThe Rev. Rebecca S. Myers, CSW
\n<\/span>St. John\u2019s Episcopal Church, Corbin, KY
\n<\/span>Third Sunday in Lent<\/a><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/i>“Come and see a man who told me everything I have ever done!\u201d John 4:29<\/i><\/p>\n

Please be seated.<\/span><\/p>\n

I have talked before about the brief part of my social work career when I was a therapist.\u00a0 I provided individual therapy for people who had traumatic brain injuries or TBIs.\u00a0 For the most part, the people had been in rehab and were living independently; however, they often required support or some additional assistance in living with their injury.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

One man, Doug, was in our program because of anger issues, a known result of TBIs.\u00a0 This man had tried to attack another man at work one day and the diagnosis was inability to control his anger due to his brain injury.\u00a0 However, over a period of time, I learned that this man was extremely sensitive to people.\u00a0 He could see people deeply.\u00a0 He had developed a very low tolerance for people who lied to him.\u00a0 He felt unsafe when someone was not authentic.\u00a0 He was afraid he would be harmed.\u00a0 What appeared to be unjustified aggression to others, was actually his way of protecting himself.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

At the time I was doing this work in North Carolina, I was going through a difficult time in my life.\u00a0 I was grieving so many things, including the end of a marriage.\u00a0 One of the ways I expressed my grief was by tears and many mornings, I would have a good cry session before I left for work.\u00a0 No one at work ever seemed to notice, as I\u2019d walk in with my cheery smile and \u201chow are yous?\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

One morning, Doug was my first client.\u00a0 He walked in my office, sat down, looked at me, and immediately said, \u201cYou\u2019ve been crying.\u201d\u00a0 Uh, Oh, what was I to do?\u00a0 I didn\u2019t want him to start obsessing on what was causing me to cry.\u00a0 I was supposed to be professional and there were professional boundaries to uphold, after all.\u00a0 Yet, lying to him would destroy trust and he would feel unsafe.\u00a0 I told him the truth that I was crying and after a few minutes of him expressing sadness that I could be in distress, we were able to move on.<\/p>\n

Have you had experiences like that?\u00a0 Experiences of being seen deeply?\u00a0 Of not being able to hide?<\/p>\n

In today\u2019s Gospel, Jesus sees the Samaritan woman.\u00a0 In doing so, we have a model for how to treat ourselves and a model for the church and how we treat each other and our neighbors.<\/p>\n

First of all, Jesus dares to speak to a woman and a Samaritan woman at that.\u00a0 This conversation between a man and a woman was usually not done.\u00a0 The Samaritans and Jews were at odds with each other over religious practices and had little love for each other.\u00a0 Jesus once again breaks the rules and focuses on relationship.<\/p>\n

Secondly, the woman came alone to the well at noon, the hottest part of the day.\u00a0 While women usually drew water for their families, they often came earlier in the day, when it was cooler.\u00a0 In addition, they usually came together in a group.\u00a0 It appears that this woman was not respected by her community.\u00a0 She was an outcast.\u00a0 Jesus once again, breaks the societal barriers, caring about the relationship.\u00a0 He sees the woman as created by God, which is the most important thing.<\/p>\n

Thirdly, Jesus does not condemn the woman.\u00a0 He knows why she is not the most respected person in the community \u2013 she had five husbands and now lives with a man who is not her husband.\u00a0 Jesus gives the woman the opportunity to be honest and authentic about her life, when he says in verse 16, \u201cGo, call your husband and come back.\u201d\u00a0 The woman could have left and not returned.\u00a0 She knew Jesus was a traveler and she could have never had another encounter with him again.\u00a0 She could have \u201cpretended\u201d she was an upstanding member of the community.<\/p>\n

Isn\u2019t that what so many of us do?\u00a0 We walk around with grieving souls, heavy in our burdens, yet tell so many that we meet that we are just fine.\u00a0 Even in our church community, being authentically who we are, is difficult.\u00a0 We\u2019re not sure if we will be judged.\u00a0 We\u2019re not sure if we will be shunned.\u00a0 We erroneously believe who we authentically are is not worthy of relationship.<\/p>\n

Now, some of this is smart or necessary.\u00a0 We are human beings after all and we can be very cruel to each other.\u00a0 Discerning with whom to share the most intimate details of our life is prudent.\u00a0 However, don\u2019t you agree that \u201cputting on the face\u201d is draining and tiring?\u00a0 Being able to be authentic is so freeing.\u00a0 That\u2019s what our relationship with Jesus is all about.\u00a0 That\u2019s one of the reasons God sent His Son into the world. . . to free us.<\/p>\n

Jesus accepts the woman without judgment.\u00a0 He tells her she is worthy of the water that will quench all thirst.\u00a0 He does not shun her nor refuse to be in relationship with her.\u00a0 As a result, she is not locked in to the role she and her community have created for her.\u00a0 She is free to be different\u2026to change.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s the paradox of being truly seen. . . acceptance of what is true allows us to examine that part of ourselves and to make changes if we\u2019d like.<\/p>\n

Jesus\u2019 example of naming what is true, while not shunning nor cutting off the relationship, is the best example for how we treat each other and how our church community needs to be seen.\u00a0 And this behavior is evangelizing.\u00a0 Look what happens.\u00a0 The woman is amazed.\u00a0 While not the most respected member of her community, she gathers many in the town to come see this Jesus who truly saw her and knew her.\u00a0 And the people come and they ask Jesus to stay with them.\u00a0 While at first he is a curiosity, eventually, many believe he is the Messiah because of their encounter with him.\u00a0 And the story is preserved for us.<\/p>\n

A quote from a book on forgiveness by Karyn Kedar is part of our Lenten meditation reading, Renew a Right Spirit Within Me<\/i> booklet, today and speaks to the power of being seen\u2026our call as a Christian community to be,<\/p>\n

\u201c\u2026people who see you, really see you for who you are and who love you because of that.\u00a0 They know you perhaps better than you know yourself.\u00a0 When you are at your best they delight in you.\u00a0 When you lose your way, they hold up for you the vision of your higher self.\u00a0 When you look at them, you see in their eyes a mirror of who you are \u2013 and you like what you see. . . .\u00a0 They sustain all that is good in you and allow the divine purpose in your life to flow easily through you and your relationship with them.\u00a0 (Bridge to Forgiveness<\/i>, Karyn Kedar, p. 83)<\/p>\n

Strive for the authentic life and strive to be the evangelist who, like Jesus, deeply sees others.<\/p>\n

Amen<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Sermon \u2013 March 23, 2014 The Rev. Rebecca S. Myers, CSW St. John\u2019s Episcopal Church, Corbin, KY Third Sunday in Lent \u00a0“Come and see a man who told me everything I have ever done!\u201d John 4:29 Please be seated. I … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"episode_type":"","audio_file":"","podmotor_file_id":"","podmotor_episode_id":"","cover_image":"","cover_image_id":"","duration":"","filesize":"","filesize_raw":"","date_recorded":"","explicit":"","block":"","itunes_episode_number":"","itunes_title":"","itunes_season_number":"","itunes_episode_type":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[6],"tags":[11,13,15,17,14,16],"series":[],"class_list":["post-746","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-rev-rebeccas-reflections","tag-stjohnscorbin","tag-corbin","tag-episcopal","tag-lent","tag-rev-rebecca","tag-samaritan-woman"],"episode_featured_image":false,"episode_player_image":"http:\/\/stjohnscorbin.org\/wp-content\/plugins\/seriously-simple-podcasting\/assets\/images\/no-album-art.png","download_link":"","player_link":"","audio_player":false,"episode_data":{"playerMode":"dark","subscribeUrls":{"apple_podcasts":{"key":"apple_podcasts","url":"","label":"Apple Podcasts","class":"apple_podcasts","icon":"apple-podcasts.png"},"stitcher":{"key":"stitcher","url":"","label":"Stitcher","class":"stitcher","icon":"stitcher.png"},"google_podcasts":{"key":"google_podcasts","url":"","label":"Google Podcasts","class":"google_podcasts","icon":"google-podcasts.png"},"spotify":{"key":"spotify","url":"","label":"Spotify","class":"spotify","icon":"spotify.png"}},"rssFeedUrl":"http:\/\/stjohnscorbin.org\/feed\/podcast\/st-johns-episcopal-church","embedCode":"

Being Seen by Jesus (Sermon) March 23, 2016<\/a><\/blockquote>