What would it mean to be truly seen — not for your labels, your past, or your failures, but for who you really are?

In this sermon for the Third Sunday in Lent, The Rev. Craig Swan explores the story of the Woman at the Well (John 4:5-42) — a Samaritan woman, ostracized by her community, who encounters Jesus at noon by Jacob's Well. Fr. Craig draws a moving parallel between her experience of being fully seen by Christ and a group of Fall River middle schoolers — many carrying labels of poverty, special needs, or family instability — who were cheered by name after their school production of Alice in Wonderland.

The sermon's central insight: every one of us carries something that makes us feel unclean, unlovable, or unworthy. The gospel's radical promise is that God sees past every label — and loves what God sees.

Scripture Readings

1. John 4:5-42 — The Woman at the Well; "living water"
2. Psalm 139 — "You knit me together in my mother's womb"
3. Jeremiah 1 — "Before I formed you in the womb, I knew you"