The Living Water

" Jesus came to a Samaritan city called Sychar . . . Jacob's well was there, and Jesus, tired from His journey, was sitting by the well. A Samaritan woman came to draw water, and Jesus said to her, ' Give me a drink.' The Samaritan woman said to Him, ' How is it that you, a Jew, ask a drink of me, a woman of Samaria?' ( Jews do not share things in common with Samaritans). Jesus answered her, ' If you knew the gift of God, and who it is who is saying to you, ' Give me a drink', you would have asked Him, and He would have given you living water.' The woman said to Him, ' Sir, you have no bucket, and the well is deep. Where do you get that living water?'  Jesus said to her, ' Everyone who drinks of this [ well] water will be thirsty again, but those who drink of the water that I will give them will never be thirsty. The water that I will give, will become in them a spring of water gushing up to eternal life.'  The woman said to Him,' Sir, give me this water so that I may never be thirsty or have to keep coming here to draw water.'  Jesus said to her, ' Go call your husband, and come back.'  The woman answered Him, ' I have no husband.' Jesus said to her, ' You are right in saying, ' I have no husband'; for you have had five husbands and the one you have now is not your husband.' The woman said to Him, ' I know that the Messiah is coming (who is the Christ). When He comes, He will proclaim all things to us.' Jesus said to her, ' I am He, the One who is speaking to you.'

We cannot live without water. We can skip food for weeks, and still live. But we cannot go for more than a few days without water.

Have you ever felt so thirsty, that you would do just about anything for a sip of  water?

Jesus is using our physical thirst as a metaphor for how we thirst in a spiritual way. In this story in John 4, the Samaritans worshipped several pagan gods. Don't we wonder why the Samaritan woman couldn't be satisfied with just one husband? The Samaritan woman has many husbands, just like the Samaritans had too many false gods.

And so I ask you: What false gods do YOU seek, to quench your longings in life?

Perhaps, at the end of every hard day at work, you come home and have some beer or a few glasses of wine. You feel like you need it to take the edge off of your labor. The drink dulls the physical and emotional pain that you carry. We thirst for far more than the sweet- tart sting of wine, though. We long for Someone to heal our pain.

Or maybe, we shop endlessly. We tell ourselves that maybe THIS new pair of shoes or new sweater will finally be the one to make us feel beautiful, or make us feel like we belong. But we thirst for far more than what the latest fashion can bring us. We long for Someone to accept us, even if we are naked and alone.

Or, we long for a promotion at work. We convince ourselves that if we could only acquire more power, then we would have some control over our lives. But we are longing for far more than a title. We long for a Higher Power to show us the way.

Or, we spend our days looking forward to the next fabulous meal. We believe that we are nurturing ourselves best, when we feast on elaborate spreads.  But we are longing for far more than physical sustenance. We are really seeking Someone to feed our souls.

In Mother Teresa's Missions of Charity all over the world, there is a cross of Jesus in every chapel, with the inscription, " I Thirst".   Mother Teresa said, " From the Cross, Jesus cries out, ' I Thirst'. His thirst was for souls -- even as He hung there-- dying, alone, despised."

And so, we need Jesus to heal us and walk with us. We will not ultimately be healed by drink, or material possessions, or elaborate meals.  No, these are false gods. As Jesus said in the desert, " One does not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God." [ Matthew 4: 6].

But it was Mother Teresa who saw that Jesus also needs US. She said, " What does He thirst for? He was thirsting for our Love. Grow in that intimate Love and you will understand not only,' I Thirst', but everything. The fruit of Faith is the understanding of  ' I Thirst.'

Mother Teresa concludes, " Today, God continues to call you. But do we listen?  Have we heard His Voice in the silence of our hearts? Can you and I continue to stand by, a mere spectator? Or pass by and do nothing? I shall keep the silence of the heart with greater care, so that in the silence of my heart, I hear His words of comfort, and from the fullness of my heart, I comfort Jesus in the distressing disguise of the poor. "


[ Related Posting: " And The Lowly Shall be Exalted,  Sept. 1, 2013].

(c) Spiritual Devotional 2014. All Rights Reserved.