Two Rivers Pastoral Charge
Sunday March 5 – 2nd Sunday in Lent
Scripture: John 4:5-42
Have you ever been thirsty? Really, really thirsty?
When my friend and I go on canoe trips, we bring either chlorine drops or a gravity filter with us so that we can safely drink water from the rivers and lakes we are travelling through. One of the challenges though, is that if you are travelling through swampier areas, you can’t use that water. If there is too much algae or other matter in the water, it will clog up the gravity filter; and if there is too much bacteria or other potentially harmful things in the water, then even the chlorine drops might not get them all. So you need to scoop water that is relatively clean to begin with and then purify it so that it is safe to drink.
I remember one trip where I didn’t plan well. If I had looked more closely at the map, I would have seen that we were going to be travelling through a swampy area, followed by a portage through the woods, and then through another swampy area before getting back to an open lake. If I had looked more closely at the map, I would have filled up my water bottles before entering the swampy area, but I didn’t. I had about half a litre of water when we paddled into the swamp and I finished it up as we began the portage. By the time we launched the canoes again on the other side, I was definitely feeling thirsty. As we made our way through the second swampy area with the sun beating down on us, I began to feel desperate for water.
Finally, we reached open water and left the swamp behind us. As soon as we were a little bit away, I scooped water from the lake and started the process of purifying it with drops. Those 15 minutes I had to wait were possibly the longest 15 minutes I’ve ever been through. But finally, I could lift my water bottle to my mouth and take a drink, and nothing has ever tasted sweeter to me than that first mouthful of water.
When I think of the nameless Samaritan woman at the well, and her conversation with Jesus, I am drawn to the image of water. Jesus is thirsty and asks her to draw some water up from the well for him. But then he goes on to say that whoever drinks water from the well will eventually be thirsty again and need more water. This is true – that water that I drank after leaving the swamp was beautiful and life-sustaining in the moment, but its effects didn’t last forever. The effects didn’t even last for a day, as I needed to drink more water later that same day.
But then Jesus tells her that he can offer her Living Water, and that whoever drinks of this living water will never be thirsty again. I’m reminded of St. Augustine writing in his Confessions, “My heart is restless until it finds its rest in you.” Our souls are thirsty until we drink of the living waters.
In this season of Lent, we are reading stories of people who encountered Jesus, and in the gospel of John, this story comes almost immediately after the story we read last Sunday, the story of Nicodemus. And I don’t think that it is an accident that there are so many things to contrast between these two encounters.
Nicodemus is named; the woman in today’s story remains nameless. Nicodemus is male; she is female. Nicodemus is a Pharisee, a leader in the temple, the ultimate insider in their society; the woman at the well is a foreigner with different religious practices. Nicodemus sneaks in to where Jesus is staying at night; the woman at the well meets Jesus out in the open at midday. Nicodemus slips back out into the night and takes a long path to becoming a follower of Jesus; this unnamed Samaritan woman hears and believes in him right away. She goes back into the village centre and persuades her neighbours to come and listen to Jesus. She becomes the first evangelist in the gospel of John, bringing the good news to others.
She has obviously said yes to the Living Water that Jesus promises – this water is springing up in her, bringing the eternal life that Jesus promises.
The thing about “eternal life” is that I think that it has to do with more than just the duration of life. It’s not just the same old life as right now but continuing to eternity – it has to do with becoming a part of God’s life – the life that has been since before the beginning and will continue to be forever. Eternal life is qualitatively different, and not just a quantitative difference. It is a different kind of life. Some of you know that I’m a bit of a word and language geek… the New Testament is translated for us from Greek, and in ancient Greek there are two different words that both mean life. Bios, refers to our physical bodies and biological life – this is the root of our word biology. And zoe refers to the life that includes but is so much more than the biological life. It is the fullness of life. It is our life in God. And this is the life that Jesus is talking about when he talks about “eternal life.”
When we drink from this living water that Jesus offers, when the Holy Spirit pours through our life, we are changed. We are nudged just a little bit closer towards who we were created to be. Maybe you feel just a little bit more peace in your heart. Maybe you sense the love that surrounds you. Maybe the candle of hope that seemed to have been extinguished in you sparks to life again. Life takes on a different quality. The eternal life begins in the here and now.
There are so many different ways we can drink from this living water; so many ways we can satisfy our thirsting souls. The sacraments – baptism and communion – are obvious ways. Maybe you drink from the living waters through the caring act of someone else. Maybe you see God’s artistry in the natural world and drink of those life-giving waters. Maybe it is in a quiet time of meditation or prayer; or maybe it is through moving the body that God gave to you. There are so many different ways that we can tap into the living water that Jesus offers freely.
And once the living water is flowing into our hearts, then it can flow through our hearts and overflow to the world around us. Through our acts of love and caring, inspired by the Holy Spirit, others can receive the living waters of God. The other place where Jesus talks about living waters is a couple of chapters further on in John’s gospel, and there Jesus proclaims that rivers of living water will flow out of a believer’s heart (John 7:38). We receive the Holy Spirit, and the Holy Spirit flows through us and out towards others.
My prayer for all of us is that we might drink deeply from these living waters; that the life in God that Jesus promises might spring up in all of our hearts; and that this water might flow through us to bring fullness of life to the world. May it be so. Amen.
Photo Credit: Laura Marie Piotrowicz
(This was not the canoe trip I ran out of water on -
I had learned my lesson well!)
Thank you, Kate.
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