Monday, 30 November 2009 17:51 | and posted in Jesus & the Gospels
Oh, just imagine... a huge gulp of Glasgow tap water, bottled three days before and left in a hot car continuously since then and drunk by no less than three different people... absolute heaven...
Hang on! That's not quite the dream is it!? Yet, in our lives we so often settle for the bottle of Glasgow tap water, rather than the chilled bottle of pure Evian. We put up with counterfeits rather than the real deal. In John 4 the Samaritan woman has done exactly that. Her hurt and pain and shame causes her to walk to the well and draw water at the hottest time of the day in order to avoid meeting or conversing with anyone else along the way.
We all have our own contemporary equivalent of wells as we explored in the previous blog post, Wells. When we're feeling hurt or depressed or frustrated we turn to a variety of things or people to satisfy our inner longings for more. To the Samartian woman and to us, Jesus says “Everyone who drinks the water I give them will never thirst.” (Read John 14:10 & 14:13-14)
Jesus offers us something that satisfies us competely! Living water he calls it - but it's like he's offering us a spritual bottle of chilled Evian!
What do we have to do to get this living water? Just ask Jesus for it. Wait, let's check that again. Yep. John 4:10. All we have to do is ask. No religious stuff, just ask! Are you excited by the simplicity of that??
And where does Jesus say we get it from? Where's this well of living water? It's inside of us!!! We don't have to travel anywhere anymore as it's within you! We don't have to go looking for something to quench us as the Holy Spirit inside of us is the source of this quenching!
What's your response to Jesus' offer? Are you going to ask him for this living water?
I love the woman's response. She's desperate and she asks! Respect to her. Here's my paraphrase of her reply from John 4:15. "Sir, give me this water. I don't want to walk and draw water at midday ever again... I want to be able to draw water with the rest of my village's women and be able to hold my head up high rather than have it hang low with shame... I don't want to hide anymore and I want this painful ache inside of my heart to go away. Jesus, give me this water, please."