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This is radical! Do you know that while I have known this story ever since I was a
little girl, it was only in the 29th year of my life that I learned that Jesus first revealed
himself as Messiah to a woman. And not just any woman, but to a woman who was
oppressed because of her gender, race and marital status.
No longer burdened by the prejudice of others, the woman is filled with the good
news of the living water. She leaves her water jar, and goes away into the city. She
witnesses to the people there saying, “Come see a man who told me all that I ever did. Can
this be the Christ?”
The Samaritan woman who avoided public appearances now puts herself in the center
of public life and is even speaking! Even more astonishing, is that the people listen. “And
they went out of the city and were coming to Jesus.”
“Many Samaritans from that city believed in Jesus because of the woman’s
testimony.”
God calls us to the living water. God calls you, God calls me, just as clearly as Jesus
called the Samaritan woman. No matter how unworthy we may think we are, no matter how
unacceptable we may seem to others, God accepts us – loves us because of ourselves. God
accepts us and respects our deepest human selves.
Jesus offered the cup of living water to the Samaritan. She accepted Jesus’ offer and
she left her water jar to which she had clung. She no longer needed it. The jar was now
useless. She was freed from the bondage of her old self – free from her water jar – free to
be the person God created her to be – a full human being empowered to go out and do the
work of Christ.
The story tells us the power of the Holy Spirit is a gift. It is not a gift we can have
and keep to ourselves – it is a gift that is meant to keep on growing, flowing. It can’t help
reaching out. Jesus offers us living water – the power which gives us faith, hope, courage to
be – to be what God created us to be – full human beings empowered to go out and do the
work of Christ. The movement and action of this living water are unmistakable: it leaps up
like a fountain within and flows outward toward others. Thanks be to God!
Amen.
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