The Gift of Water

Lent 3 – March 8, 2026

Exodus 17:1-7
Psalm 95
Romans 5:1-11
John 4:5-42

As I have said many times before, we do not fully understand the situation that confronted Moses and the people. For us, we have water readily available anytime we wish to have a drink. That was not true of the Israelites or anyone who lived in the Middle East. That area is semi-arid where you needed a well or a cistern to hold water between the times of rain. If you think about it, you will note that the great ancient nations all were associated with rivers – the Nile, Euphrates, and Tigris. Water is important – it is necessary for life. So it is not difficult to see how the people in the wilderness might be worried about where they could get water. The meaning of this story is not about water but about trust. The people did not trust in God to provide for them. This story also appears in Numbers (20:1-13). But there God tells Moses because the people did not trust in God Moses will not be allowed to lead the people into the promised land. 

In our gospel the source of water is well known. It is Jacob’s well – the place where the whole community gets their water. That makes it a gathering place for the community. A place where community members share stories and information. So it is fitting that Jesus should sit down there – especially if he wanted to share his message with the people of Sychar. That, and the writer of John, tells us Jesus was tired and stopped there to rest. It is here that an amazing event happened – Jesus carried on a conversation with a woman. A Samaritan woman! Although, if you really think about it that is not unusual. It was a Samaritan town and women usually were the ones to gather water at the well. Was this conversation planned? The women seems to suggest this by her telling the others in Sychar, “Come and see a man who told me everything I have ever done!” But, for Jesus it was not what she had done in the past that was important, nor that she was a Samaritan women. What was important is that she was a child of God who thirsted for salvation.

That describes everyone that I know. Although many of them are looking for it in the wrong places. Places that range from financial security, the possessing of many things, or the feel-good experience of some drug. We are not any different and have done the same thing. We who have been filled with living water need to take a lesson from our sister from Sychar in Samaria. Filled with that water – with salvation – she became a living spring allowing that water to gush up in her telling others what Jesus had done. You have been filled with the Holy Spirit and given salvation and now you are called to be a spring of love sharing God’s gift with others. As the children of God, following Jesus’ example, we are called to welcome and take care of all people whether neighbor or stranger, citizen or immigrant, and work so that they can enjoy all the gifts that God bestows upon the world.