Living Water - Troubled Water

  

John 4: 5-42

        Our bodies are made up of about 60% or so of water.  Without a doubt water is central to every aspect of our lives.  So it is not surprising to me our scripture uses images of water to describe such things as faith, eternal life, safety, provision, even power. 

This week we have the second of that series of stories from John that I mentioned on Sunday.  Each one of them is laced with profound images:  darkness and light, blindness and seeing, confinement and freedom, isolation and inclusion.  John’s gospel is at its core a gospel of love, telling us through signs, stories, and witness of the profound and expansive love of God that is revealed to us in Jesus.  And John uses the images of our everyday lives to describe that love.  Daytime and nighttime, water, eyesight, wells, burial…  these stories are poignant for us because we know them intimately.  We live them everyday.   

Jesus makes a profound statement to the Woman at the Well:   

"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."

Living water….  Troubled water…  Water through which God’s gift is given.  The Living Water that Jesus gives transforms her life and in transforming her life, transforms the lives of others.

  We should not open our mouths to drink of the Living Water unless we are ready to be transformed.  This water that Jesus gives comes with a cross.  It comes with the cross of foregoing our own wants and desires in order to provide dignity, respect, and love to those who are in need.  It comes with the cross of pain and hurt of illness, poverty, or isolation.  It comes with the cross of responsibility to envision God’s hope for the world and to work for that end.  It comes with the cross of uncertainty that comes with living our lives with faith in God rather than in worldly power.

I’m good with that!  Buen Camino,

Mother Jane