Come to the Water and Drink

Water.  We bathe in it, we drink it, cook with it, clean with it, play in it, boat on, swim in it, dive in to it…water is so simple yet so versatile and powerful. 

Water is a polar molecule.  It is one of the strongest solvents on earth because it dissolves more than almost any other compound does.  It can stick to things and it can transport itself up small tubes such as plant and tree roots.  The surface tension is high so things float.   Water is so common that we often take it for granted like the air we breathe.

In John 4:1-14 we see an example of how God takes the common and turns them in to something special.  Jacob built a well for water that was used to help sustain life.  1800 years later Christ was seated at that well and used it to transform lives.  He broke barriers with this simple well.  As you may recall Jesus sat at the well where a Samaritan woman was drawing water and he asked her for a drink of it.  She recognized Christ as a Jew and she being a Samaritan woman knew it was not right for Jews to associate with Samaritans or even use the same dishes therefore it was not possible for her to be asked this. 

It wasn’t important to Christ from what community, what body of believers, or what class of people this woman came.  Jesus was merely trying to illustrate to the woman that God is the Living Water from where all our sustenance comes.   I’m pretty sure that Christ was thirsty.  As we all are – we thirst for water and we thirst for the taste of the Holy.  But Christ used it for a Holy opportunity.

She didn’t get it at first.  She wanted this water that Christ was talking about that gave life eternal.  She thought she was just talking to a man next to a well but it was just a hole in the ground and she was talking with the well that offers the water of life.

Christ was not only thirsty for water but he also took this opportunity to use water as a symbol of the life that He offers us.  You see – it is very possible for us to witness some very holy moments in the most common of places.  As we transcend boundaries of status, life, background, history, orientation, and even religious varieties – we then can truly taste the water that Christ offers us.  When we build up fences around the well and demand that only those who look and act like we do can take from it, we have missed the point.

The point of this story is that all people matter to Christ.  Why did he choose to go through Samaria on his journey?  As a result, the town of Sychar got to hear about Christ.  Christ went out of his way to meet just one person.  And he still makes those journeys today.

He came to give us living water and for it to be like a stream within us reaching out to others.  The world is full of people who need it but Christ could do nothing for people who did not know this.  Some people think they are good enough and will not confess their wrongdoings but the woman at the well did so – she admitted she was not worthy and in that simple act Christ said she would be made worthy through the living, healing waters that is Christ Jesus.

Come to the water – drink and be filled.