a woman at the well

Good afternoon sisters and brothers,

Today's reading picks up where we left off. Jesus is in a Samaritan village and he asks a woman he meets at the well to give him a drink as she's getting water. Since Jews and Samaritans had a troubled history with little contact and a lot of resentment on both sides, she's surprised. This unusual conversation has far reaching results, as we'll see today and tomorrow. 

This is an especially good passage for today, since today is world water day, a day to think about how we use our water resources. There's an emerging conversation in our area about the way our water consumption, especially bottled water, relates to issues of water and sustainability world wide. Talk with Allison Clarke at Calvary St. Andrews if you'd like to learn more.

God bless,
Sam

John 4:9-18

⁹The 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.) ¹⁰Jesus 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.” 

¹¹The woman said to him, “Sir, you have no bucket, and the well is deep. Where do you get that living water? ¹²Are you greater than our ancestor Jacob, who gave us the well, and with his sons and his flocks drank from it?” ¹³Jesus said to her, “Everyone who drinks of this water will be thirsty again, ¹⁴but 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.” ¹⁵The 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.” 

¹⁶Jesus said to her, “Go, call your husband, and come back.” ¹⁷The woman answered him, “I have no husband.” Jesus said to her, “You are right in saying, ‘I have no husband’; ¹⁸for you have had five husbands, and the one you have now is not your husband. What you have said is true!” 

living water

Good morning sisters and brothers,
In our first reading Jesus concludes his discussion with the woman at the well. He tells his disciples that even though they haven't been the ones to sow the seeds of faith in Samaria, they will be part of the harvest. Samaritans come to Jesus because of the woman's testimony, but believe because they see for themselves.

Our reading from Exodus reminds us that Israel's journey with God included doubt and complaining as well as amazing faith. The temptation to return to slaver was always with them, since freedom with God is often a hard road. We may have similar temptations in our own life, but God can quench our thirst with the living water of Christ.

Blessings,
Sam

John 4:31-42

31Meanwhile the disciples were urging him, “Rabbi, eat something.” 32But he said to them, “I have food to eat that you do not know about.” 33So the disciples said to one another, “Surely no one has brought him something to eat?” 34Jesus said to them, “My food is to do the will of him who sent me and to complete his work. 35Do you not say, ‘Four months more, then comes the harvest’? But I tell you, look around you, and see how the fields are ripe for harvesting. 36The reaper is already receiving wages and is gathering fruit for eternal life, so that sower and reaper may rejoice together. 37For here the saying holds true, ‘One sows and another reaps.’ 38I sent you to reap that for which you did not labor. Others have labored, and you have entered into their labor.”

39Many Samaritans from that city believed in him because of the woman’s testimony, “He told me everything I have ever done.” 40So when the Samaritans came to him, they asked him to stay with them; and he stayed there two days. 41And many more believed because of his word. 42They said to the woman, “It is no longer because of what you said that we believe, for we have heard for ourselves, and we know that this is truly the Savior of the world.”



*Sunday

Exodus 17:1-7

1From the wilderness of Sin the whole congregation of the Israelites journeyed by stages, as the LORD commanded. They camped at Rephidim, but there was no water for the people to drink. 2The people quarreled with Moses, and said, “Give us water to drink.” Moses said to them, “Why do you quarrel with me? Why do you test the LORD?” 3But the people thirsted there for water; and the people complained against Moses and said, “Why did you bring us out of Egypt, to kill us and our children and livestock with thirst?” 4So Moses cried out to the LORD, “What shall I do with this people? They are almost ready to stone me.” 5The LORD said to Moses, “Go on ahead of the people, and take some of the elders of Israel with you; take in your hand the staff with which you struck the Nile, and go. 6I will be standing there in front of you on the rock at Horeb. Strike the rock, and water will come out of it, so that the people may drink.” Moses did so, in the sight of the elders of Israel. 7He called the place Massah and Meribah, because the Israelites quarreled and tested the LORD, saying, “Is the LORD among us or not?”

living water

Good morning friends,
This passage continues God's lament about Israel's faithlessness. There're are two main images in this passage that are related. One is the image of exchange: Israel has exchanged it's true God for false gods. The other image is futility: the things Israel has taken up are useless; things that don't profit instead of things of true value that God gave them. My favorite example in this passage is the image of the people abandoning God, the fountain of living water and making broken cisterns (water containers) for themselves that don't hold water.

How many of our choices come down to something like this? How often do we chose something new and shiny that turns out to be junk? How often do we try to set up our lives on our own instead of seeking the true life we only find in God? Fortunately, Jesus offers us that living water again. Jesus promises to give us water that will satisfy us entirely. It's never too late to come to the living waters of God. Come be refreshed.

God bless,
Sam


Jeremiah 2:9-19
9Therefore once more I accuse you, says the Lord, and I accuse your children’s children. 10Cross to the coasts of Cyprus and look, send to Kedar and examine with care; see if there has ever been such a thing. 11Has a nation changed its gods, even though they are no gods? But my people have changed their glory for something that does not profit. 12Be appalled, O heavens, at this, be shocked, be utterly desolate, says the Lord, 13for my people have committed two evils: they have forsaken me, the fountain of living water, and dug out cisterns for themselves, cracked cisterns that can hold no water.

14Is Israel a slave? Is he a homeborn servant? Why then has he become plunder? 15The lions have roared against him, they have roared loudly. They have made his land a waste; his cities are in ruins, without inhabitant. 16Moreover, the people of Memphis and Tahpanhes have broken the crown of your head. 17Have you not brought this upon yourself by forsaking the Lord your God, while he led you in the way? 18What then do you gain by going to Egypt, to drink the waters of the Nile? Or what do you gain by going to Assyria, to drink the waters of the Euphrates? 19Your wickedness will punish you, and your apostasies will convict you. Know and see that it is evil and bitter for you to forsake the Lord your God; the fear of me is not in you, says the Lord God of hosts.