Edward DeBono is a man who travels all over the world, giving seminars on how to think. He teaches what he calls “lateral thinking,” and he illustrates what he means by that from an experience in an early life.
Some thirty years ago he was a Rhodes Scholar at Oxford. One night he attended a party in London. The party lasted late, and he got back to Oxford after the gates were closed. Traditionally in that college the gates were locked at twenty minutes past midnight. So, in order to get to his room, he had to scale the college walls.
There were two walls, and he said, “I got over the first one with out too much difficulty and came to the second wall. It was about the same height as the first one. I climbed that, jumped to the other side only to find myself outside again.”
He had climbed in and out across a corner of the wall. He tried again, this time with more careful attention to where that second wall was. He noticed that there was a gate in the wall, and as the gate was lower than the rest of the wall, and provided footholds, he decided to climb over the gate. He did, and as he was sitting astride the top of the gate, it slowly opened. It had never been locked.
He said he learned a lesson from that. No matter how good you are in climbing a wall, you should always pick the right one. Arid when he applied that to problem solving, he called it “Lateral Thinking.” Instead of facing problems head on, instead of trying to climb over them just because they are there, try lateral thinking. And by that he means try solutions that are not obvious. Don’t attack the problem head on. Take detours, moving latterly, or even sometimes moving backwards, until you find the gate that no one knew was open.
I came across DeBono as I was beginning my reflection on our Scripture lesson today in preparation for the sermon. Until then, my approach was to think “head on”. There are obvious lessons in the text, and I’ve preached them before.
The breaking down of barriers is a central lesson. Jesus shattered racial barriers, social barriers, and the barrier between men and women.
There is also the lesson about the universal presence of God, “Not on your mountain, Gerezim - the sacred place of your people; not even in the holy city of Jerusalem in neither place, nor in any other special place but God is Spirit. He is here and there, and there and here and those who worship Him must worship Him in Spirit and in truth.”
Then there is still another huge lesson. Jesus makes the radical claim that He is the source of meaning in life. “Everyone who drinks of this water will thirst again, but whoever drinks of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst, the water that I shall give him shall become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life.” (verses 13-14)
Well, I could have preached on any one of these obvious and great truths of these lessons But inspired by DeBono, I decided to do some “lateral-thinking” about this passage. I backed away from it, moved in and out of it, took some detours in my thinking, looked in from the side rather than head on, and this is what I came out with.
One, there is a Samaria in all of our lives.
Two, there is a ministry in Samaria.
And three, Samaria is to pass through, not to stay in.
Now that kind of “lateral thinking” about the text was profitable to me, let’s see whether it will be so for you.
I
First, there is a Samaria in all our lives.
Verse 4 says, “Jesus had to pass through Samaria.” Now He could have gone another way. Most Jews did. The land of Palestine is about 120 miles long from north to south. At the time of Jesus, within that 120 miles, there were three definite divisions of territory. Galilee lay in the extreme north; Judea was in the south, and in between was Samaria.
The journey from Judea to Galilee could be done in three days if you went straight up through Samaria. The alternate route was to cross the Jordan River down in Judea, go up the eastern side of the river, not passing through Samaria, then re-crossing the Jordan north of Samaria and entering Galilee there. The alternative route would take twice as long.
But it wasn’t because of the distance, or the timing, it was because of who Jesus was that He “had to pass through Samaria”.
I know a man who is struggling with a decision about his work. He is connected with a company that is head over heels now in the gambling business. It’s the same company, in name, that he went to work with years ago - but the company has changed drastically. My friend is torn to pieces inside because he cannot bear to be identified with the part of that company that is developing every casino possible. It violates his moral sensitivities. It calls into question his Christian commitment. He is wrestling with how to disengage himself, He is in the middle of Samaria.
At one time or another, there is a Samaria in each of our lives.
You see, Samaria is not a place, it’s an experience. For some it is the fact of illness a malignancy that the doctors say will continue its pernicious onslaught against the body.
For another, it is the early death of a spouse, when life is completely shattered and changed because of the separation and loneliness that comes as a result of that death. For others it is a rebellious child or children. Try as you will, you’ve been unable to change the pattern of destructive irresponsibility - - drinking, drugs, disrespect, callousness to love.
It is a heart breaking Samaria in which parents sometimes have to live.
For still others, it’s the trying ordeal of living with an addictive spouse. The helplessness you feel, the complete drain of physical and psychic energy. Samaria is real, and you wonder how long you can take it.
For others, it may be an economic Samaria. You are without work, or your work is not rewarding. Not only are you suffering material insecurity, you are frustrated because life seems futile. There is no lasting meaning in what you do. We could go on and on, but you know what I’m talking about. Sooner or later, most of us will have to pass through some Samaria in our lives. So, there are two other truths we need to look at.
II
There is a ministry for us in Samaria that is the second big point I want to make today. In all likelihood, each of us will have to pass through some Samaria in our lives, but keep your eyes and ears open, be alert; there is a ministry for you in Samaria.
Jesus discovered it there at the well in His encounter with the woman. Why she came to the well is something of a mystery, and Bible students have long reflected upon that. The well must have been a half mile from Sychar, and there must have been a water well in the village itself, We may well conclude from what we know about the story that this woman was so much a moral outcast that she could have no relationship with the village women - their scorn and condemnation drove her from the village well, and she came out there to this well to draw water.
There she met Jesus for one time in her life, this woman with a tangled and tired and tinged history, found someone who would care enough to reach out to her, to respect her, to love her with a un-condemning love.
Jesus found a ministry in Samaria and so can we.
Our Career Support Ministry one of the most exciting ministries of our church - is a result of someone being in Samaria and finding a ministry there.
Every Tuesday morning at 6:30 a group of men and women gather in Seabrook Hall for a continental breakfast. Some times there are as many as 75 folks there. Many of them are without jobs. Others are so unhappy in their job they are seeking a transition. Yet there are those who have been in that same place - without jobs, without meaning in their work - but have found that job and meaning now and are there to support the others. It is not a job finding ministry, though many people get jobs because of the networking that takes place. It is a support ministry a spiritual, emotional support. People find life and meaning, and they sometimes find jobs.
The seed for this ministry is planted a few years ago when John Huggins and Roger Watson had been out of work for a long time. Each of them started talking to me and some others about the need for mutual support in his situation. John Allen came on the scene. Then others, the seed grew and now there it is - one of the significant ministries in our church. People come from all over the city to be the recipients of that ministry.
You see, it doesn’t matter what your Samaria is. There is a ministry there. If you will stay open, Christ will call you to it, People who have been there can help people who are presently there, in ways the rest of us can’t. There is a ministry in Samaria.
III
Then there is this final truth. On our spiritual journey, our Samaria is to pass through, not to stay in.
This, too, will pass is the Gospel promise. And you remember Psalm 23: “Yea though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death.” And Isaiah: ‘They that wait upon the Lord.
On our spiritual journey, we are to pass through, not to stay in Samaria. It doesn’t help to try to explain our Samaria. It doesn’t help to rationalize. It doesn’t help at all to take a burden of guilt upon ourselves. Most of all, it doesn’t help to try to fix blame, especially to fix blame on God for our Samaria. It does help to know that our Samaria is not to stay in; Cod will give us the grace to pass through.
I have a witness to share which came to me from a Presbyterian minister in Munster, Indiana I’m going to have to read you his letter for you to get the story. I don’t know this person, but I am so grateful that he took the time to write. Listen to him.
Dear Rev. Dunnam:
I’m reading your book, Living the Psalms (which I’m getting a great deal from), and would like to share a personal experience.
In November of 1986 when my mother was 85, she decided she could no longer manage living in the old family home by herself, and moved to a retirement facility.
My brother and I worked all day packing her things and moving her furniture to the new home. (My brother is a Presbyterian minister, so am I). That evening, physically and emotionally exhausted, the three of us sat eating pizza in a restaurant. I was telling my brother about a church officers’ retreat, where we shared three so called “Quaker Questions”:
1. “When you were growing up, what was the warmest room in your house?”
2. “When was the first time you had a friend?”
3. “When did you first experience the love of God?”
I’m telling this to my brother. Mother was sitting quietly, kind of old and small looking. Suddenly she jumped into the conversation: “I first experienced the love of God,” she said, “in the orphanage.”
Mother was an orphan. We have no idea who her biological parents were. She was adopted from the orphanage at age 15. “Someone was reading from the Bible,” she continued. “They read: ‘When my father and my mother forsake me, then the Lord will take me up.’
My father and my mother did forsake me”, she said, “and the Lord did take me up.
I was stunned. I knew mother was an orphan, but she never talked about it. And I had never heard that story before. Here she was, an 85 year old woman, remembering her first experience of the love of God in an orphanage!
I’d never heard that Bible verse, but I found it in Psalm 27: 10, (King James Version).
She went on to say that all through her life, God had always provided for her, and still was. She felt she had always been surrounded by the providence of God.
She’s now 92, and living in a nursing home. Still full of faith, and ready to be with her Lord.
I found it strange that a child in an orphanage, with no religious training (as far as we know), and no advantage of a loving family, could hear Scripture being read and have and experience of the love of God she would remember 75 or more years later! Psalm 27:10.
Sincerely,
Richard Rogers
Well, that’s the way it is - and that’s the way it will always be in our spiritual journey, wherever we are, God is there and God’s people to share God’s love. Samaria is not to stay in, but to pass through. Hear the lessons again.
One: there is a Samaria in all of our lives.
Two, there is a ministry for us in Samaria.
And three, in our spiritual journey.
Samaria is to pass through, not to stay in.
