Saturday, March 18, 2017

Give Me A Drink

                                                   Photo credit: marshallcountyhealth.org
                                                           A Reflection on John 4:5-42


In many parts of the developing world people walk miles to and from wells to collect enough water to meet their basic needs: water to drink, to wash their clothes, to wash their dishes, and to bathe. Women are usually the ones who make these exhausting journeys, often digging the holes in the ground in the sweltering heat of midday. After all their efforts, the water they draw is only a few gallons. The water is precious, hard-earned, and has to sustain them until the following day’s journey. In many parts of the developing world, the water people draw from the wells doesn’t come clean and filtered like ours. Instead it is clouded by dirt and polluted with dangerous contaminants. The water they must drink to sustain their lives is the very same water that makes them sick, and is often life-threatening. Some of the water’s contaminants can be easily detected by taste or odor, but most can’t be detected easily, and require testing to reveal whether or not it is safe to drink. The unsafe water can take a terrible toll on human health. This problem is serious and widespread. So when so many families and children in developing countries are crying out, “Give me a drink” organizations like Living Waters for the World and Water.org answer by donating their resources and manpower to give them clean water systems and safe wells. Not only are they restoring the physical health of whole communities, they are also restoring the dignity, hope, and freedom of the people who live there. When they go to the new well, they find nothing less than new life.
When we come to the well at Sychar in this gospel text, we meet a woman who knows something about exhausting, back-breaking journeys. Her whole life revolves around wells. Other women remain at home with their families during the hottest part of the day because they can go to the well together in the cooler mornings. They can talk as they walk, sharing stories of their children and their husbands. But not this nameless Samaritan woman. She waits until the hottest part of the day to go to the well because that’s when no one else will be there. No one will be there to shun her, to whisper about her behind her back, or to shame her for her culturally unacceptable relationship. She intentionally spends her days alone, moving through her mindless routines, remaining on the edges of her community, both literally and spiritually.
When she sees Jesus—this Jewish religious leader—her usual shame grows into confusion, and even some aggravation. Now she is not only confronted with her complicated marital status, but also with the shame of being a woman who is talking with a man—a huge no no. Beyond that, she was a Samaritan woman talking with a Jewish man—absolutely unacceptable! The Samaritans and the Jews shared no social interaction since the Samaritans built a shrine as their place of worship, instead of worshiping at the Jerusalem Temple—the one true place of worship. The Jewish troops had destroyed the shrine, and were strengthening an already existing dividing wall between themselves and the Samaritans. Talking to a Samaritan was as good as insulting God. So when Jesus shows up in broad daylight at her well saying, “Give me a drink” all kinds of boundaries are crossed. As far as the Jewish community was concerned this Samaritan woman was contaminated, and so was her well.
 But Jesus knew something about her and about water that no one else knew. Despite the cultural and religious traditions that drew dividing lines between them, Jesus knew that God wasn’t interested in dividing lines. Jesus knew that something was contaminated, but it wasn’t this woman. His four-word request, “Give me a drink,” ushers in a divine revolution. In the bright light of day, God meets her at the well and offers her a whole new filtering system. The water that her ancestors drew from this well now flows into a new place and time, where God is speaking about a new reality. Here, where the Son of God shares intimate conversation with a Samaritan woman about the details of her life and the condition of her soul, she learns that eternal life is no longer something she has to wait for. Eternal life has met her at the well, and is asking her to follow him.
Most of us in the first world don’t have to walk out in the heat of day to a well to get our water. In fact, most of us enjoy filtered water every day. We don’t have to worry about contamination or water-borne illnesses. We don’t live in a country that prescribes who we can talk to and who is off-limits. It’s hard for most of us to imagine being in the Samaritan woman’s shoes. But we all go to other kinds of wells to quench our spiritual thirst. We go to the well of Success, believing that we will be filled with a sense that we are important. We say, “give me a drink,” hoping that our thirst for identity will be quenched. We go to the well of People-pleasing, seeking others’ approval. We empty ourselves until we have nothing left saying, “give me a drink,” hoping that our thirst for belonging will be quenched. We go to the well of power, seeking control over people and the circumstances of our lives. We strategize and plan saying “give me a drink,” hoping that our thirst for security will be quenched.
 We go to the well of consumerism, believing that if we have enough, we will be enough. We say, “give me a drink,” hoping that our thirst for purpose will be quenched. These spiritual wells are contaminated with illusions that trick us into thinking that if we do the right things, act the right way, or have the right stuff, we will be whole. We will fit in. God will love us.
Instead Jesus shows up at the well saying “Give me a drink. Let me taste this water you are drinking and see why it has such a strong hold on you. And while we are sharing this water, let’s talk about your life—since that’s really what I’m here for anyway." We can’t live without water. We need to come to the well. What Jesus asks of the Samaritan woman, and what he asks of us, is to receive fullness of life beginning now. The water filter Jesus invites us to receive filters out all of the world’s contaminating messages about how we need to be more, do more,  and have more to be deserving of God’s love. God doesn’t wait until we are perfect, acceptable, or whole to come to us. God crosses all boundaries to get to us—our dividing lines, our limited traditional understanding of who we should include and exclude, our categories of status and power, our unwillingness to believe that we are enough. God breaks through all of those boundaries, in broad daylight, in front of all the VIPs, to show the Samaritans and the Jewish people that God comes, not just for the Israelites, but for the gentiles too. God comes, not just for the people we like and who believe the same things we do, but even for those we consider our enemies.
Jesus’ presence at the well fills us with the kind of water that nourishes our Holy Imagination. He asks her, and us, to receive what he is offering, even before she fully understands it, and acknowledge her need of him.
This is our invitation during Lent—to come to the well as we are and to meet Christ there. We are asked to pause and reflect on all of the boundaries we erect between ourselves and others, and between ourselves and God. We are invited to go beyond the surface level of our lives—beyond our physical needs and rhythms of our daily routines—and arrive at the truth about our lives. When we can do this, whether it happens in a church or in our car, we worship. When the Samaritan woman asks Jesus where she should worship, His very presence at the well is meant to be her answer. His promise transcends this place, this time, this well, or a particular temple. His promise is his presence. His promise is a way of living and believing that is sustaining, not draining.  
  What are the wells we go to where we find only drought and disappointment? When we come to Christ’s table saying “Give me a drink,” we must prepare ourselves to let go of all of those other contaminated wells we visit and trust that our thirst for security, belonging, identity, and our purpose will be quenched where Christ is; whenever we live as Christ lived, love as He loved, and serve as He served. That life, that love, and that service is the only well that matters--the one with the living water. The good news is that we do not need to embark on a back-breaking journey. We have already arrived. God walks beside us, follows behind us, and leads the way before us, quenching our thirsty spirits with the Living Water of his presence. So come to the well. Receive the Living Water. Know that Christ meets you here, and offers you no less than the life, love and purpose, that will redeem what you thought was lost, sustain you through what you thought was unbearable, and will make a way where you thought there would be only desert. So go to the well and drink.


No comments:

Post a Comment