In the name of God ☩ Father, Son, and Holy Ghost. Amen.
Water
is one of the few things that is absolutely necessary to life. When scientists
search for other planets that might be hospitable to life, they look for signs
of water. Our bodies are over half water. The earth is over 70% water, which
allows agriculture, industry, and travel to flourish. And even though water
contains no nutrients or calories, it is absolutely vital, as dehydration can
cause many health issues. And these days we all know the importance of thorough
handwashing with water to cleanse our hands. Water is absolutely essential for
life.
This
is why seeing Jesus as Living Water or the Water of Life is such a good image
for him. Just like water, Jesus is what sustains us, gives us vitality,
connects us to one another, and puts us in the flow of love, grace, and peace.
Water
is a constant and important character in Scripture. When God was creating the
heavens and the earth, the dome of the sky and the land of the earth were
separated from the waters of chaos. These waters though returned and Noah and
his family were saved in the ark which sailed the flooded earth. It was through
the water of the Red Sea that God led the Hebrew people out of slavery in Egypt
into freedom. As the people wandered the dry and barren wilderness, they became
thirsty and complained. But God heard their cries and provided water for them
out of a rock. When St. Paul reflects upon this event in 1 Corinthians, he says
“the rock was Christ.” The Living Water is always with us, even in places that
seem to be devoid of water.
Isaiah,
speaking about the salvation of God, writes “With joy you will draw water from
the wells of salvation” and in today’s Psalm we heard that the waters belong to
God for he made them. In Ezekiel, a vision shows us that the temple of God is
surrounded by rivers, which is also seen in Revelation when we are told that
the waters of life flow from the throne of the Lamb. And our need for water is
found in Psalm 42 which says, “As a deer longs for flowing streams, so my soul
longs for you, O God. My soul thirsts for God, for the living God.”
How
often do we stop and ponder the wonder of water? Perhaps on a warm summer day
when we have a cold glass of water? Maybe when we jump into a pool? But most of
the time we encounter water without thinking much about it – brushing teeth,
cooking, washing dishes. We are surrounded by water, but we don’t always stop
to consider just how saving water is. But if you are living in places with lead-contaminated water or with water shortages, you very much know how important
water is. When Tyler and I were in Israel last month, we went out to the desert
and saw the Dead Sea. And in addition to seeing it, we were clearly able to see
where it used to be. But it’s drying up and that could have devastating effects
in the region. Water gives life.
Throughout
the New Testament, water also says something about the salvation of God. In the
passage we heard today, Jesus speaks of himself as the living water that will
quench all thirsts. A few chapters later, Jesus will say “Out of the believer’s
heart shall flow rivers of living water.” It is with water that Jesus shows us
how to love one another in washing feet. When Jesus’ side is pierced, blood and
water flow out. And, of course, the way in which we enter the Body of Christ is
by the waters of Baptism which hold all of these meanings in the font of God’s
abundant grace.
When
we read about this encounter between Jesus and the Samaritan woman, we need to
have all of those images of water in our head to understand what is going on.
Jesus approaches her and asks for a drink of water because he is thirsty. In
this act, Jesus is a rebel. Jews and Samaritans had a 500 year-long feud
between them, hence the woman’s question as to why Jesus, a Jew, was asking
her, a Samaritan, for a drink. There’s also the issue that, in their culture, a
man would never approach a woman like this, especially when she is alone. Jesus
is crossing some deeply engrained social boundaries. Especially so because this
woman would have been looked down upon for her situation. John makes it clear
that this encounter comes at noon – the hot part of the day. In that culture,
or really any culture, when you have outside work to do, you do it early in the
morning before the heat of the day. The fact that she’s coming at noon to the
well isn’t because she had been busy all morning with other errands, it’s
because she’s an outcast who has to come when others aren’t around. Jesus says
that she’s had five husbands and is living with a man who isn’t her husband.
She’s a woman,
she’s got a bad reputation, and she’s Samaritan, but Jesus still initiates this
encounter with her. Jesus meets us where we are, regardless of who we are, what
we’ve done, and what we haven’t done. As we heard in Romans, “For while we were
still weak, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly… God proves his love
for us in that while we were still sinners Christ died for us.” We heard a
similar sentiment in today’s Collect, that “we have no power of ourselves to
help ourselves.” To the outcast, to the rejected, to the lost, to the helpless,
to the enemy, Jesus comes with the Water of Life.
The
water that Jesus gives us is Living Water. Which can mean two things, which is
where some of the confusion in this conversation comes from. At a literal
level, “living water” means water that is flowing, as in a river or stream as
opposed to a pool or a well, where the water is stagnant and not moving. Jesus,
though, is thinking more in terms of the water which gives eternal life and
quenches the thirst of our souls. This double meaning helps us to understand
that Jesus is always moving. He’s always at work in the world, never stagnant
or found in just one place. This is why he said that true worshipers won’t have
to worry about going to a specific geographic location to worship, but rather
can worship in spirit and truth.
It's amazing how the lectionary that the church uses seems to always know what we will need to hear. On this Sunday when we are practicing our social distancing and are not gathered in person, we still gather in spirit and truth to praise God. Though it pains me that you all are not here with me, I know that you are in spirit and truth and I take great comfort in that our Lord tells us this.
Jesus quenches our thirst for love, meaning,
and purpose and he’s always on the move with us. Through the waters of Baptism,
the Water of Life will become a spring within that gushes up to eternal life.
Just as there is no wind if the air is not moving, the love of God in Jesus is
always flowing through us as living water and taking us to new places in his
currents of grace.
This
story of the encounter between Jesus and the Samaritan is so rich, there are
many more things that I could say about it, but I want to focus your attention
in on one detail. Towards the end of the story, after the disciples have come
back from their run into town to find food, the woman leaves her water jar
there by the well and goes into the town and tells people to “Come and see.”
She’s encountered the Living Water, and so she doesn’t need her water jar any
longer. This doesn’t mean that she has become permanently hydrated and never
needs to drink again, but it means that she knows that she’s been forgiven,
that she’s loved, that she is accepted. Her soul is no longer thirsty. She can
be a part of the community again and doesn’t need to come alone to get water.
The
jug that she leaves behind is symbolic for all the things that we can leave
behind once we’ve encountered Jesus and have that gushing spring of grace in our
lives. We can leave behind our insecurities about what other people think of
us, we can forget about our doubts about whether or not we’ve accomplished
enough, we can stop worrying about whether or not we are forgiven and loved
(because we are), we can give up all of our chasing after our own glory and
rest in that we are already justified in Christ.
Jesus
is the river of love that flows from the heart of God to us. We can rest in
that love as the gracious gift of abundant life that we have been given through
Jesus. This is always important, but especially so with all that’s going on in
this world. The spreading of the coronavirus is a very serious matter. In
speaking with a colleague in ministry this past week, I compared our situation
to 9/11, and I think it’s a fair comparison. We are on edge, we are uncertain
of how this will impact our lives, we aren’t sure where the threats might come
from. The difference is that instead of an explosion of anxiety, this is a very
slow burn, which means that the stress, confusion, and frustration is going to
compound and test the social fabric of our entire world.
We’re
already seeing it happen – fearinduced hoarding of hand sanitizer and bottled
water, selfish behaviors such as trying to make money off of a very serious
disease, mistrust of anyone who coughs. When Jesus encountered outcasts such as
this Samaritan woman, or a group of lepers, or those deemed “unclean,” he met
them with compassion.
This virus will give
us chances to tell people to “come and see” the faith that will sustain us. It
is the faith that sustained the Church during the outbreaks of the Black Death,
Yellow Fever, and Spanish Flu. It is the faith that will allow us to reach out
in loving service to those who are ill. It is the faith that will allow us to
be generous in helping non-profits and small businesses stay afloat in this
difficult economic time. It is the faith that will keep us together even though
we’ll have to make lifestyle changes and practice more “social distancing.” It
is the faith that will give us the compassion to help those who end up
quarantined in making sure that they get the meals they need or assisting with
childcare if schools end up being temporarily closed. It is the faith that will
help us not to panic but to go to the well of Living Water and trust that all
shall be well, that all shall be well, and that all manner of things shall be
well. Those of you who are regulars at St. Luke's know that I often cite that line from Julian of Norwich. When she was six, the Black Plague swept through her village of Norwich, England. So when she said "all shall be well," she said it out of a great well of faith. I pray that her words might be a comfort to us dealing with the coronavirus. This Living Water is what we all need to come and see. We’re going to get
through this because we have each other. We’re going to get through this
because Jesus is our Living Water.
