THERE’S MORE TO SEE
THAN MEETS THE EYE
THAN MEETS THE EYE
INTRODUCTION
The title of my homily is, “There’s More To See Than Meets The Eye.”
I see that as one of the major themes of the Gospel of John.
There’s more to see than meets the eye.
THE GOSPEL OF JOHN
In the Gospel of John we meet big crowds at times, but I also see John introducing us to different characters one by one: John the Baptist, Andrew, the Couple at Cana who run out of wine, Nicodemus who comes to Jesus at night, The Man at the Pool at Bethesda who was sick for 38 years, The Woman Caught in Adultery whom the crowd wanted to stone to death, The Blind Man in Chapter 9, Lazarus, Jesus’ close friend, who had died, Thomas, Judas, Pilate, Mary Magdalene, and Peter. Then there’s the one I bypassed for a moment: The Woman at the Well – whom we meet in today’s gospel. We meet these people in depth – and in these meetings, we can meet Jesus in depth. I think that is a major theme in the Gospel of John.
There’s more to see than meets the eye.
There’s lots of stuff below the surface. There’s much more to the story. Superficial is superficial. Skin calls for us to be more, much more than just skin deep. There’s more to see than meets the eye. There’s more to me than meets the eye. There’s more to you than meets the eye.
Don’t we get angry or down when we are dismissed by another – who just sees us as a label or an old person or young person or a woman or a man or what have you?
TODAY’S GOSPEL
It helps to know the story of The Woman at the Well for our growth in spirituality and for more depth in our relationship with Jesus.
Jesus comes into town. It’s a Samaritan town. It’s noon time. Jesus is tired. Jesus is thirsty. Jesus sits down on the edge of a well. It’s the place where Jacob’s well was. Each item in the story is important.
A Samaritan woman comes to the well for water. Jesus asks her for a drink of water – and the rest of the story is the mystery of meeting.
Aren’t meetings, meetings, meetings, the story of each of our lives?
Well, well, well….
Each of us goes to the well many times.
Each of us has a well down deep inside of us.
What’s in our well?
Is there living water down there? Or has it become foul? Poisoned? Or is it a dry cistern?
What have been the experiences of our life?
Whom have we met in our life?
Whom have been the rivers in our lives? Whom have been those significant people whom we have met – and as we heard in the first reading for today, they taped the rock called “me” and living water flowed?
Jesus sits at the edge of our well and he is waiting for each of us – each Lent – each Sunday – each day – each moment.
We just heard the story. We find out the woman has been married 5 times. We find out that the man she is living with right now is not her husband. We discover she becomes an evangelist and brings the members of her town to meet Jesus. We discover that many in that town follow Jesus, first at the word of the woman – but then on their own – because Jesus stays with them two days.
There’s more to see than meets the eye.
A MAIN STREET RESTAURANT
I’m walking by a restaurant on Main Street here in Annapolis. I see a couple eating there almost as a window display. I notice they are not talking. Their forks are in pause. I look at their faces. They seem blank at the moment my eyes look at their faces.
Well, well, well….
As I continue walking, I wonder about the state of their marriage or relationship. Are they still in love? Do they still talk like they talked that whole first year they met – when they couldn’t get enough of each other, couldn’t get enough moments together…?
I continue walking. Maybe they are not married. Maybe they are old friends. Maybe they are brother and sister. Maybe they are on their second date – both divorced – or both lost a spouse. Maybe they are married to someone else.
I continue walking. Maybe they are parents of an only son or daughter who went to the Naval Academy – who was killed in Afghanistan or Iraq a year ago – and the three of them used to eat in this restaurant when he or she was at the Navy Academy – and they are sitting there at this moment doing this in memory of him or her.
There’s more to see than meets the eye.
POEMS OF SEAMUS HEANEY
I think of a poem* and the poems of Seamus Heaney. He’s sitting there writing with pen in hand and his dad is outside digging and digging – farming potatoes – and he reflects that his father is doing what his father did and his father did – and everything is in this moment. His dad is doing more than farming potatoes.
There’s more to see than meets the eye.
Several times I’ve sat down like Jesus at a well and began to drink Seamus Heaney’s words – like I’ve done with the poetry of Mary Oliver and Denise Levertov, and so many other poets and found myself drinking delicious water from deep wells.
I remember reading how Seamus Heaney was amazed at the stories of bodies found in peat bogs from way back in the Iron Age – around the 6 century BC in Northern Europe – all leather – all teeth – all earth – and how he reflected on these bodies. Then as I walked up and down streets and drove by a thousand fields, I thought about all that is buried below my feet – a zillion bugs who were born and flew and bugged and now gone – and dust – faded flowers that bees loved and honeyed and then disappeared – and people – lots of people.
And I look at all of you here in church and I see buried in all of you stories – meetings – husbands – wives – children – relationships – hurts – wonderings. I see all of you as cemeteries – with your tomb stones. I see all of you as libraries – filled with books – poems, travelogues – short stories – fiction and non-fiction. I see you as photo albums with lots of pictures of lots of people and lots of places and lots of moments – the stories of one’s life.
Well, well, well, ….
I see all of you here at this well called St. Mary’s – this well called the Sunday morning 10:30 Choir Mass here at St. Mary’s. I see some of you here this morning as this woman – ready to be surprised – to be filled with living water. I see some of you sometimes coming to Mass at this time – at this moment – because you come to Mass each Sunday – not ready to be surprised – just here to get your bucket filled with water and to go home – over and over again.
I know that because that’s me too – too many times. I’m here because I have to be here – too many times.
Of course, I hope all of us who are here this morning will experience Jesus surprising you – getting you to see that that you might have 5 husbands or 5 wives and the person you’re with now – you’re not married to – that you’re married to your job – or your children – or to your computer – or to the television set – or to the cell phone – or to your groups and the person you’re married to now, you’re not treating as a spouse.
CONCLUSION
So I hope all of you meet Jesus at this well this morning – in the word – in the moments of this mass – sitting here in this restaurant on Duke of Gloucester Street – hearing Jesus say, “This is my Body. This is my Blood. Take and eat. Take and drink.”
And I hope you meet Jesus deep in your well – not just on the edge of your well, when you receive him in communion – down deep – and he fills your well with living water.
And for the next two days at least, I hope you experience Jesus and you say to yourself, “I am your follower Jesus not just because my parents gave me this gift of faith, but because I have met Jesus, like this woman at the well met him.
I think that’s what John is trying to do with this story he told us this morning about The Woman at The Well.
*Cf. pages 428-429, “Digging,” in For the Love of Ireland, edited by Susan Cahill
In the Gospel of John we meet big crowds at times, but I also see John introducing us to different characters one by one: John the Baptist, Andrew, the Couple at Cana who run out of wine, Nicodemus who comes to Jesus at night, The Man at the Pool at Bethesda who was sick for 38 years, The Woman Caught in Adultery whom the crowd wanted to stone to death, The Blind Man in Chapter 9, Lazarus, Jesus’ close friend, who had died, Thomas, Judas, Pilate, Mary Magdalene, and Peter. Then there’s the one I bypassed for a moment: The Woman at the Well – whom we meet in today’s gospel. We meet these people in depth – and in these meetings, we can meet Jesus in depth. I think that is a major theme in the Gospel of John.
There’s more to see than meets the eye.
There’s lots of stuff below the surface. There’s much more to the story. Superficial is superficial. Skin calls for us to be more, much more than just skin deep. There’s more to see than meets the eye. There’s more to me than meets the eye. There’s more to you than meets the eye.
Don’t we get angry or down when we are dismissed by another – who just sees us as a label or an old person or young person or a woman or a man or what have you?
TODAY’S GOSPEL
It helps to know the story of The Woman at the Well for our growth in spirituality and for more depth in our relationship with Jesus.
Jesus comes into town. It’s a Samaritan town. It’s noon time. Jesus is tired. Jesus is thirsty. Jesus sits down on the edge of a well. It’s the place where Jacob’s well was. Each item in the story is important.
A Samaritan woman comes to the well for water. Jesus asks her for a drink of water – and the rest of the story is the mystery of meeting.
Aren’t meetings, meetings, meetings, the story of each of our lives?
Well, well, well….
Each of us goes to the well many times.
Each of us has a well down deep inside of us.
What’s in our well?
Is there living water down there? Or has it become foul? Poisoned? Or is it a dry cistern?
What have been the experiences of our life?
Whom have we met in our life?
Whom have been the rivers in our lives? Whom have been those significant people whom we have met – and as we heard in the first reading for today, they taped the rock called “me” and living water flowed?
Jesus sits at the edge of our well and he is waiting for each of us – each Lent – each Sunday – each day – each moment.
We just heard the story. We find out the woman has been married 5 times. We find out that the man she is living with right now is not her husband. We discover she becomes an evangelist and brings the members of her town to meet Jesus. We discover that many in that town follow Jesus, first at the word of the woman – but then on their own – because Jesus stays with them two days.
There’s more to see than meets the eye.
A MAIN STREET RESTAURANT
I’m walking by a restaurant on Main Street here in Annapolis. I see a couple eating there almost as a window display. I notice they are not talking. Their forks are in pause. I look at their faces. They seem blank at the moment my eyes look at their faces.
Well, well, well….
As I continue walking, I wonder about the state of their marriage or relationship. Are they still in love? Do they still talk like they talked that whole first year they met – when they couldn’t get enough of each other, couldn’t get enough moments together…?
I continue walking. Maybe they are not married. Maybe they are old friends. Maybe they are brother and sister. Maybe they are on their second date – both divorced – or both lost a spouse. Maybe they are married to someone else.
I continue walking. Maybe they are parents of an only son or daughter who went to the Naval Academy – who was killed in Afghanistan or Iraq a year ago – and the three of them used to eat in this restaurant when he or she was at the Navy Academy – and they are sitting there at this moment doing this in memory of him or her.
There’s more to see than meets the eye.
POEMS OF SEAMUS HEANEY
I think of a poem* and the poems of Seamus Heaney. He’s sitting there writing with pen in hand and his dad is outside digging and digging – farming potatoes – and he reflects that his father is doing what his father did and his father did – and everything is in this moment. His dad is doing more than farming potatoes.
There’s more to see than meets the eye.
Several times I’ve sat down like Jesus at a well and began to drink Seamus Heaney’s words – like I’ve done with the poetry of Mary Oliver and Denise Levertov, and so many other poets and found myself drinking delicious water from deep wells.
I remember reading how Seamus Heaney was amazed at the stories of bodies found in peat bogs from way back in the Iron Age – around the 6 century BC in Northern Europe – all leather – all teeth – all earth – and how he reflected on these bodies. Then as I walked up and down streets and drove by a thousand fields, I thought about all that is buried below my feet – a zillion bugs who were born and flew and bugged and now gone – and dust – faded flowers that bees loved and honeyed and then disappeared – and people – lots of people.
And I look at all of you here in church and I see buried in all of you stories – meetings – husbands – wives – children – relationships – hurts – wonderings. I see all of you as cemeteries – with your tomb stones. I see all of you as libraries – filled with books – poems, travelogues – short stories – fiction and non-fiction. I see you as photo albums with lots of pictures of lots of people and lots of places and lots of moments – the stories of one’s life.
Well, well, well, ….
I see all of you here at this well called St. Mary’s – this well called the Sunday morning 10:30 Choir Mass here at St. Mary’s. I see some of you here this morning as this woman – ready to be surprised – to be filled with living water. I see some of you sometimes coming to Mass at this time – at this moment – because you come to Mass each Sunday – not ready to be surprised – just here to get your bucket filled with water and to go home – over and over again.
I know that because that’s me too – too many times. I’m here because I have to be here – too many times.
Of course, I hope all of us who are here this morning will experience Jesus surprising you – getting you to see that that you might have 5 husbands or 5 wives and the person you’re with now – you’re not married to – that you’re married to your job – or your children – or to your computer – or to the television set – or to the cell phone – or to your groups and the person you’re married to now, you’re not treating as a spouse.
CONCLUSION
So I hope all of you meet Jesus at this well this morning – in the word – in the moments of this mass – sitting here in this restaurant on Duke of Gloucester Street – hearing Jesus say, “This is my Body. This is my Blood. Take and eat. Take and drink.”
And I hope you meet Jesus deep in your well – not just on the edge of your well, when you receive him in communion – down deep – and he fills your well with living water.
And for the next two days at least, I hope you experience Jesus and you say to yourself, “I am your follower Jesus not just because my parents gave me this gift of faith, but because I have met Jesus, like this woman at the well met him.
I think that’s what John is trying to do with this story he told us this morning about The Woman at The Well.
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
*Cf. pages 428-429, “Digging,” in For the Love of Ireland, edited by Susan Cahill
