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In touch

Up-to-the-minute jumping-off points for sermons, linking the reading to the latest news and global issues.

 

Peace or conflict?

Samaritans and Jews did not get on. Conflicts persist in today’s world, many with a religious dimension.

 

Context

There are numerous current conflicts around the world many of which, sadly, have a religious dimension. Examples include that between Armenia (largely orthodox Christian as the material for this year’s Week of Prayer for Christian Unity reminded us) and Azerbaijan (largely Muslim), that in Myanmar, that in Sudan, that in Nigeria and above all at present that between Israel and the USA and Iran.

 

Ideas for sermons or interactive talks

At the time of Jesus the land of Palestine was ruled by the Romans. Samaria was between Galilee in the north and Judea and Jerusalem in the south. For hundreds of years the Jews and the people of Samaria had been enemies. They did not agree about where God’s people should worship. Jews worshipped at the Temple in Jerusalem, the Samaritans favoured their own mountain. Most Jews would not travel through Samaria so used a longer route to avoid Samaria and any contact with Samaritans.

There are two key gospel stories around this enmity. One is the familiar story we call the Good Samaritan (Luke 10:25–37) told in response to a question from a Jewish legal expert; the other is today’s gospel passage, one of my favourite Bible stories. Despite his instructions to others (Matthew 10:5) or his rejection (Luke 9:52f), it seems that Jesus defied the tradition, travelled through Samaria and met this unnamed woman at a well near Sychar.

There are still small communities of Samaritans in Israel and Palestine but, whatever animosity may still exist, the conflict of the 1st century clearly pales into insignificance against the conflicts of the 21st century world. However, choosing (as Jesus effectively did) to place oneself inside any conflict, large or small, can be a brave thing to do.

As I write on Tuesday Christian responses across the world and in Britain to the renewed conflict with Iran are quite varied. But these comments from Pope Leo XIV seem appropriate to me:

Stability and peace are not built with mutual threats, nor with weapons, which sow destruction, pain, and death, but only through a reasonable, authentic, and responsible dialogue. . . Faced with the possibility of a tragedy of enormous proportions, I address to the parties involved a heartfelt appeal to assume the moral responsibility to stop the spiral of violence before it becomes an irreparable abyss... May diplomacy recover its role and may the good of peoples be promoted, peoples who long for peaceful coexistence founded on justice. And let us continue to pray for peace.

A very different angle on this story of the woman at the well would be to focus on the woman’s words ‘He told me everything I have ever done’. Would you or I have been persuaded by her testimony? My friend, retired Methodist minister Gareth Hill, may help if you want a different approach.

Finally, at least in your prayers, remember that 8 March is International Women’s’ Day.

 

Questions for discussion

• How do we respond to the current conflict in the Middle East?
• Have you ever placed yourself inside a conflict - whether simply between neighbours or a much bigger conflict?
• Would you tell your friends about someone who ‘told me everything I have ever done’?

 

Dudley Coates is a local preacher in the Salisbury Methodist Circuit and a former Vice President of the Methodist Conference.

 

Check-in

Connecting faith with everyday, real-life issues for young people

The theme for this week's resources – Who are you? - is a question many of us don’t think about that often until something makes us do so. It was a question that my wife and I were asked several times during our adoption journey a few years back.

It’s a question that faces us many times throughout our lives, especially as young people, as we try and work who we are in relation to our friends, family and wider society. Having access to people and situations all over the world via social media makes it an even harder question to navigate.

It’s a question which no doubt many are asking in the Middle East – and millions of others around the world – as a result of the attacks on Iran and their response and counter-responses over the past week.

Who am I/are we when we feel under attack?

And it’s a question that the Samaritan Woman at the Well asked in this week's Bible passage as a result of meeting with Jesus. Who am I in response to this Messiah-like figure who’s offering to give me living water?

Spending time with Jesus – meeting  with Jesus – encountering Jesus urge us to ask the question, ‘Who is this Jesus person? Am I going to respond positively and accept the living water, whatever that means; or am I going to reject or ignore the offer and carry on as before?’

The invitation Jesus gave to the Samaritan Woman was to come and drink the living water in the midst of her day-to-day life. It’s the same invitation he gives to us in the midst of our normal everyday lives. How are you/we going to respond to that offer today?

Jonathan Buckley is Youth Development Worker at YMCA White Rose and Redevelopment Manager at St Paul’s Church, Parson Cross, Sheffield.

 

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