“Living Water for Body and Soul”

The Gospel of John is full of strange conversations. Over and over we see it happening: Jesus says something to someone. That person just doesn't get what he's talking about. And they go back and forth for a while, until either the person is completely confused or he or she starts to think that maybe this strange person might actually be the Messiah. Either way, for a while we get to listen in on a conversation that isn’t really going anywhere, where Jesus is trying to get his message across, and the other person is trying to understand but just can’t. I’ve had the same feeling sometimes when I’ve travelled in countries where I didn’t speak the language. I’ve also had the same feeling talking with my husband…and I suspect those of you who have teen-agers, or who are teen-agers, know exactly what I’m talking about.

We saw this kind of misunderstanding in our Gospel reading last week, in Jesus' conversation with Nicodemus. If you remember, Nicodemus got all confused when Jesus told him that anyone who wants to inherit the kingdom of God must be born again from above. How can a person be born again? Nicodemus wondered. Can you crawl back into your mother's womb once you've already been born and grown up? That's no way to run a program of salvation – I think all the mothers here would agree. The Samaritan woman whom Jesus meets at the well in this week’s Gospel reading seems just as clueless as Nicodemus. Jesus offers her living water, and she thinks he's talking about the kind of water you want on a hot day, after a long walk – the kind of water he asked her for when he said “Give me a drink.”

Of course, for you and me this conversation is kind of a joke, because we’re in on it. We know that Nicodemus and the Samaritan woman just don't get it. They're thinking about physical reality, the practical matters of this life, and Jesus is talking about their eternal, spiritual relationship with God. Maybe, if we're kind, we don't laugh at Nicodemus and the Samaritan woman – but still, we know better than they do. We know that the living water that Jesus offers is better than any old regular water any day. Especially in Lent, this knowledge may make us feel good about giving up chocolate or alcohol, or taking on a new spiritual discipline.

But if we try, maybe we can understand why the Samaritan woman was so excited when she thought she was hearing about a source of actual water – H2O – that would never run dry. This past January I had the opportunity to travel in Israel and the West Bank for two weeks as part of a biblical studies course at the Presbyterian Seminary where I’m a student. We had a wonderful time, we were perfectly safe, and if any of you have been thinking about a visit to Israel I would love to talk with you about it and encourage you to go. So, one of the areas we drove through was north of Jerusalem, not too far from the place where Jesus was walking in today's reading. That area is beautiful in its own way, but it is dry, dry, dry. There are very few underground aquifers, so the amount of water that the earth receives depends almost entirely on how much rain falls during the winter months. Today, all houses in Israel have water tanks on their roofs to collect rainwater that they then use around the house. In the old days, water was collected in underground cisterns – basically a big tank carved deep into rock. But the water that comes out of a cistern, like the water that comes from a well, is flat, not as fresh-tasting as water that comes from a bubbling brook – something you don't see much of in Israel today, and that you didn't see much of in Jesus' time either.

Not to mention that when you get water out of a cistern you have to haul the buckets or skins full of water up the long flights of steps back to the surface. Or when you get it from a well you have to pull the buckets up from the bottom, and then carry the water back home. All of this is back-breaking work, especially on a hot day like the one when Jesus took his walk and met the Samaritan woman. In those days getting water for the family was a woman's job, just like it is in most parts of the world today. Back and forth, back and forth, from the house to the well to the house, every day, back and forth. Is it any wonder that when Jesus said he had a source of water that would never run dry, the woman's ears perked up?

It's even easier to understand if you know something about the Greek language in which this Gospel was written. In Greek the same word means “living water” and “running water.” So when Jesus told the woman that he could give her living water, we know that he meant the eternal life that God offers, but she probably heard “running water.” A source of running water that would never dry up, in that parched land? Hallelujah! No wonder the woman said, “Sir, give me this water, so that I may never be thirsty or have to keep coming here to draw water.”

But then she starts to wonder about Jesus, as he tells her details that no stranger would know about her own life, and then tells her that he is the Messiah, whom she and her people are expecting. She’s not quite ready yet to believe, but she is starting to wonder: “He cannot be the Messiah, can he?” And that’s how faith starts, very often: with a question, a doubt – “what if it really were true?”

The Samaritan woman’s life was changed that day at the well when she found a source of living water that will never run dry. She found living water for her soul. But her body's need for water to stay alive didn’t go away. Two thousand years later, we all know that human beings – in this life – can't live for more than a few days without water. There is not all that much drinkable water in our world: about 70 percent of the earth’s surface is covered with salt water, but only about 1 percent of our planet’s land is covered with fresh water that we can drink. And how much access people have to clean, drinkable water depends largely on where we live. In sub-Saharan Africa only 57 percent of children have safe water to drink. Around the world, more than 5 million people die from waterborne illnesses each year – 10 times more than the number who are killed in wars (UN). Clearly, life-giving water of the earthly kind is not something that most of the world’s people can take for granted, even today.

Over the years that I’ve been married, I’ve learned a lot about living water and ordinary H2O from my father-in-law. He’s an engineer who specializes in water management. He’s also a devout Christian. When he retired from working full-time a couple of years ago, he started volunteering with a group called Lifewater International, and my mother-in-law has joined him in this work. Lifewater is a non-profit Christian organization that works with local communities in non-industrialized countries to dig wells and otherwise improve local drinking water supplies, to keep people from getting sick. Lifewater believes that both community development and Christian witness are necessary if we would share the message of Jesus Christ, who is living water. And the people they work with agree. One African church leader told Lifewater volunteers, “If you want to preach only to our souls, go to the place of the dead. That is the only place where body and soul are separate. Here on earth to reach my soul, you cannot neglect my body.”

When we reach out to others, body and soul, we often find ourselves crossing boundaries like nation, race, and class. That fact is clear if we go on a mission trip to a foreign country, but we have lots of opportunities to cross those lines right here in Louisville, if we’re so inclined. Crossing that kind of boundary can be frightening, and those who stand on the other side may question our motives, just like the Samaritan woman wondered about Jesus when she asked him, “How is it that you, a Jew, ask a drink of me, a woman of Samaria?” When we’re reaching out to others across deep divisions, it can be helpful to remember that Jesus went first, and that the living Christ is still walking ahead of us on that road.

In today’s Gospel, Jesus refers to his work as “food.” As he gave of himself by healing and feeding and teaching people, he found that he himself was also nourished. I think a lot of us understand what Jesus is talking about here: as we serve others, we grow closer to God, and when we let them serve us, we see that relationship nourishing them too. This is the kind of experience you all know about here at Calvary: you feed and clothe people who need food and clothing, and who also need to know that God loves them, and will love them forever. You show God’s love to each other when you take the time to ask “How are you?” and show that you really want to know; when you welcome newcomers; when you take the risk of trusting that strangers will become friends, that someone who comes for material help for their body may want to stick around to hear a Gospel message for their soul. The Samaritan woman took a risk when she questioned the Jewish stranger at the well. All she wanted to do that day was get some water for her family, and I guess eventually she did. But she ended up with much more, and she shared that living water with her community. Thanks be to God that we have also received this water, and that we are able to share it. Amen.

RETURN TO SERMONS PAGE