A sermon on John 4:5-42 by Nathan Nettleton

It’s easy to believe what others say of you
especially when you know its true.
Something deep inside rebels against the label
— schizo, idealist, gay, bookworm,
refugee, illiterate, yuppie, perfectionist,
loner, divorcee, Samaritan, woman —
it doesn’t feel fair
it doesn’t say who you are
but what protest can you make?
if the hat fits, wear it
they might be handling the truth maliciously
but it’s still the truth
isn’t it?

At face value, what the label says of you is true of you
so what’s the use of fighting it?
Just bite your lip and crawl back into your box
just hide your tears and let a little bit more of you die
for a little bit seems to die
every time you are reduced to a label
even if the label fits
or fits a part of you
or used to fit you
and every time as you crawl back into your box
embarrassed, humiliated, ashamed
but fighting to keep it from showing
the box feels a little more like a prison
and a little more like a coffin
and a little more like a grave
from which there is no escape
in which there is no life.

But you get used to it
after a while you don’t even feel any protest inside
you just get used to it
you just accept the label
you just become who they say you are
you just forget what else you might be
you just cave in
you even begin to use the label of yourself
first with an air of jovial self-mockery
but after a while just with an air of resignation
and eventually without even that
it’s become just a name
the name by which everyone knows you
no longer shaming, no longer grating
just a long worn name

One day you go out for supplies
sneaking out of your box when there should be no one around
to avoid the stares, the sniggers, the bristling hostility
but you come face to face with a man
a stranger
Who is he?
What’s he doing here?
What does he know?

He asks for your help
He obviously doesn’t know much
No one looks to you for help
They’d rather do without
But before you can stop yourself
you are setting yourself up for another put-down
You are telling him why you’re not worth talking to
and definitely not one to look to for help
You are labelling yourself
because you’ve worn those labels for so long
that you feel naked without them
and embarrassed to have them overlooked
as though you might be guilty of deceiving someone
and responsible for the mess they got themselves into.

But he doesn’t recoil in horror
he smiles
he offers to do something for you in return
“You give me a drink of your water
and I’ll give you some of mine
only mine will not just wet your throat
but well up inside you like a spring of life.”

Yeah right!
You know that nothing gets through your calloused hide
to your shrivelled up spirit
Internal spring of life
Don’t make me laugh
It hurts

But then he speaks again
and his words hit you right between the eyes
with just a few words
he holds up a mirror and shows you yourself
he knows you
he knows not only your labels and your boxes
but he knows where they came from
he knows the truth behind them
he knows the secrets you had almost forgotten
the dark shameful things hidden deep inside you
with just a few words
he peels back the covers
the defences
the layers of self-protection
and exposes you to the light
naked before his gaze

And yet he doesn’t move in for the kill
he doesn’t expose your vulnerable points and then go for them
he names the labels only to peel them away
as though they don’t matter to him
He sees through them
beneath them
and calls you by a name you’ve never heard
but a name somehow familiar
a name that seems to belong to someone you might once have aspired to become
someone who was lost, presumed dead, a long time ago

And as he speaks that name
something stirs within you
something awakening
as though living water had been poured on a dry seed
and it had plumped and sprouted in an instant
reaching straight up towards the light

Labels and scars and defences and fears fall away
and with a sudden rush of blood
you are engaging the stranger
who knows more than enough to decimate you
in animated conversation
Someone you barely recognise as yourself
has begun pouring forth
in words long dammed up
about your hopes an aspirations
about the hopes and aspirations of your people
about your fears and insecurities
and the fears and insecurities of your people
about your yearning for the truth
and for the one who will reveal the truth
and put things right
the one who will peel back the layers of hostility and hurt
and reveal the truth of all things to all people

And suddenly there is an awkward moment
where you realise
that the hope you have just described
is what he has just done for you
and you know you have just described a man to himself
without realising it
and that this is surely the anointed one
the gifted one
the chosen one
the one who comes to save us

For hasn’t what was long dead within you
entombed forever in labelled boxes
just been raised to new life
and aren’t you just bursting to tell someone
to let others see for themselves
even those you wouldn’t have dared talk to
but to whom you now pour forth your story

“Come and see for yourselves
a man who knew me from the inside out
a man who showed me who I am
who showed me who I was created to be
a man who opened my grave
and lifted me from the box in which I lay
and unbound me from layer after layer of grave clothes
each bearing the labels that cut and killed
a man who saw me for what I had never yet been
and never dared to hope I could be
and invited this unknown real me to come forth and live”

Come and see for yourselves
Come and be named for who you are
for who you have been
for who you are yet to become
Come and see what he will find in you
what labels and scars he will peel back
and call you to leave behind and live free from
a call both exhilarating and terrifying
Come and see
Come and confess that this one is truly the saviour of the world
Come and see
that he might pour into your hearts the living water
of being truly and deeply known
forgiven and accepted
and feed you with the mysterious food of doing God’s will
and the wine of your destiny embraced
for this is the One who will raise the world to life
and lead us dancing into the banqueting room of heaven.