We thirst.

From Safari….

Water is life. We have to have water to live. A person can live up to three weeks without food but only three days without water. Water is all around us; 11,842 is the number of lakes in Minnesota of at least 10,000 acres in size, in fact, seventy-one percent of the earth is covered with water. Unlike some parts of the world, water flows freely from the faucet in our homes.

And yet we can thirst.

One’s thirsts are often more than a thirst for water. Some thirst for the basics of life – food, shelter, clothing, friendship and health. Others thirst for inner peace, a sense of direction, for hope, for love. It is said, that we as humans have four essential thirsts: the thirst for healthy personal identity, the thirst for intimacy in relationships, the thirst for meaningful work, and the thirst for a life-giving spirituality.

We read in the book of Exodus, “in their thirst for water, the people grumbled against Moses, saying, “Why did you ever make us leave Egypt? Was it just to have us die here of thirst”.

In this encounter the Hebrew people come to understand again that they are God’s chosen people. In the water flowing from the rock, God shows his love for them even though they grumbled and doubted God’s presence. They learned that their life’s work would be giving witness to God’s presence in the world and being true to God’s will.

The Samaritan woman perhaps was looking in all the wrong places to quench her thirst. She comes to the well at noon, not in the cool of the morning as most others. Some suggest she comes at noon because of her sin. But the text doesn’t support that claim. Yes she has been married five times but each of those husbands could have died. It is likely that she comes at noon because of the heaviness of grief on her heart. Her pain is to great to speak with anyone else. This may have sapped life from her.

The story reminds us that we are equals before God. Jesus comes to us where we are and offers us this life-giving water.

This life-giving water is God’s love. Through life-giving water we find comfort, forgiveness, and acceptance. Through this life-giving water we are filled with the Holy Spirit. Filled with the Spirit the Samaritan woman goes and tells all her friends. She gives witness to the presence of God. When she went to the well to get water, the Samaritan woman got a lot more than she expected. We can have the same living water of Christ when we acknowledge our need and open ourselves to God’s gift.

At every Eucharist, through Word and Sacrament we come to understand that we are loved, forgiven and accepted. Our thirst quenched and filled with the Holy Spirit we are sent forth to give witness to God’s presence in the world and to be true to God’s will. We are to bring this bottomless bucket of water to those we meet along the way—at home, in the workplace, our places of recreation, and in neighborhoods.

Fr. Ron