“Give us Water to Drink” Ex: 17:2
The ancient Season of Lent which has come down through the ages and covers several weeks teaches us powerful lessons in so many ways, from our trust in a faithful God to being transformed into an all-new life.
The Season of Lent began during the Post
Apostolic period of the Early Church. In the early years the Christian Church
generally began to hold the Sacrament of Baptism once a year on Easter Sunday.
All those who had come to believe in Jesus would be instructed to take a 40-day
period of time and consider through prayer and reading what Scriptures were
available to them, how their lives were to changes in light of who Jesus Christ
is and all that he had accomplished on their behalf. This 40-day period
became what we now call the Season of Lent; Lent being an old world which means
in the "Spring of the year" reflecting the season of the
Resurrection.
Lent is far more than a season of legalistic performance based religious self-examination, it is rather a time of fully embracing the grace of God and the reality of the risen Christ and the Season of Easter.
Israel's Pilgrimage
As the people of Israel sojourned in the Wilderness on their forty-year pilgrimage to the Promised Land , they often found themselves in need of very basic necessities of life.
At one such point in their journey the need for water become such a sore issue that the people of Israel began to lose faith and even seditiously moved against Moses and confronted him demanding that their thirst should be dealt with.
“The people argued with Moses saying “Give
us water to drink” Ex: 17:2
All Thirst
The need of the people of Israel for water and
the assuagement of their thirst is, in truth, not just their need centuries ago
in the Wilderness of Sin, but it is the need of all humanity, in any and all
ages.
All humanity is thirsty whether they know it
or not, and they look to assuage that thirst in many different ways. The demand
of the stiff neck Israelites is the vocalization of the need of all humanity.
They knew the thirst which filled them and sought to find its
assuagement.
The thirst that all humanity has as
we pass through this life is in truth quenched in only one
way, through the life-giving waters of the Holy Spirit given so freely to
any who will but drink of that eternal deep well.
All humanity seeks to quench this thirst which
we are all created with and are driven to seek out what we so desire. Yet , for
some, they find it ever elusive and are drinking from many different wells but
never finding assuagement to this thirst.
Jacob’s Well
This thirst, the thirst of humanity,
however, is assuaged through the divine waters drawn from only one well, these
waters which flow from only one pure eternal spring, and that living
spring is the Lord Jesus Christ through whom the Holy Spirit is given to us and
our thirst finds it’s assuagement only in him.
Jesus himself speaks to this very truth there
at Jacob’s well in the Samaritan village of Sycar. This well, named for the
Patriarch Jacob was fed by a deep spring known as the Fountain of Life. This
water flow was known for the quality and purity of it’s the water that was
found there.
As Jesus sits near Jacob’s well a woman of the
village approaches and is about to draw some water. Jesus, breaking cultural
protocols; for Jews and Samaritans normally did not interact, for the Jews
viewed gentiles as unclean, but Jesus initiates a conversation with her.
“There came a woman of Samira to the well
to draw water. Jesus said to her “Give me a drink” Jhn: 4:7
Jesus’ request surprises the woman, she being
aware of the cultural boundaries between Jews and her people. Jesus ignores the
cultural protocols expressed in her reply and moves to the true purpose of his
coming to this place and at this particular time.
“Jesus said to her, “if you knew the gift
of God, and who it is who says to you, “Give me a drink”; you would have asked
of him, and he would have given you living water” (10)
The woman looks upon only what she can
see with her eyes.
“Sire, you have nothing to draw with and the
well is deep; where then do you get this living water?”( 11)
She then, not knowing who Jesus is at first
sees him as just another Jew and then she alludes to her peoples mingled and
adopted heritage with the Jewish people.
“You are not greater than our father Jacob
who gave us the well” (12a)
Jesus ignores that she, for the moment, does
not understand who he is and then proceeds to address the true need and thirst
of all humanity who attempts to find the solution to the thirst which resides
in us all as we pilgrimage in the dry wilderness of this life as Israel did
centuries ago.
Still Thirsty
“Everyone who drinks of this water will be
thirsty again;” (13)
What Jesus, in truth, is addressing is not the
need common to all humanity for of water but rather the deep thirst which is
found within “everyone” for something greater than this life itself; the
need to know the Great God.
We all are like Israel whether we know it or
not crying out for water in our deepest need to assuage our deepest
thirst.
Jesus unites the knowledge of who he is to the
giving of the living water “if you knew the gift of God, and who it is who says
to you “Give me a drink” you would have asked of him and he would have given
you living water”.
What Jesus is telling her, and we all, that he
is the source of this water which assuages our deepest thirst to know our God,
and that he would, and is, so willing to give it freely to us all through
grace, if we will but ask of him.
Jesus will give this living water to us, he
desires to give it to each and to all we need not draw it ourselves, that it no
human effort can draw dig this well or bring forth, it our through grace alone;
as a Jesus said to the woman and all humanity “If you knew the gift of
God”.
The Greek word “dorea” here in the
narrative and is translated as “gift”, is unique to St. John’s
Gospel and is found only in this narrative. This word “dorea” is a
word meaning something which is given fully by grace alone. It cannot be errand
nor can it be merited. This speaks to us about our Lord’s deep desire for
us to know him and have our thirst completely assuaged.
Living Water
This living water, that is water which is
moving and flowing, is also transformational. Living water is water which flows
and washes away impurities. The Jewish baptismal custom of baptizing gentile
converts to Judaism was preferred to be carried out in living waters which
flowed, for they believed that flowing water literally washed away their being
gentiles transforming these converts into Jews, making them “born again”.
This was thought to be accomplished through the acceptance of the Torah, the
Law, but Jesus tells us the true source of life changing living waters flow
only from him, by grace alone.
The Torah, the Law, cannot truly assuage our
thirst or changes us, it can only conform us and still leave our thirst, that
deep need for something deeper left unsatisfied.
Flowing From Us
As our thirst is assuaged and our lives are
transformed those water issue forth from us flowing to those around us and in
the divine process of God the lives of others are forever changed and inviting
them to come to the true sources of living waters which washes away and healing
our thirst.
“If anyone is thirsty is thirsty, let him come
to me and drink. He who believes in me, as the Scriptures said, “From his
innermost being will flow rivers of living water” Jhn: 7:37c-38
It was thirst, that brought the woman of Sycar
to the well where she encountered our Lord Jesus who invites her to drink of
the living waters which he so freely gives to assuage her thirst for all time
and eternity.
In Jesus’ divine invitation to “everyone who is thirsty” to come to him Jesus is now revealing the nature of those rivers of living waters from which we might drink and then flow forth from our very being to those around us, as St. John reveals to us in the next verses.
“But Jesus was speaking of the
Spirit, whom those who believe in him were to receive, for the Spirit was not
yet given, because Jesus was not yet glorified” (39)
The Waters Flow
The Holy Spirit flows out to us assuaging our
thirst and healing the dry wilderness of our lives. The living water of the
Holy Spirit given to us by grace, through Jesus, is in view in the vision of
the Prophet Ezekiel sees a glorious vision of the Temple of God, in Ezekiel’s
visions which is found in the later chapters of his book. Ezekiel:
40-48
The Prophet first sees the Temple of God
empty, dark, and with our life, then, as Ezekiel beholds the glory of the Lord
enters in and fills the Temple with glory of Lord once again, then in a later
chapter we are shown that due to the restored glory waters burst forth and flow
and course out to the dry and thirsty land healing it, and causing all manner
of tress to bear good fruit and then flowing to the Dead Seas and even heling
those salty waters. Ezekiel: 47
We are told by the Prophet that all who came
to those waters lived.
What we are witnessing ,through the Prophet
Ezekiel, is the resurrection of our Lord Jesus and the rivers of the waters of
the Holy Spirit flowing forth heling and assuaging the thirsty dry wilderness
of our lives at the resurrection from the dead of our Lord Jesus as he lay
lifeless in darkness of death in the tomb , just as the Temple in the vision was
lifeless and shrouded in darkness
St. John tells us that Jesus calls his very
self the Temple which would be raised up after being torn down by the
crucifixion, then he would be raised up in there days through the resurrection,
that is glorified. John: 2:18-20
Recall, that St. John, in his Gospel, said
that the Spirit “was not yet given” because “Jesus was not yet glorified”,
that is resurrected to glory.
This is what the Prophet was showing us in his
vision, the glorious resurrection of our Lord and flow of the living waters of
the Holy Spirit out to all humanity assuaging the thirsts and healing the dry
land of our lives.
From Glory to Glory
The Holy Spirit would now be offered to
humanity so that we could have our "need to know" our God in a way,
which was previously unknown to us.
The Holy Spirit flows to us and assuages our
deepest thirst transforming us, and ever speaking to us regarding our Lord
Jesus. As we are transformed, the Holy Spirit flows from us to all around us
effecting their lives as well.
“But we all , with unveiled faces, beholding
as in a mirror the glory of the Lord are being transformed into the same image,
from glory to glory, just as from the Lord, the Spirit.” 2Cor:3:18
This transformation into the “same
image” where in we see the “glory to glory” is what we are truly
thirsty for . Coming to know Jesus and being forever changed by him. This
process is what occurs as we pilgrimage through the wilderness of this life on
our way to the Promised land of the Heavenly Kingdom of God.
Worship Digs the Well Deeper
When we accept his offer to come to Jesus and
we see who Jesus is, that Jesus is God’s son, the Second Person of the Holy
Trinity, our response is to worship him, and as we gather to worship
Jesus the living waters of the Holy Spirit flow out to us, healing us and
restoring us, it is as if when we worship our Lord Jesus, we are digging the
well deeper, and the deeper. The well the deeper the waters of the Spirit
seemed to flow to us in powerful and deeply meaningful way. We are like the
people of Israel who dug the well at Beer.
“Israel continued to Beer, the well where the
Lord God said to Moses “Gather the people together and I will give them water.
And Israel sang this song: Spring up O well! Sing about it, about the well that
the princess dug, that the nobles of the people sank-the nobles with scepters
and staffs” Num:
21:1-18
As we gather worship our Lord, we
are digging the well, through praise and worship of Jesus’ Holy divine person,
as we do the Holy Spirit ministers to us and assuaging our thirsts.
Benediction: May we each and all ever find our thirst
assuaged and be transformed by the living waters of the Holy Spirit
as we come answer the divine invitation, issued to us that we might come
and worship to Jesus alone, and there have our thirst assuaged, today,
tomorrow and forevermore. Amen.
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Rev. Todd Crouch, Pastor
Topinabee Community Church
Topinabee Michigan
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“If Its Not About Jesus, Its Not About Anything!”
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