As Minnesotans, we have a close relationship with water. Swimming in lakes in the summer and skating on them in the winter. It is part of our identity. Water, as we know, is one of the most basic needs to sustain life.
The story of the Woman at the Well is well known. How Jesus encounters a woman in the bright sunshine of mid-day at a well. How Jews and Samaritans didn’t associate with one another. How men and women at that time didn’t interact like this. How the woman says, “How is it that you, a Jew, ask a drink of me, a woman of Samaria?” (John 4:9)
Everything about what Jesus is doing is boundary breaking. He didn’t have to go through Samaria if you are looking at things geographically. But he had to go through Samaria to encounter this woman – the first to go and tell others and invite them to “come and see.”
This woman is so unlike Nicodemus. Nicodemus is a religious official, he has a name, and he comes to Jewish in the middle of the night. He leaves confused and presumably tells no one. She, on the other hand, is a very unexpected witness. She has no name in the story and the encounter takes place in the middle of the day. Unlike Nicodemus, she understands what Jesus is saying and she shares it with others.
In John’s Gospel belief is not an abstract concept. It is an encounter or experience with Jesus. Belief isn’t just a head thing. It is a life-changing thing.
My favorite line in this story is “Sir, you have no bucket, and the well is deep.” Conversations with Jesus are so often operating on multiple levels. Jesus is not talking about ordinary water. He is talking about living water, which I’d characterize as experiencing the love of God. It is better than mere water. It is necessary and nourishing and life sustaining.
God of all creation, we give you thanks for the water that we drink. For water that we cook with, bathe with, wash with, put out fires with, swim in, boat on, ice skate on, and so many other things. But we are truly thankful for Jesus who brings us living water that sustains us both now and forevermore. Amen.