Trinity Parish Church - Lent 3 - February 24, 2008

John 4:5-42

The Rev. Rachel Endicott

Some months ago, my mother got a call from her bank.  As we all know, this is generally not a good sign.  And sure enough, the person from the fraud department wanted to know whether she had recently started spending fairly good chunks of money from an account that had been inactive from a considerable period of time.  Sure enough, she hadn't.  But somebody else had become Yvonne Endicott, someone else had used, stolen, her identity in their quest for more money.

And identity theft is rampant.  Many companies acknowledge this in that when you change your address with them, they send notices to both your old address and your new address to make sure that someone masquerading as you didn't make the request to divert your billing statements or other documents.  In my recent move, I'm pretty sure it was the postal service sent a little flyer produced by the Federal Trade Commission about how to deter those who might want to use personal information for their own gain.  They emphasized about not giving out personal information unless you know with whom you're dealing, keeping secure your personal information and shredding financial documents.

Now I need to say that identity theft isn't the only way that in our 21^st century life we think about identity.  We also think about it in terms of employment, in social terms, and even in dating.  I think about - in previous centuries - how the family you came from defined who you were.  I especially think about the old southern families where coming from one branch or another of certain established families could make or break you by reputation alone.

Today, hiring managers in many fields are responsible for ensuring identity and background checks are run, not to mention even credit checks in some cases.  References are checked to see whether indeed the person has functioned at the company he or she has claimed to for the said period of time.  In social contexts, identity is no less central.  In many settings, what are the first two questions people ask or items people share?  They give their name and define themselves by what they do for a living or where they work.  With the internet now providing a forum for people to make new friendships and on-line dating arena, identity becomes in some way even more important as it's much harder on-line to know if people really are who they say.  You often have no context in which to place others, no common acquaintances, and often no face-to-face meetings initially.  So no wonder there's a burgeoning industry where for just $49.95 or other varying amounts, some unknown entity on the internet claims that they will run a background check, confirm the identity of the person with who you think you are connecting.

Yet maybe that expression that "the more things change, the more they stay the same" is true.  We have the issue of identity coming to the fore in Jesus' day.  We start with an unexpected and unorthodox meeting of Jesus and the woman at the well.  There's even some humor in that John reports that the woman is the evangelist and the disciples are the food procurers.  We have a meeting where the roles are all over the place and identity is key.  Jesus, defined by his being a Jew, meets a woman, defined strictly not only as a Samaritan, but as one who is not in the mainstream with her lifestyle that doesn't mesh with those of her time and day.  And central to this story, forgotten sometimes I believe with our well-intentioned discussion of the water and the well, is the amazing statement of identity that is made by Jesus, that he is the Messiah.  He is not simply an itinerant teacher and preacher, he is the anointed one, come from God.

And, indeed, the high point of the lengthy conversation with the woman is where the woman expresses her hope in the eventual coming of the Messiah and Jesus responds, "I am he".  "I am he" he says, following it up with "the one who is speaking to you." in my mind just in case she doesn't get it, understandable as I'm guessing that we - too - would doubt that God's anointed would show up in such an out of the way place and have such a meeting.

Yet, this is exactly what God does.  And, the woman, ‘though she can't quite wrap her head around this revelation, does experience the compassionate truth-telling of one who knows more than she tells.

And so the woman's identity changes or at least is broadened.  She is no longer simply the woman who has had five husbands.  Rather, she becomes the one who says to people, "Come and see..."  And we're told that because of her statements, many "Samaritans from that city believed in him because of the woman's testimony".  She becomes one who proclaims the beckoning love of God and becomes one with whom Jesus has a personal relationship through conversation.  He is not from family or clan, but the woman recognizes him as he states boldly his identity before her.  His identity as the Messiah is surprising for the woman, but we who come after have the benefit of time.  We not only have heard his claims, but we've can call upon the many witnesses who saw him heal the lame, care for those in pain, and even raise the dead.

But what about us?  What does identity have to do with us?

We all define ourselves, tagging on descriptors to our identity, more than just the names we carry.  We do define ourselves by our given or acquired names, names of birth, names sometimes through marriage, names taken on by choice or through friendships.  How many of you have nicknames, given by friends or family?  I even know of several people who changed their names or took on new names at baptism, changed their identity in a most immediate way.

Our identity as a people is indeed as children of God.  We call ourselves Christians as we self-identify what we stand for and who we follow.  Some of us further define ourselves as Episcopalians, or many even more narrowly cradle-Episcopalians.  And as our identity, it becomes something we put on.  I believe that today, perhaps more importantly than in other eras, it is important for us to live out our identity as Christians in a compassionate, caring way as Christ would have us do.  We are to meet the "other" at the well and treat them with respect, compassion and perhaps perplexed wonder.  I think it behooves us, particularly in a time where the self-defined identity of Christian brings up for many people a certain type of fundamentalist Christianity, that we take this label on and show people an alternative way that this identity can be lived out.

C.S. Lewis defined his belief at one point.  He said, "I believe in Christianity as I believe that the Sun has risen, not only because I see it, but because by it I see everything else. ¹

And that truly is the way that our identity not only defines us, but forms how we might see the world.  Through the knowledge that Jesus is the Messiah who we follow, we see the world in a different way.

So go forth and see the world...rejoice that - like the woman at the well - we have been shown Jesus' identity as the Messiah.  Wear your identity as Christian, as follower of Christ, proudly and with that same sense of compassion as did the Messiah those many years ago chatted with a downtrodden women that he came across at the well on the shortcut in his journey.

¹ C.S. Lewis, The Weight of Glory, "Is theology poetry?", 1944, p. 92.