Variety: John 4v13-15

¹³ Jesus answered, ‘Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again, ¹⁴ but whoever drinks the water I give them will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give them will become in them a spring of water welling up to eternal life.’ ¹⁵ The woman said to him, ‘Sir, give me this water so that I won’t get thirsty and have to keep coming here to draw water.’ (John 4v13-15)

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!

When we encounter the good news of Jesus, we can choose to participate in the reign of God. 

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.” 

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.

Barbara Harris