[Jesus] said loudly, “Whoever is thirsty must come to me to drink. As Scripture says, ‘Streams of living water will flow from deep within the person who believes in me.’ ” (John 7:37-38 GW)
Once there was a woman whose life was a mess. She had been married five times and was now living with a man who was not her husband. As a half-breed, she was rejected by those around her to the point that she couldn’t even visit the town well during the cooler hours of the day. Like other outcasts, she had to go during the midday heat when no one else would be there. One day, around noon, she met a man who offered her “Living Water.” At first, she thought this meant she would never thirst again or have to carry water under the scorching sun. But the man who offered her this water had much bigger plans for her—he wanted to help her break free from her troubled past and offer her a new life.
There was a woman with a messy life who recently came to the church. She was lovingly folded into the fellowship of family, and baptized in December, along with her three teenage sons, to the joy of our congregation. Just a few months later, her estranged husband was found dead from a drug overdose. Her efforts to convince him to leave the old life were ineffective, and now it was too late. Then, she was left to navigate the overwhelming task of making funeral arrangements, dealing with his grieving family and friends, and facing the complexities of life’s challenges. Her life is also messy, but she understands that the Living Water is life, hope, and strength-giving.
Life can be messy. People are sinful by nature, and this world adds to our brokenness. Throw in divorce, grieving, addictions, loneliness, anger, and/or a whole host of other things and “messy” only begins to cover it. Yet, no matter what depth of “messy” we have, there’s One whose Living Water can meet us in those places, heal us, strengthen and encourage us, and walk with us. And He is We. We believers are the Church, called to step into those messy and painful situations and offer the love, grace, and compassion of God.
Today as we gather, may the grace, compassion, and love God gives each of us be poured out on the messiness of our lives and the lives around us. And may the Living Water quench our spiritual thirst.
Healing God,
Thank you for the ways in which you minister to us. Thank you for the ways you meet us in our messiness and, as we allow you, help us to heal from those things. Today we pray that your Church in all places would be a place where your Spirit has the freedom to move and heal. We pray your Church would be a place where the messy parts of lives can be honestly and graciously addressed so that hearts and lives are changed for your Kingdom purposes. Pour out your Living Water upon us so we are only thirsty for YOU, our Lord and King. We ask these things in Jesus’s name, AMEN.
Jesus had to go through Samaria. He arrived at a city in Samaria called Sychar. Sychar was near the piece of land that Jacob had given to his son Joseph. Jacob’s Well was there. Jesus sat down by the well because he was tired from traveling. The time was about noon.
A Samaritan woman went to get some water. Jesus said to her, “Give me a drink of water.” (His disciples had gone into the city to buy some food.)
The Samaritan woman asked him, “How can a Jewish man like you ask a Samaritan woman like me for a drink of water?” (Jews, of course, don’t associate with Samaritans.)
Jesus replied to her, “If you only knew what God’s gift is and who is asking you for a drink, you would have asked him for a drink. He would have given you living water.”
The woman said to him, “Sir, you don’t have anything to use to get water, and the well is deep. So where are you going to get this living water? You’re not more important than our ancestor Jacob, are you? He gave us this well. He and his sons and his animals drank water from it.”
Jesus answered her, “Everyone who drinks this water will become thirsty again. But those who drink the water that I will give them will never become thirsty again. In fact, the water I will give them will become in them a spring that gushes up to eternal life.”
The woman told Jesus, “Sir, give me this water! Then I won’t get thirsty or have to come here to get water.”
Jesus told her, “Go to your husband, and bring him here.”
The woman replied, “I don’t have a husband.”
Jesus told her, “You’re right when you say that you don’t have a husband. You’ve had five husbands, and the man you have now isn’t your husband. You’ve told the truth.” (John 4:4-18 GW)