If you don’t go to the well, you cannot draw water. You must make yourself present and available to receive the living water God so freely gives. You must go to the well!
—Barbara Harris, Parting Words
Drawing on the story of the Samaritan woman at the well (John 4:5–29), Episcopal Bishop Barbara Harris (1930–2020) describes how encountering Jesus offers each of us an opportunity to make a choice for wisdom:
I think this strange story of the woman at the well has some clear messages for us as we stand at our individual [and collective] crossroads and ponder the choices of life in a vain world that is no friend to grace; messages for us as we consider ourselves emerging people of Christ’s kingdom; messages for us when we, like the woman at the well, realize that while we are not yet what we should be, thank God we are not what we were. We are different because God has touched our lives; different because we realize we can learn from all God’s people even from such folk as the Samaritan woman.
When we encounter the good news of Jesus, we can choose to participate in the reign of God.
My friends, we thirst after many things in this world. We thirst after money, power, prestige, position. We put our trust in them; we may even pray for them. But like our Lord, we are at a crossroads in the church and in society. We still have a choice and the question our Lord is asking us is, “Do we have a thirst for the kingdom?”
Jesus is asking us, “Are we content to settle for the temporary thirst quenchers of life: the material values of this world, the right connections, the proper credentials, the things on which this society places so much value, things that will never slake the thirst of your parched, dry souls? Or do you thirst for righteousness, for peace, for justice, for the liberation of all God’s people?”
Do we thirst for those things that make for a just society as Jesus proclaimed the kingdom to be? If we gave our testimony today would we sing with the psalmist, “As the deer longs for the water-brooks, so longs my soul for you, O God”? (Psalm 42:1, BCP) Or would we sing with the elders: “I heard the voice of Jesus say, ‘Behold, I freely give the living water; thirsty one, stoop down, and drink and live!’ I came to Jesus, and I drank of that life-giving stream; my thirst was quenched, my soul revived, and now I live in him.” [1]
Do we have a thirst for the living water with which God truly enriches our lives? Do we have a thirst for the kingdom? Do we have a thirst to emerge as truly faithful Christians, to be more than we are? Each of us must respond for himself or herself. Do we have a thirst for the kingdom? Jesus is patiently waiting for our answer.
References:
[1] From the hymn, “I Heard the Voice of Jesus Say” by Horatio Bonar.
Barbara Clementine Harris, Parting Words: A Farewell Discourse (Cowley Publications, 2003), 39–40, 44–45.
Image credit and inspiration: Paul Macallan, untitled (detail), 2021, photo, Unsplash. Click here to enlarge image. Like this bright flower, the gift of contemplation and action brings us hope in the midst of painful reality.
Story from Our Community:
Brian McLaren’s Daily Meditation “In All Circumstances” was enlightening to me, all the way down to his beautiful ending: “For this breath, thanks. For this tear, thanks. For this memory of something I used to enjoy but have now lost, thanks. For this ability not simply to rage over what has been taken, but to celebrate what was once given, thanks.” I immediately felt compelled to add one more line: “For loving me so incredibly then, now, and forever, thank you so very much!”
—Art D.
