“As the deer longs for the water-brooks, so longs my soul for you, O God. My soul is a-thirst for God, a thirst for the living God” (Psalm 42:1-2).
The Psalmist expresses his soul’s longing for God. Have you ever felt spiritually thirsty? We all have thirsted for Jesus Christ when burdened with life’s challenges when we need direction and support when we are forced to admit we cannot do life independently, or even when we are content, we feel the need to glorify Him and affirm His mighty presence. Against this background of holy longing or spiritual thirst, we read Sunday’s gospel (John 4:5-42) in which Jesus’ encountered a Samaritan woman at the well.
Jesus reached across social, cultural, and religious barriers that separated Jew from Gentile, women from men and the ritually clean from the ritually unclean to initiate a conversation with the Samaritan woman who came to draw water from the well to quench her physical thirst. We imagine that Jesus discerned her spiritual thirst. Their conversation gradually spiraled from the physical topics of water, well, and bucket to the realm of the Spirit. Jesus offered her not water to temporarily ease her thirst, but “living water” that would become “a spring of water gushing up to eternal life.” Attracted by the overwhelming joy of Jesus’ promise, the spiritual awakening of the Samaritan woman began. She found the courage to ponder and explore Jesus’ identity and her faith emerged powerfully.
At first, she saw Jesus simply as “a Jew”. Then she wondered if Jesus was greater than “our ancestor Jacob”. After Jesus openly disclosed her past, that she has had five husbands, the Samaritan woman declared Jesus “a prophet”. Ultimately, moved by the power of Jesus’ words, she came to believe in Jesus’ divine nature. Her water jar was no longer a priority. Leaving it behind, she zealously went and proclaimed to her community, “come and see a man who told me everything I have ever done! He cannot be the Messiah, can He?” The community went to Jesus and drank the spiritual depth of His teachings. Together, the community and the woman, were spiritually renewed and declared Jesus, “Savior of the World”, the One who came to bring salvation to all people!
But how can we understand the term, “living water”? The prophet Jeremiah (2:13) referred to God as “the fountain of living water.” Later in John’s gospel (7:37-38) Jesus said, “let anyone who is thirsty come to me, and let the one who believes in me drink….. Out of the believer’s mouth shall flow rivers of living water.” Jesus said this about the Spirit which believers in Him were to receive. “Living water” may be viewed as a metaphor for the Spirit, God in Christ Himself; the divine presence that remained with His followers after His death and resurrection. The internal spring of living water, the Spirit, lives in us. Believers, therefore, need not be thirsty but call on the Spirit in authentic heartfelt worship and the Spirit leads us to the joys of eternal life.
This Lenten season, may we be intentionally attentive to the “living water” the Spirit’s movement in us. May we create space in our inner beings to increase our absorption of Christ’s “living water”, and may we share the living waters with thirsty souls, like the Samaritan woman did. Spirit of the Living God, fall fresh on us. Amen
