After a vigorous workout session, I'm always drenched with sweat. Okay, that's not a pretty picture, but the truth is the more I exert myself, the greater my perspiration. The harder I work, the harder my body has to work to cool me down and keep me from overheating. (Sounds a lot like life.) And by the time I'm done with my workout, I'm REALLY thirsty! I'm grabbing the water bottle and sucking it down. Oh man, that tastes good. I gotta replenish those lost fluids.
What I've found is that all of us are thirsty for something in life. The scene in today's passage centers around a well. And not just any well, Jacob's well. You know, the guy who God changed his name to Israel, one of the big three forefathers. There's really a lot going on here is this text. Jesus overcomes the traditional sexism and racism of His day. He also is investing in an obvious outcast, that's why she's there in the middle of the day and not in the morning with the rest of the respectable women.
This woman's thirst is obvious. She's had 5 husbands and was living with her latest boyfriend. Not a great relational track record. Why all the men in her life? Who knows? Maybe her father abandoned her as a child or sexually abused her. Maybe she struggled with self esteem. Maybe she just made some really bad choices. Maybe she was trying to cover some hidden pain. Maybe she was thirsting to be loved, by anyone. The Bible doesn't give us the reason, just the facts of her situation; 5 husbands, living with a guy, at the well in the middle of the day, alone, thirsty.
Jesus offers to quench her thirst. Not her physical thirst, but her real thirst. He offers to meet the thirst of her heart. It wasn't long until the converstation turned to spiritual issues. And ultimately Jesus went right to the heart of the matter. Traditions and religion don't heal deep wounds. Only God can do that. Rituals and programs don't cut it. When you're thirsty, I mean really thirsty, buildings, temples, monuments, and shrines aren't enough. You have to know the Messiah, the source of living water, the one who can quench the deepest of thirsts.
What's your deepest thirst? Love? Value? Appreciation? Meaning? Security? Emotional healing? Forgiveness? Purpose? Like the song says, most of us are like the woman at the well, we're looking for love in all the wrong places. WE use substitutes in an attempt to mask or satisfy our needs. Sex, drugs, alcohol, success, achievements, prestige, material things, popularity, power, work, people, the list of substitutes is endless. Jesus says in v. 14 that whoever comes to Him will get not just a drink, but a perpetual spring of living water that satisfies and wells up into eternal life with God.
Fill my cup, Lord. I lift it up to you. I'm tired of trying all the substitutes. They don't satisfy. I'm losing a lot of me just in the exertion it takes to do life. I need that spring of living water. Flow in me. Well up in me. I'm REALLY thirsty.
No comments:
Post a Comment