Living Water

John 4: 4-15
4 Jesus had to go through Samaria. 5 He came to a Samaritan city called Sychar, which was near the land Jacob had given to his son Joseph. 6 Jacob’s well was there. Jesus was tired from his journey, so he sat down at the well. It was about noon. 7 A Samaritan woman came to the well to draw water. Jesus said to her, “Give me some water to drink.” 8 His disciples had gone into the city to buy him some food. 9 The Samaritan woman asked, “Why do you, a Jewish man, ask for something to drink from me, a Samaritan woman?” (Jews and Samaritans didn’t associate with each other.) 10 Jesus responded, “If you recognized God’s gift and who is saying to you, ‘Give me some water to drink,’ you would be asking him and he would give you living water.” 11 The woman said to him, “Sir, you don’t have a bucket and the well is deep. Where would you get this living water? 12 You aren’t greater than our father Jacob, are you? He gave this well to us, and he drank from it himself, as did his sons and his livestock.” 13 Jesus answered, “Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again, 14 but whoever drinks from the water that I will give will never be thirsty again. The water that I give will become in those who drink it a spring of water that bubbles up into eternal life.” 15 The woman said to him, “Sir, give me this water, so that I will never be thirsty and will never need to come here to draw water!”


The story of the women at the well is a familiar one to most people. Jesus is sitting at the well as the Samaritan women approaches. But notice that it's Jesus that starts the conversation with her and not the other way around. Jesus reachers out to her. And by doing so Jesus crosses significant cultural boundaries. He is a Jew and she is a Samaritan so they would not normally associate. And she was gathering water at midday at a less busy time to avoid other people. And Jesus had sat down to rest while the disciples went to get food. It's almost like he intended to be there just to speak with her.

He speaks to her and she is at first confused but Jesus is patient with her. She begins to understand that she is talking to the Messiah. She moves from a point of belief to unbelief, from a point of ignorance to knowledge. Jesus does not turn away from this women. He engages her in conversation, takes her seriously, and even spends several days in her village. She matters to Jesus despite the fact they were different culturally. He encourages her to grow in her faith. Simply put, Jesus is what we need to survive. Jesus shows us a better way to live.

Have you ever thought about how important water is? Water can be used to clean things. Water quenches our thirst. Most importantly we cannot survive without water. And yet I believe sometimes we fail to even consider that possibility if we have always had access to clean water.

The churches of the West District of the Central Texas Conference were asked to raise $20,000 to dig a water well in Maua, Kenya and over fifty churches donated to the cause. The district raised the funds and we presented the money for the well in January of last year. Today we got to visit the well and see that they had reached water. The water will change the lives of the New Hope Community and School. The water truly is life giving. It was an amazing sight to see the excitement and the pure joy and exuberance of the people in the community. The joy of being able to have water is something that we take for granted but the New Hope community will not.

Jesus speaks about living water and how when we have that living water that we will never thirst. So how do we do that? First, we can give thanks to the Lord each and every day. We witnessed that over, and over, and over today. Second, we remind people of who Christ is and what a difference Christ has made in our lives. Christ meets us where we are and is patient with us while at the same time encourages us to grow. Third, we can sing songs of praise and thanksgiving for what we have and the opportunities that are given to us.

We saw all of that at the New Hope school today during worship and the dedication of the water well. The people of Kenya give thanks every day, that was very evident in their worship this morning. Numerous times during worship we heard gratitude given to Christ and God. And singing...boy did we hear singing and praising with song.

We crossed cultural boundaries to help a community in need simply because there was a need and we could help. Water is essential for our lives. Living water, Jesus and his teachings, are essential for our spiritual lives. We need Jesus and we need to share Jesus with others. Sharing Jesus with others involves looking past our differences and offering hope to those we meet.

Grace & Peace
Kevin