Yes, we were all taught not to talk to strangers.
And we were probably taught, implicitly, that there were some
people we were just not supposed to associate with.
Two thousand years ago, Jews were not supposed to speak with
Samaritans.
And they were certainly not supposed to eat with them, or drink
with them, or especially drink after them!
That would be more than just not right.
It would be unclean; it would be disgusting.
For the proper Jewish man, to drink with a Samaritan would be
like one of us drinking from the bottle as a wino on the street in a bad
section of town. Disgusting.
Today, Americans are not supposed to speak with Iranians.
Maybe North Americans are not talking with Africans.
At one time, Northern Ireland was not supposed to speak with
Southern Ireland.
North Atlanta is not supposed to speak with South Atlanta.
Maybe public schools are not supposed to speak with private
schools. Maybe Democrats are not supposed to speak with Republicans.
Well, that's not the way that Jesus considered it.
In that culture, men were not even supposed to mingle with
women.
Of course, I don't mean co-mingle!
I mean that men and women did not share the common exchanges of
daily commerce and need.
But Jesus broke those rules. Jesus respected women. Jesus
respected women so much that he was able to share his ordinary need with a
woman; he shared his thirst.
Living water? What is this living water? Isn't all water living?
No, it's not all living.
All of us have seen the opposite at some time or another.
The opposite of living water is dead water. Some water is
absolutely dead.
Some water is dead, and yet folks continue to drink it.
Do you know what dead water is?
Dead water is the same old television show every night.
Dead water is the same old argument you get into every day. Dead
water is that little habit you persist in nourishing, that habit which is small
in itself, but which will kill you one day.
Dead water is what may have nourished somebody long ago, but it
sure does not give you joy and vigor today.
Dead water is that water you give for yourself which still
leaves you crying out for more.
Yes! The Samaritan woman wants this water now! She knows exactly
what Jesus means! Sir, give me this water!
"I have no husband."
Ah! The woman has no husband!
Exactly. She has used up husbands the way each of us uses up
unsatisfactory water.
We keep trying all these ways to cure our souls.
We try this self-help book.
We try that therapist. We try this drug. We try that drink. We
try this husband. We try that wife.
But, ultimately, we have no husband. Jesus knows that we have no
husband. Jesus knows that our searching has been fruitless. Our well is dry.
Truth is willing to acknowledge that everyone gets thirsty.
No matter whether you are Jew or Samaritan, or Gentile, or
Greek, or American, or Yankee or Southerner.
No matter whether you are a man or a woman, or anything in
between, everyone gets thirsty. That is the truth.
Are you willing to worship God with the truth of who you are? If
you can worship God in truth, you are in the Spirit.
"I am that living water. I am
that Spirit. I am that Truth, that way, that life." And Jesus speaks to
us.
Jesus is speaking to us, right now,
if we have ears to hear, right now, in this place, in this moment, at this
well.
Jesus is at the local watering hole,
if we have ears to hear spirit and truth. Jesus is at the local coffee shop, at
our favorite restaurant.
Wherever you hear spirit and truth,
you are close to hearing Jesus.
30 They left the city and were on
their way to him.
Somehow, the townspeople were convinced! T
hey realized immediately, from the woman that something big had
happened.
Do you know what
convinced them?
It was the woman's
testimony, to be sure.
She had a testimony now, a witness.
People believe testimonies because people recognize truth.
People are convinced by what they feel, in their gut, is the
truth.
But the people were also convinced by her question! That's how
she ended her testimony.
"He cannot be the Messiah, can he?"
Honey, you better believe he is the Messiah!
This gospel reading is made complete only if we-the
listeners-take hold of the woman's testimony and make it our own.
Salvation cannot be about what others say.
This is what the New Evangelization you have been hearing about
is all about.
Salvation as to be about what has happened to us.
Let this Jesus of Spirit and Truth take hold of you today.
This is truly the Savior of the world.
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