Drink

Matthew 4:12; Mark 1:14a; Luke 3: 19-20; John 4: 1-26

Jesus answered her, ‘If you knew the gift of God, and who it is that is saying to you, “Give me a drink”, you would have asked him, and he would have given you living water.’

Good and bad news is common to every life; even when it’s expected news can be life changing and mark a new phase in life with all the uncertainty that change brings. At times news is so life changing that life will never be the same again for us.  Jesus heard that the Pharisees had been asking John about Him and John was clear who Jesus is (John 3: 22-36). Jesus is the Messiah, and John is the one sent by God to announce His arrival. Life will never be the same again because the Messiah has come; this is the Good News. However, this news is not welcomed by everyone; so far, the bankers and traders in the Temple are not exactly ecstatic that Jesus is acting like a Messiah and the Pharisees have been informed, no doubt by Nicodemus that Jesus is not one of them. Jesus is inviting people to participate in the Kingdom of God based on love and the generosity of God engaged in universal renewal.  This Kingdom that Jesus is calling us to participate in is built on the Law of the Love of God for the whole world and not the Law of the Pharisees. Sounds like bad news to the Pharisees. Jesus begins His Journey to the north to a safer place when He receives bad news; John has been arrested, he is in prison and times have become very dangerous indeed. But Jesus won’t be rushed. You can imagine that the advice from His followers is to get north out of this dangerous jurisdiction as quickly as possible but Jesus has decided for some unknown reason to return to the north through the region of Samaria. There Jesus meets a woman at a well in the height of the heat of the sun and Jesus asks her for a drink.  She recognises Him as a Jew. Now, the Samaritans and Jews did not get on very well; they both claimed to follow God but disagreed about the scriptures, proper conduct and worship. Jesus recognising her reluctance to share some water with a Jew offers her water that will change her whole life.  Does any of this sound familiar? You will remember in the story of Nicodemus that he  asked Jesus the rhetorical question about how an adult can re- enter their mother’s womb to be reborn and in this story the woman asks Jesus the rhetorical question how Jesus can draw living water with no bucket!  Ah the games people play! Jesus reveals to her who He is by demonstrating He knows who she is. Perhaps the writer of John is offering us another key into the Kingdom of God. God, Jesus the creator and redeemer knows us; the problem is we do not know God, ourselves and who God has created us to be. We, just like this woman in the story are not created to be despised by the people who use and abuse us. We are not created to labour in the mid-day sun as outcasts taught by our oppressors to perpetually self-hate. Jesus offers us a cold, refreshing drink in the height of our oppression and self-destructive lifestyles; He offers water that will reveal to us who we are created to be despite what our religion has taught us. This woman is taught by Jesus that she is created in the image of God and He knows her and sent His Son through Samaria in the midst of personal danger to save her from herself and her abusers; that’s God’s view of her value and importance. Jesus tells her to forget about her denomination, that’s all a destructive diversion; God requires us to worship Him through the Spirit of Truth and in so doing recover the person He has created us to be. We, like this Samaritan woman, have a life threatening thirst that only the living water of Jesus can satisfy.  Are you aware that you are thirsty? Then come and drink at the well of the teachings and practices of Jesus and recover the person God created you to be. This is life changing Good News!