Third Sunday in Lent

The Rev. Rachel Dykzeul The sermon reflects on a world divided by conflict and identity politics, using the story of Jesus and the Samaritan woman as a model for crossing human boundaries. The historical hostility between Jews and Samaritans illustrates how deeply communities can exclude one another. Drawing on Miroslav Volf’s theology of “exclusion and embrace,” the sermon describes reconciliation as an embodied process: opening oneself in vulnerability, waiting for response, embracing the other, and then allowing both people to remain transformed yet distinct. Jesus models this radical openness by crossing into Samaria and initiating connection with someone his society rejected. His actions reveal that he is not a regional Messiah but the sustaining light for the entire world. The sermon concludes by inviting listeners, especially during Lent, to resist tribal divisions and instead practice the courageous act of embracing those whom society labels as “other.”