Good morning…
I read this Bible story aloud to our Listening Group.
The well that Jacob had dug was still there, and Jesus sat down beside it because he was tired from traveling. It was noon, and after Jesus’ disciples had gone into town to buy some food, a Samaritan woman came to draw water from the well.
Jesus asked her, “Would you please give me a drink of water?”
“You are a Jew,” she replied, “and I am a Samaritan woman. How can you ask me for a drink of water when Jews and Samaritans won’t have anything to do with each other?”
Jesus answered, “You don’t know what God wants to give you, and you don’t know who is asking you for a drink. If you did, you would ask me for the water that gives life.”
“Sir,” the woman said, “you don’t even have a bucket, and the well is deep. Where are you going to get this life-giving water? Our ancestor Jacob dug this well for us, and his family and animals got water from it. Are you greater than Jacob?”
Jesus answered, “Everyone who drinks this water will get thirsty again. But no one who drinks the water I give will ever be thirsty again. The water I give is like a flowing fountain that gives eternal life.”
The woman replied, “Sir, please give me a drink of that water!” John 4:6-15a (CEV).
After simmering in a short season of silence, some of us noticed that Jesus was “tired from traveling” and yet he was still overflowing with God’s life-giving water. Some of us expressed our true desire to be a reservoir, a deep well, a flowing fountain of God’s peace for our loved ones, our enemies, and our loved ones who sometimes feel like enemies. Some of us resonated with Jesus’ words, “You don’t know what God wants to give you,” trusting that, beyond our understanding, the LORD’s abundant, unpredictable gifts flow freely forever.
Then one woman said, “This Scripture makes me think about the Dasani water bottle I just drank from in my car. From now on, every time I drink water during the day, I want to think about it being a sip of life-giving water from God’s eternal fountain.”
Might we also envision ourselves sipping God’s living water each time we drink from a plastic water bottle?
…Sue…
