Living Water

John 4:4-42

Now he [Jesus] had to go through Samaria. So he came to a town in Samaria called Sychar, near the plot of ground Jacob had given to his son Joseph. Jacob’s well was there, and Jesus, tired as he was from the journey, sat down by the well. It was about noon. When a Samaritan woman came to draw water, Jesus said to her, “Will you give me a drink?” (His disciples had gone into the town to buy food.) The Samaritan woman said to him, “You are a Jew and I am a Samaritan woman. How can you ask me for a drink?” (For Jews do not associate with Samaritans.) Jesus answered her, “If you knew the gift of God and who it is that asks you for a drink, you would have asked him and he would have given you living water.” “Sir,” the woman said, “you have nothing to draw with and the well is deep. Where can you get this living water? Are you greater than our father Jacob, who gave us the well and drank from it himself, as did also his sons and his livestock?” Jesus answered, “Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again, 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.” The woman said to him, “Sir, give me this water so that I won’t get thirsty and have to keep coming here to draw water.” He told her, “Go, call your husband and come back.” “I have no husband,” she replied. Jesus said to her, “You are right when you say you have no husband. The fact is, you have had five husbands, and the man you now have is not your husband. What you have just said is quite true.” “Sir,” the woman said, “I can see that you are a prophet. Our ancestors worshiped on this mountain, but you Jews claim that the place where we must worship is in Jerusalem.” “Woman,” Jesus replied, “believe me, a time is coming when you will worship the Father neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem. You Samaritans worship what you do not know; we worship what we do know, for salvation is from the Jews. Yet a time is coming and has now come when the true worshipers will worship the Father in the Spirit and in truth, for they are the kind of worshipers the Father seeks. God is spirit, and his worshipers must worship in the Spirit and in truth.” The woman said, “I know that Messiah” (called Christ) “is coming. When he comes, he will explain everything to us.” Then Jesus declared, “I, the one speaking to you—I am he.”

Just then his disciples returned and were surprised to find him talking with a woman. But no one asked, “What do you want?” or “Why are you talking with her?” Then, leaving her water jar, the woman went back to the town and said to the people, “Come, see a man who told me everything I ever did. Could this be the Messiah?” They came out of the town and made their way toward him.

Meanwhile his disciples urged him, “Rabbi, eat something.” But he said to them, “I have food to eat that you know nothing about.” Then his disciples said to each other, “Could someone have brought him food?” “My food,” said Jesus, “is to do the will of him who sent me and to finish his work. Don’t you have a saying, ‘It’s still four months until harvest’? I tell you, open your eyes and look at the fields! They are ripe for harvest. Even now the one who reaps draws a wage and harvests a crop for eternal life, so that the sower and the reaper may be glad together. Thus the saying ‘One sows and another reaps’ is true. I sent you to reap what you have not worked for. Others have done the hard work, and you have reaped the benefits of their labor.”

Many of the Samaritans from that town believed in him because of the woman’s testimony, “He told me everything I ever did.” So when the Samaritans came to him, they urged him to stay with them, and he stayed two days. And because of his words many more became believers. They said to the woman, “We no longer believe just because of what you said; now we have heard for ourselves, and we know that this man really is the Savior of the world.” (NIV)

Grace to you and peace from God our creator, from Jesus the Christ, our redeemer and friend and from the Holy Spirit, our sustainer and guide. 

Now before I really get started on this message, I have to tell you a little background about one thing. We have to have a word or two about the phrase “living water”. “Living water” is not a phrase Jesus just threw together out of nothing. “Living water” is a phrase that has a long history in the Jewish tradition. “Living water” is the cleansing waters of the mikveh, the tub of water for the ritual bath that is the cleansing after a time of ritual uncleanness. This water in the mikveh tub, must be in constant motion. It cannot be still water. It must be running water, or as they say “living waters.” It isn’t water that you drink. It is water that cleanses you from the inside out. It is water that cleanses you both physically and spiritually, although it is customary to be perfectly clean on the outside before going into the mikveh bath. 

Interestingly, the ‘living water’ Jesus is offering isn’t even water at all. Yes, we have the waters of baptism that we have over in the font, waters used for the sacrament of commitment; the symbolism of drowning to self and living to God. But Jesus’ living water, his living water, is something intangible; a metaphor for faith; a metaphor for life that flows freely, a life that flows with freedom to give, to love, to share, without fear; to serve the neighbor and the stranger, with faith; to recognize that we have been blessed, so we are called to be a blessing to others.

Having “living water” means we are free to love fully, without fear. You might ask, “What is there to be afraid of in love? Let me count the ways… We might be afraid that our love will not be returned…We might be afraid that our loved one might be taken from us and we will know grief. And that’s painful…We might be afraid that we might be unworthy of the other’s love. And that would be painful too. … and I could go on and on. I’m sure you could supply some things of your own, because there are so many more; ways that we hurt each other, ways that we bring pain into one another’s life, and especially toward those most dear to us. But even in the midst of that, we are freed by Christ to love anyway, trusting that no matter what happens, to have given love is worth it. To have been of service is worth it. Jesus took that freedom to the cross with him, trusting that having loved, healed, fed and blessed was worth whatever the cost.

Having the love that comes from Jesus’ living water frees us to do life in all sorts of courageous, faithful ways. Today in the coronavirus pandemic environment, there is a lot of concern and anxiety about what to do and how to live faithfully and yet how to be careful. How to keep ourselves safe, and healthy and well. This is just one of many examples of how life presents us opportunities to be the church for the good of the world. Our Presiding Bishop of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, Rev. Elizabeth Eaton released a statement about living faithfully in a time of public health crisis, reminding us that this is nothing new. In 1527 the plague hit Wittenberg, Germany, Martin Luther’s home town. It caused many of the same kinds of concerns. People feared for their lives, there were not enough public resources. It was difficult and scary. In response, Martin Luther wrote a pamphlet called “Whether One May Flee From a Deadly Plague” because in that time, with the medical science that they knew and the treatments that they had, the only way to be sure that you were free from the bubonic plague was to get out of town as soon as possible. In it, he emphasized the duty to care for the neighbor, the responsibility of government to protect and provide services to its citizens, a caution about recklessness, and the importance of science, medicine and common sense. He wrote it citing the best they knew in his context, but his words still make sense today. (If you want to read Presiding Bishop Eaton’s whole statement, please click here. ). 

In Matthew 25, Jesus teaches that when we take care of the least of these, we are taking care of the body of Christ itself. This is good to remember. Your body is the body of Christ, worthy of being taken care of, and so is your neighbor’s. We are to protect ourselves, no doubt. We have an innate desire given by God to to love life and to preserve it, but we are not to preserve or own lives at the expense of others. In other words, if we have what others need, we are to share, not hoard. We are to be reasonable in our preparations and not panic, but not be reckless either. When we are told to be careful about other human contact, we are to take that seriously. That is why we are wiping down door handles and taking communion a different way, and sitting spread out from one another. We are not to be reckless and continue in our usual routines just because we want to, just because we think it won’t happen to us. We have to give up our routines for awhile, maybe. We have to practice good hand washing carefully. We want to protect ourselves from getting sick and minimize our chances of carrying this virus to someone else; maybe someone more vulnerable than us. Where others depend on us, by all means we are to do what we can to protect and care for them. Even when they don’t normally depend on us, we can come through for them. If our neighbor or friend gets sick, it is a good idea touch base with them every day by phone or text or even shouting through the window “How are you? Are you OK? Do you need anything?” See what they need. Bring them food or cold medicines or tissues or whatever they need. And not to worry about payment right now, because frankly I wouldn’t want to be changing money in my hands. Money has a lot of germs on it. We can settle that up later.

When you have the ‘living water’ of love, faith and service, everyone benefits. Jesus was IN Samaria on purpose. He went there to make a point. He had just told Nicodemus “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him.” (John 3:16-17, NIV) He went to Samaria to show God’s love in a very concrete way, because Samaria is the last place a Jew of Jesus’ day would expect God to show up with love. Maybe they thought that if God showed up there it would be for judgment, but certainly not for love.

But Jesus was there for love… for the love of God, for the love of justice, for the love of God’s creation which included the Samaritans. And when the woman had received the full measure of Jesus’ love and realized he was the Messiah they were looking for, she left her water jar just like the disciples had left their nets. She ran off back to town to tell everyone she knew, that this might be the Messiah. She used the very same words Jesus used in calling his disciples. “Come and see.” she said, and they did! And when they met Jesus for themselves, they were changed.

Well today, people only have the opportunity to meet Jesus through us. Having the love that comes from Jesus’ living water frees us to do life in all sorts of courageous, faithful ways.

How we care for our neighbors determines how much of Jesus they get to see. How we face uncertainty, illness or even death determines how much of Jesus they will see in us. And so my friends, I pray that Jesus’ living water will flow through us. I pray that the power of God’s love and life will pour out in this place, onto each of you and through you onto all kinds of people in your life.

And now in this time of silence, I invite you to pray for the faith and courage of Jesus. For it to live in us, that we might be the body of the living Christ in word and deed.

(silence for reflection)

Holy God, come into our hearts and increase our faith. Inspire us in serving your people and being the church for the good of the world. In Jesus’ name we pray. Amen.

New International Version (NIV)

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