Tag Archives: John 4

God’s Living Water

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“God’s Living Water”

The Samaritan woman at the well, Jesus blessing and an apostle. Mosaic (6th)

John 4:4-30 (4:10) – March 12, 2023

            I am going to Egypt. Yes, next Sunday evening, March 19, I am going to get on an airplane at O’Hare Airport and fly to Istanbul, and then to Cairo. This is going to be a great adventure for me, and a look at a whole new part of the world!

            Egypt has – for the most part – a desert or semi-arid climate. Not much water, at all. Very similar to the climate in the Sinai Peninsula, which is where Moses and the people of Israel were during our Scripture reading from Exodus today. Moses and the people of Israel were all really thirsty, and there was hardly any water to be had, out in the wilderness.

This thirsty theme carries over into our Gospel reading from John chapter 4, where the Rabbi Jesus meets a woman from Samaria by the well of the patriarch Jacob. Jesus talks to her about water, and how to take care of her thirst.

God provided water for the people of Israel through Moses. And, Jesus and the woman at the well have the longest conversation recorded in the Gospels. All about water. Do you and I really know about the water that God provides?

What are you thirsty for? What am I thirsty for?

The people of Israel were a grumbling, grousing, stiff-necked group of people. This isn’t just me saying it: this is the record both of many places in the Hebrew Scriptures and in the New Testament saying it. These thousands and thousands of people needed water that God provided.

Looking at our Gospel reading from John 4, we discover similar features. Here we are in Samaria, which was mostly a semi-arid climate. Meaning, there was some water available, but only in a few areas. The Samaritans also needed water for their daily needs. We can see they needed the water God provided, for themselves as well as for their animals and crops.

How about this woman, in particular? A Samaritan woman, having contact with a Jewish man, and a Rabbi, on top of that. Added to which, she was a divorcee. Not once, not twice, but divorced a bunch of times. This woman did not come to the well early in the day, with the other women of the town. No, this woman came to the well with her water pot at noon. An odd time to draw water, when the well most probably would be deserted. This certainly was an unexpected encounter for this woman at the well.

As I think about the griping, grousing people of Israel in the book of Exodus, I also think of being a mom. I would have been scared for my children. Since the whole group of thousands of people was out in the Sinai wilderness, there was not much water to be had. At all. What would I do for my children’s thirst? How would I cook and take care of my family? And, it wasn’t just a few families who were worried. No, multiply that fear and worry by every family in that tribal group. That’s a whole lot of anxious, worried and even angry people!

The Samaritans from John 4 had some stability and some water in their area, but I am sure they needed to be careful. Jacob’s well was far from the center of town, and the women needed to walk some distance to the well to draw water. Water they needed for drinking, cooking, and all the rest of their daily needs.

As the Rabbi Jesus and the woman at the Samaritan well had their conversation together, “It is surely fitting that Jesus speaks of himself as the source of water that eternally quenches thirst, for that is precisely the gift of God for us.” [1] Jesus knew what would solve the thirst problem for this woman, and for all the Samaritans in her village.

Tell me, what are you thirsty for? What am I thirsty for?

The Samaritans were only half-Jewish and were a minority in the majority-Jewish Palestine. At the time of Jesus, the full-blooded Jews discriminated against them, some even hated them. Except, this kind of minority attitude was nothing new to the Jews.

Remember back in the beginning of Exodus? When the Jews were slaves for centuries? They were a minority people-group in Egypt. After they came out of Egypt and were free, the Lord gave them strict injunctions. A number of times in Exodus, Leviticus and Deuteronomy, certainly, not to mention repeated in the Hebrew Scriptures and in the New Testament. In Leviticus 19: “When a stranger sojourns with you in your land, you shall not do him wrong. You shall treat the stranger who sojourns with you as the native among you, and you shall love him as yourself, for you were strangers in the land of Egypt: I am the Lord your God.”

It’s clear, over and over in the Biblical record. God provides living water to Jews and non-Jews, alike! I agree with Pastor Janet Hunt in her article on this encounter in John 4, where she says “I’m not certain the woman was necessarily ostracized from the rest of her community. In fact, having been married five times, she was likely at least tangentially related to a whole lot of people. When she returned to her city with her invitation to “come and see,” they did.” What’s more, “Jesus made himself vulnerable by agreeing to be [the Samaritans’] guest and in the resulting deepening of relationship, they were able to receive for themselves this marvelous gift of faith.” [2]

Just as God provided living water to the people of Israel countless times in the wilderness, just as God provided living water to the woman at the well and all the people in the town in Samaria, God provides living water to us, each day. Receive this free gift of living water. Receive this gift of faith. God is holding it out to us all. Amen.

@chaplaineliza

(Suggestion: visit me at my other blogs: matterofprayer: A Year of Everyday Prayers. #PursuePEACE – and  A Year of Being Kind . Thanks!

[1] https://dancingwiththeword.com/jesus-and-the-samaritans/

[2] https://dancingwiththeword.com/jesus-and-the-samaritans/

Living Water

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“Living Water”

John 4-14 word cloud

John 4:5-42, Exodus 17:1-7 – March 15, 2020

In any group of people, you will certainly see several at least with disposable water bottles or the more expensive refillable kind. So many people today understand the importance of drinking enough water. My daughters remind me: “Hydrate! Hydrate!”

If we know the importance of drinking water today, in this temperate climate where water is readily available, just think of what it was—and is—like for people living in a semi-arid region like Samaria. Sources of water were not plentiful, at all. Having a deep well near a town, especially a well dug by one of the patriarchs of old, would be considered a great community asset. That well would be a valuable material resource, too.

John tells us it’s the middle of the day, nearing the hottest part of the day. The rest of the band of disciples goes into the Samaritan town of Sychar to find food, but their Rabbi Jesus stays behind at the well. We don’t even know the name of the woman who comes to the well, but Jesus engages her in conversation.

Hold on, here. Fetching water was and is a task that women have done, for ages. For thousands of years. There is a togetherness, a community feel to fetching water; I suspect it was similar for the women of Sychar. All go with their water jars, fetching their loads in the morning, before the heat of the day. But—what about this straggler, coming in the middle of the day? This particular woman’s lifestyle sets her apart from the others!

The Rabbi Jesus starts to talk with her. Imagine, a respected Jewish rabbi, talking to some outcast woman? That shouldn’t be! And moreover, this woman is a hated half-breed Samaritan! Worse and worse! Jesus, what are You thinking of? This activity is really culturally and socially disgraceful. That would be what any respectable, observant Jew would think about Jesus’s words and actions. Shaking their heads, saying, “Shame, shame! There is SO much wrong here!” However, Jesus does not allow social or cultural conventions of His day to dictate to Him.

Jesus had something important to communicate. He talked to the woman at the well about Living Water. Water from heaven, Godly water that gives eternal life! What is more, he treated this outsider, this “loser” of a woman with kindness and respect. What an example for us to follow, too. Imagine, treating all people with kindness and respect, because each one is made in the image of God. Jesus gives us another challenge, to treat each person we meet with respect and kindness, just as Jesus did with the woman at the well.

What are you thirsty for, these days? Sure, we might have one of those fancy refillable water bottles, and try to keep it full most days. As my daughters tell me, “Hydrate, Mom! Hydrate!” We might satisfy our physical thirst, true. But, what about our spiritual thirst? Are we even aware of this deep-down thirsting, yearning for something to fill us up from the inside out?

In Jesus’s case, He told this woman some significant things about her life, things that rocked her to the core. In fact, when she ran to tell the people in town about this marvelous Rabbi, she said 29 “’Come, see a man who told me everything I ever did. Could this be the Messiah?’ 30 They came out of the town and made their way toward him.”

Different people have different reactions. Some people scoff when they hear about the Rabbi Jesus—“He couldn’t possibly be the Messiah! You’re pulling my leg!” Others are just not sure. They might like to believe, but they might be fearful, or anxious, or have their minds on too many other things. And, then, there are those who hear about this Jesus, this promised Messiah, and come running to see Him. That is the woman at the well. She brought a whole bunch of people with her, to check Jesus out. To have the possibility of drinking from this Living Water.

Remember, Jesus says “13 “Everyone who drinks this water [from Jacob’s well] will be thirsty again, 14 but whoever drinks the water I give them will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give them will become in them a spring of water welling up to eternal life.” How are you reacting to your spiritual thirst? Are you anxious or fearful, angry, distracted or discouraged?

Jesus promises to give this Living Water to anyone who asks. What would it be like to enjoy Living Water from Jesus in each of our lives, on the inside? Let’s get even bigger. Imagine what it would be like to have Jesus supply each of our congregations with this Living Water, providing a supply for all our spiritual thirst? Filling us up on the inside, so we aren’t anxious or fearful, angry, distracted or discouraged?

We have the opportunity to supply others with Living Water, in the same way that Jesus can. With God’s help, we can fill others with this wonderful spiritual water from the well that never goes dry. I ask again: What are you thirsty for?

Jesus has an amazing spiritual well. God willing, Jesus can fill us, from the inside up.  Amen.

 

(Thanks to Dr. Hongsuk Um of the Church of Scotland for several ideas I used in this sermon.)

https://www.churchofscotland.org.uk/__data/assets/pdf_file/0011/62984/15-March-3-Sunday-of-Lent.pdf

Third Sunday in Lent – 15 March 2020 The Faith Nurture Forum would like to thank Dr Hongsuk Um, Faith Nurture Forum Development Worker, for his thoughts on the third Sunday in Lent.

 

@chaplaineliza

(Suggestion: visit me at my regular blog for 2020: matterofprayer: A Year of Everyday Prayers. #PursuePEACE – and my other blog,  A Year of Being Kind . Thanks!