A Reading
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.”
…….
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.” (John 4: 7-15; 25-26)
A Thought
Water is essential for all living things. Some living things can survive without water for a long time, in a suspension of life, but if they are to live, at some point they need to receive water once again.
We are presently in southern Spain on the coast near Gibraltar. Water for the coastal plain typically flows in rivers from the mountain ranges parallel to the coast. More recently these water sources have been dammed in the mountains for power generation and efficient management of water supply.
This winter season has seen 50mm of rain fall, against a seasonal average of 350mm. As we drove past, we nearly mistook the massive Guadalhorce-Guadalteba reservoirs, which supply the Costa del Sol peninsula, for puddles. The tourist season has hardly begun, and restrictions on water use are inevitable during 2022.
Water is essential for all living things.
Our souls too need to drink water. Whilst we hopefully seek water from a tap, and the Samaritan woman sought water from Jacob’s deep well, the water of life for our souls is obtained through belief in Jesus Christ.
Once drunk, a new and permanent source of living water establishes itself within us. The Holy Spirit blesses believers and through them brings light and life to the world.
In God’s Kingdom, there is no shortage of living water, only an abundance to share with others.
A prayer
We thank you and praise you, O God,
that however we may thirst,
whatever we may need to satisfy our souls,
you offer it freely and abundantly in Christ.
So we drink deep of the living water
and, as we draw from your wells,
we seek to pass the cup to others
who, like us, are thirsty for your grace.
Amen