8 March 2026, John 4:1-30 “Out of tune."

Last Sunday evening, our family had a very special time together. Every year around this time, we connect with our family in Korea through FaceTime and hold a memorial service. It is a time to honor and remember my father-in-law and my sister-in-law’s husband, who have already gone to be with the Lord. This may feel unfamiliar to some of you, but it is actually one of the beautiful traditions in Korean culture. We prepared the favorite foods of our loved ones with great care, and we take a moment to thank God for the lives He allowed them to live and share with us. I chose the hymns, shared a short message, and even prepared the benediction. I ended up leading the whole service. It was a very precious and warm time together. Moments like this also remind me that it is very convenient when there is a minister in the family.

But from this point on, I should tell you that I had to get very careful permission from my wife, Dana, before sharing this next part. Let me ask you something. Do you know what Dana’s dream is? We once had a conversation about this. I asked her, "If you could be born again, and if you could choose any profession from the beginning, what would you want to be?" What do you think her answer was? A singer. Now, if you think about that a little more carefully, it also means that right now she may not exactly have the talent for singing. And I’m pretty sure it’s not just Dana. I have a feeling her entire family shares that same dream. This was something I only found out after we got married. You see, her family has this very unique gift. The whole family is incredibly tone-deaf.

I remember one time I went to a karaoke with my brother-in-law. And let me tell you, he was giving it his all, singing with such incredible passion. The thing is, the song he chose was a really bright, upbeat, and happy song. But somehow, he turned it into the most heartbreakingly sad song I’ve ever heard. He completely changed the vibe. Now, I should probably stop here to protect Dana and the rest of the family. Just imagine it. Five different voices, all completely out of tune, echoing through the screen. Being out of tune wasn't enough; we also had the FaceTime lag, that classic delay. Everyone was singing in different keys and at different times. It was pure chaos. As a minister and a son-in-law, I couldn’t even laugh. It was like a holy torture. But then I looked at the screen, and I saw their faces. They were singing the hymns with such incredible sincerity and devotion.

"Out of Tune" was really the highlight of that day. But then, I started wondering. I began to reflect. I realized it wasn’t just my family’s singing that was out of tune. In a way, it’s a reflection of our own lives. If we look closely, we’ll see that all of us, in some way, are living a bit out of tune. There have been moments in my own life when it felt like I was an instrument that hadn’t been tuned. My notes were off, my strings were out of sync, and I just couldn't find the right harmony. And what about you? How is the song of your life sounding? And what about this world we live in? I am sure we all hear the sounds of lives that are completely out of tune. It’s a constant clashing of voices, filled with discord.

In today’s passage, we meet a woman whose entire life seemed to be out of tune. She is the Samaritan woman. If we imagine her life as a musical instrument, the strings were already completely loose. There was no harmony left. Instead of music, her life was something closer to a scream. First, look at her life. She had five husbands, and the man she was currently living with was not her husband. Even by today’s views, this is not an easy story to understand. Some might look at her and say, "That’s a failed life," or "She has a moral problem."

But we need to remember something important. In that society, women had very little freedom to choose their own path in life. Marriage and divorce were usually decisions made by men. So those five marriages may not have been choices she made. Perhaps those five marriages were not lives she chose, but lives that happened to her. This is not a story of her personal failure. It is a story of a life that was forced out of tune by a broken social structure.

There was another kind of dissonance in her life as well: the rhythm of her life. Normally, people would come to draw water early in the morning or in the evening when the weather was cooler. That was the rhythm of daily life in the village. But this woman came to the well at noon, in the scorching heat. Because she wanted to avoid people. She didn’t want to face their eyes, their whispers, or their judgment. Her life was out of step with the rest of the community, like a musician who has completely lost the beat while the orchestra is playing.

But here is what is so remarkable. At the brightest hour of the day, in the brightest place, we see one of the darkest lives. And at that exact moment, Jesus stepped directly into her broken rhythm.

However, her response to him was also completely out of tune. When Jesus makes a very simple request "Will you give me a drink?" her answer is sharp and defensive. "You are a Jew, and I am a Samaritan woman. How can you ask me for a drink?" Her heart is already tightened with caution. Jesus begins speaking about spiritual living water, but she keeps asking questions. "You have no bucket and the well is deep. Where can you get this water?" She is only talking about the thirst of the body. Because the pitch of her heart was off, the focus of the conversation kept missing the mark.

But here is the beautiful part of the story. Jesus picks her up, and with Great Love, He begins to tune her. There is no rush. Think of a musician tuning an instrument, touching each string one by one, gently tightening here, loosening there, and waiting patiently until every note is just right. He first touches her thirst. "Whoever drinks the water I give will never thirst again." Amazingly, something moves in her heart. "Sir, give me this water." Now, the tuning has begun. But Jesus goes deeper. "Go, call your husband and come back." He is touching the most out-of-tune part in her life. He isn’t doing this to condemn her. He is doing it to restore her. He is touching that painful string, not to break it, but to tune it back to His heavenly harmony.

She begins to realize: "This is no ordinary man." She says, "Sir, I perceive that You are a prophet! Where should we worship?" Do you see what is happening? She is now talking about worship. Jesus speaks the words that change everything: "I who speak to you am He." And something even more amazing happens: the screeching instrument begins to sing. The woman who came to the well to hide now leaves her water jar and runs to the village. The one who lived in shame has become a witness. The one who was out of tune with the community is now leading the song. Her life is no longer out of tune. Yes, her life is completely tuned. This is what we call grace.

Brothers and sisters, we all have strings in our lives that are out of tune. The string of relationships, the string of many wounds, the string of regret, the string of fear. Some are too loose, and some are pulled so tight they are about to snap. And so, our lives often echo with discord. But here is the Good News: Jesus never throws away an out-of-tune life. He tells us to pour out the fake water inside our jars; we don’t need to carry that water anymore because we have already found the Living Water. We are being tuned by Him.

This is why I love Lent. It is our great opportunity to return from being out of tune and become part of a beautiful harmony again. So, I want to encourage you today: Lent is a time to re-tune our lives. It is a time to align our faith, one by one, toward God. It is a time to cool our burning hatred and find the right pitch of love. A time to lay down division and seek the harmony of reconciliation. A time to quietly set aside despair and re-tune ourselves to hope. It is a time to slow down the angry beat of impatience and learn the rhythm of peace. Love, joy, peace, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. Lent is the perfect season when these beautiful fruits are tuned back into our lives.

These days, it feels like there is hardly a peaceful day. Somewhere we hear news of war. Somewhere we hear news of divisions. These things are no longer happening in some distant place that has nothing to do with us. The news reaches us so loudly that it feels terrifying, and we can almost feel the pain ourselves. All day long, the sounds of a world that is out of tune keep knocking on the doors of our ears. So I pray, "God, please tune this world again!" And we cannot help asking: Why has everything become so out of tune? Why has it become so difficult for people simply to live their ordinary lives, caring for their families and their daily responsibilities?

Instead, we hear the sound of power, the sound of hatred, the sound of deception, the sound of anger, the sound of suffering, and the sound of screaming. They are holding tightly to their own water jars, carrying their own things. And when everyone clings to their own jar and raises their own voice louder and louder, saying "I am right, you are wrong," imagine that even God must be covering one ear. This is not the world He desired.

So I dream of a tuned world. I dream that our lives will be tuned as well. A world where love replaces selfishness, justice replaces revenge, and sharing replaces greed. Not a world where our voices disappear, but a world where our different voices form a beautiful harmony in the love of God. In this season of Lent, we stand before the Cross. Will we stay in the noise, holding tightly to our out-of-tune instruments? Or will we place our lives into the hands of the Great Tuner? Look again at the Samaritan woman. When her life was finally tuned, the first thing she did was leave her water jar behind. That jar had once defined her life. It was her shield, her survival, her last hope for satisfaction. But once she encountered Jesus, she no longer needed the jar.

And so I want to ask you today: What is the water jar you are still holding? Jesus says to us today: "You can put that jar down now. I will become your new song." So, let us leave our jars at the well and run back to the world. A single life, perfectly tuned by the Great Tuner, becomes a melody that cuts through the noise of a million broken stories. And who knows? Perhaps the healing of this out-of-tune world begins with just one heart, one person finally restored by the grace of Jesus Christ. So this week, what sound will your life make? Let us entrust our song to Jesus, our Great Tuner. Amen.

May the Great Tuner, who aligns our hearts with His love, go with you now. May the grace of Jesus Christ be your new song, and may the harmony of His Spirit fill your lives as you leave your jars behind and return to the world. And may the blessing of God Almighty, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, be among you and remain with you always. Amen.