Parking Lot Conversations
Encountering Christ Beyond Barriers and Buckets
September 15, 2024
Seventeenth Sunday after Pentecost, Year B
St. Stephen’s UMC, Burke, VA
John 4:5–42 (NRSVUE)*
*A Sermon Series on Capital Campaign
Our church is blessed with a plot of ground that serves as a parking lot. I’ve had the opportunity to visit our parking lot at different times of the day for various reasons. Often, I’m there with church members as we enter the building for worship, meetings, fellowship, and more. But it’s not just us; I see our parking lot being used by other groups who share our building space, like the scouts on weeknights. I’m also one of the many parents who drop off and pick up their children for preschool throughout the week.
Each month, I’m struck by the long lines of vehicles in our parking lot for our food distribution ministries, with cars lining up well before the distribution begins, often overflowing beyond the church grounds. Our parking lot isn’t just for cars, though — I see our church ladies gathering for conversation and lunch, and our youth using the lot for activities like basketball or, once, even as a track for a real-life Mario Kart race.
Throughout the year, our parking lot hosts community events for Halloween, Christmas, Easter, and Earth Day. We also did drive-thru communions in the parking lot during the pandemic.
Beyond these church-sponsored events, I notice many of our neighbors using our parking lot as part of their daily routines — walking alone, with friends, spouses, or dogs, at various times of the day.
More than we realize, our church parking lot is part of the daily lives of people from all walks of life in our community, not just our church members. The truth is whether for them or for us, we all come to the church parking lot with an empty bucket — to fill the voids in our hearts and souls, to ease our sense of emptiness and loneliness, to seek direction and purpose, to fulfill our sense of responsibilities as disciples, to satisfy hunger and immediate needs, to manage the demands of being a working parent, to stuff goodie bags with treats and sweets, to find joy in seasonal fellowships, or to reach our daily goals for better physical well-being.
The parking lot itself is a gift, really, and the fact that it’s shared with our neighbors in a variety of ways to meet their needs is a true blessing — for it creates opportunities for conversations, and there’s nothing holier than parking lot conversations between strangers.
Jesus and the Samaritan Woman
The scripture reading known as “the Samaritan Woman at the Well” illustrates how such conversations between strangers can become holy. One went to the well to quench his thirst during a long journey from Judea to Galilee. His name was Jesus, a Jewish rabbi. The other went as part of her daily routine; it was common for women of her time to visit the well twice a day, usually in the early morning and early evening, to fetch fresh water and avoid the midday heat. Her name is not mentioned; she is simply known to us as the Samaritan woman. These two strangers met at the well, each seeking to fill their needs.
There were many reasons that could have discouraged a conversation between these two strangers. As explained in today’s reading, Jews did not share things in common with Samaritans, and that is a gross understatement. These two groups had hated each other for centuries, with their animosity rooted in religious, cultural, and historical divisions. After the Assyrian conquest of Israel, the Samaritans — descendants of Israelites who intermarried with foreign settlers — developed their own form of worship, centered on Mount Gerizim rather than Jerusalem, which was considered the proper place of worship for the Jews. This divergence fueled mutual disdain and resentment: Jews viewed Samaritans as impure outsiders unfaithful to the true worship of God, while Samaritans saw Jews as dismissive of their heritage and worship.
Beyond this significant barrier, there were other reasons that would typically prevent such an interaction. In Jesus’ time, women simply did not strike up conversations with men. Moreover, many scholars have noted that there is something suspicious about this woman showing up at the well at noon, during the hottest hour of the day. Perhaps she chose this inconvenient time to avoid the crowd, not wanting to be seen by others, a choice often tied to the details of her life revealed later in her conversation with Jesus. Some also argue that her peculiar past also hints at her socioeconomic status of being powerless, poor, and lowly.
If you are familiar with the Old Testament stories, this personal encounter between a man and a woman at the well might raise your eyebrows. A man asking a woman for water at a well is a familiar trope that leads to a significant relationship, which is marriage. That’s how Isaac and Rebekah got together. That’s how Jacob and Rachel got together. That’s how Moses and Zipporah got together.
Now, Jesus was at the well with a Samaritan woman. Despite all the possible troubles, hassles, inconveniences, and misunderstandings, Jesus nonetheless reached out to her, saying, “Give me a drink.” And of course, the woman responded in a way that I perceive as, “Really? Are you talking to me?”
How many times have we avoided interactions because of the visible barriers of culture, race, ethnicity, religion, politic, age, gender, socioeconomic class, and so on? How many times have we not reached out because of the fear of rejection, the fear of strangers, the fear of offending others, the fear of wasting time, and the fear of how the world would perceive us? How many times have we not asked for help because of the possible troubles, hassles, inconveniences, and misunderstandings?
Jesus, who was there without a bucket, reached out and that’s how their parking lot conversation began. Out of this risky conversation between two strangers of opposite cultures, genders, and backgrounds, something new and beautiful sprouted that transcended all prior religious claims, aspirations, and boundaries. The Samaritan woman was known and seen. Jesus pointed her to a new possibility beyond the worship traditions and preferences. Through Jesus Christ, the Messiah, God was revealed to her.
What happened next was the woman dropping her water jar, going back to her city, and saying to her fellow Samaritans, “Come see a man who knew all about the things I did, who knows me inside and out. Do you think this could be the Messiah?” Then, a new community was formed out of this woman’s testimony, much like how the group of women’s testimony of “Come and see” on Easter morning sparked a new community of Easter people. Something new always emerges when strangers take risks in conversation. Something new always emerges when the Risen Lord is revealed beyond our preconceived notions, cultural assumptions, and conventional wisdom. Something new always emerges when parking lot conversations turn holy.
Us and Our Parking Lot
We are very much like the disciples in today’s story. You know, the ones who showed up later in the story, astonished by the sight of such a risky conversation between Jesus and the Samaritan woman. The disciples were too preoccupied with trying to be responsible followers by making sure Jesus was fed. Their concern for food is much like the concern for discipleship — it’s hard work, and you must wait for it. They are constantly worried, overwhelmed, and occupied by the need to have enough food on the table. It is a daily grind, like the Samaritan woman who repeatedly came back to the well to fill her water jar. The fact is, whether for them or for us, we all carry our empty buckets, griding daily to fill our bottomless pits — and we are tired, exhausted, anxious, and often hopeless.
What Jesus is revealing to both the Samaritan woman and his own disciples is that he is the living, everlasting water. So do not be afraid — we don’t have to do everything, we don’t have to fix the world, and we don’t have to save the church. Simply abide in Christ, for Jesus has done all the hard work for us. Simply bear fruit and reap the harvest, for Jesus has already sown, and the harvest is now. Simply enjoy the gifts we have received, for that is the abundant life into which we are invited.
What does that abundant life look like for us with this gift of a parking lot? Isn’t it to cherish this gift and be good stewards of it? Isn’t it to imagine this plot of ground as a harvest field where Jesus has already done the hard work? Isn’t it to continue encountering our fellow neighbors, recognizing we are all carrying our bottomless buckets but ultimately receiving, reflecting, and relaying Christ who is with us without a bucket? Isn’t it to continue to engage in holy conversations with strangers beyond barriers, so that Christ may be revealed both in us and in them, so that all of us may one day also drop our bucket and shout with joy, “Come and see!”
In a world fractured by social anxiety and discomfort, privacy and boundaries, social media and digital communication, mistrust and division, and busy lifestyles and cultural shifts, any space that brings different people together face to face is a gift. May we identify these gifts, cherish these gifts, be good stewards of these gifts. May Christ Jesus be revealed through us as we engage with these gifts. And may the living water become a spring within us, gushing up to eternal life, overflowing in love and grace each day, so that no one will ever be thirsty again.
In the name of the Father, of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
Rev. Minoo Kim is an ordained elder in the United Methodist Church, currently serving in the Virginia Annual Conference. Follow his Medium publication to receive his latest sermons or check out his website minoowkim.com for his latest content. Peace!
