Title Water I Give
Contents
Hymn: 533 “Lord of my heart, be hope”
Meditation: Have you had any experience of being improved through the Lord?
Text: “Jesus answered and said, … ” (John 4:10-15)
Word: The Samaritan woman showed her prejudice against the Jews when she saw Jesus. Jesus is the One who is greater than all who came from God. If the Samaritan woman had known the “gift of God” and who was speaking to her now, she would have asked Jesus for water. The woman asks a question again, and in chapter 3 she reminds me of Nicodemus.
It seems difficult for both educated and uneducated people to accept the spiritual truth. There is no bucket for water, and the well is deep, so he asks, “How can I give you living water?” Then he asks Jesus a childlike question, whether he is greater than Jacob. They did not know that Jesus was expressing living water as a metaphor. Like ‘born again’, ‘living water’ speaks of the Holy Spirit as a metaphor.
For example, if you use the metaphor of ‘you are like a flower’, it means that you are not a flower, but it means ‘beautiful’ or ‘fragrant’, which is the image of a flower. In a metaphor, you need to be able to distinguish between similarity and differentiation. Like living water, the Holy Spirit saturates the thirsty soul and quenches the thirst of the soul, but unlike living water, it does not have to be long or exhausted in a specific place.
Water flows in from the outside, but the Holy Spirit from Jesus flows out from the inside. If you do not drink water again, you will be thirsty, but the Holy Spirit will never thirst. Therefore, Jesus is greater than Jacob and greater than the Old Testament.
Still, the Samaritan woman does not understand the metaphor of living water and asks, “Lord, give me such water so that I will not be thirsty or come here to draw water.” Calling Jesus 'Lord' from a Jewish man is a great step, and asking Jesus to drink more and more is a great step forward. The conversation that Jesus started asking the Samaritan woman for a drink turns into a conversation where the Samaritan woman asks Jesus for a drink. At least you know that the water you're drinking won't quench your thirst. Blessed is the man who knows his thirst, and who knows whom to turn to for the answer. Not far from the truth.
Prayer: Jesus, the source of living water, thank you for your gift and for making me know Jesus. May the living water you give me spring up in me and give me eternal rest. I pray in Jesus name. Amen.
Lord's Prayer