John 4:3-42
The story of Jesus and the Samaritan Woman is one of my favorites. Here’s a woman who’s by herself at a well in the middle of the day but who also has enough respect from her neighbors that when she tells them to “come and see,” they come! Here’s a woman who challenges Jesus on some of the religious differences between them—in what becomes the longest theological discussion in the gospels.
And Jesus tells her he can give her living water
So what is living water?
Originally, for the ancient Jews, the phrase meant water that moved, as in a river or from a spring. (They distrusted standing water.) But it means more than that—living water in the Bible is, metaphorically, the gift of life. Living water is God living within us.
Living water is mentioned a few times in Old Testament, notably Jeremiah 2:13
For my people have committed two evils:
they have forsaken me,
the fountain of living water,
and dug out cisterns for themselves,
cracked cisterns
that can hold no water.
We also find it in the 7th chapter of the Gospel of John:
Jesus cried out, “Let anyone who is thirsty come to me, and let the one who believes in me drink. As the scripture has said, ‘Out of the believer’s heart shall flow rivers of living water.’” Now he said this about the Spirit, which believers in him were to receive. (John 7:37-39)
Living water is God living within us. Life! Alive, thriving, flourishing. And it’s water, the source of life. We said on Ash Wednesday that we come from dust and ashes, but we’re around 60% water.
So living water = life. Not just living, getting by, but life.
I have to say, though, that this “social distancing” and fear of the coronavirus don’t feel a lot like living water. There’s no visiting family members in nursing homes … no going on a cruise or to a concert or sporting event … no hanging out at the library, even.
And it’s scary.
- Will I get it?
- Will I catch it from my early morning trip to the grocery store or from touching the $20 bills I get from the ATM?
- Will I pass it on to someone else?
- How about the hospitals—will they be able to handle it?
- What about people with other medical conditions—will they be able to get care?
- Will people I know die?
The disease is frightening. And the waiting, without all our usual activities and connections with others, is hard. We don’t know how long it will last, and we don’t know if it’s doing any good.
Actually, if this social distancing thing works, nothing will happen—and that’s a good thing. It’ll mean we did exactly the right thing to keep from being hammered with this disease.
(To me, it’s a little like when I’ve been stuck in traffic on a highway somewhere, and finally traffic starts to pick up, and I can’t see anything that could have closed the back-up, and I think, wait, where’s the horrible wreck? I sat in this traffic for 30 minutes for nothing?)
It’s scary. We don’t have much control over it. And so we’re living with anxiety and fear.
And in the midst of this, I want to remind you that there’s something in our lives that’s even stronger than anxiety or fear, or the coronavirus itself: Living Water.
We’re a little like the Samaritan Woman, who may well have been practicing social distancing herself, coming to the well at a time when no one could be expected to be there. And there’s a stranger there, not someone she’d usually engage in conversation with, and he says he’s got Living Water for her.
In the midst of a hot, sticky day, trying to get chores done in ways that don’t really make sense according to our regular life, and boom, there’s a guy saying he’s got Living Water for us.
Living Water.
It always makes me think of a really strong river—not one that’ll knock you over or flood your house, but one whose current you can feel when you wade along the side. A healthy one with lots of fish, and healthy grasses and trees along the edges. A river that’s so beautiful that we can’t help but smile.
Living Water.
God’s Spirit flowing through us like a beautiful river.
And flowing out of us as well, as in John 7: “Out of the believer’s heart shall flow rivers of living water.”
The Samaritan Woman went running back to her town to tell everyone about this Living Water Guy she’d run into at the well. He’s amazing! Could he be the Messiah? Living Water flowing out of her. She’s been called the first evangelist in the Gospel of John, sharing her experience—sharing the Living Water Jesus gave her.
That’s the challenge for all of us during this Coronavirus Social Distancing time—to share the Living Water we have from Jesus.
Living Water that says all this is going to work out, one way or another.
Living Water that reminds us that God is Love and is with us always.
Living Water flowing out of us as we call our friends on the phone, wave to our neighbors when we’re out taking a walk, smile at the delivery person at our door (and giving them a big tip).
Living Water—into us and through us and out of us.
Living Water doesn’t remain living if we try to hoard it. It needs an outlet. What do they call the body of water in Israel that has no outlet? The Dead Sea. Living Water needs to be passed on to others.
Living Water. God living within us and through us.
We can live through this time crippled by fear.
Or we can live through it trusting the Lord our God.
Thanks be to God! Amen.
revjeannegay 