Living Water

A Samaritan woman came to draw water, and Jesus said to her, “Give me a drink.” ⁸(His disciples had gone to the city to buy food.) ⁹The Samaritan woman said to him, “How is it that you, a Jew, ask a drink of me, a woman of Samaria?” (Jews do not share things in common with Samaritans.) ¹⁰Jesus answered her, “If you knew the gift of God, and who it is that is saying to you, ‘Give me a drink,’ you would have asked him, and he would have given you living water.” ¹¹The woman said to him, “Sir, you have no bucket, and the well is deep. Where do you get that living water? ¹²Are you greater than our ancestor Jacob, who gave us the well, and with his sons and his flocks drank from it?” ¹³Jesus said to her, “Everyone who drinks of this water will be thirsty again, ¹⁴but those who drink of the water that I will give them will never be thirsty. The water that I will give will become in them a spring of water gushing up to eternal life.” ¹⁵The woman said to him, “Sir, give me this water, so that I may never be thirsty or have to keep coming here to draw water.” John 4:7-15

As this text suggests, Samaritans and Jews did not have good relations with one another in Jesus' day. They were of different cultures and religious beliefs and had many wars between them. Jesus was traveling through Samaria to return to Galilee and stopped for water. An interaction between and Jew and a Samaritan would be remarkable enough, but Jesus interacting with a Samaritan woman transgressed cultural norms on two fronts. Yet, this pattern of moving beyond cultural boundaries was central to Jesus' ministry. His ministry is not confined to the children of Israel, and as such he powerfully reminds us that he came for all people and not a select few.

Jesus tells the woman to that if he knew who asked him for a drink, she would ask him for living water. This is the water the fully and completely quenches our thirst. Water can satisfy our thirst for a moment, but we will always need more. Living water quenches the thirst of our soul through the saving grace of Baptism. Living water hydrates our spirit and sustains within us a well spring of God's loving presence. The Samaritan woman may not yet understand who Jesus is or what he is all about, but she is believes Jesus can provide living water for her spirit and asks Jesus to provide it.

Jesus came to give living water for thirsty and weary souls. He came so our lives could be liberated by God's saving love and transformed by God's presence. If Jesus is offering living water, I say: "fill 'er up!"

Prayer: Lord, help me to seek the Living Water you so lovingly supply. Help me to be filled with the presence of Christ and share God's love with a world thirsty for God, in Jesus' name, AMEN.